Michael Korie News

BAY STREET THEATRE NEW WORKS FESTIVAL will take place on April 25-27 at the Bay Street Theatre on the Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, NY. The Festival is produced in Association with SPACE on Ryder Farm. The media sponsor for the festival is Dan's Papers Literary Prize Contest.

Looking much like an opening night, numerous boldfaced names were in attendance last week at a workshop for FINDING NEVERLAND, directed by Diane Paulas and starring Matthew Morrison and Laura Michelle Kelly. It'll premiere at begins performances in July 2014 at the Loeb Drama Center at The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University. Featuring new songs by Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy, NEVERLAND previously held a workshop on August 26th, featuring Kelly, Jason Alexander, Brian d'Arcy James and Kathleen Chalfant. The new musical FINDING NEVERLAND premiered in Leicester on September 22., led by Julian Ovenden and Rosalie Craig. Adapted from the much-loved Oscar-winning Miramax film, FINDING NEVERLAND, this exquisite new production was brought to the Leicester stage by celebrated Oscar and Tony Award-winner Harvey Weinstein, with direction and choreography by Olivier and Tony Award-winner Rob Ashford (Anna Christie at Donmar Warehouse), a book by Allan Knee (Little Women on Broadway), and music and lyrics by Tony Award nominees Scott Frankel and Michael Korie. Escape to a wonderful world of enchantment with this musical tale of the life of playwright J.M. Barrie, and the inspiration behind his classic book, The Adventures of Peter Pan. With his last play a failure, James Barrie is crippled by writer's block and success seems like a far-away land. But then a chance encounter with widow Sylvia Llewellyn Davies and her four young sons sends his heart and imagination soaring, and their friendship gives birth to a magical tale that will live forever.

Playwrights Horizons presents the World Premiere production of YOUR MOTHER'S COPY OF THE KAMA SUTRA, a new play by Kirk Lynn (Co-Artistic Director, Austin's Rude Mechanicals), directed by Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Detroit, Maple and Vine at PH; Belleville; This Wide Night; The Thugs), which begins previews this weekend.

Playwrights Horizons has announced new details for its World Premiere production of YOUR MOTHER'S COPY OF THE KAMA SUTRA, a new play by Kirk Lynn (Co-Artistic Director, Austin's Rude Mechanicals), directed by Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Detroit, Maple and Vine at PH; Belleville; This Wide Night; The Thugs), which begins previews this weekend.

BAY STREET THEATRE NEW WORKS FESTIVAL will take place on April 25-27 at the Bay Street Theatre on the Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, NY. The Festival is produced in Association with SPACE on Ryder Farm.

The American Theatre Wing announced today that the recipients of the 2014 Jonathan Larson Grants are writing team Sara Cooper (lyricist/bookwriter) & Zach Redler (composer), receiving $12,500 and the Running Deer Residency; and Shaina Taub (composer/lyricist), receiving $12,500. The prestigious grants, totaling $15,000 more than last year's grants, will be presented on Monday, April 7, 2014 at a private event at the WNYC Greene Space. The event will feature special performances of the recipients' work.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, a workshop for the revamped version of FINDING NEVERLAND is set to take place in New York City this spring, directed by Tony winner Diane Paulus. According to the Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye, Broadway veteran and GLEE star Matthew Morrison is on board to lead the project opposite Laura Michelle Kelly.

The moving and heart-wrenching musical FAR FROM HEAVEN is now available for Professional Theatrical licensing from R&H Theatricals, and its score will be published by Imagem Music, each a division of the Imagem Music Group. Based on Todd Haynes' multi award-winning 2002 film starring Julianne Moore, the musical features music by Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens), lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie (Grey Gardens), and a book by Tony winner Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out).

The evening will be co-hosted by two of the company's alumni actors: two-time Tony Award winner David Hyde Pierce (at PH in Richard Greenberg's The Maderati in 1987) and two-time Tony Award nominee, two-time Obie Award winner and 2012 Special Drama Desk Award winner Mary Testa (at PH in William Finn's In Trousers in 1979, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Lucky Stiff in 1988, Tom Donaghy's From Above in 1998/Obie Award and Kathleen Tolan's The Wax in 2000).

Playwrights Horizons presents the New York premiere production of STAGE KISS, a new play marking the eagerly-awaited return of two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl (Dead Man's Cell Phone at PH; The Clean House, In the Next Room...) to the theater company. Directed by Rebecca Taichman (Milk Like Sugar at PH; the current Marie Antoinette, Orlando, The Scene, Luck of the Irish), the production begins previews this evening, February 7 at 8PM with an Opening Night set for Sunday, March 2 at 7PM. The limited engagement will play through Sunday evening, March 23 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.)'s world premiere production of musical WITNESS UGANDA, which begins performances tonight, February 4, is the winner of the 2014 Richard Rodgers Production Award for Musical Theater. The award was announced yesterday by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which administers the Richard Rodgers Awards.

The winner of the 2014 Richard Rodgers Production Award for Musical Theater was announced today by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which administers the Richard Rodgers Awards.

The Collegiate Chorale announces the New York premiere of battle hymns on May 15, 2014 at 7:30pm at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Pier 86, 12th Ave. & 46th Street in New York, NY.

Grey Gardens tells the story of the reclusive aunt and cousin of Jaqueline Kennedy. In the 70s, Edith Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter, "Little" Edie Beale, were found to be living in their once grand home on Long Island. The home, known as Grey Gardens, was falling down around them, full of filth and overrun with cats.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre will present its first-ever musical REPaloud staged reading with the Tony-winning Grey Gardens. The REPaloud for Grey Gardens will take place on January 17 - 18 at 7:00 pm at Nashville Children's Theatre (25 Middleton Street).

Theatre Rhinoceros presents the Bay Area Premiere of the Stephen Sondheim Musical ROAD SHOW, featuring Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and Book by John Weidman, and running today, January 2 - 19, 2014.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera, is pleased to announce it has awarded grants to nine opera companies through its Opera Fund: Repertoire Development grant program. These grants provide vital financial support to opera companies developing new North American opera and music-theater works.

Theatre Rhinoceros presents the Bay Area Premiere of the Stephen Sondheim Musical ROAD SHOW, featuring Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and Book by John Weidman, and running January 2 - 19, 2014

Chance Theater presents the fifth show of its 15th Anniversary Season - a family-friendly holiday offering The Secret Garden - The Musical with book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Marsha Norman, music by Tony Award nominee Lucy Simon, and directed by Casey Long and KC Wilkerson. The Secret Garden - The Musical opened on November 30 and continues through December 29 at Chance Theater. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Playwrights Horizons' critically-acclaimed score for their World Premiere production of the new musical FAR FROM HEAVEN has been preserved as an Original Cast Recording and was just released by PS Classics last month, the label dedicated to the heritage of Broadway and American popular song. Click below to watch Kelli O'Hara, Steven Pasquale, Isaiah Johnson, and the rest of the original cast recording the album at Avatar Studios in New York City!