Michael Swift News

Tony Award nominee Will Chase (MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD) and Betsy Wolfe (BULLETS OVER BROADWAY) are leading a production of THE MUSIC MAN in concert at the Cincinnati Arts Association's Music Hall, which closes today, May 3.

BroadwayWorld recently chatted with featured performer Will Chase about his upcoming appearance in the special celebration:

The first-ever "Nashville" Concert Tour with series stars Charles Esten, Clare Bowen, Jonathan Jackson, Sam Palladio and Chris Carmack, is scheduled to take place starting April 25, 2014. Will Chase joins his cast mates for the New York concert only.

Click below to see what The Mystery of Edwin Drood's Will Chase and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike's Shalita Grant had to say on the Tonys red carpet! Chase is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. Grant is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play.

The New York Times Arts Blog reports that Stephanie J. Block and Will Chase will star in the Second Stage Theater's upcoming production of the new musical LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. The actors recently received Tony nominations for their co-starring roles in Broadway's 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood.'

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was thrilled to sit down and speak with nearly all of this year's Tony Award nominees at the official Tonys Meet & Greet on May 1, 2013, and we will be bringing you special coverage on all of them throughout the awards season. Today we bring you Will Chase and Stephanie J. Block , nominees for Best Performance by an Actor/Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Check out what she had to say below!

Broadway favorite Will Chase will make an appearance on this week's episode of USA's NECESSARY ROUGHNESS, titled “Hits And Myths. In the episode, David Blaze (Chase) and Paul VonDozer (Josh Hamilton) were rock gods before 'creative differences' broke up their band ten years ago, but even rock gods have to pay the bills, so they turn to Dr. Dani to solve their problems and help them pull off a reunion tour. Check out a sneak peek of Chase in action below!

Roundabout Theatre Company's (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) Broadway production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood begins previews tonight, Friday, October 19th at 8:00PM. The Mystery of Edwin Drood stars Stephanie J. Block, Will Chase, Gregg Edelman, Jim Norton, and Chita Rivera with Andy Karl, Jessie Mueller, Betsy Wolfe, Nicholas Barasch, Peter Benson, and Robert Creighton. Check out the just-released commercial for the show below and meet the cast with videos of them from past productions!

Roundabout Theatre Company announced the full cast this July for the new Broadway production of Rupert Holmes' Tony Award-winning musical comedy The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The show is set to open on November 13, 2012 and will star Stephanie J. Block as Edwin Drood. Meet the whole cast in the video and bios below!

The producers of the Tony-winning hit musical comedy NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT just announced that Will Chase (NBC's "Smash") will take on the role of Jimmy Winter from Tuesday, August 21st to Sunday, August 26th only while two-time Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick is on vacation. Broderick returns to the show full time on Tuesday, August 28th.

The words we've all been breathlessly waiting to hear - "You're going on as Marilyn tonight," - were finally uttered by the director of the show-within-the-show, Derek (Jack Davenport), on SMASH's "Bombshell" season finale last night: Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee) nabbed the coveted role. Despite seemingly all of the bets being placed early in the season against Karen by viewers and critics alike insofar as her likelihood in donning the peroxide wig and beautymark - she seemed a Norma Jean but rarely an expected choice for Marilyn; certainly no match in the classic idea of the screen siren as far as the vivacious and curvaceous Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty) was concerned. While many were quick in giving Ivy Lynn the upper hand - or upper skirt, as the case may be - it was evident from the first moment of the series that Karen, the underdog, is who we were largely meant to be rooting for above all others; the naive Iowa girl singing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" on a stage of glitterring stars, so close and yet so far away. Ivy surely made a fast and furious impression soon thereafter with "The National Pastime" in SMASH's pilot, but Karen had already been quite clearly established as our most central protagonist - perhaps with Julia (Debra Messing) equally as prominent. As the fourteen subsequent episodes have progressed, SMASH has revealed itself to be a true ensemble piece with the emphasis on the collective journey of all of the characters and how that has had an effect on the burgeoning Broadway musical at the show's core, but Karen and Julia still have remained the two given the most screen-time and exposure. Megan Hilty has nonetheless emerged as a force to be reckoned with and her performance in the role is the finest of all on the series, outshining all in her songs and scenes. The various highways, byways and alleyways by which we have journeyed on the road of SMASH from the beginning to last night has unquestionably been leading to the BOMBSHELL first preview performances and the reveal of who would ultimately win the part of a lifetime in the show-within-the-show - and, on that count, the SMASH season finale bared all. And, as if all of that were not enough - cameos from Broadway heavyweights Bernadette Peters and Nick Jonas, too!

On last night's episode of SMASH, viewers finally got their first look at 'Bombshell,' the Marilyn Monroe musical at the heart of NBC's new musical drama. The show opened for a test run in Boston. In the episode entitled 'Previews', the writing team of Tom (Christian Borle) and Julia (Debra Messing) scrambled to fix the show when the first preview fell short, and Frank (Brian d'Arcy James) had to adjust to the unwelcome return of Michael Swift (Will Chase) to his life. Dev (Raza Jaffrey) seeked reconciliation with Karen (Katharine McPhee), but explosive information about Ivy (Megan Hilty) lurked just beneath the surface.

"It's always gorgeous when you sing," and so the same goes for NBC's musical drama series SMASH. This week's penultimate episode of the first season order of fifteen gave us a long-awaited real look at the actual production of the musical-within-the-show live onstage in the form of the first Boston preview in the out-of-town tryout of BOMBSHELL. Up until this point, we have only been provided with sporadic glimpses into the mind's eye of the director of the show as he stages and rehearses the various song sequences. With last night's "Previews" episode we got our third major iteration of "Let Me Be Your Star" - following the full-out song at the conclusion of the pilot episode and the subsequent ballad opening number version shown in Episode 2 - with Rebecca Duvall (guest star Uma Thurman) belting it out to mixed results. Mixed results is the kindest way to say that the volatile and kooky movie star character simply does not work in any way as Marilyn Monroe in the bio-musical about her life being created - not physically, tonally and certainly not musically. Croaking out the sumptuous and richly melodic Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman gems that have been specifically created for SMASH's BOMBSHELL - songs dutifully doled out in sparingly small doses of one or two each week - is near-sacrilege when one ponders the talent even on the very same stage; Ivy (Megan Hilty) or Karen (Katharine McPhee) could both kill the role, as wee have seen. So, who will ultimately make it to the stage that now, in the eleventh hour, the star of the show has walked? Of course, the sure-to-be action, drama and music-filled finale to Season One arrives next Monday at the same SMASH place and same SMASH channel - will the Marilyn musical be a bomb or a smash? Will the show even go on at all given the unforeseen obstacles? A lot remains to be answered, but the fever pitch fans and viewers have been yearning for has definitely entered, stage right. Next week we will see who truly sparkles, who really shines - and who ends up exploding.

The new featured song from tonight's episode of NBC's musical drama series 'Smash' (Mondays, 10-11 p.m. ET), is now available from NBCUniversal Television.

On next week's episode of SMASH, viewers will finally get their first look at 'Bombshell,' the Marilyn Monroe musical at the heart of NBC's new musical drama. The show will open for a test run in Boston. In the episode entitled 'Previews', the writing team of Tom (Christian Borle) and Julia (Debra Messing) scramble to fix the show when the first preview falls short, and Frank (Brian d'Arcy James) must adjust to the unwelcome return of Michael Swift (Will Chase) to his life. Dev (Raza Jaffrey) seeks reconciliation with Karen (Katharine McPhee), but explosive information about Ivy (Megan Hilty) lurks just beneath the surface. Check out 'Gotta Be a Smash' from the episode below!

On this Monday's episode of SMASH, viewers will finally get their first look at 'Bombshell,' the Marilyn Monroe musical at the heart of NBC's new musical drama.

Last night's episode of SMASH was full of surprises for the cast and crew of 'Bombshell'. If you missed any of the drama, be sure to catch up now!

Kicking off the plot-packed night, Cole Porter's classic KISS ME, KATE showbiz paean "Another Op'nin', Another Show" was given a full-bodied and exciting rendition by Christian Borle - with a gloriously accentuated arrangement courtesy of SMASH songwriter Marc Shaiman; seemingly channeling Barbra Streisand and Peter Matz - and, with that, the SMASH train left Manhattan and hit Boston for the tryout of the musical-within-the-series, BOMBSHELL. While Rebecca Duvall (Uma Thurman) may play the director of the show, Derek (Jack Davenport), better than she does her actual role in the musical - Marilyn Monroe - she is not the only member of the rich and varied ensemble on SMASH to be playing or being played (or both) - or hitting the occasional wrong note or two. With only two episodes left in Season One, the threads are being wrapped up into what is shaping up to be a pleasingly complex and colorful tapestry.

The new featured song from tonight's episode of NBC's musical drama series SMASH (Mondays, 10-11 p.m. ET), is now available from NBCUniversal Television Consumer Products and Columbia Records on the iTunes store at http://www.itunes.com/NBCSmash.

Colorado Symphony presents a concert starring Will Chase (SMASH) tonight, April 27th at 7:30 PM at the Denver Performing Arts Complex.