Monique News

Philantropic theater company Philippine Stagers Foundation (PSF) is approaching the last leg of its Philippine tour of bookwriter and lyricist Atty. Vincent Tañada and composer Pipo Cifra's more recent stage collaboration BONIFACIO: ISANG SARSWELA from today, February 7 until Sunday, March 16. The original Filipino musical premiered in July 2013 at Tanghalang Pasigueño, and has been on the road for more than six months, garnering a total of 424 performances so far, a feat similar to PSF's previous national touring productions of 'Cory ng EDSA' and 'Joe: A Filipino Rock'sical.'

Performances are March 12-April 6, 2014. Press opening is Saturday, March 15 at 8 p.m. The Paramount Theatre is located at 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora, IL. Show times are Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Tickets are only $36.90 to $49.90. To purchase, go to ParamountAurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or visit the Paramount box office Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and 2 hours prior to evening performances. Note: RENT is rated R for strong adult language and themes. Not recommended for audiences under 17.

Lifetime launches a new programming block Wednesday nights, beginning March 5th with the premieres of the hit family docusoap Preachers' Daughters (#PreachersDaughters) at 9pm ET/PT, followed by the all-new dance competition docuseries, Bring It! (#BringIt) at 10pm ET/PT.

The award-winning Catherine Wheels Theatre Company from Scotland presents White, an enchanting production for the very young, February 26 to March 23, at the Lovelace Studio Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

Coffee is at the heart of almost everything we do, from first dates to the board room to quiet time alone. Media maven and writer of Coffee the Musical, Robert Galinsky has created Coffee Crazy, a tweet book that offers 140 'coffee quotables' under 140 characters. Coffee Crazy is published by THiNK Aha! Books and included entries by coffee lovers Robert Evans, Rosie Perez, David Hasselhoff, Perez Hilton, Jonathan Ames, David Barton, Elvira, World Barista Champion Pete Licata and many more.

The Wild Project has announced its upcoming performances and events, now through the end of this month. Details below!

Thomas Bradshaw is at it again.

The New Group continues its 2013-2014 season with the world premiere of Intimacy, a new play by Thomas Bradshaw. Directed by Scott Elliott, Intimacy features David Anzuelo, Austin Cauldwell, Ella Dershowitz, Laura Esterman, Daniel Gerroll, Dea Julien and Keith Randolph Smith. A limited Off-Broadway engagement plays now through March 8 at TheNew Group @ Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre / 410 West 42nd Street), with Official Opening Night set for tonight, January 29 at 7:00pm. BroadwayWorld has a look at the cast in action below!

Passion. Love. Vengeance. African-American Shakespeare Company continues its 19th season with MEDEA, Euripides' infamous tragedy about a jilted wife exacting the ultimate revenge on a cheating husband. Dawn Monique Williams, a veteran of staging the classics, directs, with Leontyne Mbele-Mbong in the title role. MEDEA plays Saturdays and Sundays, March 8-30 at the Buriel Clay Theater at the African American Art and Culture Complex, 762 Fulton Street (at Webster) in San Francisco.

Performing talent includes: Victoria Justice (from Nickelodeon's Victorious), Megan Hilty (Smash, Sean Saves the World, Wicked, 9 to 5), Constantine Maroulis (Rock of Ages, Jekyll and Hyde), Stephen Trask (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Ashley Spencer (Grease, Priscilla, Rock of Ages), Wallace Smith (Rocky, Godspell, Hair), Lesli Margherita (Matilda), Mitchell Jarvis (Rock of Ages), Kerry Butler (Catch Me If You Can, Xanadu, Rock of Ages), Monique Coleman (High School Musical), Brian Gallagher (Jekyll and Hyde), Natalie Joy Johnson (Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde, bare) Justin Sargent (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark), Jenna Leigh Green (Wicked, bare), James Snyder (If/Then), Teresa Stanley (The Color Purple, Rock of Ages), Todd Buonopane (30 Rock), & Katie Thompson (Giant).

The New Group continues its 2013-2014 season with the world premiere of Intimacy, a new play by Thomas Bradshaw. Directed by Scott Elliott, Intimacy features David Anzuelo,Austin Cauldwell, Ella Dershowitz, Laura Esterman, Daniel Gerroll, Déa Julien and Keith Randolph Smith. A limited Off-Broadway engagement plays now through March 8 at TheNew Group @ Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre / 410 West 42nd Street), with Official Opening Night set for Wednesday, January 29 at 7:00pm. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Following two successful seasons at Theatre on the Bay in Cape Town and Pieter Toerien's Montecasino Theatre in Johannesburg, Willy Russell's acclaimed West End musical BLOOD BROTHERS returns to the Mother City for a run at the Fugard Theatre, starting 12 February 2013. The production, adapted and directed by David Kramer, is produced by Pieter Toerien and Eric Abraham.

The Crowded Fire Theater (CFT) 2014 season begins with the World Premiere of Amelia Roper's She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange, her first play to be produced in the Americas. She Rode Horses… opens with a press night on Monday March 24 (previews March 20-23) running through April 12 at the Thick House in San Francisco's Potrero Hill.

The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2014 preview performances begin February 14, and the season will open Friday night, February 21 in the Angus Bowmer Theatre with Shakespeare's The Tempest (director, Tony Taccone). On Saturday, Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (Juliette Carrillo) takes the stage, as does the classic Marx Brothers musical The Cocoanuts (David Ivers), and Sunday afternoon Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors (Kent Gash) opens in the Thomas Theatre.

The Los Altos Stage Company proudly presents a steamy, southern tale of greed, mendacity, sexual desire, repression, death and decay. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams opens tonight, January 23 and runs through February 16 at the Bus Barn Theater in Los Altos.

Heats of The Your Theatrics International Cabaret Contest (YTICC) wrapped this week after heats in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Auckland. The Grand Final line-up will see 10 hopefuls from each of the 5 cities take to the stage in what promises to be the most diverse and high calibre Grand Final in the contest's 11 year history. This year's winner will take home a career-changing prize, as well as the title of YTICC cabaret sensation for 2014!

Heats of The Your Theatrics International Cabaret Contest (YTICC) wrapped this week after heats in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Auckland. The Grand Final line-up will see 10 hopefuls from each of the 5 cities take to the stage in what promises to be the most diverse and high calibre Grand Final in the contest's 11 year history. This year's winner will take home a career-changing prize, as well as the title of YTICC cabaret sensation for 2014!

Poetic Theater Productions is proud to present POETIC LICENSE 2014: SHADES OF LOVE, their third annual festival of new poetic theater. Running from Monday, February 3 for a limited engagement through Sunday, February 16, the expanded two-week festival features performances, readings and cabaret evenings covering topics such as war, love, mental health, family, identity and politics from diverse social and cultural voices. The performance schedule and ticket prices vary. See below for details. All performances are at The Wild Project (195 E. 3rd Street between Avenues A & B). Ticket can be purchased from OvationTix on 212.352.3101 or online at www.poetictheater.com. The Box Office opens one hour prior to curtain.

Yesterday, January 14, 2014, two-time Tony and Emmy Award winner Bebe Neuwirth returned to the scene of the crime, where the gin is cold and the piano's hot: Broadway's record-breaking smash-hit musical Chicago. Neuwirth, who won a 1997 Tony Award for her acclaimed portrayal of jazz-age killer Velma Kelly and returned ten years later as merry murderess Roxie Hart, made Broadway history in the role of Matron 'Mama' Morton for an eight-week limited engagement through Sunday, March 9 at the Ambassador Theatre (219 W. 49th St.). BroadwayWorld was there for her opening night and you can check out photos below!

Tonight, January 14, 2014, two-time Tony and Emmy Award winner Bebe Neuwirth returns to the scene of the crime, where the gin is cold and the piano's hot: Broadway's record-breaking smash-hit musical Chicago.