Nell Benjamin News

Syracuse Stage is pleased to announce that Robert M. Hupp has been named the company's new artistic director.

Windy City Playhouse, Chicago's newest professional theater, launches 2016 with the Chicago premiere of Nell Benjamin's slapstick farce The Explorers Club, set in a Victorian-era scientific gentleman's club. David H. Bell directs Cristina Panfilio (Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Pericles) as a female anthropologist vying for membership. Alex Goodrich (Elf: The Musical), Ryan Imhoff (Chicago Shakespeare Theater's A Midsummer Night's Dream), Matt Browning (Redtwist's Incident at Vichy), Graham Emmons (Prologue's Porcelain), Dan Rodden (Theater at the Center's On Golden Pond) and Zack Shornick (MPAACT's Ghosts of Atwood) make up the Club members, while Colin Morgan (Oracle's No Beast So Fierce) is Queen Victoria's private secretary and Wesley Daniel (Chicago Shakes' Pericles) is a blue-skinned primitive. Previews for The Explorers Club begin Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 West Irving Park Road. Press performances are Thursday, February 4 at 7:30 pm. and Friday, February 5 at 8 p.m. Tickets, $15-$55, are available by calling the box office at 773-891-8985 or visiting windycityplayhouse.com/the-explorers-club/

Tony Award-winning star of theater, film, and television Nathan Lane joins this year's edition of the New York Philharmonic's annual New Year's Eve celebration, LA VIE PARISIENNE, narrating Saint-Saens's CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS.

The pre-Broadway World Premiere of GOTTA DANCE officially opened earlier this week on December 28 and will play through January 17, 2016, at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago), before opening on Broadway in the Fall of 2016. Nora Dunn (Saturday Night Live) and Peach Carr (Project Runway) attended last night's (Dec 29th) performance, and you can check out a photo of them below!

The pre-Broadway World Premiere of Gotta Dance officially opened in Chicago on December 28, and will play thru January 17, 2016, at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago), before opening on Broadway in the Fall of 2016. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you a look inside opening night below!

The pre-Broadway World Premiere of Gotta Dance is now officially open and will play thru January 17, 2016, at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago), before opening on Broadway in the Fall of 2016. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you more shots of the cast in action!  Want to see more?  Check out the original production photos here.

Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell scores again with a light-hearted, uplifting GOTTA DANCE.

Let's check out what the critics had to say...

The pre-Broadway World Premiere of GOTTA DANCE officially opens tonight, December 28, and will now play through January 17, 2016, at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago), before opening on Broadway in the Fall of 2016.

Gotta Dance, the new Broadway-bound musical comedy about professional basketball's first ever aged 60-and-older dance team, recently extended one week on the heels of its first performance in Chicago on December 13. The pre-Broadway World Premiere of Gotta Dance will now play through January 17, 2016, at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago), before opening on Broadway in the Fall of 2016. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the cast in action!

Tony Award-winning star of theater, film, and television - will join this year's edition of the New York Philharmonic's annual New Year's Eve celebration, La Vie Parisienne, narrating Saint-Sae?ns's Carnival of the Animals. Conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, the performance will also feature pianists Inon Barnatan, the Philharmonic's Artist-in-Association, and Makoto Ozone.

Producers Dori Berinstein and Bill Damaschke have announced that Gotta Dance, the new Broadway-bound musical comedy about professional basketball's first ever aged 60-and-older dance team, has extended one week on the heels of its first performance in Chicago on December 13. The pre-Broadway World Premiere of Gotta Dance will now play through January 17, 2016, at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago), before opening on Broadway in the Fall of 2016.

The pre-Broadway World Premiere of GOTTA DANCE, the new Broadway-bound musical about professional basketball's first ever aged 60-and-older dance team, begins performances today, December 13, 2015 at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago). GOTTA DANCE runs through January 10, 2016.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for the Texas-sized, Tony Award-winning new play, ALL THE WAY, a unique co-production with Dallas Theater Center (DTC). Directed by DTC Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty, ALL THE WAY brings company members from two of the largest Texas resident theaters to collaborate and perform on stage, beginning with the Houston premiere in the Alley's newly renovated Hubbard Theatre January 29-February 21, 2016.

Dallas Theater Center presents the world premiere of CLARKSTON this winter. Written by 2014 MacArthur Foundation Fellow Samuel D. Hunter, one of the most provocative new voices in American theater, and directed by Davis McCallum, CLARKSTON runs through Sunday, January 31. Press Opening is tonight, December 11 at 8 p.m.

The highly acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre revival of GUYS AND DOLLS, begins tonight, December 10, at the Savoy Theatre in the West End.

BroadwayWorld has just learned that Gotta Dance! which announced previously that it was aiming for Broadway in 2016 and targeting the Spring, has now shifted plans to the Fall of 2016, due to theatre availability. 

Dallas Theater Center presents the world premiere of CLARKSTON this winter. Written by 2014 MacArthur Foundation Fellow Samuel D. Hunter, one of the most provocative new voices in American theater, and directed by Davis McCallum, CLARKSTON begins with previews tonight, December 3 at 7:30 p.m. with a Pay-What-You-Can performance and runs through Sunday, January 31.

Main Street Theatre Works (MSTW) is pleased to announce its 2016 Summer Season at the Kennedy Mine Amphitheatre in Jackson, starting with The Explorers Club, by Nell Benjamin, a comedic look at Victorian adventurers who ponder the mysteries of science and nature, while genteelly getting blotto.

From the cobblestone streets of London and the islands off the Irish coast, to the halls of Harvard and clamor of the second Continental Congress, Artistic Director, Mark Abram-Copenhaver, is proud to announce the 2016 season at the South Bend Civic Theatre.