On-Stage News

Willem Dafoe has been named the new Artistic Director of the Theatre Department of La Biennale di Venezia for the two-year term 2025-2026.

Maine State Music Theatre’s second concert of the season is a high energy musical tribute to Sir Elton John, performed by pianist and singer Colte Julian. The adrenaline-pumping program, WONDERFUL CRAZY NIGHT, features a well-chosen setlist of songs spanning some sixty years of John’s colorful and complex career. These mega hits are interspersed with biographical tidbits and snippets of video as Colte and his four-piece band rock away the evening, recalling the many moods and milestones of the “Rocket Man’s” superstar career.

Peninsula Players Theatre has announced the cast of Paul Slade Smith’s comedy “The Angel Next Door.”  This whirlwind comedy makes its Midwest premiere, adding to Smith’s repertoire of side-splitting comedies.  “The Angel Next Door” runs for three weeks, starting July 10 through July 28.

Few directors are as comfortable helming a sparkly winter panto as they are a psychologically gruelling Sarah Kane play. But few directors have credits as varied as Tinuke Craig. A former Bayliss Associate at The Old Vic, she is now making her RSC directorial debut with Richard Sheridan’s The School for Scandal, a restoration comedy written in 1777. 247 years later – what can it tell us today?

What I love about this question is that the person asking is wanting to be supportive and excited for you and your passion. What I hate about this question is that it adds another layer of pressure to an already stressful industry.

The Sydney Theatre Company presents the final installment of Kip Williams gothic Trilogy. DRACULA follows the critically and commercially successful productions of The Picture Of Dorian Gray and The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde.

What did our critic think of TINA - THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL at QPAC, Lyric Theatre?

Saint Louis’ Union Avenue Opera is celebrating the start of it’s thirtieth year with a superb production of Bizet’s Carmen!  (Thirty years—that’s twenty-nine seasons.  Like everyone else Union Avenue was “dark” in 2020.)  Thirty years of ever-increasing excellence in this most challenging of musical arts.  Housed in the nave of the Union Avenue Christian Church, this company offers the most intimate opera experience you’re likely to find anywhere. 

Global internet sensation MatPat, an online educator and co-founder of the Theorist YouTube channels with over 45 million subscribers, 9 billion total views, and 120 million monthly views, is to join the new Frank Wildhorn musical Your Lie in April as a Producer.

Chloe Misseldine has been promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre. The promotion, effective immediately, was announced by ABT Artistic Director Susan Jaffe on stage at the Metropolitan Opera House following the matinee performance of Swan Lake. The sold-out performance marked Misseldine’s New York debut as Odette/Odile. 

Reviews of Colonial Circus, Elephant Song, Daniel In Love (For One Night Only), and Cabaret of Murder at the Toronto Fringe Festival

What did our critic think of SHREK JR. at TEATER SALIHARA?

Written and directed by the Hairy Godmothers Collective, Dizney in Drag: Once Upon A Parody is “a gender-bending pantomime romp through beloved fairytales told with drag performers giving (and receiving) positive lessons on respect, healthy masculinity, periods, and sex positivity.”

According to the Guardian, french theatre critic Stéphane Capron has sued theatre artist Angélica Liddell for libel.

Steel Beam Theatre kicks off its 2024-2025 season with SPRING AWAKENING, a Tony Award-winning rock musical exploring adolescence in 1938 Germany. Directed by Maxwell Peters, performances run August 1-11.

“We battle with other theatres to get the rights for shows.  We always try to get MSMT on the national radar as much as we can and get first rights if possible, but it is very competitive,” explains Curt Dale Clark, Maine State Music Theatre’s Artistic Director, as he recounts how the Brunswick theatre managed a virtual coup for this 2024 season by becoming the first regional theatre to receive the rights to produce FUNNY GIRL after it closed its recent revival on Broadway.  “In the case of FUNNY GIRL, Concord Theatricals was holding our money for a show that we planned to produce in 2020 before the pandemic shut everyone down. Since they do not return money, they were eager for us to choose another show from their catalog and clear their books.  I agreed if they would give us the first rights to FUNNY GIRL after the Broadway show closed.” Clark is sharing his thoughts with the audience at MSMT’s second Peek Behind the Curtain on July 3 at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, where he is joined by actors Sue Cella, Douglas Raymond Williams, and Michelle Beth Herman, as well as panel moderator, Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold.

This outstanding festival featured brilliant new or recent work by five choreographers.

What did our critic think of BEN PLATT AND BRANDY CLARK at Mershon Auditorium?

I love watching dance in all possible forms and I think we don't get enough of it in Polish scenes, so when the opportunity to see dance in pure form presented itself, I couldn't resist and I never have enough!

By the end, of the night, I was laughing, crying, and cheering for everyone on stage.  You Can’t Take It with You is a heartwarming, delightful gem, a sold-out smash hit for the Group Rep.