Ovation News

Skylight Theatre Company Presents the World Premiere of "AMERICA ADJACENT" by Boni B. Alvarez Opening February 16, 2019    

An Evening With Charlie Calello happened at the Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach Stage College last night and BroadwayWorld was there. Check out the photos.

Book-It Repertory Theatre [Book-It] announces that Founder and Founding Co-Artistic Director Jane Jones and Founding Co-Artistic Director Myra Platt will step down from their roles at the end of Book-It's 30th season, in the summer of 2020. Over the next year, Book-It plans to hire a new artistic director through a local and national search.

Rod Serling's television anthology series The Twilight Zone was a popular and critical success when it ran on CBS for five seasons from 1959 to 1964, shot entirely in black and white. The series introduced many Americans to appreciate stories in various genres including fantasy, science fiction, suspense, horror and psychological thrillers, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist, usually ending with a moral explained by the writer himself. It has remained so popular that you can often find The Twilight Zone marathons running on various television stations, especially on holidays. As a fan of the show, I often watch episodes when they are shown, keeping my The Twilight Zone Companion handbook close by to check on facts and cast information from each episode. So I made plans to attend when I heard Theatre 40 was going to be presenting ROD SERLING'S STORIES FROM THE ZONE adapted and co-directed by multiple Ovation Award winning set designer Jeff G. Rack and Charlie Mount.

Celebrated Writer, Director and Performer J.Bobs Tshabalala is back in Cape Town with his live game show Off The Record.

Celebration presents the first show in its 2019 season, Drew Droege (Die, Mommie, Die!) and Matthew Wilkas starring in the Los Angeles premiere of BORN TO WIN, written by Matthew Wilkas and Mark Setlock, choreography by Janet Roston and directed by Michael Matthews.

BWW Previews: APRILE MILLO: A DIVA COMES HOME at Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall

Quintessence Theatre Group, a professional theatre company located in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, has comprised an ensemble of all-star performers to star in their upcoming production of Clifford Odets' classic drama AWAKE AND SING!

SH-BOOM! Meet fledgling doo-wop singing group the Crooning Crabcakes as they prepare to enter the Big Whopper Radio contest and realize their dreams of making it to the big time, International City Theatre opens its 34th season with the delightful, award-winning jukebox musicalLife Could Be A Dream, written and created by Roger Bean. Directed byJamie Torcellini and with musical direction by Bill Wolfe, performances take place Feb. 22 through March 10 at ICT's home in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Two low-priced previews are set for Feb. 20 and Feb. 21. 

Full casting has been confirmed for the UK tour of In The Willows: the explosive brand new musical retelling of The Wind In The Willows, from the award-winning Metta Theatre. Olivier award-winning actor, 'the nation's favourite pantomime dame', and star of BBC's The Story of Tracey Beaker, Clive Rowe will star as Mr Badger, while X Factor favourite Seann Miley Moore (Duck) and Let It Shine performer Matt Knight (Chief Weasel) join the cast.

Fraser Entertainment Group's An Evening of Classic Broadway, a recent nominee for BWW.com's Los Angeles Regional Award for Best Special Theatre Event, makes a return engagement at Rockwell Table and Stage in Los Angeles. The show tune songfest will take place on Tuesday, January 29th at 8PM (doors open at 6:30).

British conductor Michael Francis is known to San Diego concert goers as the music director of the city's Mainly Mozart Festival. Since taking the job four years ago he has embarked on an ambitious chronological survey of the music of the composer who inspired the festival's name. On this evening he traveled a few blocks north and half a musical century forward to appear as guest conductor of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in a program of works by 'The Young Romantics.' The enthusiastic reaction he received after the performance may increase the chances he will be called on again in future Symphony seasons.

Ovation West Musical Theatre presents "Nunsense" February 22 through March 10 at Center Stage, 27608 Fireweed Drive, Evergreen, CO, 80439. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m., plus two Thursday evening performances, Feb 28 and March 7 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $30 Adults; $26 seniors (62+), $20 Youth (18 and under), $25 groups of 10 or more and available by phone 303-674-4002 or online at www.ovationwest.org. 

Actors Co-op presents ANNA KARENINA by Helen Edmundson, adapted from the novel by Leo Tolstoy, directed by Heather Chesley, produced by Kay Bess. Helen Edmudson's ANNA KARENINA is an upside-down telling of Leo Tolstoy's classic tale. A story wrapped in temptation, passion and moral conflict, this eight-person dramatic event is a fast-paced examination of love, adultery and marriage. ANNA KARENINA will run February 8 - March 17. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm. Sunday Matinees at 2:30 pm. Saturday Matinees February 16 and February 23 at 2:30 pm. The play is recommended for ages 13 and older.

Every kid with a performer's heart deserves to experience three things in their childhood: access to an incredible arts program, a passionate mentor, and a really great Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. For me, that was the Springfield (Missouri) Little Theatre, Beth D., and The Phantom of the Opera. I wish for all of today's youth to find the arts and an inspiring mentor. As for Webber for this generation, there is School of Rock The Musical, which actually touches on all of the above. The tour is visiting the National Theatre in Washington, DC this month and packs the biggest dreams and highest professionalism into the tiniest bodies.

Last week, while talking with Tony Award-winning actress/singer/songwriter Renee Elise Goldsberry - during which we discussed her upcoming series of concerts with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra - she responded to my query about how much of 'Renee' is in each of the myriad characters by which she's come to be known and loved by her legions of fans.

Ate9, one of Los Angeles' most visceral and probing dance companies, makes its Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts debut with two gripping works by Artistic Director/Choreographer Danielle Agami, including the world premiere of a blind LAdy, featuring the live vocals of Spanish indie-pop singer/songwriter Lourdes Hernandez (a.k.a. Russian Red), on Friday, February 15 and Saturday, February 16, 2019, at 7:30 pm, in The Wallis' Bram Goldsmith Theater.

LIZZIE moves to the Bootleg Theater in 2019

A Very Brady Musical, a new musical based on the iconic television show The Brady Bunch, will receive a New York City staged reading under the direction of Richard Israel - the multiple Ovation Award winner for his legendary work in Los Angeles theatre. Israel's also helming the NY-developed Jeff Marx/Fat Mike musical, Home Street Home, set to open in London this spring.

Vineyard Theatre Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce dates and casting for the New York premiere of Mara Nelson-Greenberg's DO YOU FEEL ANGER?, directed by Margot Bordelon. Performances will begin at Vineyard Theatre (108 East 15th Street) on Wednesday, March 13 with opening night set for Sunday, March 31.