Ovation News

Garry Marshall Theatre presents the Inaugural New Works Festival featuring readings of eight new plays over four days, May 22, 23, 29 and 30, with readings at 4pm and 8pm.

The 2018-2019 season includes six Broadway shows, headlined by the Tony and Grammy Award-winning Blockbuster Beautiful - The Carole King Musical. Also coming as part of the Haverland Carter Broadway in New Mexico series are Finding Neverland, The Sound of Music, Kinky Boots, and the newly-restaged Cats. RENT 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR will also tour to Popejoy as a Broadway Extra.

Producers John Lant and Cornell Christianson with ICFB Productions are pleased to announce the Off-Broadway premiere of IT CAME FROM BEYOND, a 1950's sci-fi, musical comedy with book by writer / producer Cornell Christianson, music and lyrics by Stephen M. Schwartz and Norman E. Thalheimer, and directed by Jim Blanchette.

If this is all you read, this is all you need to know. Stop what you are doing and get tickets to Megan Hilty's one-woman cabaret.

Lee Horwin return to the New York cabaret stage as the legendary Libby Holman in BLUES, BALLADS & SIN-SONGS: The Legend of Libby Holman written and directed by Tony nominee Walter Willison with Joel A. Martin on piano, for two performances only, on Monday April 30th and Monday May 7th at 7 PM at The Triad Theatre, 158 West 72nd Street (just east of Broadway).

Lee Horwin return to the New York cabaret stage as the legendary Libby Holman in BLUES, BALLADS & SIN-SONGS: The Legend of Libby Holman written and directed by Tony nominee Walter Willison with Joel A. Martin on piano, for two performances only, on Monday April 30th and Monday May 7th at 7 PM at The Triad Theatre, 158 West 72nd Street (just east of Broadway).

LEA DELARIA - best known as 'Carrie "Big Boo" Black' from the critically acclaimed Netflix original series "Orange is the New Black," returns to the New York stage in celebration of her 60th Birthday.

On the afternoon of April 22nd at the Joyce Theater in NYC, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company gave the final performance of a six-day run that offered three different programs to celebrate Lubovitch's 50th anniversary as an internationally acclaimed choreographer. Program A featured the Martha Graham Dance Company while Programs B added Joffrey principal dancers to Lubovitch's own roster of superb dancers, and Program C added students from the George Mason University School of Dance to the list of performers.

The Old Globe's 2017-2018 Season continues with today's announcement of the complete cast and creative team for the Southern California debut of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Ursula Rani Sarma's sweeping and deeply moving theatrical production based on the best-selling book by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner).

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Elijah Rock in 'Gershwin For My Soul' on Thursday, June 7th at 9:30pm.

Celebration Theatre presents under the artistic direction of Michael Matthews & Michael A. Shepperd, present the third and final show in its 2017 2018 season, CABARET, book by Joe Masteroff (based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood), music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, choreography by Janet Roston, musical direction by Anthony Zediker and directed by Michael Matthews. CABARET will begin previews on Friday, May 25 at 8pm; will open on Friday, June 1 at 8pm, with tickets on sale through Sunday, July 15 at Celebration Theatre @ the Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave. in Los Angeles.

Portraying known figures onstage is an immense challenge. Thankfully, both Pitre and Street offered us charismatic and sentimental interpretations instead of imitations of these larger than life ladies. The Angel and the Sparrow gives us a bird's eye view into the lives of the two European superstars, beginning with how they first met in a public washroom.

I've been to movies where the audience interacts with the actors on screen, but never have I been to a play like that. Surprisingly, it wasn't disruptive. It almost felt natural. The patron interaction to 'The Foreigner' was nearly as comical as the play. Director Miguel E. Rodriguez warned that (paraphrasing here) if we have half as much watching as he did directing, then we were about to have a fun night.

Ohmigod, you guys- the earworm that stays with you long after curtain call, that you find yourself looking for on Spotify on the drive home, but turn it off because it doesn't hold a candle to this version - is also my reaction to New Tampa Players' production of the musical Legal Blonde The Musical. This show is brilliant and Chelsie Camaro Smith proves she has star power!

I have heard the Book of Mormon soundtrack, so many times, and I was excited to finally see it on stage.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Doyle and Executive Producer Jeff Griffin, and Transport Group, under the leadership of Jack Cummings III (Artistic Director) and Lori Fineman (Executive Director), present a new production of Tennessee Williams' SUMMER AND SMOKE, directed by Jack Cummings III, Artistic Director of The Transport Group, now in  previews at CSC (136 East 13th Street) for a limited engagement through Sunday, May 20.  Opening night is Thursday, May 3.  The cast of SUMMER AND SMOKE will feature Glenna Brucken (Rosemary), Phillip Clark (Dr. Buchanan), Nathan Darrow (John Buchanan),  Hannah Elless (Nellie Ewell), Elena Hurst (Rosa Gonzales), Marin Ireland (Alma Winemiller), Tina Johnson(Mrs. Bassett), Gerardo Rodriguez (Papa Gonzales), T. Ryder Smith (Reverend Winemiller), Ryan Spahn (Archie Kramer),Jonathan Spivey (Roger Doremus), and Barbara Walsh (Mrs. Winemiller).

Lou Volpe, the retired theatre education pioneer was recently inducted into the prestigious Bucks County Playhouse Hall of Fame, following such honorees as Angela Lansbury, Oscar Hammerstein and Shirley Jones. A formal ceremony was held on April 14 at the historic playhouse. Volpe, whose career is the inspiration behind "Rise," the new TV series on NBC, was heralded for his life's work as a high school drama teacher at Harry S. Truman High School in Levittown, PA. During his tenure there, he transformed this Bucks County community with the magic of theater.

Actors Co-op Theatre Company (Ovation Award-Winner 2017 Best Play, Intimate Theatre for 33 Variations) is proud to present the Tony nominated musical VIOLET, with music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by Brian Crawley, based on the short story 'The Ugliest Pilgrim' by Doris Betts, directed by Richard Israel, produced by Thomas Chavira. Violet opens Friday, May 11 at 8:00 pm, and will run through Sunday, June 17 at the Actors Co-op Crossley Theatre, 1760 N. Gower Street, 90028 (on the campus of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood) in Hollywood.

The eagerly anticipated 2018 NYC Final Round and Gala of Youth America Grand Prix were the best I've seen in all my years of covering YAGP. On the evening of April 18th at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, the technical prowess as well as the beyond-their-years artistry of the competitors in the Final Round gave credence to YAGP's slogan: “Ensuring the Future of Dance”.

Deidrie Henry returns to The Armory to star as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Lanie Robertson's riveting portrait of Holiday's life told through an imagined final performance in a small bar in South Philadelphia in 1959. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill begins preview performances on May 26, opens on June 1, and runs through July 1 on the U.S. Bank Main Stage. Bill Fennelly returns to The Armory to direct after previously directing Gypsy, Black Pearl Sings and, most recently, Little Shop of Horrors. Deidrie Henry, who most recently played Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire at The Armory, will be joined on stage by Abdul Hamid Royal, the production's music director who also plays the role of Jimmy Powers, along with local musicians Charles Neal (drums) and Andre St. James (bass).