Patrick Swayze News

More than 50 years after it opened at the National Theatre, the new production West Side Story , under the direction of the legendary Arthur Laurents, returned to the National in preparation for its Broadway opening. DC audiences thrilled to Cody Green's dynamic performance as 'Riff' in the production. Before Cody left Washington for New York, he spoke to DCTheatreScene.com. Cody Green was chosen as the winner in last years finale episode of BRAVO's 'Step It Up & Dance,' winning the $100,000 grand prize. The 27-year-old dancer from Surrey, Canada beat out 11 other contestants as they competed in weekly dance challenges from some of the top performers and choreographers in the industry including: Tina Landon, Jordi Caballero, Lee Martino and Jason Alexander.

Alonzo King's LINES Ballet will perform a special New York City engagement May 5 - 10, 2009 at The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue (at 19th Street). The acclaimed company is returning to the Joyce with a new program of work from the gifted choreographer featuring: 'Rasa', an exhilarating and transformative work set to tabla master Zakir Hussain's rhythmic beat and another New York Premiere tba. Tabla music began as dancing music, in Northern Indian courts in the early 1700s, and its hypnotic intensity and complex rhythms convey the strong feeling that they are meant to move the body. There is an enthralling quality to the cyclical, accentual repetitions of rhythms. Zakir Hussain, son of the legendary tabla player Ustad Alla Rakha, has created music with an array of artists from the Karnatic tradition of Southern India, the international Silk Road Project, and Western drummers. He is the preferred accompanist for many of India's classical musicians and dancers. He began touring before he was twelve, and has received numerous awards including a Grammy for his collaborative album, Planet Drum. This is his third collaboration with Alonzo King. The tabla, with its rich texture of rhythmic patterns, is the main form of percussion in the Hindustani music of North India. The tabla bridges folk, semi-classical, and classical Hindustani music genres, and was intrinsic to the lost dances of the tawaif-s, who performed in 18th-century courts.

Echoing last week's headlines about the sex trade in South Korea, the off-Broadway Castillo Theatre will present Fred Newman's Coming of Age in Korea,co-directed by Gabrielle L. Kurlander and Desmond Richardson, which tells the story of three GIs, who fall in love with South Korean prostitutes, one of whom is brutally raped and killed. Coming of Age in Korea opens Friday, January 16th and runs through March 1, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m., at the Castillo Theatre, 543 West 42nd Street. TDF accepted; group rates available. For tickets call 212-941-1234.

THE BEAST starring Patrick Swayze premieres Jan 15th at 10pm on A&E. Enter today to win prizes!

Movies on stage are all rage and Dirty Dancing seems well suited for adaptation. The romantic classic of the 80s has an amazing soundtrack, wild dance numbers, and a constantly growing fan base. The staged version is perfect for purists. It's the same story, same music, and same dancing all for a Broadway ticket price. Or you could spend less than $15 on the real thing.

SHARON CARR ASSOCIATES, LTD announces the return engagement of GLIMPSES OF THE MOON, a Jazz Age musical with book & lyrics by Tajlei Levis and music by John Mercurio, directed by Marc Bruni. GLIMPSES OF THE MOON is back by popular demand for an ongoing run at Off-Broadway's Oak Room in the Algonquin Hotel (59 West 44th Street, between 5th and 6th Ave.).

SHARON CARR ASSOCIATES, LTD is pleased to announce the return engagement of GLIMPSES OF THE MOON, a Jazz Age musical with book & lyrics by Tajlei Levis and music by John Mercurio, directed by Marc Bruni. GLIMPSES OF THE MOON is back by popular demand for an ongoing run at Off-Broadway's Oak Room in the Algonquin Hotel (59 West 44th Street, between 5th and 6th Ave.).

New York Musical Theatre Festival (Isaac Robert Hurwitz, Executive Producer) has commissioned a new dance piece, 'Wild About Harry,' to be presented in their fifth season at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center 248 West 60th Street (between Amsterdam & 11th Avenues) September 19th, 20th, 21st, and 28th.

Kelly Price, who recently starred in the West End production of 'Guys & Dolls' opposite Patrick Swayze and Adam Cooper, will star as 'Roxie Hart' in the smash hit West End musical 'CHICAGO' at the Cambridge Theatre.

GREASE's dance sensation Cody Green was announced the winner in last night's finale episode of BRAVO's 'Step It Up & Dance.'

'Jen and Angie,' a comedy play about the classic rivalry between Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie, is coming to Hollywood.

The Tony Award-winning playwright Mark Medoff (Children of a Lesser God and When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?) has joined the theatre faculty at the University of Houston - where he will take over the role of teaching playwriting at the UH, following in the footsteps of Edward Albee and Lanford Wilson - it has been announced by the director of the University of Houston's School of Theatre & Dance, Steven Wallace.

a star-studded cast is being sought for the upcoming Broadway revival of the Frank Loesser musical classic Guys and Dolls

Variety.com reports that the Toronto production of Dirty Dancing scored a record-breaking C$1,867,880 ($1.65 million) in its first on-sale day Monday. These grosses do not include subscriptions or group revenues.

Having transferred from an acclaimed run at the Old Vic Theatre, A Moon for the Misbegotten began Broadway previews March 29 and opened on April 9th at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

The Guys and Dolls revival, after a hit run of almost two years, will close at London's Piccadilly Theatre on April 14th

Actors Patrick Swayze and Melissa Gilbert will join the cast as 'Pa' and 'Ma' in the workshop presentation this April of PRAIRIE, a new twenty character musical based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's enduringly popular Little House on the Prairie book series.

In a Variety interview with Londons Donmar Warehouse Artistic Director, Michael Grandage, he tells the trade publication that regarding Guys and Dolls coming to Broadway that 'there are plans afoot to try and make a 2008 production work.'

Point Break Live!, billed as the 'absurdist stage adaptation of the 1992 Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze extreme-sports blockbuster,' has announced an open-ended run.

Point Break LIVE!, the absurdist stage adaptation of the 1992 film, plays at the La Tea Theater January 25-February 25th.