Patti Cohenour News

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: PHOENIX, starring Julia Stiles and James Wirt, opens off-Broadway, the Met Room celebrates Elaine Stritch, BROADWAY IN BRYANT PARK returns for one of its final shows this summer and more!

The main characters in the new musical version of "A Room with a View" spend their time trying to figure out who they want to become. Unfortunately the show itself also has an identity crisis, as it could never figure out what kind of show it wanted to be. And that, combined with songs that rarely got off the ground and never moved the story along, left the show a muddled mess being sung by some powerhouse talents who deserve better.

Love is blossoming in Seattle this spring when The 5th Avenue Theatre debuts the lush new musical, A Room with a View. Based on the E.M. Forster novel that inspired the Merchant Ivory film, this enchanting adaptation features a wonderfully rich score by Jeffrey Stock and a witty and moving book and additional lyrics by Marc Acito. This beguiling and intimate romantic comedy features a cast of Seattle's best-loved musical theater stars including Laura Griffith and Louis Hobson as Lucy and George. Directed by The 5th Avenue's David Armstrong, A Room with a View also features Patti Cohenour, Jadd Davis, Allen Fitzpatrick, Richard Gray, Suzy Hunt, Matt Owen, Will Reynolds, and Jenny Shotwell.

Like a beautiful painting Adam Guettel's The Light in the Piazza is a true work of art. With discordant music not unlike that of Stephen Sondheim, written for a small chamber orchestra, feelings of love - from all kinds of people -fuel passionately. Without the right actresses to play the American mother and daughter visiting Florence, the play loses its fragility and inner beauty. This production could not be more divine. Patti Cohenour as Margaret Johnson and Erin Mackey as her decidedly different daughter make sparks fly with their glorious acting and singing.

Truly one of the most elegant, though underrated musicals of the new century, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA---now on stage in a lovely new production at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa through February 23---follows the uneasy journey that a loving, though over-protective mother must embark on when her daughter discovers the wonderfully vulnerable world of adult love. Filled with a gorgeously sweeping score by Adam Guettel and an insanely talented cast, this Italian journey surely ranks as one of the best, most attractive musicals SCR has mounted in recent years.

An Italian vacation, young love and a parent's heart-rending decision are all part of the award-winning Broadway hit, The Light in the Piazza, book by Craig Lucas, music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, and based on the novel by Elizabeth Spencer. Directed by Kent Nicholson, The Light in the Piazza runsJan. 24-Feb. 23 on SCR's Segerstrom Stage. Tickets are available online: www.scr.org. Check out photos of the cast below!

Last night at the Neptune Theatre, the Puget Sound theatre community celebrated outstanding performances and talents with the largest audience ever! The 5th Annual Gregory Awards included a new house band, a surprised Laura Campbell, recipient of the Melissa Hines Award for outstanding theatre practitioner, a great line-up of local favorites and the following recipients by category:

GREY GARDENS, a co-production with The 5th Avenue Theatre and ACT is now playing on the mainstage through May 26. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production shots below.

You know when you go on vacation and come across that amazing restaurant that serves one of the most surprising dishes you've ever had that you pine over for years and then you find a restaurant back home that makes the same recipe? And maybe they don't have all the best ingredients or maybe the chef isn't quite as good but it just doesn't live up to the original? Well, unfortunately that's the equivalent of what I witnessed last night at "Grey Gardens" currently at ACT. It's still the same amazing show by Doug Wright, Scott Frankel, and Michael Korie and definitely had some outstanding moments but the whole just didn't quite compare to when I saw it on Broadway with the incredible Christine Ebersole.

GREY GARDENS, a co-production with The 5th Avenue Theatre and ACT will play on the mainstage tonight, March 16-May 26 with a press opening of March 21.

ACT - A Contemporary Theatre single tickets go on sale to the public for all 2013 Mainstage shows February 12, 2013. ACT is offering 50 percent off of adult price tickets for all Mainstage preview shows throughout the season for one-day only February 12. ACT also shares a glimpse of the casting for the first half of the upcoming Mainstage season.

ACT has announced some of the casting for the first half of the upcoming Mainstage season. ACT's own Artistic Director Kurt Beattie gets back on the boards alongside Jeff Steitzer, Marianne Owen, Julie Briskman, and Laura Kenny in Assisted Living. In Other Desert Cities the critically acclaimed Marya Sea Kaminski makes her ACT debut going head to head with television actress Pamela Reed (Parks and Recreation, Kindergarten Cop) who is a UW Drama alumni and Washington resident. Many other notable local actors will be returning to ACT or making their debut including Jessica Skerritt, Matt Owen, Lori Larsen, Suzy Hunt, Aaron Blakely, and Kirsten Potter to name a few. See the current listing of committed artistic and production talent below.

Olympic Moon Productions will present workshop performances of the new one woman show, I Will Wait For You, today and tomorrow, January 28 & 29 at 7pm at LA's El Portal Monroe Forum Theatre.

Olympic Moon Productions will present workshop performances of the new one woman show, I Will Wait For You, January 28 & 29 at 7pm at LA's El Portal Monroe Forum Theatre. Featuring 40's and 50's standards from the American songbook, this original 'revuesical' is directed by Tony & Drama Desk nominee Patti Cohenour (Light in the Piazza, Phantom, Drood) and conceived with co-creators Melissa Kneisly and Christina Lynn Summers. Stage and screen actress, Anna Aimee White (Grease, Valentine's Day) stars and Chris DiStefano music directs.

Asa Somers' original rock musical, Something as Big as This, will receive a January 2013 developmental workshop at Seattle's award-winning Balagan Theatre, a follow up to the recent NYC workshop starring Brian d'Arcy James and Emma Hunton. There will be a public presentation of selected music and scenes at Balagan tonight, January 14th at 8pm.

Asa Somers' original rock musical, Something as Big as This, will receive a January 2013 developmental workshop at Seattle's award-winning Balagan Theatre, a follow up to the recent NYC workshop starring Brian d'Arcy James and Emma Hunton. There will be a public presentation of selected music and scenes at Balagan January 14th at 8pm.

Just in time for the heartwarming holiday season, music enthusiasts can welcome the highly anticipated release of the Loving the Silent Tears: The Musical album to recreate the magic of the new musical exploring humanity's universal search for inner peace.

Just in time for the heartwarming holiday season, music enthusiasts can welcome the highly anticipated release of the Loving the Silent Tears: The Musical album to recreate the magic of the new musical exploring humanity's universal search for inner peace.

The Jeff Awards Committee announced 197 nominations in 34 categories for Chicago Equity theatrical productions, which opened between August 1, 2011, and July 31, 2012. The Jeff Awards judges attended opening nights of 118 Equity productions offered by 55 producing organizations. From these openings, 96 productions were 'Jeff Recommended,' which made them eligible for award nominations.

The Jeff Awards Committee today announced 197 nominations in 34 categories for Chicago Equity theatrical productions, which opened between August 1, 2011, and July 31, 2012. The Jeff Awards judges attended opening nights of 118 Equity productions offered by 55 producing organizations. From these openings, 96 productions were 'Jeff Recommended,' which made them eligible for award nominations.