Paul Tazewell News

Broadway stars Emily Padgett and Matthew Hydzik will star as "Alex" and "Nick" in the world premiere of FLASHDANCE - THE MUSICAL, the stage adaptation of the 1983 hit film that defined a generation. Padgett and Hydzik will be joined on stage by the legendary Rachelle Rak in the role of "Tess." Sergio Trujillo, director and choreographer for the production returned to the home of FLASHDANCE and launch of the world premiere, Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall, to announce the lead casting from a press conference. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Kevin McMahon, CEO of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, were also on hand to welcome the cast and creative team to Pittsburgh and to make a proclamation, naming January 1, 2013 as FLASHDANCE DAY. Celebrating its 30th Anniversary,FLASHDANCE kicks off a national tour January 1-6 at Heinz Hall and continues on to more than 20 cities with additional bookings to be announced:

Last night MEMPHIS opened Segerstrom Center for the Arts' 2012-13 Broadway Series, and during the finale, local Orange County high school students surprised the cast and audience with a flash mob. Watch their performance below!

La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, a world-premiere musical featuring a story by The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Playhouse Director Emeritus Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys, Jesus Christ Superstar), music and lyrics by The Flaming Lips, and direction by Des McAnuff. The show will run tonight, November 6 - December 16, 2012 in the Mandell Weiss Theatre.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, comes to Community Center Theater from tonight, Oct. 30 - Nov. 4, the first show in the 2012-13 Broadway Sacramento season.

La Jolla Playhouse presents Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, a world-premiere musical featuring a story by The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Playhouse Director Emeritus Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys, Jesus Christ Superstar), music and lyrics by The Flaming Lips, and direction by Des McAnuff. The show will run November 6 - December 16, 2012 in the Mandell Weiss Theatre. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the rehearsals below.

Houston Grand Opera, with Music Director Patrick Summers and Managing Director Perryn Leech, announces its 2012-13 season, headlined by four new productions. The first of these is Puccini's La boheme, which launches the new season with a new staging by award-winning British director John Caird. To honor 2013's joint bicentennials of Wagner and Verdi, the coming season juxtaposes Tristan und Isolde - starring Ben Heppner and Nina Stemme in a new contemporary staging by Christof Loy - with a revival of Steven Lawless's unforgettable take on Il trovatore. British conductor Trevor Pinnock leads a strong international cast in Mozart's ensemble masterpiece Don Giovanni, while Francesca Zambello's new production of Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat brings together stars of Broadway and the opera house in a celebration of America's own contribution to the art. For a more intimate experience, Daniela Barcellona and Lawrence Brownlee star in Rossini's dramma giocoso, The Italian Girl in Algiers.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony® Award Winner for Best Musical, and the show that's currently blowing the roof off Broadway, opens at Marcus Center for the Performing Arts on January 3-8, 2013 for a limited engagement.

Deadline.com reports that a deal is now in place for Belle Pictures and the Mark Gordon Company to head a film adaption of Memphis at Warner Brother's Aclon Entertainment. The film will be produced by Mark Gordon, Molly Smith and Alcon's Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson with a new script by Tony-winner Joe DiPietro.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony® Award Winner for Best Musical, comes to Community Center Theater from Oct. 30 - Nov. 4, the first show in the 2012-13 Broadway Sacramento season.

According to the Houston Chronicle, nine-time Tony Award winner, Broadway performer, choreographer and director Tommy Tune is set to play 'Cap'n Andy Hawks' in the Houston Grand Opera production of Show Boat, opening January 18, 2013.

Nominees for the 2012 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards were announced Tuesday evening at the Renberg Theatre inside the Gay and Lesbian Center in Los Angeles. The 2012 Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, November 12, at the historic Los Angeles Theatre, 615 South Broadway, in downtown Los Angeles at 7:30 pm. For more information, visit www.LASTAGEOvations.com.

La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, a world-premiere musical featuring a story by The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Playhouse Director Emeritus Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys, Jesus Christ Superstar), music and lyrics by The Flaming Lips, and direction by Des McAnuff. The show will run November 6 - December 16, 2012 in the Mandell Weiss Theatre.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony® Award Winner for Best Musical, and the show that had its pre-Broadway run at the Silicon Valley's own THEATREWORKS, opens at BROADWAY SAN JOSE performing at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 for a limited engagement.

While overly melodramatic and a bit cliched, MEMPHIS--the winner of the 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical now performing at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood through August 12--is, overall, a rousing, electrically-charged show that rightfully triumphs because of its slick production values and its incredible, top-notch cast. If you want to hear some honest-to-goodness, kick-ass singing, then you must see this show... NOW!

Now on its national tour, Memphis docks at the Pantages for two weeks only through August 12, and the production is thrilling from top to bottom with a great book, great score, sensational direction and choreography and a truly fantastic cast of triple threat actors, singers and dancers. Memphis is one those rare shows that gives the audience a realistic picture of radio and the emergence of television as it took possession of the nation in the early 50s.

The producers of the 2010 Tony Award-winning Best Musical MEMPHIS announced today that the production will recoup its $12 million investment as of its final performance on Broadway on Sunday, August 5, 2012 after 30 previews and 1,166 regular performances. MEMPHIS opened on October 19, 2009 at Broadway's Shubert Theatre (225 W. 44th Street), having begun previews on September 23rd.

Christopher Plummer, one of theatre's greatest classical actors, takes us on an autobiographical journey through the literature that has stirred his imagination since youth. The one-man show, which is directed by Artistic Director Des McAnuff, begins previews at the Avon Theatre tonight, July 25.

MEMPHIS the 2010 Tony Award-winner for Best Musical, opens at the San Diego Civic Theatre tonight, July 24 for a limited engagement and will play through July 29th.

The acclaimed Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Emily Man, takes its final Broadway bows on its original closing date, today, July 22, 2012. The show is aiming to open on London's West End this fall.

The Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire was awarded the Extraordinary Excellence in Diversity on Broadway Award for the 2011-2012 Season from Actors' Equity Association (AEA) on Tuesday. The show, produced by Front Row Productions (Stephen Byrd, Alia Jones-Harvey), received the honor at a presentation at Equity headquarters. Christine Toy Johnson and Julia Breanetta Simpson (AEA Co-chairs Eastern Regional Equal Employment Opportunity Committee) presented the award, which turns the spotlight onto those doing exemplary work to promote the goals of diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity in theatre. Check out photos from the big event below!