Phil Davis News

The theatre landscape has changed dramatically since the 1977 premier of Abigail's Party but Leigh remains as real, raw and relevant as ever before. At 77 the writer / director shows no signs of slowing down. After venturing into period pieces with Topsy-Turvey and Mr Turner, Leigh's most recent picture Peterloo is his most ambitious yet. We've put together a list of Leigh's top ten works.

Series six and seven of the multi award-winning and critically acclaimed anthology Inside No. 9 have been commissioned by BBC Two.

The Ogunquit Playhouse has announced an exciting lineup of shows for its 88th season that includes the Northeast regional premiere of the hilarious dark comedy The War of the Roses, a new play based on the novel by Warren Adler and helmed by Tony Award-winner Jason Alexander, and the world premiere of the funny and heartwarming musical adaptation of Mr. Holland's Opus, helmed by Tony Award-winner BD Wong. The season opens with the high-energy musical sensation Dirty Dancing -The Classic Story on Stage based on the smash-hit film, then continues with a stunning revival of the Tony Award-winning, all-Gershwin, tap dancing extravaganza Crazy for You, and the exhilarating Broadway hit musical based on the lives of Grammy Award-winning husband-and-wife team Gloria and Emilio Estefan, On Your Feet!. The season will stretch to the holidays once again with the return of the hit show White Christmas in collaboration with The Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

 A Musical Theatre Podcast, with host Jeffrey Scott Parsons, is now available for free across all podcast streaming services including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more. New episodes are released every Sunday evening.

In a production commissioned by the Finborough Theatre to celebrate its 40th anniversary with a play written in the year the Finborough Theatre opened, the first new UK production in 40 years of Paul Kember's award-winning 1980 comedy-drama Not Quite Jerusalem opens at the Finborough Theatre for a four week limited season on Tuesday, 3 March 2020 (Press Nights: Thursday, 5 March 2020 and Friday, 6 March 2020 at 7.30pm).

Sarasota High School produced a heart-warming rendition of Irving Berlin's a?oeWhite Christmasa?? this past week. The show which is full of laughter, was engaging and entertaining, and another shining example of the incredible theatre productions our local schools produce.

It seems that the best things really do happen while you're dancing, or at least they do in the touring production of WHITE CHRISTMAS that's currently at DPAC. The musical is at its very best during its high-energy dance numbers. The show is based on the 1954 holiday classic film starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. With music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, the show is a fun Christmas-themed romp with plenty of 1950s nostalgia, beautiful costumes, and great tap dancing. 

Nikolai Foster's production of White Christmas is the second in five years to run at the Dominion Theatre. The last a?" directed by Morgan Young a?" was a solid affair, but pales in comparison to this version which sparkles from top to toe.

While Thanksgiving may be late this year, we are a little over a month away from the Christmas holiday. Des Moines Performing Arts is jumping into the holiday season. Tuesday evening, they opened the return engagement of 'Irving Berlin's White Christmas,' which runs through Sunday, November 24. Watching this production was like opening a Christmas Card, and I found myself smiling from beginning to end. I am excited to share what made this production fun to watch.

Irving Berlin's White Christmas opened Sunday night November 17 to a packed house at Theatre at the Center in Munster.  The cast gave a thrilling performance for an audience that was teeming with the holiday spirit.  Theatre at the Center Artistic Director Linda Fortunato directed and choreographed the show. 

Century High School's (CHS) award-winning Opening Knights Drama Club proudly presents Irving Berlin's White Christmas, the musical, to be performed at 7 pm on November 21-23, and December 6-7, and at 2 pm on November 23 and December 7.

Quintessential song-and-dance man Tony Yazbeck, a Tony Award nominee for his starring role in the 2014 Broadway revival of On the Town, performs his spellbinding An Evening with Broadway's Tony Yazbeck on Saturday, November 23 at 8 p.m.

IRVING BERLIN'S WHITE CHRISTMAS, the stage adaptation of the beloved classic film, announces casting for the upcoming National Tour.

Full casting has been announced for the Made at Curve production of Irving Berlin's WHITE CHRISTMAS at London's Dominion Theatre from Saturday 16 November 2019 a?' Saturday 4 January 2020.

Producers of critically acclaimed, sell-out smash, SIX today announce that Cherelle Jay, Zara MacIntosh and Hana Stewart are to be the new alternate Queens in the West End cast at the Arts Theatre. They are already in rehearsals and will join the production in October.

Earlier this year, on April 22, The Phantom of the Opera, reached a milestone that no other Broadway show has even come near. Phantom, the longest-running show in Broadway history, became the first Broadway show EVER to reach #13,000 performances. This is just one of many incredible achievements made by the show since it opened on Broadway over three decades ago.

Based on the beloved, timeless film, this heartwarming musical adaptation tells the tale of veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis who have a successful song and dance act after World War II. 

"There's a quote from Thornton Wilder that I love. He writes, 'Anyone can make a comedy which is cruel; it is very hard to make a comedy which is kind. To give a fellow feeling between young and old - that's art. HELLO, DOLLY! is one of those old gems. It has some of the best of the best material in all of musical theatre." Actor Matt Gibson is enthusing about his upcoming performances as Cornelius Hackl in Maine State Music Theatre's HELLO, DOLLY!, which runs from July 17 - August 3 at the Pickard Theater in Brunswick. "He might be my favorite character in the traditional canon," Gibson says of the innocent young man from Yonkers. Gibson has played the part twice before at the Virginia Music Theatre and Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatres, and he is thrilled to revisit the role in Maine, where he is just finishing a run of TREASURE ISLAND, playing the ill-fated sailor, Mr. O'Brien.

Tony Award nominee Tony Yazbeck will bring his one-man show, Both Feet Off the Ground, to Feinstein's at the Nikko for two performances only-Friday, August 16 (8 p.m.) and Saturday, August 17 (8 p.m.).

My love of Singin' in the Rain is deeply rooted in my experience of the beloved 1952 film classic, and it's steeped in nostalgia. It's a love that sees me first in line at classic film festivals when Singin' in the Rain is on the marquee. It's a love that makes my heart flutter when I learn that a nearby theater is staging the 1983 musical. And it's a love that makes me willfully forget that the stage musical … well … isn't that good. It tries hard, but it just doesn't quite work.  The "doesn't quite work" is not particularly bound up in the fact that stage adaptations are noticeably absent the great dancing triumvirate - Kelly, O'Connor, and Reynolds - though that certainly doesn't help.  What's wrong is that it feels too cinematic and has an inexplicable absence of story energy and razzle-dazzle that made us fall in love with Hollywoodland on the screen. Atlanta Lyric Theatre's earnest new production can't overcome this problem.  No production can.  But with tremendously entertaining supporting actors J. Koby Parker in the role of Cosmo Brown and Beth Beyer in the role of Lina Lamont, a beautifully sung titular song complete with a gorgeous streetscape and very real rain, and dreamy period costumes by Amanda Edgerton West, Atlanta Lyric Theatre offers up another pleasant evening of theatre.