Portia News

Sometimes touring productions of Broadway musicals are better than their original versions. When I first saw the Tony Award nominated musical Something Rotten in NYC, I found it to be forced and too over-the-top. The current touring production, now playing DC's National Theatre, features a cast that some might say is even better than the original. While all the laughs are still there, everything feels more natural.

Just last week Albert Hammond Jr announced his fourth studio album Francis Trouble and premiered the track 'Muted Beatings' on Conan. Today, Albert is pleased to share the official video for the track. Directed by Fraser RIGG and starring Portia Doubleday the 'Muted Beatings' video was shot on 35mm film and explores the idea that emotional connection can eclipse time

Reacting to Wendy Davis' 2013 anti-abortion in the Texas Legislature, playwright C. Denby Swanson, author of 'The Norwegians,' resolved to write a play about a woman's right to choose and the effect of this wedge issue on female friendship or 'sisterhood.' The result was a darkly comedic drama, 'Gabriel: A Polemic,' in which four tightly-bonded women, confounded by issues of abortion and free will, are divided unexpectedly by a crisis of faith at their weekly dinner. The Drilling Company, which developed the play in a series of readings and workshops since 2014, will mount its world premiere March 9 to 26 at North of History, a new performance/gallery space founded by Gene Kaufman that is located at 445 Columbus Ave. (between 81st and 82nd Streets). Hamilton Clancy directs.

The completely original new musical Something Rotten!, directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Aladdin), with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Wayne Kirkpatrick and Golden Globe Award and Tony Award nominee Karey Kirkpatrick and a book by Tony Award nominees Karey Kirkpatrick and best-selling author John O'Farrell, plays the Orpheum Theatre April 10-15.

Ellen kicked off her two-hour 60th birthday celebration on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” with its highest rated episode in nearly 3 years (3.4 HH rating). The episode delivered season highs in San Francisco (2.7 HH rating), Boston (4.3 HH rating), Sacramento (2.5 HH rating), Cincinnati (5.4 HH rating), Milwaukee (5.8 HH rating) and Las Vegas (4.6 HH rating).

Sir Elton John and David Furnish will host the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF)'s 26th annual Academy Awards Viewing Party on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at West Hollywood Park in Los Angeles. BVLGARI is the gala event's generous Presenting Sponsor.

International vocal powerhouse trio Hollywood & The Kings make their West End debut at Live At Zedel in Soho on 10 March 2018. Direct from their New York debut at Manhattan's hottest venue Club Cumming, owned by actor Alan Cumming, Hollywood & The Kings conjure the smokey sophistication of the jazz and swing era whilst turning the genre on its head with original, fresh and surprising arrangements of songs from the greatest musical moments of all time.

It's Hard to be the Bard. In fact, it is extremely hard to write anything original today. Hollywood keeps revamping the classics, Television keeps remaking the greats, and Broadway keeps reviving the hits. So when Something Rotten! arrived on Broadway in 2015, bypassing its initial proposed preview in Seattle, the unprecedented play had a bit of buzz backing its debut. Finally, an original musical comedy was taking an angle that no other had attempted--the origin of the musical!

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, National New Play Network, and Stage Directors & Choreographers Foundation have announced open applications for a fourth round of fellows of the National Directors Fellowship (NDF).

The national tour of SOMETHING ROTTEN! has arrived at the Eccles Theater with the sensational first touring cast still in tow. With a Broadway-worthy leading cast and a hilarious book and score, you don't want to miss a New York night out right here in Utah.

New Georges (Susan Bernfield, Producing Artistic Director; Jaynie Saunders Tiller, Managing Director) will present two experimental plays in which sound design is intrinsic to story, text and theatrical landscape in rep together at The Flea Theater (20 Thomas Street between Church Street and Broadway), February 14-March 4

Casting has been announced for the hit Broadway musical SOMETHING ROTTEN! for its upcoming engagement at Washington, D.C.'s National Theatre from February 6 thru 18, 2018. Tickets may be purchased online at TheNationalDC.com, in person at the National Theatre box office (Monday thru Friday from Noon to 6:00 PM), or by calling 800-514-3849. The National Theatre is located at 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.

Rehearsals begin today for The 5th Avenue Theatre's new production of Mamma Mia!, the celebrated musical that features the music of global pop sensation ABBA. The 5th Avenue Theatre is the first producing theater company in the Pacific Northwest to be granted the rights to create its own refreshed version of the show, which toured the world for nearly 20 years.

In 1848, a Lutheran scholar named Samuel Mosheim Schmucker first raised the question as to how an uneducated and untraveled man such as William Shakespeare could have penned 37 plays and 154 sonnets that dealt with subjects that he should have no knowledge of. Since then many people have cast their doubts about the identity of the Bard, including Mark Twain and Sigmund Freud. Most recently, with a book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell and music and lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, the Tony-nominated Something Rotten! hilariously takes a look at Shakespeare as a plagiarist.

Check out what is coming up this month on NBC!

The completely original new musical Something Rotten!, directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Aladdin), with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Wayne Kirkpatrick and Golden Globe Award and Tony Award nominee Karey Kirkpatrick and a book by Tony Award nominees Karey Kirkpatrick and best-selling author John O'Farrell, opens at the Community Center Theater on Jan. 2, 2018, and runs through Jan. 7.

The ABC Television Network will air THE SOUND OF MUSIC, the Rodgers & Hammerstein cinematic treasure, airing as part of Disney ABC's special 25 Days of Christmas programming event, TONIGHT, DEC. 17 (7:00-11:00 p.m. EST), on The ABC Television Network.

USA Network announced this morning that it has ordered a fourth season of their hit series MR. ROBOT. The Season 3 Season Finale of the show airs tonight.

The Pool, a pop-up theater company, will present three new plays in rotating rep from November 15 - December 16, 2017 in a limited 5-week engagement at The Flea Theater's brand-new Tribeca home, located at 20 Thomas Street. The plays are Susan Bernfield's TANIA IN THE GETAWAY VAN directed by Portia Krieger, Peter Gil-Sheridan's THE RAFA PLAY directed by Morgan Gould, and Lynn Rosen's WASHED UP ON THE POTOMAC directed by Jos Zayas.

Hannah Morrish plays her first season at the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in no less than three of the Rome MMVII shows. Playing Lavinia in Titus Andronicus, Portia in Julius Caesar and Virgilia in Coriolanus, Hannah spoke to us about the female voice and timeliness of this season.