Prince Hal News

The Shakespeare Theatre Company presents its annual Mock Trial at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) on Monday, April 30, 2012.

New Worlds Theatre Project (Ellen Perecman, Founder & Producing Artistic Director) is set to presentWELCOME TO AMERICA this May at the 45th Street Theatre, with performances beginning on May 2nd and running thru May 20th.

Opera Exposures will present its first 2012 spiritual music recital on Sunday, April 22, at 3 PM at Saint Mark's Church, Second Avenue and 10th Street in Manhattan. Sopranos Natalie Bergeron, Krysty Swann and Cheryl Warfield will join tenor George Cornelius and Baritone Anthony Turner. Jonathan Kelly will be at the piano. The recital will be followed by a Reception and Dance with the cast. Tickets are $50 and $40 and include Reception and Dance Party with a live DJ immediately following the recital. Tickets may be purchased in advance by calling 917/402-8144 or visiting the Opera Exposures official website at www.operaexposures.org. They may also be purchased at the door.

Linda Lavin (Broadway Bound), Sebastian Arcelus (Elf), LaChanze (The Color Purple), Emily Skinner (Side Show), Shuler Hensley (Oklahoma!), Daniel Breaker (Passing Strange) and Sierra Boggess (Love Never Dies, The Little Mermaid) will be among the star players in the upcoming Broadway Hal Prince tribute, PRINCE OF BROADWAY, The New York Times reveals.

Edmund Gaynes, in association with David Gersten, will present Loni Ackerman, Brad Bradley Gene Castle, and Karla Shook in TIN PAN ALLEY (The Original iTunes), which began an open-ended Off-Broadway engagement February 25th at Actors Temple Theater (339 West 47th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues). Opening Night is tonight, March 19th (7pm). TIN PAN ALLEY will run 75 minutes.

The Pearl Theatre Company 29th season, beginning October 2012, will culminate with the world premiere of And Away We Go, a new play written expressly for the The Pearl by four-time Tony Award-winner Terrence McNally.

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre's board of directors has promoted the Theatre's artistic director, Andrew Kato, to producing artistic director.

Multi-award winning Foothill Music Theatre presents ALL SHOOK UP, featuring hit songs made famous by Elvis Presley and a book by Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro (Memphis; I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change).

It is a rare enough occurrence for a genuine born and bred Broadway star to emerge post-millennium, but one as astonishingly versatile as Raul Esparza, having scored accolades since his blazing debut in a string of hit plays and musicals, ranging from Mamet and Sondheim and Pinter to CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG and his aforementioned Broadway bow in THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, is a downright cause for celebration. Esparza makes his grand return to the Broadway stage in a musical with his upcoming starring role in Alan Menken & Glenn Slater's adaptation of the Steve Martin film LEAP OF FAITH, featuring a country and gospel influenced score and a spirited, energetic production by Christopher Ashley (who, incidentally, helmed Esparza's first Broadway show, ROCKY HORROR). While Esparza has been seen in many - most, if not quite all - Broadway seasons in the decade since 2001, he has also scored in leading roles in regional productions such as 2002's spectacular SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG revivals, part of the unprecedented Sondheim Celebration, as well as the Cincinnati Playhouse COMPANY, directed by John Doyle, which transferred to Broadway and was subsequently preserved on DVD and Blu-ray, in addition to being presented on PBS as part of Great Performances. Besides Esparza's many notable musical revival performances (lest we forget his essaying of the Emcee in CABARET), he also created the Broadway iterations of his roles in the controversial and brilliantly scored TABOO, produced by Rosie O'Donnell and composed by Boy George, as well as the stage adaptation of the hit family classic CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, as well as originating the lead role in TICK, TICK...BOOM! Having played three of Sondheim's most memorable male roles was not enough, though, apparently, for Esparza recently took on the part of the hapless Hapgood in Sondheim's ANYONE CAN WHISTLE when it was revived at City Center's Encores! - with Tony-winners Donna Murphy and Sutton Foster his co-stars, no less - with much success. Yet, in one of a myriad of examples of the broad spectrum of Esparza's abilities, it is instructive to remember he first made a name for himself with the role of Che in an Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice show, directed by no less than the ultimate man of the theatre himself, Harold Prince - EVITA, which, of course, is being revived this season with Ricky Martin in the role of Che. Besides Esparza's many musical roles throughout the past decade and prior, he has also carved out a seriously impressive straight drama resume, having appeared in plays by the great playwrights of our age, such as Pinter (THE HOMECOMING), Mamet (SPEED-THE-PLOW), Stoppard (ARCADIA) and, the greatest of all, Shakespeare (AS YOU LIKE IT, part of Shakespeare In The Park). ROCKY HORROR to ARCADIA to, now, with LEAP OF FAITH, Esparza constantly and consistently surprises fans and audiences alike with his audacious choice in roles and electrifying performances that are indelibly enjoyable in their uniqueness, variety and sheer breadth of emotion - time and time again. Yes, indeed, Raul Esparza is the best of the best Broadway has to offer, so let us hope LEAP OF FAITH is the ideal star vehicle for one of the most charismatic and multi-talented leading men of the 21st century and that it brings him his well-deserved Best Actor Tony at last.

North Coast Repertory Theatre and Miracosta College Theatre present Shakespeare's history play Henry IV, Part 1, directed by David Ellenstein featuring Andrew Barnicle as King Henry, Kevin Koppman-Gue as Prince Hal, Bernard X. Kopsho as Falstaff, Michael Phillip Thomas as Hotspur, Amber Bonasso as Lady Percy, John Herzog as Worchester, Jonathan McMurtry as Bardolph and John Tessmer as Northumberland. The cast also includes MiraCosta College theatre instructors Tracy Williams and Kelly Kissinger.

North Coast Repertory Theatre and Miracosta College Theatre present Shakespeare's history play Henry IV, Part 1, directed by David Ellenstein featuring Andrew Barnicle as King Henry, Kevin Koppman-Gue as Prince Hal, Bernard X. Kopsho as Falstaff, Michael Phillip Thomas as Hotspur, Amber Bonasso as Lady Percy, John Herzog as Worchester, Jonathan McMurtry as Bardolph and John Tessmer as Northumberland. The cast also includes MiraCosta College theatre instructors Tracy Williams and Kelly Kissinger.

Bay Area Cabaret welcomes back renowned jazz guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli with two performances Sunday, February 26, 2012. At the 2:30pm show, Pizzarelli will be joined by his wife, Broadway actress Jessica Molaskey, to present their acclaimed Cafe Carlyle show When Worlds Collide, a portrait of their marriage. At 5pm, Pizzarelli and his quartet will present his award-winning Duke Ellington tribute Rockin' in Rhythm. The concerts take place in the historic Venetian Room of The Fairmont San Francisco (950 Mason Street) Sunday, February 26, 2012. Tickets for each show ($45 general) are available at www.bayareacabaret.org or by phone at City Box Office (415) 392-4400.

The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2012 preview performances began February 17, opening a season dedicated to Executive Director Paul Nicholson, who is retiring at the end of the season after 33 years at OSF.

Multi-award winning Foothill Music Theatre presents ALL SHOOK UP, featuring hit songs made famous by Elvis Presley and a book by Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro (Memphis; I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change).

North Carolina Theatre today announced that Tony Award-winning actress and Raleigh native, Beth Leavel, will star as 'M'Lynn' in their upcoming production of Steel Magnolias. The play will run Friday, April 20th through Sunday, April 29th, 2012 in A.J. Fletcher Theater at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh.

James William Productions and Stephenie Skyllas will present Kurt Peterson and Victoria Mallory in When Everything Was Possible, A Concert (with comments), for one night only, Sunday April 29th (7:30pm) at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues), as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. They will be joined by a thirteen-piece band (Michael Rafter, Music Director), playing new orchestrations by Tony Award winner Jonathan Tunick. Larry Moss directs, with musical staging by Joshua Bergasse ("Smash"). Carolyn Wong will provide lighting design, with sound design by Leon Rothenberg and projection design by Telegraphicmedia.

Headlining the most successful entertainment of all time, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Michael Crawford was actually not the first name the creative team considered for the gothic musical undertaking during its creation in the mid-1980s, believe it or not. Steve Harley famously recorded the original single of the title song with composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's muse Sarah Brightman and subsequently starred in the grandiose Ken Russell fever dream music video. While the public and critics alike assumed Harley's bid for the lead role in the gestating show was all but guaranteed after the video debut, it was not meant to be. Master director Hal Prince had his sights set on a British stage and screen star who had made a name with American audiences decades before in the troubled film versions of two Broadway hits - A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM and HELLO, DOLLY! - as well as made a name for himself the world over in the British sitcom SOME MOTHERS DO 'AVE 'EM. Crawford had also cemented his place in the musical theatre with his roles in FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON and BILLY, but it was PHANTOM that would catapult him into the ranks of iconic musical megastar. So, today, let us take a look at what made Michael Crawford's performance in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA so unforgettable as we celebrate this week's US release of the simply spectacular DVD/Blu-ray of the 25th anniversary production mounted late last year at the Royal Albert Hall starring Ramim Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, loving assembled and presented by original lead producer Cameron Mackintosh and featuring a grand finale complete with original PHANTOM cast-members Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, among a host of other glories.

From Nick Jonas and Michael Urie to the Ladies of THE VIEW to Adam Pascal, Raul Esparza, Barbra Streisand to Alan Menken, Bernadette Peters to Susan Boyle, Colin Quinn to GLEE and Everything in Between - It's the BroadwayWorld.com 2012 Valentine's Day Special - It's the Biggest Ever!

The Landor has announced the first three months worth of artists for their second year of 'A Spotlight On... The Landor Theatre West End Cabaret Series', including Lucy Williamson, Nick Hayes and Roni Page.

BroadwayWorld has confirmed that in the upcoming Broadway revival of Evita, Ricky Martin will play 'Che' as originally written. A show representative revealed: 'The narrating role of "Che" is reverted to the way it was written for the original concept album - as an "everyman" of the lower/working class, serving as the voice of the people; not Che Guevara. Using Che Guevara as inspiration for the role was a choice made by Hal Prince when staging the original production.'