Pump Boys and Dinettes News

Rehearsals got under way this week for Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre's big musical for the summer of 2015: All Shook Up. With a cast of Nashville theater veterans -- joined by some of the region's brightest up-and-comers -- you can rest assured that the rehearsal process will be just as much fun as the show itself. Throughout the next couple of weeks we'll be sharing 'diaries' from members of the cast and crew in anticipation of opening night on July 23. Today, 2015 First Night Most Promising Actor Harley Seger (a rising senior at Christ Presbyterian Academy) and 2014 First Night Honoree Daron Bruce bring us up to speed...

 Theater for the New City's award-winning Street Theater Company opens its 39th annual tour August 8 with 'Teach It Right, or, Right to Teach,' a rip-roaring musical which tackles the challenges and struggles facing public education in NYC. Free performances will tour City streets, parks and playgrounds throughout the five boroughs through September 20. Book, lyrics and direction are by Crystal Field; the musical score is composed and arranged by Joseph Vernon Banks. (Schedule follows at bottom of this document.)

 With what's bound to be the feel good theatrical event of the summer, Weston Playhouse Theatre Company presents Pump Boys and Dinettes, an all-American musical celebrating friendship and life's simple pleasures. The show is a revival of a Broadway favorite - a 'triumph of ensemble playing' whose cast includes composer/performer Joe Iconis (NBC's 'Smash') and his 'family' of actor/singer/musicians.

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: AMAZING GRACE arrives on Broadway, RUTHLESS! returns to NYC and more!

Brenda Billings, Artistic Director at Miners Alley Playhouse and a longtime contributor to Colorado's non-profit community, has been named President of The Denver Actors Fund, Executive Director John Moore announced this week.

Jenni Barber, Quentin Earl Darrington, Bradley Dean, Dan Fogler, Ana Gasteyer, Josh Lamon, Aaron Lazar, Alyse Alan Louis and Rema Webb join Jonathan Groff in the Encores! Off-Center production of William Finn and James Lapine's A New Brain, running tonight, June 24, through June 27, 2015. The production is directed by James Lapine, with choreography by Josh Prince.

The Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, presents the six-time Tony Award-winning classic, CITY OF ANGELS, winner of Best Musical, Best Original Score by David Zippel and Cy Coleman, and Best Book by Larry Gelbart. The show opened last night, June 17, and runs through August 2. BroadwayWorld has photos from opening night below!

Directors and producers in the Nashville region are seeking actors for upcoming productions of Heathers the Musical, Smoke/Spirit and The Music Man - and more! We've gathered the details together here to make your planning easier. So now you have no excuse!

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, announces that at the 25th TCG National Conference: Game Change in Cleveland this weekend, June 18-20, the following awards will be presented:

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. It's our annual Regional Summer Musical Theater Guide! All you need to know about musicals on the boards this summer at 17 theaters within a one-day drive.

The Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, presents the six-time Tony Award-winning classic, CITY OF ANGELS, winner of Best Musical, Best Original Score by David Zippel and Cy Coleman, and Best Book by Larry Gelbart, opening tomorrow, June 17th, and running through August 2. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, presents the six-time Tony Award-winning classic, CITY OF ANGELS, winner of Best Musical, Best Original Score by David Zippel and Cy Coleman, and Best Book by Larry Gelbart, opening tomorrow, June 17th, and running through August 2. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, announces that at the 25th TCG National Conference: Game Change in Cleveland from June 18-20, the following awards will be presented.

Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre - Nashville's venerable entertainment center, which for 49 years has been the theater home to thousands of actors, directors, technicians and artists - has announced the creative team and cast for this summer's eagerly anticipated production of All Shook Up, slated to run July 23-August 30.

BroadwayWorld has decided to round up the best loser's for Best Musical and you will be surprised with some of the losers. Click through the videos below and watch some of Broadway's most iconic musicals that didn't take home the Tony Award for Best Musical.

Directors and producers in the Nashville region are seeking actors for upcoming productions of August: Osage County, Nunsense, The Last Five Years, Heathers the Musical, Smoke/Spirit and The Music Man. We've gathered the details together here to make your planning easier. So now you have no excuse!

Brandon Victor Dixon and Steven Pasquale will join the previously announced Sutton Foster in Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party, running July 15 - 18, 2015 at New York City Center. (NOTE: Brandon Victor Dixon will replace the previously announced Joshua Henry, who has had a scheduling conflict.) The production will be directed by Leigh Silverman, with choreography by Sonya Tayeh. Jeanine Tesori is the Artistic Director of Encores! Off-Center and Chris Fenwick is Music Director.

The Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, presents the six-time Tony Award-winning classic, CITY OF ANGELS, winner of Best Musical, Best Original Score by David Zippel and Cy Coleman, and Best Book by Larry Gelbart, previewing tonight, June 10, opening June 17th and running through August 2. Five-time Jeff Award-winning Director Nick Bowling brings his exceptional talent to the hilarious and ingenious musical comedy with choreography by Jeff Award-winner Tommy Rapley. Music Director, and Jeff Award-nominee, Ryan T. Nelson enlivens the sensational score, featuring a rich melange of jazz and bebop styles. CITY OF ANGELS is the rarest of musical comedies; one that is not only loaded with music and written in the contemporary jazz idiom, but also filled with sidesplitting comedy, set in the glamorous, seductive Hollywood of the 40?s - the world of film studios and flimsy negligees.

Directors and producers in the Nashville region are seeking actors for upcoming productions of American Idiot, August: Osage County, The Last Five Years, Heathers the Musical and The Music Man. We've gathered the details together here to make your planning easier. This is planned as a regular feature and we invite you to send your audition announcements to Jeffrey Ellis, senior contributing editor, at jeffreyellis37215@att.net for inclusion in this column.

Theo's summer cabaret will feature favorites and lesser-known gems by the Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-Tony winning composer Theo Ubique's summer cabaret of 2015 will turn to the songs of one of the best-loved composers of the 20th Century's later decades when it showcases the songs of Marvin Hamlisch from tonight, June 4 - July 12, 2015 at the No Exit Cafe, 6970 N. Glenwood Ave. in Rogers Park