Richard Easton News

After enjoying its World Premiere engagement earlier this spring at the Playroom Theater, A Class Act, the inaugural and relevant new play by attorney and playwright Norman Shabel, will now hold court at New World Stages  - Stage 5(340 West 50th Street - between 8th & 9th Avenues) for a summer run.  Produced by Eric Krebs, performances will begin on Saturday, July 9 at 8pm and continue through Sunday, September 4.

Michael C. Hall will headline a one-night night only reading of Will Eno's play GNIT, adapted from Henrik Ibsen's PEER GYNT Monday evening, June 20 at 7 pm at CSC (136 East 13th Street) as part of the theater's FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL IBSEN, presented in conjunction with the company current production of PEER GYNT, directed by John Doyle and runs through this Sunday, June 19.

The Shakespeare Society will hold its annual Playing Shakespeare Celebration - a festive cocktail party, fundraiser and awards ceremony on May 23, from 6 - 8 pm, at The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South.

Two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone has joined the star-studded Broadway roster for The Ladies Who Sing Sondheim, a gala benefit for Off-Broadway's esteemed Classic Stage Company on Monday, March 14 at Alice Tully Hall (1941 Broadway) hosted and directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle, who will become the company's new Artistic Director in July.  In addition to LuPone, the evening will include performances from Sondheim's canon by Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza), Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple), Joaquina Kalukango (The Color Purple), Judy Kuhn (Fun Home, CSC's Passion), Marin Mazzie (Kiss Me, Kate) and Alexandra Silber (Fiddler on the Roof). 

Aidan Quinn (Michael Collins, Practical Magic, Legends of the Fall, Broadway's A Streetcar Named Desire, and currently appearing in CBS' Elementary) joins Patrick Breen (Madam Secretary, The Normal Heart), Julia Murney (Wicked, The Wild Party), Valorie Curry (The Following, Twilight, American Pastoral), Sam Underwood (Dexter, Homeland, The Following) and Fundamental Theater Project in celebration of their honorary patron, Sir Peter Shaffer (Equus, Amadeus, Royal Hunt of the Sun) and in support of their mission of fostering emerging voices in the theater.

Boyd Gaines, four-time Tony Winner (Gypsy, She Loves Me, Driving Miss Daisy), joins Julia Murney (Wicked, The Wild Party), veteran director Tony Walton, and Fundamental Theater Project in celebration of their honorary patron, Sir Peter Shaffer (Equus, Amadeus, Royal Hunt of the Sun) and in support of their mission of fostering emerging voices in the theater.

BroadwayWorld is excited to report that Classic Stage Company's production of Bertolt Brecht's MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN, starring Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins, will begin performances Wednesday, December 9 for a limited engagement through January 24. MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN will be directed by Brian Kulick and will feature original music by Tony Award winner Duncan Sheik. The official press opening is Thursday, January 7.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Managing Director Jeff Griffin, has announced that its production of IPHIGENIA IN AULIS, acclaimed playwright Anne Washburn's (Mr. Burns, a post-electric play) transadaptation of Euripides' final play, directed by Obie Award winner Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812), will extend through Sunday, October 4 at CSC (136 East 13th Street). IPHIGENIA IN AULIS features original musical by The Bengsons and choreography by Sonya Tayeh. IPHIGENIA IN AULIS is part of CSC's Greek Festival, celebrating classical Greek theater as explored by some of the downtown theatre scene's most exciting artists.

The York Theatre Company, dedicated to the development of new musicals and preserving musical gems from the past, in association with Arnold Mittelman and The National Jewish Theater Foundation, is pleased to announce that Glory Crampton will join previously announced Tony Award nominee Robert Cuccioli in the world premiere production of Rothschild & Sons, with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, book by Sherman Yellen, with direction by Jeffrey B. Moss.  Mr. Cuccioli will star as Mayer Rothschild, with Ms. Crampton in the pivotal role as his wife, Gutele.  Additional casting will be announced shortly.

Classic Stage Company has announced that Marcel Spears is this year's recipient of the Rosemarie Tichler Fund grant.

On June 1 from 6-8 pm, The Shakespeare Society will host their third annual Playing Shakespeare Celebration at The Players (16 Gramercy Park South).

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Managing Director Jeff Griffin, has announced that its upcoming production of DOCTOR FAUSTUS, adapted by David Bridel and Andrei Belgrader from the play by Christopher Marlowe, starring Chris Noth ("Law & Order," "Sex and the City," "The Good Wife"), directed by Andrei Belgrader (CSC's production of The Cherry Orchard) will extend through Sunday, July 12.  Previews will now begin Tuesday, June 2 with an official opening Thursday, June 18 at CSC (136 East 13th Street).   Joining Noth in the cast are Tony Award nominee and "The Good Wife" co-star Zach Grenier as Mephistopheles, Jeffrey Binder, Ken Cheeseman, Carmen M. Herlihy, Walker Jones, Marina Lazzaretto, Geoffrey Owens and Lucas Caleb Rooney. 

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Managing Director Jeff Griffin, have announced complete for their upcoming production of DOCTOR FAUSTUS, adapted by David Bridel and Andrei Belgrader from the play by Christopher Marlowe, starring Chris Noth ('Law & Order,' 'Sex and the City,' 'The Good Wife'), directed by Andrei Belgrader (CSC's production of The Cherry Orchard). Joining Noth in the cast are Tony Award nominee and 'The Good Wife' co-star Zach Grenier as Mephistopheles, Jeff Binder, Ken Cheeseman, Carmen M. Herlihy, Walker Jones, Geoffrey Owens and Lucas Caleb Rooney. Previews begin Friday, May 29 for a limited engagement through Thursday, July 2 at CSC (136 East 13th Street). The official press opening is Thursday, June 18.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Managing Director Jeff Griffin, will present its 2015 annual gala, MUSICAL MASTERWORKS, Monday evening, May 11 at the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel (145 West 44th Street, NYC).  Tony Award-winner and CSC Associate Director John Doyle will helm an evening of memorable numbers from iconic American musicals-a rich and vital heritage that CSC has begun to explore with the critically-acclaimed productions of Passion and Allegro.

Classic Stage Company with terraNOVA Collective in association with The Public Theater, will present two-time Obie Award-winning actress Kathryn Grody in Falling Apart….Together for four evenings in April at CSC (136 East 13th Street). In this one-woman show, Grody strives to be the predictable anchor among rambunctious sons, big personalities, and clashes between who you thought you would grow up to be and who you have become. This brilliant and explosively emotional new one-woman show is as brutally funny as it is brutally honest about what it means to be alive and present in the chaos of today's domestic possibilities. Written by Grody and directed by Timothy Near, Falling Apart…Together will be performed April 19, 20, 26 and 27 only.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick, Managing Director Jeff Griffin and Executive Director Greg Reiner, announced complete casting today for their upcoming production of William Shakespeare's HAMLET, starring acclaimed actor Peter Sarsgaard as Hamlet, and directed by Austin Pendleton.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick, Managing Director Jeff Griffin and Executive Director Greg Reiner, announced today that its production of Ivan Turgenev's A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY, starring Peter Dinklage and Taylor Schilling, will extend through Saturday, February 28 at CSC (136 East 13th Street). The production had been schedules to close February 22. Directed by Erica Schmidt, the cast also includes Peter Appel, Ian Etheridge, Anthony Edwards, Mike Faist, Elizabeth Franz, James Joseph O'Neil, Elizabeth Ramos, Thomas Jay Ryan, Annabella Sciorra, Frank Van Putten, Megan West and Kate Wetherhead.

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: CHICAGO crowns its new King of the Courtroom, Scott Alan comes to 54 Below, Broadway stars team up for concerts across the city and more!

Celebrating its 10th year, Gingold Theatrical Group's PROJECT SHAW, under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director David Staller, presents its 100th production, Shaw's 1905 one-act comedy How He Lied to Her Husband, on Monday, January 19 at 7pm, at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre (2895 Broadway at 95th St.).

The official opening is Thursday, January 29. The cast will also include Peter Appel, Ian Etheridge, Mike Faist, James Joseph O'Neil, Elizabeth Ramos, Thomas Jay Ryan, Frank Van Putten and Megan West. A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY will be directed by Erica Schmidt.