Robert Lopez News

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: DRIVING MISS DAISY, starring Lansbury and Jones, hits movie theaters today, while the NY Phil's CANDIDE concert, featuring Chenoweth and LuPone, is out online!

Oscar-winning FROZEN songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez are in development on their next project -- a musical titled UP HERE, with ROCKY's Alex Timbers on board to direct. The production is scheduled to make its World Premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in California during the theater's 2015-16 season, though no exact dates have been set.

THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, is pleased to announce a lottery ticket policy for the National Tour, which begins Tuesday, June 10 at The Smith Center in Las Vegas and plays a limited four-week engagement through Sunday, July 6. In Las Vegas, the production will conduct a pre-show lottery at the box office, making 20 tickets available at $25 apiece, including facility fee, which will be located in the first row of the orchestra.

It's quite possible that no Tony nominee has ever had a year like Idina Menzel has. With the world-wide juggernaut of FROZEN racking up well over a billion dollars at the box office, 'Let it Go' being certified Triple Platinum, and earning her third Tony nomination for IF/THEN, Idina could concievably take the title of Queen of All Media. Whether or not she wins her second Tony is up to the voters, but now, BroadwayWorld wants to know which of Idina's roles is your favorite. Take a look at the list, follow @BroadwayWorld on Twitter, and tweet the hashtag #BWWCountdownIdina and your answer. We will unveil your picks on Friday, June 6th, right before the Tonys.

Mercury Theater Chicago, 3745 N. Southport Avenue, recently announced the extension of its home-grown version of the hilarious Broadway musical Avenue Q through July 27, 2014 due to popular demand. Check out a new set of production photos below!

Mercury Theater Chicago, 3745 N. Southport Avenue, has announced the extension of its home- grown version of the hilarious Broadway musical Avenue Q through July 27, 2014 due to popular demand. Avenue Q has broken all box office records for Mercury Theater Chicago. Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune described the show as 'delightfully sweet and vulnerable...could not be more fun or charming to watch!' and the Chicago Sun Times Highly Recommends the show saying its 'better than the Broadway original!' Winner of the Tony 'Triple Crown' for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book in 2004, Avenue Q is part flesh, part felt, and packed with heart. The production is led by Jeff Award winners L. Walter Stearns (Director), Eugene Dizon (Musical Direction), and Kevin Bellie (Choreography) and features custom made puppets by Russ Walko.

4th Wall Theatre, a non union professional theatre in Bloomfield, NJ is presenting Avenue Q which opened Off-Broadway in March 2003, co-produced by The New Group and the Vineyard Theatre, and transferred to Broadway in July 2003. 4th Wall's production will be directed by Kate Swan. Avenue Q tells the story of a recent college grad named Princeton who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way out on Avenue Q. He soon discovers that although the residents seem nice, it's clear that this is not your ordinary neighborhood. Together, Princeton and his new-found friends struggle to find jobs, dates, and their ever-elusive purpose in life.

ROCKY's director Alex Timbers believes Broadway has a while to go before its adequately connecting to the modern American audience member.

Avenue Q has been called the 'funniest dirty musical' or 'the dirtiest funny musical' ever. Written by Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon, Frozen) the Tony Award-winning show is a clever and irreverent look at the world through the eyes of the residents of Avenue Q as they explore and address the issues associated with growing up in the 'real' world, rather than the one their parents - and Sesame Street - described to them. Using a unique combination of humans and puppets, the musical chronicles its characters' struggles to find decent jobs, stable relationships, and their purpose in life.

It's Pride month 2014 and The Brown Paper Box Co. is ready to celebrate! Following their successful run of William Finn's A New Brain, The Brown Paper Box Co. has announced their next cabaret series: PROUD AT MARY'S: A June Cabaret at Mary's Attic in Andersonville. Ticketing information for this evening of Pride-based stories and songs can be found at www.brownpaperbox.org.

Back by popular demand, THE BOOK OF MORMON, which played a record breaking two week run in 2013, returns to Minneapolis for a limited engagement August 20-September 7, 2014 at Hennepin Theatre Trust's Orpheum Theatre.

From the controversial and crass to the inspiring and romantic, the past decade's Tony winners for Best Musical delighted us then and continue to captivate us as they play in productions across the country and around the world. And what better way to refresh and prep for this year's big award than to relive the stand-outs from the last 10 years on Broadway? Scroll down to learn more about the winners since 2004, and be sure to tell us which musical gets your pick for 2014!

After being on the road for almost two years now, the hilarious Tony Award-winning Broadway musical hit THE BOOK OF MORMON has finally made its way inside the OC... And, man, it's about frikkin' time. All that hype and hyperbole about just how amazing this show is isn't an exaggeration; every accolade this show has received since its bow is indeed much-deserved. The giddy, uber-devilish musical continues its two-week mission at Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Center for the Arts through May 25.

How do you take a devout, sacred religion like Mormonism, pack in a bunch of old, Ohio conservatives, and somehow manage to have them laughing in stitches on topics like female circumcision, rape, AIDS, and homosexuality? That's the genius of South Park writers, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, along with AVENUE Q co-creator Robert Lopez, who accomplished just that. With 9 Tony Awards under its belt (holding in the maggots), THE BOOK OF MORMON is a truly brilliant creation of musical comedy, combining shamelessly offensive language with a generous heartfelt story, uplifting songs, terrific choreography, and quick wit. Continuous tornado sirens on opening press night didn't stop Ohioans from cramming in the Ohio Theatre to worship this truly amazing production.

After 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the soundtrack to Disney's FROZEN has been bumped by the 'Now 50' compilation

Back by popular demand, THE BOOK OF MORMON, which played a record breaking two week run in 2013, returns for a limited engagement. Seattle Theatre Group announced today that single tickets will go on sale Monday, May 19 at 10 am. Tickets will be available on-line at stgpresents.org and tickets.com. Tickets are also available by calling 877-STG-4TIX (784-4849) or in person at The Paramount Theatre Box Office (Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm).Group orders of 15 or more may be placed by calling 888-214-6856.

The Novato Theater Company has announced the six plays to be staged in its 2014-2015 Season, beginning with Ken Ludwig's Leading Ladies, opening on August 21, 2014, and closing with Paul Slade Smith's rollicking Unnecessary Farce, May 21-June 14, 2015.

A smash hit on Broadway, the West End and worldwide, this hugely popular coming of age satire based on the much loved Sesame Street features puppets and puppeteers alongside human actors. The producers behind the first UK Tour of Spring Awakening and West End production of Seussical will be embarking on a ten week tour of the Tony Award winning musical comedy following a run in their resident venue Greenwich Theatre.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts and THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, are pleased to announce a lottery ticket policy for the Orange County engagement, today, May 13 - 25, 2014. The production will conduct a pre-show lottery at the Segerstrom Hall box office, making a limited number of tickets available for $25 each.

From South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, will play Columbus at the Ohio Theatre today, May 13-25.