Robert Russell News

Lincoln Center Theater, in association with Bob Boyett and NETworks Presentations, presents a new production of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein's prize-winning musical SOUTH PACIFIC, directed by Bartlett Sher.

SHN will present the all-new production of the Lincoln Center Theater prize-winning musical classic of Rodgers and Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC at the Golden Gate Theatre beginning Friday, September 18 through Sunday, October 25, 2009.

Lincoln Center Theater, in association with Bob Boyett and NETworks Presentations, presents a new production of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein's prize-winning musical SOUTH PACIFIC, directed by Bartlett Sher.

Casting has been announced for the all-new production of the Lincoln Center Theater prize-winning musical classic Rodgers and Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC premiering at the Golden Gate Theatre beginning Friday, September 18 through Sunday, October 25, 2009.

The National Touring Company of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC will be led by Rod Gilfry (Emile de Becque) and Carmen Cusack (Nellie Forbush), with Anderson Davis (Lt. Cable), Matthew Saldivar (Luther Billis), Keala Settle (Bloody Mary), Gerry Becker (Capt. Brackett), Peter Rini (Cmdr. Harbison), Sumie Maeda (Liat), Rusty Ross (Professor) and original 2008 Broadway cast member Genson Blimline (Stewpot).

It's a boy for Kelli O'Hara, three-time Tony nominee who is currently on maternity leave from Lincoln Center Theater's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific. On Saturday (June 27) Kelli and her husband, Greg Naughton, welcomed Owen James weighing in at 7 lbs 3 ounces. He is the couple's first child.

Following last season?s triumph of Rodgers & Hammerstein?s Carousel, Lyric Stage Founding Producer Steven Jones has reunited director Cheryl Denson and music director Jay Dias for the world premiere of the newly restored The King and I, featuring a 35-piece orchestra playing the original Robert Russell Bennett orchestrations. Performances are June 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27 @ 8:00 PM and June 21 & 28 @ 2:30 PM. Performances are in the Irving Arts Center?s Carpenter Performance Hall, 3333 N. Mac Arthur Blvd,. Irving, Texas. Tickets, priced from $20-$50, are available online at www.lyricstage.org or by calling 972-252-2787.

SHN will present the all-new production of the Lincoln Center Theater prize-winning musical classic Rodgers and Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC at the Golden Gate Theatre beginning Friday, September 18 through Sunday, October 25, 2009.

Today's Broadway Blogs on BroadwayWorld.com from Sunday, March 29, 2009.

'If musical theatre doesn't address important issues, who will?,' read a t-shirt I spotted at the Broadway Flea Market several years ago. And while America's theater history is rich with important issue addressing musical dramas like Show Boat and Ragtime, when Finian's Rainbow hit Broadway in 1947 it was pretty much unheard of for a musical comedy to have its main plot centered on attacking institutionalized racism.

The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization released the first complete recording of Rodgers & Hammerstein's ALLEGRO on Sony Masterworks Broadway on February 3, 2009. The CD is produced by David Lai, Bruce Pomahac and Ted Chapin.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director and Bernard Gersten, Executive Director) has announced that Laura Osnes will assume the role of Ensign Nellie Forbush in its Tony Award winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC, directed by Bartlett Sher, beginning Tuesday, March 10 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

Kelli O'Hara, the Tony nominated star of South Pacific is has a new 'production' in the works that will demand she take leave from the Lincoln Center hit starting in March, she is expecting her first child with husband Greg Naughton. The star's web site now lists March 7, 2009 as her final performance.

TICKETS/INFO | www.92YTribeca.org | 212.601.1000 *THIS WED* Feb 25, 7:30 pm, $10 advance / $15 door THE MANHATTAN MONOLOGUE SLAM The long-running Manhattan Monologue Slam, formerly of the Zipper Factory and Bowery Poet's Club, comes to its new home at 92YTribeca for a night of electrifying theater.

Center Theatre Group's 2009-2010 season at the Ahmanson Theatre is a yearlong celebration of big, lush Broadway hits, including four Tony Award-winning musicals, the 2008 winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play, and a rare, limited engagement of two stage virtuosos.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director and Bernard Gersten, Executive Director) has announced that Laura Osnes will assume the role of Ensign Nellie Forbush in its Tony Award winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC, directed by Bartlett Sher, beginning Tuesday, March 10 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

Kern and Hammerstein's Music in the Air, the second Encores! production of New York City Center's 2008-09 season, concluded its limited run yesterday, Sunday, February 8th. Music in the Air, a rarely seen 1932 musical, was directed by Gary Griffin with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Michael Lichtefeld. The production ran for five performances at City Center, West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues). BroadwayWorld's camera caught the final curtain call of the Encores! treat. The cast includes Kristin Chenoweth, Douglas Sills, Dick Latessa, Marni Nixon, Tom Alan Robbins, Sierra Boggess, Walter Charles, Anne L. Nathan, David Schramm, Ryan Silverman and Robert Sella. Music in the Air, with music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett, has been restored by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and has not been seen in New York in its original form since its premiere Broadway engagement at the Alvin Theatre in 1932. Opening on November 8th of that year, it played for 342 performances in a production directed by the authors. A revised version had a brief revival at the Ziegfeld Theatre in 1951. Music in the Air is a musical romance, with the wit and elegance of an Ernst Lubitsch film. It's the story of a Bavarian music teacher (Robbins), his beautiful young daughter (Boggess), and the daughter's suitor (Silverman), who travel to the big, bad city of Munich where they encounter a cast of self-involved, egotistical theater folk who promise them fame, fortune and romance. Kristin Chenoweth and Douglas Sills play a Diva (Chenoweth) and an egotistical operetta librettist (Sills) who take the young couple under their wings (and claws). Songs include 'I've Told Ev'ry Little Star' and 'The Song Is You.' Photos by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

Kern and Hammerstein's Music in the Air, the second Encores! production of New York City Center's 2008-09 season, concluded its limited run yesterday, Sunday, February 8th. Music in the Air, a rarely seen 1932 musical, was directed by Gary Griffin with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Michael Lichtefeld. The production ran for five performances at City Center, West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues). BroadwayWorld's cameras caught the final curtain call of the Encores! treat.

Today's Broadway Blogs on BroadwayWorld.com from Friday, February 6, 2009.

Although operetta wasn't completely on its way out when Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II brought Music In The Air to Broadway in 1932, the popularity of the genre was indeed waning a bit as jazzy and witty scores by the likes of George and Ira Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart and Cole Porter dominated the decade's theatre music. But the creators of Show Boat, just five years earlier, weren't done quite yet.