Ruth Mitchell News

The Franklin School for the Performing Arts (FSPA) will offer its annual Broadway Boot Camp this July for students Grades 8-12 with an additional option for Grades 1-7. This year's special guest instructors will be Ben Bryant and Lonnie E. Davis Jr.

With the current theatre world on hiatus, I have created a Spotlight Series on Broadway World which features interviews with some of the many talented artists who make our Los Angeles theatre community so exciting and vibrant thanks to their ongoing contribution to keeping the Arts alive in the City of the Angels. And just like all of us, I wondered how they are dealing with the abrupt end of productions in which they were involved. This Spotlight focuses on Robert Yacko, one of the busiest triple-threat performers in Los Angeles!

In this time of social distancing and remaining responsibly indoors, we are all looking for ways to brighten our days and get moving any way we can!

In celebration of her upcoming induction into the National Theater Hall of Fame on November 18th, I sat down with Broadway legend, Donna McKechnie for a spirited, informative, career-spanning chat.

Few people have helped to define the American musical today more than Harold 'Hal' Prince. His resume includes some of the most important titles of the past century: West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Company, Sweeney Todd, and Phantom of the Opera. Prince's impact on Broadway stemmed from his reinvention of musical theatre from the script- and score-based model to a more visual, almost cinematic art form in which the director is auteur. But it also stemmed from his appreciation for collaboration and his trusted collaborators--talented friends and colleagues who could help achieve his singular vision for a production.

In The Company of Harold Prince opens September 18, 2019 in the Library's Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery.

brooklyn theatre club is drunken participatory theatre - scripts, props and costumes provided!

brooklyn theatre club is drunken participatory theatre - scripts, props and costumes provided!

The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati will take audiences "up, up and away" with a SUPER season opener when they present SUPERMAN October 6-15, 2018 at the Taft Theatre.

Presented by a brand new Production group, 4 Leaf Music Productions, in Association with Golden Performing Arts Center, and based on a 1934 Kaufman and Hart play of the same name, this musical tells the story of three friends, Franklin, Charley, and Mary, and the progressive decadence of their bonds and their dreams. The story is told in reverse. When it begins, in 1980, they're in their 40's: Franklin, is a rich, successful, conceited and confused noted songwriter; Charley, the lyricist in the duo, has cut off ties with his partner after a nervous breakdown and Mary is a lonely alcoholic still secretly in love with Franklin from when they first met, years and years ago. As we move forward in the play but backwards in time, we see how their friendships disintegrate, along with their aspirations and Franklin's many whirlwind marriages. Rewinding through the '70s and '60s, we end up in 1957, when the three of them meet for the first time, on a rooftop in the city, all hopeful young talents per-chance gathering to watch Sputnik go by in the pre-dawn sky. The song they sing, 'Our Time' ('We're the movers, we're the shapers/ the names in tomorrow's papers'), is undercut by some very keen irony, since we've already seen how it all turns out, at the beginning.

Single tickets to all productions in the 2018-2019 Children's Theatre of Cincinnati MainStage season at the Taft Theatre are available starting TODAY, Wednesday, August 22.

Many may have heard of the movie AN AMERICAN IN PARIS that starred Gene Kelly and featured such songs as "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise," "S Wonderful," and "I Got Rhythm." Well, the recent Broadway hit of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS took some of the story, some of the songs, and added to it. What was created was a story that pays tribute to great shows of days gone by as well as adding new parts to make an extraordinary musical. As AN AMERICAN IN PARIS tours around North America, it is preparing to make a stop in Austin, Texas at the Bass Concert Hall from May 29-June 3, 2018. BWW caught up with actress Teri Hansen who plays Madame Baurel. She shared with BWW just what it was that brought her to be part of the amazing tour of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS.

Cape Rep Theatre is opening its 33rd season with the regional premiere of Merrily We Roll Along, book by George Furth, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, May 9 through June 3, Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm; there is no performance on Today, May 23rd. Tickets are $35 and $40. Pay-What-You-Can-Night is the first Friday, May 11th. Group rates & Student Rush tickets also available. Call the box office for details. Cape Rep Indoor Theater. North Side Route 6A E. Brewster. 508.896.1888 or www.caperep.org.

Cape Rep Theatre is opening its 33rd season with the regional premiere of Merrily We Roll Along, book by George Furth, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, May 9 through June 3, Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm; there is no performance on Wednesday, May 23rd. Tickets are $35 and $40. Pay-What-You-Can-Night is the first Friday, May 11th. Group rates & Student Rush tickets also available. Call the box office for details. Cape Rep Indoor Theater. North Side Route 6A E. Brewster. 508.896.1888 or www.caperep.org.

Cape Rep Theatre is celebrating its 33rd season with an exciting line up of plays and musicals, all of them Cape Cod premieres, and one world premiere by a local playwright. The Indoor Theater season will open May 9th with the George Furth and Stephen Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along, followed by the world premiere production of The Tuna Goddess, by local theater artist, Jade Schuyler. Next up is the Broadway sensation, Mamma Mia!, music by the beloved super group ABBA and book by Catherine Johnson, followed by the 5-time Tony Award winning Fun Home, book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, music by Jeanine Tesori, based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. The season will close with the Cape Cod premiere of Shakespeare in Love, based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, adapted for the stage by Lee Hall.

On the heels of a thrilling performance by Phantom star DAVIS GAINES, the 2017 Janet and Mark L. Goldenson Broadway Concert Series at Rubicon Theatre Company continues with a concert starring Emmy Award-winner and multiple-Tony nominee NANCY DUSSAULT in MY LIFE…UPON THE WICKED STAGE. Perhaps best known to audiences as the first host of "Good Morning America," and for her co-starring role on TV on "Too Close for Comfort," Dussault's remarkable career began on the stage. Her concert includes anecdotes about Dussault's remarkable career and songs by many of her favorite composers, such as Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne, Burton Lane and Stephen Sondheim. Dussault's extraordinary musicality and comedic storytelling infuse new meaning into beloved classics such as "Getting Married Today," "Look to the Rainbow," "Old Friend" and her iconic "Make Someone Happy." Nancy is joined by Musical Director Christopher Marlowe and Director Valentine Mayer. NANCY DUSSAULT: MY LIFE…UPON THE WICKED STAGE comes to Ventura for three-performances-only: Saturday, May 20 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 21 at 2 p.m.

The Douglas Morrisson Theatre 2016-2017 37th Season concludes with a musical revue featuring songs of the incomparable Stephen Sondheim: SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM: A Musical Entertainment, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and music by Leonard Bernstein, Mary Rodgers, Richard Rodgers and Jule Styne.

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Nancy Dussault in "MY LIFE UPON THE WICKED STAGE" on September 27, 2016 @ 7:00PM. Nancy will take the audience on a musical journey, returning to those heady days of her Broadway life. Expect this Golden Age leading lady to sing the brilliant songs of Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne, Burton Lane, and Stephen Sondheim. You'll also get to re-live the time when she introduced the classic, "Make Someone Happy". Nancy will regale with tales of being the first co-host of Good Morning America, co-starring in the New Dick Van Dyke show, and starring with Ted Knight in "Too Close For Comfort", before returning to Broadway in Side By Side By Sondheim and Into The Woods. In "My Life-Upon The Wicked Stage" Dussault brings her musicality, comedic storytelling, and unique personal accessibility to songs including "Getting Married Today", "Look To The Rainbow", "Where Is The Tribe For Me", "Old Friend" and of course, " Make Someone Happy".

Hollywood legend, Guest of Honor at a screening of 'West Side Story' for Old Globe in Balboa Park, credits Jerome Robbins for career: 'I owe him so much.'