Sam Weber News

Paper Mill Playhouse, recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents the smash hit musical Million Dollar Quartet with book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, original concept by Mr. Mutrux, inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. Performances will run now through Sunday, April 23, 2017 at Paper Mill Playhouse (22 Brookside Drive) in Millburn, NJ. Check out highlights from the show below!

Paper Mill Playhouse, recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents the smash hit musical Million Dollar Quartet with book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, original concept by Mr. Mutrux, inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature SPRING AWAKENING in Maine, A RAISIN IN THE SUN in Charlotte, and BUS STOP in Denver, just to name a few. Check out our top features below!

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Producing Artistic Director, Todd Schmidt-Managing Director), recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony® Award, has announced casting for the smash hit musical Million Dollar Quartet with book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, original concept by Mr. Mutrux, inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. Directed by Tony® Award nominee Hunter Foster and with music direction by James Barry, the 8-member ensemble will feature James Barry as Carl Perkins, Alex Boniello as Elvis Presley, Jason Loughlin as Sam Phillips, Scott Moreau as Johnny Cash, David Sonneborn as Fluke, Bligh Voth as Dyanne, Sam Weber as Brother Jay, and Nat Zegree as Jerry Lee Lewis. 

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Producing Artistic Director, Todd Schmidt-Managing Director), recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony® Award, has announced casting for the smash hit musical Million Dollar Quartet with book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, original concept by Mr. Mutrux, inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. 

Paper Mill Playhouse, recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, has announced casting for the smash hit musical Million Dollar Quartet with book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, original concept by Mr. Mutrux, inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.

BWW Review: HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH at Winspear Opera House

Last week, before the Hedwig and the Angry Inch tour opens at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, I caught up with the production's Yitzhak: Hannah Corneau.  It was lovely chatting with her about how she came to Hedwig, and how this truly unique show has been received across the country!

By all accounts, 2016 has been quite the rollercoaster ride. Fortunately for DFW audiences, the local theatre community and many of the touring productions delivered nothing short of a stellar year, setting quite a high bar for upcoming performances. As we say goodbye to another December, we'd like to look back on a handful of memories that stood out among the long list of Playbills we've gathered. And like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, these live theatre moments will be remembered as a few of our favorite things. We present this list in no particular order, and without awards or titles bestowed upon those listed. To everyone who contributed to the DFW theatre community in 2016, we thank you for sharing your time and talents with us.

Fort Worth audiences are sure to delight with Casa Mañana's newly open Million Dollar Quartet.

Angels in America is a beast of a piece to mount, even when broken into parts.  Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize winning cycle explores relationships, identity, and how our present interacts with both the future we fear and the past that haunts us. 

William Peace Theatre opens its 2016-17 season with the beloved Broadway musical, Kiss Me, Kate.  The show runs two weeks, October 20-22 and 28-29 at Kenan Auditorium on the William Peace University Campus in downtown Raleigh.

Lyric Stage at the Irving Arts Center once again brings an off forgotten show back to life with their most recent production, Camelot.  While the text of the show has had its fair share of revisions and struggles, due in part to a wordy book, Lyric's production manages to bring smiles to the audience and music to their ears.

Check out brand-new stills from the Hunter Foster-directed production of MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET.

Tapman Productions and Artistic Director Tristan Bruns are proud to announce the first show in their 2016 - 2017 season, THRUST!, August 19 - 28, at Stage 773, Thrust Theatre, 1225 W Belmont Ave. The performance schedule is Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Opening night is Friday, August 19 at 7 p.m. Tickets to THRUST! are $20 and go on sale June 1 at the Stage 773 box office, www.stage773.com or by calling 773.327.5252. For more information on Tapman Productions visit TapmanProductions.com.

'It's not every day you see someone play a glissando on the piano with his foot.'  That in itself completely conveys what 'Million Dollar Quartet' at Westchester Broadway Theatre is all about. 

The international smash hit musical, MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET is set on December 4, 1956, when an auspicious twist of fate brought Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley together. Sam Phillips, the 'Father of Rock 'n' Roll' who was responsible for launching the careers of each icon, brought the four legendary musicians together at the Sun Records studio in Memphis for the first and only time. The resulting evening became known as one of the greatest rock 'n' roll jam sessions in history.

Since you're on Broadway World, chances are you're the type of person who is familiar with the concept of artist merit. By that, I mean you're the person who appreciates the lengthy productions of Sunday in the Park with George just as much if not more (let's face it, way more) than you do a spunky production of familiar shows like Footloose or Grease (god bless those good old high school staples). You're also probably the person who, although you secretly live every time you hear 'Defying Gravity', is so over those mainstream shows. Many college students would much rather revive Applause than they would something like Beauty and the Beast, but when you're breaking into the business or just starting out in production, finding the original artistic value in those 'over-exposed' shows might be just what you need to build a reputation.

Well, it's been awhile - and to be quite honest, not a ton of progress has been made since I introduced my current project. As I believe I mentioned, myself and a few other students at my college have for the last two years produced full-fledged productions of musicals in less than 24 hours. Beginning this fall, we are trying to expand our 'season', if you will, with another full student production, however this time rehearsed sparsely over the course of two weeks instead of all in one day (with an approx. total rehearsal time of 40 hours). Our hope is that this will give us a chance to produce larger scale shows, with more complex elements, and larger, more inclusive casts.