Scott Suchman News

The Ford's Theatre 2010-2011 season opens with 'Sabrina Fair' by Samuel A. Taylor, October 1-24, 2010. Stephen Rayne ('The Heavens Are Hung In Black') returns to directs this delightful modern twist on the Cinderella story. The production features Susan Heyward as Sabrina with Todd Gearhart and Tom Story as the charming Larrabee brothers. Additional casting includes John Dow as Linus Larrabee, Sr., Helen Hedman as Maude Larrabee, Kimberly Schraf as Julia, and Craig Wallace as Fairchild.

Director Eric Schaeffer's restaging is first major American production in 20 years.

Signature Theatre today announced that the run of its hit production of the rock musical Chess will be extended for one week through Sunday, October 3.

In September, DC area theatres are filled with almost a dozen musical productions opening -- classics, family shows, and many wonderful plays being performed on our over 200 theatre venues. The humidity is finally melting away, and it's a perfect time to welcome the cooler weather and the colors of the Fall by making a trip to the Nation's Capital and catching a show or two or three. There are family shows with canines and rabbits, a Labor Day weekend theatre festival that's FREE, a new jazz musical with some of the area's most talented singers, and bugs and ants that swing on trapezes. Mr. Ripley is finally coming to town, while I'm hoping that all will be well at Shakespeare Theatre. Someone is trying to deal with a very troubling inch, a Bar-Mitzvah boy has to deal with his crazy family, spelling champions battle it out, and a beagle pilot takes flight. There's so much to choose from, so read on and see what's playing in September in this monumental town. Happy New Year to all my fellow Jewish lovers of the theatre!

Chess, the rock musical by the composers of Mamma Mia!, opened at Signature Theatre on August 10, 2010 and plays a limited run through September 26. The first major American production in almost 20 years-and the Washington region's very first professional production-stars Broadway's Jill Paice (Curtains), Euan Morton (Boy George in Taboo), and Jeremy Kushnier (Footloose) in the Russian/American conflict made new again. Director Eric Schaeffer (Broadway's Million Dollar Quartet) and his creative team capture the gritty, sexy world of Chess' 1985 radio hit 'One Night in Bangkok' in the amazing intimacy of Signature's 276-seat MAX Theatre. The Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre has a national reputation for its work with musicals - polishing underappreciated gems, as well as producing world premieres and reinventing classics. The first official production shots have been released and BroadwayWorld brings you a very first look below!

The world of Cold War intrigue, forbidden love, and 1980s rock rules when the legendary musical Chess, by the composers of Mamma Mia!, opens at Signature Theatre tomorrow, August 10. The production will run through September 26. The first major American production in almost 20 years - and the Washington region's very first professional production - stars Broadway's Jill Paice (Curtains), Euan Morton (Boy George in Taboo), and Jeremy Kushnier (Footloose) in the Russian/American conflict made new again. Director Eric Schaeffer (Broadway's Million Dollar Quartet) and his creative team capture the gritty, sexy world of Chess' 1985 radio hit ‘One Night in Bangkok' in the amazing intimacy of Signature's 276-seat MAX Theatre. The Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre has a national reputation for its work with musicals - polishing underappreciated gems, as well as producing world premieres and reinventing classics. In anticipation of this exciting opening, BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the production with never-before-seen dress rehearsal shots! Check back tomorrow for official opening night photo coverage and video!

Is there any better place to celebrate the Fourth of July than the Nation's Capital? If you're in town for the fireworks and concert on the Mall, consider popping into one of our local theatres. This month's MUST-SEES include The Capital Fringe Festival and Hip-Hop Festival, pirates, a high-flying nanny, a supreme trio, a boar with a flapjack, a crazy one-man Lord of the Rings, those loveable Tony Award-winning puppets, lots of plaid, a household of singing sisters, Stew's 'strange' score, and a concert version of a Rodgers and Hart classic musical. There's something for everyone in July on our DC area stages.

It is always so exciting going to see a World Premiere of a musical. This happens often at the Signature Theatre thanks to the their 'American Musical Voices Project' (the largest single musical theater commissioning and producing initiative of any U.S. theater) sponsored by the Shen Family Foundation.

Signature Theatre, the current recipient of the Tony Award® for Regional Theatre, presents the world premiere musical Sycamore Trees by Ricky Ian Gordon, composer of the acclaimed opera The Grapes of Wrath and the OBIE Award-winning Orpheus and Euridice, as well as the musicals My Life with Albertine and Dream True. Gordon's autobiographical setting of his family's struggles and triumphs over 50 years, Sycamore Trees will run through June 13, 2010 in the intimate playing space of the 276-seat MAX Theatre.

Join Maurice Hines and cast members of Arena Stage's Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies for the 18th Annual Arena Stage Benefit for Community Engagement: Swingin' with Sophisticated Ladies, Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at The Lincoln Theatre.

The producing team of the Broadway smash hit THE COLOR PURPLE, The Musical about Love, are proud to announce that Fort Lauderdale will host the national touring production of the acclaimed production for sixteen performances, opening Tuesday, April 6 through Sunday, April 18, presented by the Florida Theatrical Association at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. I saw the national tour when it played Miami. Suffice is to say, I headlined my review 'Halelujah, I Loved It'

The producing team of the Broadway smash hit THE COLOR PURPLE, The Musical about Love, are proud to announce that Fort Lauderdale will host the national touring production of the acclaimed production for sixteen performances, opening Tuesday, April 6 through Sunday, April 18, presented by the Florida Theatrical Association at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. I saw the national tour when it played Miami. Suffice is to say, I headlined my review 'Halelujah, I Loved It'

As the Helen Hayes Awards ceremony on April 5th honors performances and productions from the past year, DC theatergoers will be hearing two gorgeous scores by Jason Robert Brown and Jeanine Tesori, and seeing a new opera about a boxer, a splashing pool on stage, Tyne Daley as diva Maria Callas, Maurice Hines tapping his way on the Lincoln Theatre stage, Mrs. Robinson seducing Benjamin, a red balloon thrilling young audiences, Harvey Fierstein wishing he was a rich man, tales and songs from a Scottish Jewish composer, a new children's show with lots of princesses, a little musical with the title in [ ], a triumphant mounting of a short-lived Broadway musical, and a wordless Kafka classic performed in Georgian style. The crocuses, cherry blossoms, and azaleas will be in full bloom, as the nation's capital will be awash in beautiful colors. It's the perfect time to visit and see some great shows in our DC area theatres.

The producing team of the Broadway smash hit THE COLOR PURPLE, The Musical about Love, are proud to announce that Fort Lauderdale will host the national touring production of the acclaimed production for sixteen performances, opening Tuesday, April 6 through Sunday, April 18, presented by the Florida Theatrical Association at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. I saw the national tour when it played Miami. Suffice is to say, I headlined my review 'Halelujah, I Loved It'

Lydia Diamond's tour de force focuses on upper class black family, but finds common ground with the broader human experience, showing once again that we are more alike than we are different

The Huntington Theatre Company continues its 28th season - a season of American stories - with Stick Fly, Huntington Playwriting Fellow Lydia R Diamond's smart, moving, and funny portrait of a complex African-American family.

The DC area stages' theatre choices in March are dizzying! There's a new play by Terrence McNally at the Kennedy Center, and an off-Broadway gem at Signature Theatre. Adam Guettel's gorgeous Tony Award-winning harmonies will fill Arena Stage in Crystal City. Fagin and his orphans and zaftig Edna Turnblad and her daughter Tracy - will be singing and dancing at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Baltimore and Columbia, MD, and a blood-thirsty musical will be establishing roots at Ford's Theatre. With over 30 shows opening this month, come visit the DC area's 205 theatre venues, and have a monumental time!

As musical theater composers go, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has a staggering amount of hits in his repertoire of past shows. THE MUSIC OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER, the mini-concert tour now performing through Sunday, February 21 at The Orange County Performing Arts Center, serves as a musical gathering of most of the living legend's greatest hits (and a few not-so-successful, more obscure show compositions as well) into a tight two-hour-and-fifteen-minute concert that's less a theater experience than a symphony concert with some amazing singers. Enhanced by a terrific, full on-stage orchestra under the direction of conductor/musical director Edward G. Robinson, six talented Broadway veterans take the audience show by show through Webber's catalogue.

The Huntington Theatre Company continues its 28th season - a season of American stories - with Stick Fly, Huntington Playwriting Fellow Lydia R Diamond's smart, moving, and funny portrait of a complex African-American family.