Second Stage Theatre News

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Aaron Tveit (Broadway's CATCH ME IF YOU CAN,'Les Miserables') has been cast as 'Grease's' legendary leading man, 'Danny Zuko' in Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX) and Paramount Television's live production of GREASE: LIVE, airing Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016 (7:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX. Additionally, Carlos PenaVega ('Big Time Rush') will play 'Kenickie,' Zuko's tough-guy sidekick. Tveit and PenaVega join Julianne Hough ('Safe Haven,' 'Rock of Ages') as the angelic 'Sandy,' Vanessa Hudgens (Broadway's GIGI,'High School Musical,' 'Spring Breakers') as bad girl 'Rizzo' and Keke Palmer (Broadway's CINDERELLA, SCREAM QUEENS, 'Masters of Sex') as 'Marty.' BroadwayWorld recently checked in with Tveit on his big casting news:

One of the capital's most beloved annual traditions, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) Free For All, and one of William Shakespeare's most beloved plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream, are coming together for a major milestone: Free For All's 25th anniversary. Ethan McSweeny directs a revival of his 2012-2013 STC production, which will run September 1-13 at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW).

A first look at the highly anticipated world premiere WHORL INSIDE A LOOP have just been released! The production, starring Sherie Renee Scott, is now in performances at Second Stage Theatre (43rd Street and 8th Avenue) and officially opens on Thursday, August 27. Check out photos below!

Two seasoned theatre professionals, one from New York and one a Detroit native, have joined forces to launch the Detroit Public Theatre (DPT). Detroit's newest performing arts institution will open in residence at the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center in October 2015. The inaugural season of Detroit Public Theatre opens with the Michigan Premiere of the dark comedy, American Hero by Bess Wohl, on October 30, 2015. The line up continues through May 2016 in the Robert A. and Maggie Allessee Rehearsal Hall at the Max with three more productions - including Dominique Morisseau's powerful and timely Detroit '67, and From Broadway to Obscurity, a musical journey by Eric Gutman, a homegrown artist and leading Broadway player.

Second Stage Theatre 2015 Uptown Series' acclaimed production of KING LIZ has been extended by one week and will now play through Saturday, August 15.  Written by Fernanda Coppel (Chimichangas and Zoloft) and directed by Lisa Peterson, KING LIZ features MICHAEL CULLEN, JEREMIE HARRIS, RUSSELL G. JONES, CAROLINE LAGERFELT, IRENE SOFIA LUCIO and KAREN PITTMAN. 

The Douglas Morrisson Theatre 2015-2016 Revelations Season kicks off with the regional premiere of Lynn Nottage's biting satire about racial stereotyping in Hollywood: BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK.  By The Way, Meet Vera Stark will have 15 performances, including one preview, August 27 through September 20, 2015, at the Douglas Morrisson Theatre, 22311 N. Third St. in Hayward, CA.

Playwrights Brian Reno and Gabriel Vega Weissman will present Loose Canon as part of the 19th annual New York International Fringe Festival- FringeNYC. Brian and Gabriel love a bargain. They drink beers on the couch instead of at the bar. One day, looking for something cheap to do, they entered a playwriting contest. Our fledgling artists wrote their first draft in the cradle of inspiration... the dining hall of Gowanus IKEA. Two years later they are excited to bring their work to life.

The Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA), the nation's longest running active arts advocacy organization for Latino actors, is pleased to announce that it will honor Academy Award-winning actor Benicio del Toro with the 2015 Raul Julia HOLA Founders Award. He will join "Orange is the New Black" star Selenis Leyva, "Jane The Virgin" star Andrea Navedo, "Blue Bloods" star Marisa Ramirez, and others at the Sixteenth Annual HOLA Awards Gala and Benefit. The HOLA Awards will take place on Monday, October 14, 2015 at 6pm at The Battery Gardens, located on the waterfront overlooking New York Harbor in Battery Park (opposite 17 State Street in lower Manhattan).

The Huntington Theatre Company will open its 2015-2016 season with the Tony Award-winning musical A Little Night Music, Stephen Sondheim's most romantic and popular work. Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois (after all the terrible things I do; Smart People; Rapture, Blister, Burn; and Becky Shaw) will direct. Performances will run September 11 - October 11, 2015 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre.

The Douglas Morrisson Theatre 2015-2016 Revelations Season kicks off with the regional premiere of Lynn Nottage's biting satire about racial stereotyping in Hollywood: BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK.  By The Way, Meet Vera Stark will have 15 performances, including one preview, August 27 through September 20, 2015, at the Douglas Morrisson Theatre, 22311 N. Third St. in Hayward, CA.  Tickets are $10-$29, and are available through the Box Office at (510) 881-6777 or online at www.dmtonline.org.

Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts announced today that individual tickets for the Raleigh premiere of Dirty Dancing -- The Classic Story On Stage will go on sale July 20 at 10 a.m.

The SPELLING BEE cast is back together at last!

Interrobang Theatre Project, under the co-artistic direction of James Yost and Georgette Verdin, is excited to announce Season 6: "Unnatural Disasters," featuring three plays that investigate how individuals and communities navigate their way through the chaos and absurdity of worlds turned upside-down, when everything and nothing is familiar.  

Can you spell L-A-U-G-H-T-E-R? The Tony® Award winning musical comedy, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE - one of Broadway's most buzzed about hits - is coming to Commonwealth Theatre Company (CTC), Northern Kentucky University's own professional theatre. CTC continues their 35th Summer Dinner Theatre season with …SPELLING BEE, running July 8-26 in NKU's Stauss Theatre.

The complete cast and creative team have been announced for The Old Globe's presentation of Kiss Me, Kate, the classic musical comedy featuring a book by Sam and Bella Spewack and an iconic score by Cole Porter.

Big Fish, a new musical by Andrew Lippa and John August, joins Stages' lineup for its 2015-16 season.

Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man, the hit comedy written by Matt Murphy, based on the best-selling book by Dan Anderson and Maggie Berman, has announced that comedian and YouTube star Michael Buckley ("What The Buck?") and television and stage actress Anneliese van der Pol ("That's So Raven", Beauty and the Beast) will join the cast this summer as Dan and Robyn, for two weeks only - July 2-4 and 9-11 - at The 777 Theatre (777 Eighth Avenue, between 47th and 48th Streets). Buckley, making his Off-Broadway debut in Sex Tips, will also perform in the show's upcoming week-long run at The Provincetown Theater from August 3 - 8.

The actress stopped by last night's LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS and revealed that she suffers from terrible stage fright.

In response to popular demand and critical acclaim, Fair Trade Productions, in association with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, extend the world premiere of New Country by Mark Roberts to June 27.

Second Stage Theatre  continues the 2015 Uptown Series with the World Premiere of KING LIZ, written by Fernanda Coppel (Chimichangas and Zoloft) and directed by Lisa Peterson.  KING LIZ will feature MICHAEL CULLEN, JEREMIE HARRIS, RUSSELL G. JONES, CAROLINE LAGERFELT, IRENE SOFIA LUCIO, and KAREN PITTMAN.  Previews begin Monday, July 13th and opening night is Monday, July 27th.