Second Stage News

Arden Theatre Company continues its 26th season of great stories with Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes under the direction of Lucie Tiberghien. The production appears on the Arden's Arcadia Stage from January 16 through March 16, 2014 at 40 N. 2nd Street in Philadelphia.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University announced today the cast and creative team for the world premiere production of Witness Uganda, created by Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews, directed by A.R.T. Artistic Director Diane Paulus, with choreography by Darrell Grand Moultrie. The production begins performances at the Loeb Drama Center at 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge on February 4, and will run through March 16. It is available for press viewing from Wednesday, February 12, at 7:30pm.

Vineyard Theatre (108 E. 15 St.) has announced that tickets to the new musical ARLINGTON by Victor Lodato and Polly Pen -- with previews set to begin Wednesday, February 12 prior to its official opening night on Sunday, March 2 - will go on sale Monday, January 6 at 1 p.m..

Light Opera Works is currently taking enrollments for the 2014 Musical Theater Summer Workshop. Young people ages 8 to 13 will learn singing, dancing and acting in preparation for a public performance on Saturday, where family and friends are invited to watch them perform a mini-musical. No experience or audition required, and everyone gets a part.

Tonight, Jan. 5, 92Y hosts an evening with the stars and director behind the new Broadway musical The Bridges of Madison County at 7:30 pm. Four-time Tony Award-nominee Kelli O'Hara (Francesca) and Steven Pasquale (Robert Kincaid) will join Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher and composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown for a conversation moderated by Tony Award winning composer/lyricist Adam Guettel. The evening will also include a few performances of songs from the show.

Welcome to BWW's exclusive talk show, BACKSTAGE WITH Richard Ridge. Follow Richard as he visits the theater's best and brightest in their dressing rooms, on their stages and favorite hang outs to talk about their lives, careers and all of the things you don't know, but want to know. In the special interview below, A Christmas Story composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul chat about their musical backgrounds, all of their future projects, and much more. Click here if you missed Part 1 and check out Part 2 below!

Cabrillo Stage, the professional musical theatre company in residence at Cabrillo College, concludes their 32nd repertory season with the premiere of a re-imagined work, Lunch, playing today, January 3 through 19 at the Cabrillo Crocker Theater.

#1: Cartagena, an exhibition of contemporary art with both international and national artists, is a Biennial created with the idea of further enhancing Cartagena's image as a significant cultural center. In a city with existing deep connections to literature, cinema, music, dance and crafts art, the exhibition will honor these cultural manifestations through the artworks presented. Bringing together artists from different countries and generations, whose works will be exhibited throughout the city of Cartagena, the Biennial will include painting, sculpture, photography, electronic and audiovisual media, installation and performance.

A new production of Johann Strauss Jr.'s New Year's Eve classic, the comedic operetta Die Fledermaus, will open at the Met tonight, December 31, with two Broadway stars appearing.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre announces the world premiere of The House that will not Stand, a historical comedic drama commissioned from award-winning poet-playwright and Oakland native Marcus Gardley. Sensuous, witty, heartbreaking, and uplifting - The House that will not Stand unearths a story about free women of color in 1836 New Orleans, where black Creole women entered into common-law marriages with affluent white men. When her wealthy lover mysteriously dies, Beartrice Albans' foundation of security hangs precariously by a thread. She is left to fend for her three unwed daughters in a world where freedom must be carefully negotiated. Told in a rich and lyrical river of words, this new play was developed through The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work. It's helmed by Patricia McGregor, whose many credits include the celebrated production of Spunk at California Shakespeare Theater. The House that will not Stand begins previews on Berkeley Rep's intimate Thrust Stage on Friday, January 31, opens on Wednesday, February 5 and runs through Sunday, March 16, 2014.

92Y presents an evening with the stars and director behind the new Broadway musical The Bridges of Madison County, on Sunday, January 5 at 7:30 pm. Four-time Tony Award-nominee Kelli O'Hara (Francesca) and Steven Pasquale (Robert Kincaid) join Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher for a conversation moderated by Tony Award winning composer/lyricist Adam Guettel. The evening will also include a few performances of songs from the show.

A new production of Johann Strauss Jr.'s New Year's Eve classic, the comedic operetta Die Fledermaus, will open at the Met on December 31. Jeremy Sams, writer and creator of the Met's Baroque pasticheThe Enchanted Island, makes his company debut as director with the new staging, which is set in Vienna at the turn of the 20thcentury. Sams also contributes new lyrics for Strauss's work, which will be performed entirely in English; Tony Award-nominated playwright Douglas Carter Beane makes his Met debut with new dialogue. Adam Fischer conducts a cast of rising opera stars and Broadway performers. The cast is led by Susanna Phillips and Christopher Maltman as the unhappily married Rosalinde and Eisenstein; Jane Archibald as Rosalinde's feisty maid, Adele; Anthony Roth Costanzo as Prince Orlofsky; Michael Fabiano as Rosalinde's former lover, Alfred; Paulo Szot as the bumbling Dr. Falke; and Patrick Carfizzi as the prison superintendent, Frank. Broadway stars Danny Burstein and Betsy Wolfe make Met debuts as the drunken jailer, Frosch, and Adele's sister, Ida. Robert Jones is set and costume designer for the production, with lighting design by Jennifer Schriever and choreography by Stephen Mear in their Met debuts.

Award-winning Broadway, film and TV actor Tony Plana (Ugly Betty) and actor-singer-comedian Ada Maris are among singers slated to perform the songs of writer/composer Paul Cozby Monday, Jan. 27, at 8 p.m. at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Lone Star Theatre Co. presents the evening in its "Texas Music/New York Stages" series-Only Humans Like My Music-The Songs of Paul Cozby.

Welcome to BWW's exclusive talk show, BACKSTAGE WITH Richard Ridge. Follow Richard as he visits the theater's best and brightest in their dressing rooms, on their stages and favorite hang outs to talk about their lives, careers and all of the things you don't know, but want to know. In the special interview below, A Christmas Story composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul chat about how they were brought on to the creative team, what their writing process is like, and much more. Click below to check out the first part of the interview!

The Murder For Two composing team Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair wrote a special show-themed "12 Days of Christmas, which was recently performed by cast members Brett Ryback and Jeff Blumenkrantz. BroadwayWorld is happy to exclusively bring you the hilarious video below!

Religion, politics and theater collide when Bart DeLorenzo directs the Los Angeles premiere of Passion Play by Tony and two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee Sarah Ruhl, kicking off the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble's 45th Anniversary Season in a co-production with Evidence Room. Performances begin Jan. 25 at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A. and continue through March 16.

The Bergen County Players (BCP) of Oradell will ring out 2013 with the final five performances of the enchanting toe-tapping musical Aladdin, directed by Lynne Lupfer. The final five shows will take place at the Little Firehouse Theatre on Kinderkamack Road in Oradell on December 20 at 8:00 PM and December 21 and 22 at 1:00 PM and 3:30 PM each day. This will be the last chance for children of all ages to follow Aladdin's quest to capture the heart of the beautiful princess Mei-Ling, taking him on a magical journey from rags to riches and featuring not one, but two fantastical genies! Tickets may be purchased online at www.bcplayers.org, by calling 201-261-4200, or by visiting the box office at 298 Kinderkamack Road in Oradell during regular box office hours. Tickets are $13 for all performances.

Grammy Award-nominated musician Nelson Gonzalez has joined the creative team of the upcoming Second Stage Theatre production of THE HAPPIEST SONG PLAYS LAST, written by 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegria Hudes and directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Mr. Gonzalez, who is widely considered the master of the Cuban Tres guitar, will oversee the production's musical elements and will lead a live band during performances.

Broadway PR firm Polk & Co.'s founder and president, Matt Polk, has just announced that Tom D'Ambrosio, Wayne Wolfe, Frances White and Colgan McNeil will be joining the public relations, media strategies and social media firm. Beginning January 6, 2014, the four press agents, formerly of The Hartman Group, will join the existing company of five including press agents Jessica Johnson and Michelle Bergmann.

The quintessential portrait of maniacal ambition and lust for power is on stage in William Shakespeare's epic history play Richard III at Folger Theatre. Robert Richmond