Signature Theatre News

Lights up in Washington Heights! As BroadwayWorld previously reported, the movie adaptation of the Tony-winning musical In the Heights has officially found its cast! In honor of the occasion, we've getting to know the film's residents of Washington Heights! Check it all out below!

There are certain things that really bother me in theater.  One of the biggest is when a theater company that is capable of brilliance presents a show that should be a perfect fit – and unfortunately ultimately delivers a final product that does not meet my expectations.

Lin-Manuel Miranda took to Twitter to announce the leads for the highly anticipated film adaptation of In The Heights! Anthony Ramos will star as Usnavi, Melissa Barerra as Vanessa, Corey Hawkins as Benny, and Leslie Grace as Nina. Earlier today it was announced that Jimmy Smits will play Nina's father, Kevin.

The 2019-2020 Signature Theatre Season will feature six works by five resident playwrights, including two productions by Signature's new Residency 1 playwright Anna Deavere Smith, world premiere plays from Residency 5 playwrights Katori Halland Dominique Morisseau, a New York premiere from new Residency 5 playwright Lauren Yee, and a new production of a Pulitzer Prize-winning play from Legacy playwright Horton Foote, the company announced today.

Signature Theatre presents Grand Hotel, the Musical directed by Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer (Broadway's Gigi, Follies, and Signature's Titanic) and choreographed by Kelly Crandall D'Amboise(Signature's Light Years). Set in 1928 Berlin, a series of eclectic guests and staff including a fading ballerina, a destitute baron, a wannabe-starlet typist and an ailing bookkeeper collide at the bustling Grand Hotel. Grand Hotel the Musical runs from April 2, 2019 - May 19, 2019 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre.

New York City's premier cabaret highlighting the talents of transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming performers returns to The Duplex with the all new show, 'Make 'Em Laugh', for it's 8th performance at The Duplex on Saturday, April 27th at 6:30pm. The show is directed by Donnie Cianciotto, with Musical Direction by Anessa Marie. Cianciotto will also serve as the emcee for the evening.

Signature Theatre presents Grand Hotel, the Musical directed by Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and choreographed by Kelly Crandall D'Amboise. Set in 1928 Berlin, a series of eclectic guests and staff including a fading ballerina, a destitute baron, a wannabe-starlet typist and an ailing bookkeeper collide at the bustling Grand Hotel. Grand Hotel the Musical runs from April 2, 2019 - May 19, 2019 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre.

Geva Theatre Center's 46th Season concludes with the world premiere of Revival: The Resurrection of Son House, written and directed by Keith Glover, with music by Son House, Billy Thompson and Keith Glover, musical direction by Billy Thompson and choreography by Norwood Pennewell, in the Elaine P. Wilson Stage from May 1 through June 2, 2019.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts more than 120 outstanding theater students from colleges and universities across the nation as part of the 50th annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), which runs April 16-20, 2019 in multiple locations throughout the Center. The Center also announced the national awardees for the KCACTF. Selected awardees and representatives will be brought to Washington, D.C. for an expense-paid trip to participate in the National Festival. These student artists from across the United States have been recognized for their outstanding work from the eight regional festivals that were held January 8 through February 28, 2019.

Pasadena Playhouse, State Theatre of California, continues their exciting partnerships with Caltech Theatre and the USC School of Dramatic Arts this Spring, with MACH 33: The Caltech|Pasadena Playhouse Festival of New Science Driven Plays, presented by Caltech Theater and Pasadena Playhouse May 9 -11 and the New Works Festival Year 3 May 17-18, presented by USC School of Dramatic Arts and hosted by Pasadena Playhouse. These plays are part of Playhouse community programming. Danny Feldman is the Producing Artistic Director of Pasadena Playhouse.

Signature Theatre's Grand Hotel, the Musical directed by Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer (Broadway's Gigi, Follies, and Signature's Titanic) and choreographed by Kelly Crandall d'Amboise (Signature's Light Years) is now on stage. Set in 1928 Berlin, a series of eclectic guests and staff including a fading ballerina, a destitute baron, a wannabe-starlet typist and an ailing bookkeeper collide at the bustling Grand Hotel. Grand Hotel the Musical will run from April 2, 2019 - May 19, 2019 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre. Get a first look at the production below!

Following a successful workshop production in New York City last December as part of The Theater at the 14th Street Y's season of War and Peace, Different Translation is pleased to announce The Baby Monitor will be presented in Dublin, Ireland, as part of the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival (IDGTF). The Baby Monitor by award-winning husband-and-husband team playwright David Stallings (Associate Artistic Director of Arts and Culture at the 14th Street Y; NY IT Awards for Outstanding Original Full-Length Script for Dark Water) and director Antonio Miniño (Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell; Assistant Director Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train - Signature Theatre) will play eight performances from May 6th through the 11th, 2019 at The Teachers Club Main Hall (36 Parnell Square W Dublin 1, Ireland).

Signature Theatre presents of Octet, a world premiere musical by three-time Tony Award nominee Dave Malloy and directed by Annie Tippe. Get a first look at the company in rehearsal below!

Celebrating its fifth and final installment of "Bold New Works for Intimate Stages," Creative Cauldron presents the world premiere of On Air. Set in Pittsburgh, PA during the 1920s, On Air tells the story of Frank and Flora Conrad, who were on the edge of discovering mass broadcasting. These two unsung radio pioneers established the first radio station in America in their unassuming garage. On Air follows their untold love story, and how radio became a constant companion, messenger and soundtrack of our lives over the past century of American life. Matt Conner and Stephen Gregory Smith, the critically acclaimed creative team for Creative Cauldron's past Bold New Work premieres (Turn of the Screw 2015, Monsters of the Villa Diodati 2016, Kaleidoscope 2017, Witch 2018,) are mining the nostalgia of a bygone era and shedding light on a relatively unknown piece of American history with this newest work. On Air runs May 2 - 26, 2019.

On a bitterly cold London evening, schoolteacher Kyra Hollis (Mahira Kakkar) receives an unexpected visit from her former lover, Tom Sergeant (Greg Wood), a successful and charismatic restaurateur. As the evening progresses, the two attempt to rekindle their once passionate relationship with food and wine, only to find themselves locked in a dangerous battle of opposing ideologies and mutual desires.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce Title Wave at Bay Street: The 6th Annual New Works Festival, May 3 - 5. All readings are free, but tickets are required, as these events typically sell out. Tickets are available now at baystreet.org or by calling the Bay Street Theater Box Office at 631-725-9500, open Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 5 pm, or until show time.

The winners of the 2019 New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards will be announced Monday, May 6, 2019 at approximately 5:30pm. The selections will be made at the organization's 84th annual voting meeting.

Bay Street Theater is pleased to announce the cast and creative team for the first show of the 2019 Mainstage Season. The World Premiere of THE PROMPTER (May 28- June 16) a new comedy by Wade Dooley; will be directed by Scott Schwartz, Bay Street Theater's Artistic Director.

Signature Theatre has announced the cast and creative team for Spunk, based on three short stories by Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God) and adapted by acclaimed writer and director George C. Wolfe (Jelly's Last Jam, Shuffle Along). The production will be directed by Timothy Douglas (Arena's Nina Simone: Four Women, Disgraced). Spunk will run from April 30 through June 23 in Signature's ARK Theatre.

The 2019 National tour of Lincoln Center Theater's production of FALSETTOS has already begun in San Francisco, with its next stop the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles (beginning April 16, 2019). I was afforded the most opportune chance to chat with Nick Blaemire in between shows at the SHN Golden Gate in San Francisco. A produced Broadway writer at the early age of 23, Nick now portrays shrink/husband/step-dad/friend Mendel, the connecting link between FALSETTOS's myriad of characters created from the fertile meetings of the artistic minds of William Finn and James Lapine.