Simmons News

Berkshire Theatre Group and Artistic Director/CEO Kate Maguire are excited to announce the 2019 fall season at The Colonial Theatre and The Garage. Tickets are now available for purchase by contacting the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street, Pittsfield by calling 413-997-4444 or online at www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org.

The Hangar Theatre Company wraps up its 45th summer season with the Big Play Festival! (BPF!), featuring lightly staged readings of three big plays, all featuring the theme of the American family.

Literature Alive is an opportunity to extend the classroom by bringing students into the theatre during the day for a matinee performance. Playhouse on Park offers programs for pre K-5, as well as grades 6-12. Student tickets are deeply reduced in price and teachers/chaperones attend free of charge!

Four female emerging artists from Newcastle will digest the recent election, with a side of Potatoes a la Dutton, when Tantrum Youth Arts' new show Sorry to Cut You Off, Penny premieres in Sydney at PACT from 4-7 September.

3-D Theatricals concludes its 10th Anniversary season with SHREK The Musical, directed and choreographed by David F.M. Vaughn. SHREK The Musical, featuring music by Tony Award-winner Jeanine Tesori, and book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lindsay-Abaire, will play August 9-25, 2019 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos, CA). Opening night is Saturday, August 10.

Syracuse Stage opens the 2019/2020 season with the world premiere production of a?oeThoughts of a Colored Man.a?? Performance dates are Sept. 4 through 22. Tickets are available at www.SyracuseStage.org or at the Box Office (315)-443-3275.

Blackfriars Theatre begins its 70th Anniversary Season with the celebrated Tony Award-winning musical, Guys and Dolls. The Golden Age musical is also celebrating its 70th birthday during the 2019-2020 Season, which makes it the perfect choice to launch Blackfriars Theatre's anniversary season. Considered by many to be the perfect musical comedy, it ran for 1,200 performances when it opened on Broadway in 1950. Set in Damon Runyon's mythical New York City, Guys and Dolls is an oddball romantic comedy. Gambler, Nathan Detroit, tries to find the cash to set up the biggest craps game in town while the authorities breathe down his neck; meanwhile, his girlfriend and nightclub performer, Adelaide, laments that they've been engaged for fourteen years. Nathan turns to fellow gambler, Sky Masterson, for the dough, and Sky ends up chasing the straight-laced missionary, Sarah Brown, as a result. Guys and Dolls takes us from the heart of Times Square to the cafes of Havana, Cuba, and even into the sewers of New York City, but eventually everyone ends up right where they belong.

At comedy clubs all over NYC, when the host is about to bring on the next act, they'll usually ask the performer 'What should I say?', at the landmark cabaret venue Don't Tell Mama, hosts instead ask 'What should I play?'

The American Songbook Association presents their second annual gala a?oeTo Life! Celebrating Sheldon Harnick,a?? on Monday, September 16 at 7:30 PM. Highlighting the gala is the presentation of the 2019 ASA Lifetime Achievement Award to this legendary lyricist of iconic shows such as Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello!, She Loves Me, and more. The event takes place at the Pershing Square Signature Center's Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre

ALL ARTS has announced the second season of Broadway Sandwiched. Follow host Garen Scribner as he reveals what some of Broadway's biggest stars do in the short time a?oesandwicheda?? between matinee and evening performances. This season takes viewers behind the scenes with Ahmad Simmons (Hadestown), Teal Wicks (The Cher Show), Rob McClure (Beetlejuice), Evan Todd (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Bradley Gibson (The Lion King), Rebecca Eichenberger (My Fair Lady), Jessica Ernest (Chicago), Isabelle McCalla (The Prom), Charity Angél Dawson (Waitress), and Ellyn Marie Marsh (Pretty Woman).

The Toronto International Film Festival​®​ documentary programme reveals its lineup of 25 non-fiction works, including 18 World Premieres with representation from 18 countries. The films cover many high-profile figures, both famous and infamous — including Truman Capote, Merce Cunningham, Ron Howard, Bikram Choudhury, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Imelda Marcos — and a broad range of themes, including artistic achievement, the power of journalism, immigration, global politics, and resistance against corrupt leaders. Three films use sports as a framework to look at environmentalism, capitalism, and racism.

The Hadestown Original Broadway Cast Recording is already topping charts! The album debut at #1 last week on the cast albums chart.

Today, producers Brian Moreland and Ron Simons announced casting for the world premiere of Thoughts of a Colored Man, the new play by Keenan Scott II, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, and choreographed by Millicent Marie Johnnie in a co-production with Syracuse Stage and Baltimore Center Stage.

Award-winning director and choreographer Jonathan Cerullo (The Boys from Syracuse, Big Apple Circus), has been named an Artistic Associate at Amas Musical Theatre. Donna Trinkoff announced Cerullo will be joining SDC director and choreographer Christopher Scott and Lynne Taylor-Corbett.

a?oeWest Side Story,a?? one of the most iconic American musicals of all time, continues Moonlight Stage Productions 39th summer season with performances from August 14 - 31, 2019 at 8:00 p.m.

We're heading way down under the ground to get a look behind the scenes at the recording sessions for Hadestown's cast album. Check out this video to see Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada and more recording 'Chant' from the show's Tony Award-winning score!

Where do children and the arts belong in conversations on global social development? Front and center, say UNICEF, Sing for Hope's HandaHarmony program, Juilliard, Nord Anglia Education, and youth participants from around the world. These leading organizations in conjunction with UN Member States, co-hosted a side event at the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) celebrating how young people are using art and advocacy to further the UN's Social Development Goals (SDGs). The event, titled “Child and Youth Art, Advocacy and Action to be Safe to Learn: A student presentation on SDGs 4 and 17,” brought together 100 students from around the world, showcasing how their creativity can be used to end violence in schools, and compelling Member States to include youth arts in their SDG efforts. 

HISTORY's new three-part nonfiction miniseries 'The Food That Built America,' premiering August 11 at 9PM ET/PT, tells the incredible stories of innovation and rivalries behind food industry tycoons Milton Hershey, John and Will Kellogg, Henry Heinz, C.W. Post, the McDonald brothers and more. Many people know the products, but few know the stories of everlasting grit and determination that made these names the household brands that America knows and loves. 'The Food That Built America' will air on HISTORY on consecutive nights with parts two and three debuting on August 12 and 13, respectively, both at 9PM ET/PT.

Today, Miquela shares two songs, 'Money' and 'Sleeping In.' The latter boasts the talents of PC Music-signee Danny L Harle, Frank Ocean-collaborator Vegyn and Sophie Simmons, while 'Money' features Chris Wallace and Nisha Asnani on production duties.

David Thaxton is joining the cast of Come From Away in London! Thaxton will take on the role of Kevin T/Garth and Others, replacing David Shannon from 9 September.