Stafford Arima News

"When I saw the movie, I was just like: 'I get you, I so get you'… When I did Wicked we used to say 'everyone has a little green in them.' And that's what I feel like Max is about. Even though he has a diagnosed condition, everyone feels, you know, uncomfortable in their skin at some point. So that, I related to right away and just, the idea of connection."

Today, BroadwayWorld remembers Mazzie with an extensive photo gallery of her life onstage and off. 

A Class Act NY, the award-winning acting studio will produce a staged reading of award-winning composer Bobby Cronin's new musical PSYKIDZ on August 24, 2018. The reading will be directed by Broadway Actor Lauren Elder and produced by ACANY Artistic Director Jessica R. Grosman and Jonathan Grosman.

The annual MUT Competition for Musical Entertainment Theatre organised by the Staatstheater am Gartnerplatz in Munich, Germany aims to discover and encourage outstanding artistic personalities in the world of musical entertainment theatre.

A Class Act NY, the award-winning acting studio will produce a staged reading of award-winning Bobby Cronin's new musical PSYKIDZ on August 24, 2018. The reading will be directed by Broadway Actress Lauren Elder and produced by ACANY Artistic Director Jessica Rofe Grosman and Jonathan Grosman.

Theatre Calgary's artistic director Stafford Arima (Allegiance, Broadway; Carrie, Off-Broadway revival; Altar Boyz, Off-Broadway) is thrilled to officially announce the casting for the world premiere of Mary and Max - A New Musical, with music and lyrics by Bobby Cronin, book by Crystal Skillman, directed by Arima, choreography by Jenn Rapp, and orchestrations and music supervision by Anna Ebbesen.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and Broadway Dreams  announce the 2018 Broadway Dreams Summer Intensive, featuring an all-star faculty roster comprised of Broadway performers, directors, casting directors and choreographers, held July 8 - 15, 2018 at The Wallis in Beverly Hills. The annual weeklong intensive invites future stars of the stage to embark on a rigorous week of Broadway-caliber training-focusing on acting, vocal performance and dance-taught by the brightest and best industry professionals. 

SHEL: A Historically Fictionalized Musical will be the latest new musical to benefit from Broadway Dreams' New Works Development Project. With a book, music, and lyrics by Noah Kieserman, SHEL will receive workshops this summer at Theatre Calgary in Canada, the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, NC, and the Herb Alpert Center at Harlem School of the Arts in NYC as part of the non-profit's Summer Performing Arts Intensive Tour, The Hits Reimagined.

A host of Broadway, television, and recording artists will join songwriting team Jeff Thomson and Jeremy Desmon in concert on May 27th at 9:30 PM at 54 Below (254 W 54th St, New York, NY 10019).

Next week, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com/Feinsteins or call (646) 476-3551.

A host of Broadway, television, and recording artists will join songwriting team Jeff Thomson and Jeremy Desmon in concert on May 27t h at 9:30 PM at 54 Below (254 W 54th St, New York, NY 10019).

New York's own Queens Library presents "The Goal Is Always Joy: How to Thrive in Transitional Times", a fun and entertaining workshop interspersed with musical performances by Broadway's Lauren Elder (Hair, Side Show), Composer/Lyricist Bobby Cronin (Mary & Max, The Cover) and Dream Interpreter Jefferson Harman (Star Dreams Cafe, Life Unedited Radio).

It's hard to imagine a better location for a production of RAGTIME than Deal, New Jersey. The predominantly Jewish community is adjacent to the largely African American population of Asbury Park (a city known for 'New Music') and connected by the millionaire mansions of Ocean Avenue: RAGTIME in microcosm.

Theatre Calgary's new Artistic Director, Stafford Arima, has announced his first season of plays.

Out of over a hundred plus submissions, MARY & MAX, a groundbreaking musical featuring a book by Crystal Skillman (Geek, King Kirby) and music and lyrics by Bobby Cronin (The Concrete Jungle, W2ML), has been selected for this year's Pace New Musicals.

The new musical POSTCARD AMERICAN TOWN will have its first industry presentation in New York City on January 12th. This timely new musical features a book by Crystal Skillman (Geek, Mary & Max) and music and lyrics by Lynne Shankel (Allegiance, Cry- Baby, bare: The Musical, Altar Boyz), with direction by Stafford Arima (Allegiance, Carrie, bare: the Musical, Altar Boyz), musical direction by Michael Gacetta (Groundhog Day, Matilda) and music supervision by Mary-Mitchell Campbell (Mean Girls, Tuck Everlasting, Finding Neverland, Company).

Founder and Executive Artistic Director Benjamin Davis announces today that submissions for the Third Annual Atlanta Musical Theatre Festival (AMTF), to be held in August in Atlanta, will open on December 1, 2017. The deadline to submit new works is February 1, 2018. Selections will be announced in April 2018, at the annual selections announcement event (details forthcoming.)

It was a reunion for two of the lead actors from Broadway's On the Town when Tony-nominee Tony Yazbeck visited New Hope, PA to see Clyde Alves at Bucks County Playhouse. Alves plays the role of Tago in the world premiere of The New World , the musical comedy that is getting raves from critics. John Timpane of the Philadelphia Inquirer said With sneaky brilliance, beginning to end, The New World is fresh, funny, and fluid. Jean Brenner of Bucks County Herald said, Mark my words, The New World is headed to Broadway: it's special, it's funny, it's delightfully entertaining.'

What do you do when the leading man of a world premiere musical suffers an injury less than 48 hours before the first preview? For Bucks County Playhouse, the answer was simple: Call Justin Guarini.

Theatre Calgary's new artistic director Stafford Arima has officially announced the cast for The Secret Garden, which will close out its 50th Anniversary season. To be directed by Arima, The Secret Garden will feature some notable names in Canadian musical theatre, along with a large number of Calgary artists, who will bring this beloved tale to life.