Stephen Brimson Lewis News

Since the dawn of the genre, stage shows have been adapted from various sources; books, other plays, poems, historical events, and, increasingly over the past two decades, movies. The best projects based on movies take what is special from the source material and use that as inspiration to form a fresh stage adaptation. However, the DIRTY DANCING National Tour, playing at Orlando's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts through Sunday, April 3rd, focuses so intently on recreating the minutia of the film, that it completely misses what made it so captivating in the first place; authentic, compelling characters and an intimate, passionate story.

Theatre vets and best buds Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are bringing Harold Pinter's NO MAN'S LAND, in which they recently starred on Broadway, to Wyndham's Theatre this autumn!

 Casting has been announced for DIRTY DANCING - THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE, coming to The Broward Center for the Performing Arts for a limited two week engagement.  Christopher Tierney and Rachel Boone will star as Johnny Castle and Frances "Baby" Houseman in the Fort Lauderdale premiere of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage.

Rachel Boone joins Christopher Tierney as Frances "Baby" Houseman and Johnny Castle as Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage continues its North American tour.  BroadwayWorld has a first look at the new cast in action below!

As part of the Bard's 400th anniversary celebrations, the gallery at Compton Verney in Warwickshire - which is just nine miles away from Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon - has joined forces with the RSC to create a new exhibition. SHAKESPEARE IN ART: TEMPESTS, TYRANTS AND TRAGEDY, opening next month, pays tribute to a playwright whose work has inspired countless artists over the centuries, from Sargent, Fuseli, Rossetti, Blake and Watts to Romney, Karl Weschke, Kate Tempest and Tom Hunter.

The RSC brings Shakespeare's 400th anniversary year in Stratford to a close with a powerful programme, matching two major Shakespeare titles with two irreverent Jacobean comedies and a new play from Anders Lustgarten, which plays out across 400 years between Caravaggio's Naples and the housing estates of Bootle.

Beginning November 18, the Royal Shakespeare Company's acclaimed production of Shakespeare's Henry V will play in select movie houses across North America. The production, which opened to rave reviews at the RSC's home in Stratford-upon-Avon, was filmed for 'Live from Stratford-upon-Avon,' the RSC program that screens the world's greatest classical theatre company from Shakespeare's home town around the world through a continued partnership with Picturehouse Entertainment. Below, BroadwayWorld is excited to bring you an exclusive clip of the St. Crispin's Day speech- Act 4, Scene 3.

Beginning November 18, the Royal Shakespeare Company's acclaimed production of Shakespeare's Henry V will play in select movie houses across North America.  The production, which opened to rave reviews at the RSC's home in Stratford-upon-Avon, was filmed for "Live from Stratford-upon-Avon," the RSC program that screens the world's greatest classical theatre company from Shakespeare's home town around the world through a continued partnership with Picturehouse Entertainment.  

To begin at the end: the stage production of Dirty Dancing brought cheers and screams from the opening night audience of the Broadway in Louisville at Johnny's iconic line about Baby and at the even more iconic dance number following that flooded the stage. Gillian Abbott and Christopher Tierney, respectively, inhabit these roles with enough of a nod to the originals (Jennifer Grey and the late Patrick Swayze) that audiences are swept back to the 1987 movie.

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) returns to the Barbican in November with Henry V, followed by a major theatrical event in January 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death - with performances of all four productions of Gregory Doran's history plays in repertoire. 

You don't have to be an aficionado of Dirty Dancing, the 1987 film starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey as a mismatched romantic duo brought together by some sexy dance moves at a Catskills resort, to find yourself loving every moment of Dirty Dancing, The Classic Story On Stage, now ensconced at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall through Sunday.

As RSC Executive Director, Catherine Mallyon joins Chancellor George Osborne on his visit to China and the Company opens Gregory Doran's production of Henry V in Stratford-upon-Avon, the RSC is delighted to announce the details for its programme of international cultural, artistic and educational exchange with China.

Christopher Tierney recently assumed the iconic role of Johnny Castle tonight in the North American tour of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage in Chicago, where it ran through August 30. This marks the launch of the second year of the hugely successful national tour which will go on to play markets including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Nashville, Des Moines and Denver this season. A list of full tour dates can be found here. Check out a first look at Tierney in the role below!

Christopher Tierney assumes the iconic role of Johnny Castle tonight in the North American tour of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage as it opens tonight at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago, where it will continue through August 30. This marks the launch of the second year of the hugely successful national tour which will go on to play markets including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Nashville, Des Moines and Denver this season. A list of full tour dates can be found here.

Gregory Doran, RSC Artistic Director, continues his exploration through Shakespeare's History plays as he directs Henry V, opening in Stratford-upon-Avon, before being broadcast to cinemas and transferring to the Barbican in London. 

Dirty Dancing is essentially a stage tribute to the film from which its based, which is evident from the dialogue as it's taken almost verbatim from the movie. As are the iconic songs - even though only a fraction of the performers actually sing. Those actors that do sing are not main characters, which is even more of a shame since so many of the performers (Gillian Abbott and Samuel Pergande as Baby and Johnny respectively) have backgrounds in voice. The fact that the main characters do not even utter a single note is baffling to anyone who is familiar with musical theatre.

Gillian Abbott recently assumed the iconic role of Frances 'Baby' Houseman in the North American tour of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage. Check out a first look at Abbott in the production bleow!

Gillian Abbott assumes the iconic role of Frances "Baby" Houseman tonight in the North American tour of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage. Abbott joins the production as it begins performances at the Connor Palace at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, where it will continue through March 22.

Royal Shakespeare Company has announed its Stratford-Upon Avon winter 2015 artistic program, including making the 600th anniversary of Agincourt and continues Shakespeare's Histories with Gregory Doran's production of Henry V, also screened 'Live from Stratford-upon-Avon' to cinemas and schools, Jonathan Munby's acclaimed production of Ella Hickson's Wendy & Peter Pan returns to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, two new plays premiere in the Swan Theatre - Hecuba by Marina Carr, directed by Erica Whyman, and Queen Anne by Helen Edmundson, directed by Natalie Abrahami and Congreve's Love for Love - first RSC staging of this glorious Restoration Comedy, directed by Selina Cadell.

Casting is announced for Gregory Doran's production of Arthur Miller's 1949 Pulitzer prize-winning play Death of a Salesman, opening in the centenary year of Arthur Miller's birth. Previews start from 26 March, with the press night on Wednesday 1 April, 2015.