Steve Rankin News

Producers Ira Pittelman and Tom Hulce announced today that the smash hit Broadway musical Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations has set a new box office record at the Imperial Theatre (249 West 45th Street). Ain't Too Proud's gross for the week ending December 8, 2019, was $1,710,207.90 in the 1,424 seat theater, the highest for any week at the Imperial Theatre. Prior to Ain't Too Proud, Billy Elliot: The Musical held the house record ($1,663,895.00) set in January 2010.

The cast of Ain't Too Proud kicked off the 93rd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with a medley of 'Get Ready,' 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg' and 'I Can't Get Next To You.'

Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations will kick off the 93rd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, alongside 'TODAY' show hosts Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, and Al Roker, with performances from the hit Broadway musical. The entire cast and band of Ain't Too Proud will perform a medley of 'Get Ready,' 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg,' and 'I Can't Get Next To You', which will air LIVE on NBC on Thursday, November 28 from 9 a.m. - noon (in all time zones).

Geffen Playhouse presents the world premiere adaptation of Key Largo, directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (Doubt, Farragut North) and featuring Academy Award nominee Andy Garcia (Mama Mia! Here We Go Again, The Godfather: Part III) as Johnny Rocco. The Geffen Playhouse production is adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and Andy Garcia, based on the play by Maxwell Anderson and the screenplay by Richard Brooks & John Huston. Original music is composed by 10-time GRAMMY Award winner and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Arturo Sandoval.

The producers of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award winning musical Jersey Boys announced that John Rochette will play the role of Tommy DeVito beginning tonight, Monday, November 18, at New York City's New World Stages (340 West 50th Street) Stage 1. John has previously appeared in the Jersey Boys ensemble on Broadway, on tour and at New World Stages.

The play adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and Andy Garcia, produced in association with Frank Mancuso and Andy Garcia, and directed by Doug Hughes, honors the original story in which disillusioned World War II veteran Frank McCloud (Danny Pino) travels to a hotel in Key Largo to pay his respects to Nora (Rose McIver), the young widow of a fallen solider, who now runs the hotel with its owner, her blind father (Tony Plana) who claims to have a?oeseena?? and heard it all during his lifetime. What McCloud doesn't count on is being confronted by an entirely different type of battlefield with mobsters who have overtaken the hotel, led by the ruthless Johnny Rocco (Andy Garcia, who dominates the stage channeling Al Pacino in The Godfather to the hilt), who is waiting for the culmination of a drug deal. As a hurricane barrels toward the Keys, tempers flare and gunfire blares, forcing McCloud to face his demons in order to take down a monster.

Fellowship for Performing Arts announced today complete casting for the return of FPA's C.S. LEWIS' THE GREAT DIVORCE. Performances will take place at Theatre Three at Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036). Tickets are on sale now at www.FPAtheatre.com.

Fellowship for Performing Arts announced today its productions for late 2019 and early 2020, marking the company's fifth full season in New York. The season will be headlined by a new work, PARADISE LOST by Tom Dulack and inspired by the classic John Milton epic poem. The season also features the return of FPA's C.S. LEWIS' THE GREAT DIVORCE. Productions will take place at Theatre Three at Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036). Tickets are on sale now at www.FPAtheatre.com.

The reviews are in for Ethan Coen's A Play Is a Poem, currently playing the Mark Taper Forum. Read what the critics had to say!

Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award winning musical Jersey Boys welcomes back Nicolas Dromard as Tommy DeVito tonight, Monday, September 23, at New York City's New World Stages (340 West 50th Street) Stage 1.

Performances have begun for the world premiere of Ethan Coen's “A Play Is a Poem” at Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum. Directed by Neil Pepe and presented in association with Atlantic Theater Company, “A Play Is a Poem” is currently in previews with the opening set for September 21 at 8 p.m. Performances will continue through October 13.

The Actors Fund announced that the sensational new Broadway musical Ain't Too Proud a?" The Life and Times of The Temptations is holding a special ninth performance this Sunday, September 15, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. to benefit The Actors Fund at the Imperial Theatre (249 West 45th St.).

In this fiendishly funny new play by Jen Silverman, inspired by The Witch of Edmonton by Rowley, Dekker and Ford, a charming devil arrives in the quiet village of Edmonton to bargain for the souls of its residents in exchange for their darkest wishes.

Staged on a brilliantly creative two-setting, split-level scenic design by Dane Laffrey which includes a scene-dividing projected face on a screen on which the most extraordinary, ever-changing, light-flashing and color-changing eyes appear, this inventive retelling of a sharp, subversive fable debates how much our souls are worth when hope is hard to come by beginning when a charming Devil (Evan Jonigkeit, a black-clad, roguishly perfect scene stealer) arrives in the quiet village of Edmonton to bargain for the souls of its residents in exchange for their darkest wishes. But which of the five inhabitants will agree to sell their soul to attain whatever it is they think will make them happiest?

Keith Hines and CJ Pawlikowski join the cast of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award winning musical Jersey Boys, tonight, Monday, August 19, at New York City's New World Stages (340 West 50th Street) Stage 1.

 The Public Theater's Free Shakespeare in the Park production of CORIOLANUS, directed by Daniel Sullivan, opened just last night at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. We're taking you inside the big night below!

Shakespeare in the Park's Coriolanus officially opened last night, August 5! Let's see what the critics are saying...

It was forty years ago when Shakespeare in the Park's Delacorte Theater was last invaded by The Bard's CORIOLANUS, but perhaps The Public's politically-minded artistic director Oskar Eustis thought this would be a good time to present a drama about an inexperienced politician who initially gains favor on a wave of populism, only to suffer downfall when his disdain for those outside of his privileged class is exposed.

Get a first look at The Public Theater's Free Shakespeare in the Park production of CORIOLANUS, directed by Daniel Sullivan. CORIOLANUS is running at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park through Sunday, August 11.

The Public Theater will begin performances of the 2019 Free Shakespeare in the Park production of CORIOLANUS on Tuesday, July 16 at The Delacorte Theater.