Susan Hilferty News

If you don't know the "Mean Girls" meets "Harry Potter" story line, WICKED is a remixed version of the goings-on before the movie, "The Wizard of Oz" and the majority of the story takes place prior to Dorothy's arrival. The story is told as a flashback by Glinda as Ozians celebrate the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. Glinda then reveals that no only did they know each other in college, they actually friends.

Friday night at the Edison Ballroom The 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff were presented for excellence in theatrical costume design. These annual awards honor the designers and craftspeople who costume theatre and dance the world over. This year's awardees were coincidentally masters from the world of dance.

No matter how many times you see Wicked, no matter how many actresses defy gravity to soar as Elphaba or how numerous the renditions of 'Popular' you may hear Galinda sing, make absolutely no mistake about it: Wicked is a musical theater masterpiece. Winnie Holzman's engaging book (based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, which was in turn inspired by the original L. Frank Baum story about the wonderful wizard of Oz) and Stephen Schwartz's memorable score ensure that for generations to come, audiences will continue to be dazzled and delighted, thrilled and moved by the story of two very different individuals who become lifelong friends, proving that no obstacles in life are insurmountable.

Legendary ballet costume designer HOLLY HYNES and costume and scenic designer ZACK BROWN are among the 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff Award recipients which were just announced by TDF, the not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts. Ms. Hynes was selected to receive the 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design and Mr. Brown will receive the Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. The awards are presented through TDF's Costume Collection. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, April 20, at 6:30pm, at the Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street).

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) presents the World Premiere of AN ORDINARY MUSLIM, by NYTW Usual Suspect and 2017-18 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence Hammaad Chaudry (Salaam, Mr. Bush), directed by NYTW Usual Suspect and Obie Award winner Jo Bonney(The Body of An American). Previews for AN ORDINARY MUSLIM began on February 7, 2018 with an opening last night at New York Theatre Workshop (79 E. 4th Street New York, NY 10003), now playing through March 25, 2018.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) (Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director Jeremy Blocker) is proud to announce a two-week extension for the World Premiere of AN ORDINARY MUSLIM, by NYTW Usual Suspect and 2017-18 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence Hammaad Chaudry (Salaam, Mr. Bush), directed by NYTW Usual Suspect and Obie Award winner Jo Bonney (The Body of An American). Previews for AN ORDINARY MUSLIM began on February 7, 2018 with an opening night set for February 26, 2018 at New York Theatre Workshop (79 E. 4th Street New York, NY 10003), now playing through March 25, 2018.

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live high-definition cinema simulcasts, will begin its 13th season on October 6, with the Met's grand production of Verdi's Aida, starring one of the world's most acclaimed sopranos, Anna Netrebko.

Accelerating his arrival as Music Director by two seasons, Yannick Nezet-Seguin will take up the post in time for the start of the Metropolitan Opera's 2018-19 season, it was announced today.

An exhilarating revival that pairs one of the greatest plays ever written with the world's most celebrated translators of Russian literature. Vanya and his niece Sonya struggle to care for the estate owned byVanya's brother-in-law, a wealthy and celebrated professor.

The Old Globe will present a free, one-night-only event, Barry Edelstein In Conversation with Richard Nelson, Richard Pevear, and Larissa Volokhonsky, supported by the Fuson Family, on Wednesday, February 14 at 5:30 p.m. Continuing his very popular interview series, Edelstein sits down with translator/director Nelson-a great American playwright, at once a poet of the stage and an innovator of theatrical form-and Pevear and Volokhonsky-the world's foremost translators of Russian literature, and perhaps our most influential thinkers about the art of translation. They will discuss the collaborative process behind this Uncle Vanya, as well as the art of translation and bringing the classics of the stage to life for a contemporary audience.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) (Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director Jeremy Blocker) announced today the dates for the final two productions of the 2017/18 season, LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE and THE HOUSE THAT WILL NOT STAND.

The Old Globe's 2017 2018 Season continues with today's announcement of the complete cast and creative team for Anton Chekhov's masterpiece Uncle Vanya, which has received a Globe-commissioned world premiere translation from Richard Nelson, Richard Pevear, andLarissa Volokhonsky. Richard Nelson (Illyria, The Gabriel Plays, Tony Award winner for Best Book of a Musical for James Joyce's The Dead) also directs. Uncle Vanya will run February 10 March 11, 2018 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Tickets start at $30.00 and are on sale to the general public now. Previews run February 10 14. Opening night is Thursday, February 15 at 8:00 p.m.

The American Theatre Wing (Heather Hitchens, President) is pleased to announce that five theater artists will be honored by the Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee during the presentation of its 2017 Awards in a luncheon ceremony on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.

Watch out Memphis, Tennessee because something WICKED is coming your way! Starting March 7, 2018, Orpheum Theatre will be showing WICKED until the curtain closes on March 25, 2018.

It doesn't matter how many times you watch Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, fly to rafters at the end of Defying Gravity. You still get the chills during this classic moment in the musical, WICKED. It strikes a chord with you and has you cheering for 'the green girl.' You know, the villain from The Wizard of Oz.

New York Theatre Workshop has announced the full cast and creative team for the World Premiere of AN ORDINARY MUSLIM, by NYTW Usual Suspect and 2017-18 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence Hammaad Chaudry (Salaam, Mr. Bush), directed by NYTW Usual Suspect and Obie Award winner Jo Bonney (The Body of An American).

The Public Theater's Illyria, written and directed by Richard Nelson. Illyria runs through Sunday, December 10, with an official press opening on Monday, October 30. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The Public Theater will begin previews on Sunday, October 22 for the world premiere of Illyria, written and directed by Richard Nelson, part of The Public's Astor Anniversary Season at their landmark downtown home on Lafayette Street, celebrating 50 years of new work at 425 Lafayette Street and the 50th Anniversary of HAIR. Illyria has been extended through Sunday, December 10 with an official press opening on Monday, October 30. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the company in rehearsal below!

Kicking off the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center's 15th Anniversary Season, the popular smash-hit musical WICKED has returned for its fourth run since it made its Wisconsin premiere at the P.A.C. in 2009. WICKED will continue to play through September 10. In spite of its thousands of performances since its 2003 Broadway debut, the show's magical bubble still hasn't burst.

The Public Theater announced complete casting today for Illyria, written and directed by Richard Nelson, part of The Public's Astor Anniversary Season at their landmark downtown home on Lafayette Street, celebrating 50 years of new work at 425 Lafayette Street and the 50th Anniversary of HAIR.