Susan Stroman News

On this day we're celebrating legendary director and choreographer, Susan Stroman!

Today we have not 1 not 2 but 3 guests on West of Broadway! Lara and Will start things off with the founding artistic director of the Verdi Chorus Anne Marie Ketchum (http://www.verdichorus.org/). We hop on the phone with Cabaret Legend Todd Murray (https://www.toddmurray.com/) to talk about his two new Christmas songs available on iTunes and Sharon who is manager of ticket sales for the El Capitan Theater (https://elcapitantheatre.com/) shares some valuable insider information about the legendary theater! It's a fun one! Hope you enjoy!

Good morning BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories: The Public's Mother Of The Maid, starring Glenn Close, officially opens tonight, and more!

The Broadway community will celebrate the life of Thomas Meehan on Monday, November 5th at 2:00 PM at the St. James Theatre (246 West 44th Street).

Bay Area Musicals (Matthew McCoy, Founder & Artistic Director, and AeJay Mitchell, Managing Director) has announced the full cast and creative team for the first production of the Company' 2018-2019 season, CRAZY FOR YOU. Winner of the Tony and the Olivier Awards for Best Musical, CRAZY FOR YOU has wowed audiences on Broadway, the West End and around the world, reimagining classic Gershwin songs into a hilarious new book musical.  The show-stopping production will be an intimate version of the large-scale musical featuring the original Tony Award-winning choreography of Susan Stroman, recreated by Director/Choreographer Matthew McCoy.  

An industry reading of Far From Canterbury will be held on Thursday, October 18th at 3 PM and Friday, October 19th at 11 AM in New York City. Far From Canterbury is a new musical with Book, Music, and Lyrics by Danny K Bernstein.

Bay Area Musicals (Matthew McCoy, Founder & Artistic Director, and AeJay Mitchell, Managing Director) has announced the full cast and creative team for the first production of the Company' 2018-2019 season, CRAZY FOR YOU. Winner of the Tony and the Olivier Awards for Best Musical, CRAZY FOR YOU has wowed audiences on Broadway, the West End and around the world, reimagining classic Gershwin songs into a hilarious new book musical. The show-stopping production will be an intimate version of the large-scale musical featuring the original Tony Award-winning choreography of Susan Stroman, recreated by Director/Choreographer Matthew McCoy.

The New York premiere of Ngozi Anyanwu's GOOD GRIEF, directed by Awoye Timpo, will begin performances the Vineyard Theatre (108 East 15th Street) on Thursday, October 11.  Opening night is set for Tuesday, October 30th.

Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, Artistic Producer) in celebration of its 50thseason, will present The Algonquin Kid, a musical revue about growing up in the Algonquin Hotel, written by Michael Colby.

North Carolina Theatre, the region's premiere nonprofit professional theatre, is proud to announce the hiring of a familiar face as the theatre's new Artistic Director. Broadway casting director and Benson, NC native, Eric Woodall, will join the NC Theatre team in November. Eric will provide artistic direction for all programming, including mainstage shows, the theatre's Conservatory training, and new works development.

Today ChiChi Anyanwu of the NYC Black Theater Network, Marcia Pendelton, President of Walk Tall Girl Productions/Black Theater Online, and the award-winning Vineyard Theatre announced BLACK PLAYWRIGHTS: THEY SPEAK. WHO LISTENS? A Black Theater Fall Preview: Off Broadway Edition.

Bay Area Musicals (Matthew McCoy, Founder & Artistic Director, and AeJay Mitchell, Managing Director) has announced the full cast and creative team for the first production of the Company' 2018-2019 season, CRAZY FOR YOU.

Cincinnati Music Theatre (CMT) is excited to announce a Master Class with Broadway's Richard Oberacker, composer and co-lyricist/librettist of the Tony Award-winning musical Bandstand, and the musical conductor of KA by Cirque Du Soleil at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Producer Victoria Weinberg announced today that Ali Skye Bennet's new play RAFETUS will receive an invited presentation, directed by Jill DeArmon, this Today, September 28, 2018 at 11:00am and 2:30pm at The New Ripley-Grier (305 W. 38th St.) in New York City.  Based on a true story, RAFETUS was developed in part at the HBMG Foundation's National Winter Playwright's Retreat, is a 2018­19 Woodward/Newman Drama Award Finalist, and a 2017 Finalist and 2018 Semifinalist for the National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

Producer Victoria Weinberg announced today that Ali Skye Bennet's new play RAFETUS will receive an invited presentation, directed by Jill DeArmon, this Friday, September 28, 2018 at 11:00am and 2:30pm at The New Ripley-Grier (305 W. 38th St.) in New York City.  Based on a true story, RAFETUS was developed in part at the HBMG Foundation's National Winter Playwright's Retreat, is a 2018­19 Woodward/Newman Drama Award Finalist, and a 2017 Finalist and 2018 Semifinalist for the National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

The album for the new dance musical The Beast in the Jungle is not your typical cast recording. Actually, it's not a cast recording at all, but a score recording that's purely instrumental. Even though the lack of dialogue and character voices makes it a more challenging score to listen to out of context (as opposed to a typical "cast album"), it's a truly masterful and moving score in its own right.

Great Performances presents more of the Great White Way's brightest stars with a new "Broadway's Best" lineup premiering Fridays, November 2-23 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Returning for a second year, this fall's lineup includes the beloved musicals "An American in Paris The Musical" and Rodgers & Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music," as well as documentaries about the making of John Leguizamo's Tony-nominated play "Latin History for Morons" and 21-time Tony-winning director and producer Harold Prince. All programs will be available to stream the following day via pbs.org/gperf and PBS apps.

Just last night, The American Theatre Wing celebrated 101 Years of supporting strong and fearless voices in the American Theatre with a tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber's unrivaled body of work amassed over five decades. Performers included Tony Award winner and Emmy Award nominee Brandon Victor Dixon, Tony winner and Grammy Award nominee Heather Headley, Tony winner Katrina Lenk, Tony and Grammy nominee Norm Lewis, Webber muse Sierra Boggess, two-time Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative recipient Sydney Lopes, and a mega-band that includes School of Rock alumni Evie Dolan, Ethan Khusidman, Raghav Mehrotra, and Brandon Niederauer.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the independent, not-for-profit affiliate of SDC, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, today announced unique plans for its 2019 award evening, which will feature original choreographic pieces resulting from a special commissioning program, with the application period now open. SDCF also announced that Victoria Traube would receive a special 'Mr. Abbott' Award at the event, to be held March 25 at the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF).