Ted Neeley News

Oscar Productions presents The Last Five Years, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Peter Berube, with music direction by Lauren Fraley. One preview performance plays June 7th at 7:15pm and the show runs Saturday, June 16th, 17th, 22nd, and 23rd at 5:30pm. All performances are presented as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Rubicon Theatre Artistic Directors KARYL LYNN BURNS and JAMES O'NEIL announced the company's 15th Anniversary Season at a preview event for subscribers, donors and media last earlier this month at the theatre's home in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District.

Rubicon Theatre Artistic Directors KARYL LYNN BURNS and JAMES O'NEIL announced the company's 15th Anniversary Season at a preview event for subscribers, donors and media last earlier this month at the theatre's home in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District. The event was hosted by Rubicon Board President DR. ROZ WARNER and Board of Advisors' Chair/Board Vice-President JEFF SMITH, with onstage appearances by several of the directors, writers and performers for the season.

A few days shy of the holiest week of the year for Christians - aptly named Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter (with Holy Thursday and Good Friday, the most sacred events on the calendar coming between) - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's seminal rock opera JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR was resurrected on Broadway by TOMMY and JERSEY BOYS director Des McAnuff - modeled after the hit Stratford Shakespeare Festival production last year and comprised of many of the same cast members, including all three leads - to hails of praise and hosannas, mostly. While JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR itself will always divide audiences and critics alike - and not merely because of its controversial content and its button-pushing treatment of the hallowed tale it tells - the magnetism and sheer power that Lloyd Webber's propulsive, throbbing rock score imbues gives the show an energy, vitality and life rare to find in even the most earnestly effervescent and energetic of comparable entities - the recently revived and similarly-themed GODSPELL in a revival a few blocks away included. Then, there are Tim Rice's lyrics - oh-so-spot-on in 1970, but still biting and edgy today in McAnuff's hi-tech and elaborately presented new Broadway production. Using the book of John as the jumping off point, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR tells the story of the last seven days in the life of Jesus Christ (Paul Nolan) and his subsequent betrayal by Judas (Josh Young) and sentencing to death at the hands of King Herod and Pontius Pilate (Tom Hewitt). The twelve apostles, Mary Magdalene and her female companions, lepers, Pharisees, priests and others populate the grand story told almost entirely through song - the show is 90% music - and Webber and Rice's score never, ever lets up. While this may not be the most faithful rendering as far as the Bible is concerned, nor the most historically accurate, SUPERSTAR is now available to experience for a whole new generation thanks to this new revival and the timing could not be more ideal. The time is ripe for a revival of SUPERSTAR, and, as Andrew Lloyd Webber himself has recently related, this new production of the show is the best ever as far as he is concerned. High praise indeed - coming from no less than the Lord.

Michael Martinez is set to present An Evening of Music and Comedy IX at Don't Tell Mama on March 19, 2012.

Michael Martinez is set to present An Evening of Music and Comedy IX at Don't Tell Mama on March 19, 2012.

Ted Neeley, best known as the star of the Norman Jewison film of "Jesus Christ Superstar," as well as the Broadway and National Tours, helped launch Ventura's Rubicon Theatre Company back in 1998. He starred in the then-fledgling Rubicon's first production -- a concert version of that same show at the Majestic Theatre fourteen years ago. Initially announced for two performances only in the 1,400-seat venue, Rubicon's Superstar quickly sold-out, a third show was added, and Rubicon Theatre Company was born. Each performance received a standing ovation. Critics from both the Ventura County Star and The Reporter summed up Neeley's performance in one word: "stellar."

Ted Neeley, best known as the star of the Norman Jewison film of "Jesus Christ Superstar," as well as the Broadway and National Tours, helped launch Ventura's Rubicon Theatre Company back in 1998. He starred in the then-fledgling Rubicon's first production -- a concert version of that same show at the Majestic Theatre fourteen years ago. Initially announced for two performances only in the 1,400-seat venue, Rubicon's Superstar quickly sold-out, a third show was added, and Rubicon Theatre Company was born. Each performance received a standing ovation. Critics from both the Ventura County Star and The Reporter summed up Neeley's performance in one word: "stellar."

Ted Neeley, best known as the star of the Norman Jewison film of "Jesus Christ Superstar," as well as the Broadway and National Tours, helped launch Ventura's Rubicon Theatre Company back in 1998. He starred in the then-fledgling Rubicon's first production -- a concert version of that same show at the Majestic Theatre fourteen years ago. Initially announced for two performances only in the 1,400-seat venue, Rubicon's Superstar quickly sold-out, a third show was added, and Rubicon Theatre Company was born. Each performance received a standing ovation. Critics from both the Ventura County Star and The Reporter summed up Neeley's performance in one word: "stellar."

The Ovation nominations are in, and once again RTC is once again among the most celebrated theatres in the region - even as the new season progresses, with neither the time nor inclination to rest upon laurels.

We've found out that Andrew Lloyd Webber intends to search for a Jesus Christ Superstar in conjunction with an ITV1 series - but who will be joining him on the judging panel?

Ted Neeley, best known as the star of the Norman Jewison film of "Jesus Christ Superstar," as well as the Broadway and National Tours, helped launch Ventura's Rubicon Theatre Company back in 1998. He starred in the then-fledgling Rubicon's first production -- a concert version of that same show at the Majestic Theatre fourteen years ago. Initially announced for two performances only in the 1,400-seat venue, Rubicon's Superstar quickly sold-out, a third show was added, and Rubicon Theatre Company was born. Each performance received a standing ovation. Critics from both the Ventura County Star and The Reporter summed up Neeley's performance in one word: "stellar."

Heartthrob DAVID BURNHAM (Wicked; A Light in the Piazza) performs a special late night show at The Laurie Beechman Theatre on 1-10-2012.

Ted Neeley, best known as the star of the Norman Jewison film of "Jesus Christ Superstar," as well as the Broadway and National Tours, helped launch Ventura's Rubicon Theatre Company back in 1998. He starred in the then-fledgling Rubicon's first production -- a concert version of that same show at the Majestic Theatre fourteen years ago. Initially announced for two performances only in the 1,400-seat venue, Rubicon's Superstar quickly sold-out, a third show was added, and Rubicon Theatre Company was born. Each performance received a standing ovation. Critics from both the Ventura County Star and The Reporter summed up Neeley's performance in one word: "stellar."

Heartthrob DAVID BURNHAM (Wicked; A Light in the Piazza) performs a special late night show at The Laurie Beechman Theatre on 1-10-2012.

In today's technological age, it can be difficult to disconnect from our computers and smartphones for even just a couple of hours during a night at the theatre. Have you found yourself itching to update your Twitter followers about an amazing experience at a live performance, but been restricted by the stern no-phones policies that are standard in live theatres?

The Ovation nominations are in, and once again RTC is once again among the most celebrated theatres in the region - even as the new season progresses, with neither the time nor inclination to rest upon laurels.

Pioneer, innovator and the voice of an entire new musical theatre generation coming in the dawning of the age of GLEE, Tony Award recipient and Grammy-winning composer, lyricist and performer Lin-Manuel Miranda has merged the worlds of the two most significant of original American art forms - musicals and rap - in such a striking and surprisingly inventive way with his hit musical IN THE HEIGHTS - currently touring the country - and is setting out to do the same with his fresh collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning NEXT TO NORMAL composer Tom Kitt on their new musical BRING IT ON!, currently in previews out of town in Los Angeles as it eyes New York. In addition to discussing the development of IN THE HEIGHTS and BRING IT ON! in detail, Miranda and I also outline his experience working alongside the two modern-day masters of the musical theatre - Stephen Sondheim and the recently deceased Arthur Laurents - on the Spanish translation and new lyrics for the recent bilingual revival of WEST SIDE STORY - in addition to his forthcoming ALEXANDER HAMILTON project, which Miranda recently performed a medley from for President Obama himself at the White House Poetry Jam. As if all of that were not enough, we also delve into his thought process as he sets out to take on one of Sondheim's most challenging roles in all of musical theatre - that of Charley Kringas in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG at Encores!, under the direction of James Lapine. Plus, news on his new feature film THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN, as well as recollections of his fondest Broadway shows, scores, cast albums, movie musicals and general musical and theatrical inspirations - and his favorite Shakespeare plays, too - as well as much, much more!

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed "Best of New York" by New York Magazine, and "an invaluable New York institution" by The New York Post, continues its Spring 2011 season with the debut engagement of acclaimed entertainer CLINT HOLMES.

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed "Best of New York" by New York Magazine, and "an invaluable New York institution" by The New York Post, continues its Spring 2011 season with the debut engagement of acclaimed entertainer CLINT HOLMES.