Thomas Meehan News

Beck Center for the Arts is proud to announce its 2010/2011 professional theater season, featuring something for every taste and the reopening of the Studio Theater.

BroadwayWorld offers highlights of the several productions which will complete their Broadway runs in January.

Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures in association with Unique Features announced today that the new Broadway musical ELF shattered the box office record at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 W 45th St) a third time for the week ending December 26, 2010.

BroadwayWorld TV was bigger than ever in 2010, covering the world of theatre from GLEE to the Hollywood Bowl to Broadway to London and Beyond! Take a look back at some of 2010's most watched videos!

It was quite a year for BroadwayWorld.com's unmatched Photo Team, here's a look at some of the most popular photo coverages of 2010!

Grosse Pointe Theatre presents Relatively Speaking, a witty, charming and beautifully constructed comedy of manners and mistaken identities from one of England's most popular modern playwrights, Alan Ayckbourn.

More than 50 years ago one musical changed theatre forever. Now it's back on Broadway mesmerizing audiences once again. From the first note to the final breath, WEST SIDE STORY soars as the greatest love story of all time. Directed by its two-time Tony Award winning librettist Arthur Laurents, the show remains as powerful, poignant and timely as ever. The new Broadway cast album of WEST SIDE STORY recently won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. The Bernstein and Sondheim score is considered to be one of Broadway's finest and features such classics of the American musical theatre as 'Something's Coming,' 'Tonight,' 'America,' 'I Feel Pretty' and 'Somewhere.'

Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures in association with Unique Features announced today that the new Broadway musical ELF shattered its previous box office record at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 W 45th St) for the week ending December 19, 2010.

Highlights Include Michael Bolton, Vic Damone, Michael Feinstein, Roberta Flack, Dudu Fisher, Whoopi Goldberg, Shirley MacLaine, Peking Acrobats, Don Rickles & Joan Rivers, Jake Shimabukuro, The Temptations & The Four Tops, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, Forever Plaid, Tango Inferno, NETworks Presents Disney's Beauty & The Beast & The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein

Thrills, Chills and Music are all part of the Sands Theater Company's 2010-2011 Season. Here is what we have planned.

The Fine Arts Center Theatre Company, with one week remaining for the hit Gershwin musical comedy, Crazy For You, announces its 2010-2011 season.

New Line Theatre, 'the Bad Boy of Musical Theatre,' will open the company's season of rock theatre in October 2011 with the St. Louis premiere of PASSING STRANGE, the all-black Broadway musical about a young man searching for meaning and authenticity in our contemporary world.

Leapin' Lizards! Annie has been extended at Olney TheatreCenter for a second time, to Sunday, January 16.

Wanda Sykes is currently leading the Media Theatre's production of ANNIE as 'Miss Hannigan' - the iconic child-hating orphanage director with an affinity for alcoholic beverages - this holiday season. Sykes opened the production on November 23 and had been scheduled to close the production on January 16, 2011 following a Christmas absence. The Media Theatre has just announced that Sykes will now be extending her run through January 23, 2011. Click here for the official announcement on the Media site.

The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts is a not-for-profit performing arts center whose mission is to enhance the quality of life in Palm Beach County by presenting a diverse schedule of national and International Artists and companies of the highest quality; by offering comprehensive arts education programs; by providing a Palm Beach County home in which local and regional arts organizations can showcase their work; and by providing economic catalyst and community leadership in West Palm Beach, supporting efforts to increase travel and tourism to Palm Beach County.

Marquee Productions presents the Broadway sensation, Hairspray, at the Montgomery Theater in downtown San Jose, December 3 - 12, 2010. Winner of eight Tony Awards and four prestigious Laurence Olivier Awards, including 'Best Musical,' this smash-hit musical about a girl with big hair, a big heart and big dance numbers is piled high with bouffant laughter, romance and deliriously fun show tunes. Hairspray is directed by Children's Musical Theater San Jose's Artistic Director Kevin R. Hauge.

Kentwood Players welcomes the 2010 holiday season with the musical 'Annie" based on the Tribune Media Services comic strip "Little Orphan Annie" with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and book by Thomas Meehan.

Young Frankenstein, playing at the Durham Performing Arts Center through December 12, is wickedly funny and incredibly bawdy. It's almost exactly what you'd expect from a musical based on a Mel Brooks movie - almost.

Perhaps the Broadway musical would enjoy a complete and total renaissance of quality if only Thomas Meehan would agree to co-author the book of every new show that hits town.  The writer whose main stem debut was the perfectly crafted Annie has gone on to spend the bulk of his career co-authoring with the likes of Mel Brooks, Mark O'Donnell and Lee Adams.  And while I'm certainly not dismissing the contributions of his collaborators, the Thomas Meehan name in a Playbill seems to guarantee that no matter how the dialogue and the score turn out, the elements will be housed in a sturdy structure that firmly establishes its story arc, gives us reasons to care about the characters and steadily glides along to a satisfying conclusion.

We are hearing HUGE rumblings that the Hollywood Bowl has chosen their summer musical... Drum roll please... HAIRSPRAY! The Hollywood Bowl has been knocking these musicals out of the ballpark these last three years with LES MISERABLES, GUYS & DOLLS and RENT.