Thornton Wilder News

Delaware Theatre Company will present Crowns, April 11 - 29, 2012. In the show, A young woman who moves down South to live with her aunt is given a lesson in 'hat-titude' in this toe-tapping musical. From feathered hats to flowered hats, pillboxes to turbans, to hats for work and hats for church, there is a hat for every occassion, and a cultural and historical significance to them as well as 'Mother Shaw' and her 'hat queens' share in their stories. This soul-stirring musical demonstrates the handing down of culture from one generation to the next and celebrates the refuge, equality and healing that occurs in this place of spirituality.

Vicki Lewis (Damn Yakees, Chicago) and Tony Winner Gary Beach (The Producers, La Cage aux Folles, Beauty and the Beast) star in 'It's Gettin' Hot in Here, Take Off Your Sunday Clothes.'

Hello, Dolly! opens at Spotlighters Theater on April 13, and is described as 'an ebullient and irresistible musical about the joy of living, glittering with happy songs, shining with loving scenes, and alive with the personality of one of the most fabulous characters on the musical stage.'

Berkeley's Aurora Theatre Company has announced the lineup for its 21st season.

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre presents the final show of its 2011/12 season Hello, Dolly! through April 1, directed by Tony®-nominated director and choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge and starring Broadway veteran Vicki Lewis and Tony® winner Gary Beach. Composer and lyricist Jerry Herman was in the audience at last night's show. Herman, who won a Tony Award for Hello, Dolly!, came backstage after the show and congratulated the cast on the performance. Check out the photo below!

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre (CST) in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho announces Ellen Travolta and Jack Bannon in the revival of Hello, Dolly! as their 45th Anniversary Season opener. CST is delighted to bring back this smash-hit to Northwest audiences. Travolta and Bannon (real-life husband and wife team) portrayed the beloved matchmaker Dolly Levi and the grumpy Horace Vandergeller during CST's 2000 season.

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre is heading into the final show of its 2011/12 season. The Tony Award®-winning classic musical Hello, Dolly! bursts onto the Theatre's stage March 13 through April 1, directed by Tony®-nominated director and choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge and starring Broadway veteran Vicki Lewis and Tony® winner Gary Beach.

Ford's Theatre Director Paul R. Tetreault announced the Theatre's 2012-2013 season.

The Open Fist Theatre Company has announced the next production in their 2012 season, MOON OVER BUFFALO, written by Ken Ludwig and directed by Bjørn Johnson, featuring fight choreography by B.H. Barry.

Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director of Signature Theatre, today announced the lineup for the company's 2012/2013 season. The Tony Award®-winning company, long renowned for staging bold and innovative productions of classic musicals, will be reinventing four legendary Broadway favorites for their exciting 23rd season. In addition to a co-production with Ford's Theatre of the 10-time Tony Award®-winner Hello, Dolly!, Signature will be bringing the uproarious musical comedy The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and the inspirational award-winning musical Dreamgirls to the intimate MAX Theatre. Signature, the Theatre most closely associated with producing definitive productions of Stephen Sondheim, will also present the quintessential musical on love and marriage, Company, for the first time in twenty years.

CENTERSTAGE and Westport Country Playhouse announced today casting for their co-production of Into the Woods, and Broadway fans will be excited to hear that the original Little Red Riding Hood, Danielle Ferland, is making her way back Into the Woods. The production is set to run March 7-April 15 at CENTERSTAGE before moving to Westport Country Playhouse in May. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's beloved fairy tale musical will be directed by Westport Country Playhouse's Artistic Director Mark Lamos.

CENTERSTAGE and Westport Country Playhouse have announced casting for their co-production of Into the Woods, and Broadway fans will be excited to hear that the original Little Red Ridinghood, Danielle Ferland, is making her way back Into the Woods. The production is set to run March 7-April 15 at CENTERSTAGE before moving to Westport Country Playhouse in May. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's beloved fairy tale musical will be directed by Westport Country Playhouse's Artistic Director Mark Lamos, who directed A Little Night Music in 2008.

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre is heading into the final show of its 2011/12 season. The Tony Award®-winning classic musical Hello, Dolly! bursts onto the Theatre's stage March 13 through April 1, directed by Tony®-nominated director and choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge and starring Broadway veteran Vicki Lewis and Tony® winner Gary Beach.

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre is heading into the final show of its 2011/12 season with Hello, Dolly!, March 13 through April 1, directed by Tony®-nominated director and choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge and starring Broadway veteran Vicki Lewis and Tony® winner Gary Beach.

Delaware Theatre Company will present Crowns, April 11 - 29, 2012. In the show, A young woman who moves down South to live with her aunt is given a lesson in 'hat-titude' in this toe-tapping musical. From feathered hats to flowered hats, pillboxes to turbans, to hats for work and hats for church, there is a hat for every occassion, and a cultural and historical significance to them as well as 'Mother Shaw' and her 'hat queens' share in their stories. This soul-stirring musical demonstrates the handing down of culture from one generation to the next and celebrates the refuge, equality and healing that occurs in this place of spirituality.

Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town has been a part of my American cultural mindset since high school, practically all my life. And, of course, being a New Englander, it is not very hard to put myself into Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, even though the time period for the play 1901-1913 is about 30 + years before my existence. People are people and daily life was pretty much the same; things - except cars replacing horse and buggy - didn't really start changing until the middle of the 20th century. Now in this spaced out, high tech, faster-than-the-speed-of-light world we live in, it's nice to look back and see how it once was and reflect on what it maybe should be. On the Broad stage through February 12 only, David Cromer's fascinating staging puts his audience smack dab in the middle of the town and makes us believe we have time-traveled back to this simpler but just as psychologically complicated era. How inexpensive things cost, how people trusted one another, and how they amused themselves by reading, attending choir practice or actually conversing with one another instead of being glued to the TV set or sidetracked by other low quality, insignificant perversions! But there were some who just could not cope, like Mr. Stimson, the alcoholic choir director, who ended up committing suicide. We've all known people like him. So, the play is timeless. And somehow contemporary dress for the actors is not a hindrance to our accepting who and where they are, as it makes them like us, as we all fit together into one big macrocosm.

CENTERSTAGE and Westport Country Playhouse announced today casting for their co-production of Into the Woods, and Broadway fans will be excited to hear that the original Little Red Riding Hood, Danielle Ferland, is making her way back Into the Woods. The production is set to run March 7-April 15 at CENTERSTAGE before moving to Westport Country Playhouse in May. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's beloved fairy tale musical will be directed by Westport Country Playhouse's Artistic Director Mark Lamos.

Japan Society will present a staged reading of Our Planet by Japan's celebrated young writer Yukio Shiba, directed by OBIE award winner Alec Duffy. As part of Japan Society's Performing Arts Season spanning Fall 2011 through Spring 2012, Our Planet is a presentation of the Society's annual Play Reading Series of contemporary Japanese plays in English translation.

Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town has been a part of my American cultural mindset since high school, practically all my life. And, of course, being a New Englander, it is not very hard to put myself into Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, even though the time period for the play 1901-1913 is about 30 + years before my existence. People are people and daily life was pretty much the same; things - except cars replacing horse and buggy - didn't really start changing until the middle of the 20th century. Now in this spaced out, high tech, faster-than-the-speed-of-light world we live in, it's nice to look back and see how it once was and reflect on what it maybe should be. On the Broad stage through February 12 only, David Cromer's fascinating staging puts his audience smack dab in the middle of the town and makes us believe we have time-traveled back to this simpler but just as psychologically complicated era. How inexpensive things cost, how people trusted one another, and how they amused themselves by reading, attending choir practice or actually conversing with one another instead of being glued to the TV set or sidetracked by other low quality, insignificant perversions! But there were some who just could not cope, like Mr. Stimson, the alcoholic choir director, who ended up committing suicide. We've all known people like him. So, the play is timeless. And somehow contemporary dress for the actors is not a hindrance to our accepting who and where they are, as it makes them like us, as we all fit together into one big macrocosm.

The Open Fist Theatre Company has announced the next production in their 2012 season, MOON OVER BUFFALO, written by Ken Ludwig and directed by Bjørn Johnson, featuring fight choreography by B.H. Barry.