Steppenwolf Theatre Company Artistic Director Martha Lavey announced today additional casting for the 2012/13 Subscription and Steppenwolf for Young Adults seasons. Will Allan, Keith Kupferer and Lusia Strus join previously announced ensemble members Alana Arenas, Mariann Mayberry and Molly Regan, completing the cast of the season opener, Good People. The cast of the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of The Book Thief features ensemble member Francis Guinan with Patrick Andrews, Amy J. Carle, Rob Fagin, Rae Gray, Dennis William Grimes, Nikki Klix, Ian Knox, Anthony-Jon LeSage, Clancy McCartney, Andy Monson, Mark Ulrich and Nicole Wiesner. Other additions to the 2012/13 slate include Sandra Delgado, Sandra Marquez, John Ortiz and Gary Perez in The Motherf**ker with the Hat, and Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Glenn Davis and Jacqueline Williams in Head of Passes. Edward Torres has also signed on to direct the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of How Long Will I Cry?: Voices of Youth Violence (previously titled Oral Histories) with Artistic Consultant Kelli Simpkins.
Pride Films and Plays continues its very fun summer with one repeating event and a Chicago premiere. PFP's second annual Women's Work Weekend will feature enhanced staged readings of new lesbian plays and screenplays by women writers from across the country. And that will be closely followed by Mariah MacCarthy's delightful comedy spoofing all things gender-centric: The All-American Genderf*ck Cabaret, directed by Tara Branham.
The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) announced today the eight musicals selected to be part of the 24th Annual Festival of New Musicals at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street).
Three recent graduates from Houston's High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, with a mission to put on genre defying musicals and rarely-performed plays, founded Bit of a Stretch Theatre Co. in 2010. After planting a seed in the Houston Theatre scene with last summer's show, their roots and longevity are being firmly set with their sophomore season's exquisite first production of existentialist Jean-Paul Sarte's No Exit-a play set in hell and that examines our relationships with each other.
Chicago's non-Equity Bohemian Theatre Ensemble has undertaken Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's 1996 off-Broadway masterpiece (or close to it) and put it on at Theater Wit on West Belmont Avenue for the next month (through July 25, 2012). If you have imagination enough to meet the company halfway, somewhere between the hardscrabble Kentucky soil and the cave beneath it where the real Floyd Collins met his doom in 1925, you will come away with a musical and theatrical experience you are unlikely to repeat anytime soon, anywhere else.
In case you missed it in the "Showtune Mosh Pit" column last week, here is my full listing of musical theater shows (plus three special concert events) happening in Chicago this summer. Click on the name of each show for a link to more information. And enjoy!
ANNIE, the new production of the classic Tony Award®-winning musical, goes on sale today to American Express cardholders. For tickets, call 877-250-2929 or visit Ticketmaster.com. Tickets will be available to the general public on Monday, June 25. ANNIE will star two-time Tony Award® winner Katie Finneran as Miss Hannigan, Australian star Anthony Warlow making his Broadway debut as Daddy Warbucks and 11-year-old Lilla Crawford as Annie, with Brynn O'Malley (Wicked, Hairspray) as Grace Farrell, Daddy Warbucks' devoted personal secretary, Clarke Thorell (Hairspray, Mamma Mia!) as Rooster Hannigan, Miss Hannigan's ne'er-do-well brother and J. Elaine Marcos (Priscilla Queen of the Desert, A Chorus Line) as Lily St. Regis, Rooster's floozy girlfriend. The orphans are Madi Rae DiPietro as July, Georgi James as Pepper, Junah Jang as Tessie, Tyrah Skye Odoms as Kate, Taylor Richardson as Duffy, Emily Rosenfeld as Molly and Jaidyn Young as standby for the roles of Annie, Pepper, Duffy and July. The production also features Ashley Blanchet, Jane Blass, Jeremy Davis, Merwin Foard, Joel Hatch, Amanda Lea LaVergne, Gavin Lodge, Liz McCartney, Desi Oakley, David Rossetti, Sarah Solie, Dennis Stowe and Ryan VanDenBoom.
The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. The non-Equity Jeff Awards are Monday night, and we've compiled our first ever Summer Musical Theatre Guide! Here are 35 listings for your viewing pleasure....
The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Three shows make a PR appearance at Sidetrack, ATC plans a 'Hair' re-do, 'Camelot,' 'Floyd Collins,' three new mainstage musicals, a reading, a benefit and more!
BoHo Theatre brings its 2011/2012 season to a close with Floyd Collins by Adam Guettel, composer/lyricist of The Light In The Piazza, and Steppenwolf Ensemble-member Tina Landau.
By popular demand, Frank Strausser's new comedy PSYCHO THERAPY resumed performances Off-Broadway at The Cherry Lane Theatre on April 8 and runs through May 26. Check out new production highlights featuring the latest cast below!
New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo today anounced that A Civil War Christmas, written by Paula Vogel, directed by Tina Landau and Sontag: Reborn adapted by Moe Angelos, directed by Marianne Weems and produced in collaboration with The Builders Association will round out the company's 2012/13 season.
Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner announced today that acclaimed/awarding winning actresses Judy Kuhn and Melissa Errico will star as Fosca and Clara in the company's new production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Tony Award-winning musical PASSION, to be directed by John Doyle (the Tony Award-winning revivals of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and Company). PASSION is slated to begin performances in February, 2013. Additional casting will be announced in the coming weeks and months, as well as full creative team. PASSION opened on Broadway in May of 1994 and received the Tony Award that year for Best Musical.
Moonbox Productions marks its first anniversary with a moving production of Adam Guettel's FLOYD COLLINS at the Plaza Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts. The composer-lyricist was in the house for the Easter Sunday press opening and talk-back.
The Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at the University of the Arts is to collaborate with its' own student run theater organization, Blurring Edges: A Cabaret Series to produce How Glory Goes, an evening of music pulling from the cannon of musical theater composer Adam Guettel. Faculty member Bill Buddendorf is set to direct alongside guest music director Darius Smith, who hails from Washington D.C. Smith is Assistant Professor and Musical Theatre Performance coordinator at Howard University.
Moonbox Productions presents Floyd Collins; based on a true story, with music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, book and additional lyrics by Tina Landau. Directed by Allison Olivia Choat, musical direction by Dan Rodriguez, choreographed by Rachel Bertone. Performances run from April 6-14: Thurs. (7:30 pm), Fri. (8 pm), Sat. (2 pm & 8 pm), & Sun. (2 pm). Tickets: $32-$37. BCA Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont St., Boston. Wheelchair accessible. For advance tickets and information, visit or call the Box Office at 671-933-8600 or log onto www.bostontheatrescene.com.
Tony Award-winning ensemble member Frank Galati returns to the helm at Steppenwolf Theatre Company with his stage adaptation of The March, Pulitzer Prize-finalist E.L. Doctorow's novel about General William Tecumseh Sherman's Civil War march through Georgia.
The Carolina Actors Studio Theatre (CAST) in Charlotte, North Carolina will present the regional premiere of FLOYD COLLINS April 12-May 12, 2012. The musical by playwright Tina Landau and composer Adam Guettel is based on the true story of the heroic, but ultimately unsuccessful, struggle to free explorer Floyd Collins from a Kentucky cave in 1925. The tragedy was covered by newspapers throughout the United States for two weeks, and drew thousands of spectators to the remote rescue site, making it one of the most sensational news events of the early 20th century and inspiring one of the most unusual stage productions ever written.
