Tom Kitt News

Tony winner ALice Ripley has been absent from the Chicago engagment of the NEXT TO NORMAL tur thus far, because of a knee injury, according to the Chicago Tribune. A representative from Broadway in Chicago revealed that Ripley is expected to return to the show tonight, May 5.

The Philadelphia premiere of the smash hit Broadway musical and Tony and Pulitzer Prize-Winning Next to Normal opens at the Academy of Music for a limited engagement June 21 - 26 , 2011 as part of the Broadway Season.

Nominations for The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced on Friday, April 29, 2011, at 9:30 AM at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan. Former Drama Desk Award winners Audra MacDonald and Liev Schreiber made the announcements. Other speakers included Isa Goldberg, President of the Drama Desk; Robert R. Blume, Executive Producer of the Drama Desk Awards; Barbara Siegel, chairperson of the Drama Desk Nominating Committee and Randie Levine-Miller, Director of Special Events for the Drama Desk, who has produced the nominations announcement ceremony at the NY Friars Club for the past 15 years.

Alissa Norby and Lampkin Music Group are proud to present acclaimed Tony Award winner and star of Broadway's Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal Alice Ripley in DAILY PRACTICE: THE ACOUSTIC SESSIONS. The celebrated stage artist will perform an exclusive one-night-only engagement at the newly revamped Stage 773 Theatre (1225 W. Belmont in Chicago) May 2nd, 2011. The performance will mark Ripley's Midwest concert debut.

The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards, hosted by Harvey Fierstein, will be held Monday, May 23, at 9:00 PM at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan Center, 8th Avenue and 34th Street. This year, for the first time, a 90-minute Highlights Special of the Drama Desk Awards Ceremony will be televised nationally on OVATION, the national cable network dedicated to presenting creative arts programming to national TV audiences. The ceremony will be given two primetime broadcasts plus four other airings between June 4 and June 19, 2011.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Interim Executive Director Joey Parnes) is currently rehearsing the Shakespeare in the Park summer season featuring MEASURE FOR MEASURE, directed by David Esbjornson, and ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, directed by Daniel Sullivan, running in repertory June 6 - July 30 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Bank of America returns as lead sponsor of Shakespeare in the Park 2011, supporting The Public's mission to keep Shakespeare in the Park free.

The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical NEXT TO NORMAL comes to PlayhouseSquare June 7 -19 as part of the 2010-2011 KeyBank Broadway Series at PlayhouseSquare. Tickets are on sale now at the PlayhouseSquare Ticket Office, online at www.playhousesquare.org and by phone at 216-241-6000.

Last night, the Broadway cast of AMERICAN IDIOT took their final bows at the St. James Theatre. In the videos below, director Michael Mayer and producers of the show give closing night speeches, and Green Day gives a surprise post show concert. Click below to check it out!

Following the triumphant final Broadway performance on Sunday, April 24, 2011, the producers of the critically acclaimed AMERICAN IDIOT announce first North American tour cities and venues. Casting to be announced shortly.

Following 421 performances on Broadway and 27 previews, the final performance of AMERICAN IDIOT is Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 7:30pm. The first national tour launches in the fall of 2011.

The Tony and Pulitzer Prize-Winning NEXT TO NORMAL will play the Fabulous Fox Theatre for almited engagement thru April 24.

AMERICAN IDIOT began performances at the St. James Theatre on March 24, 2010 and opened on Broadway on April 20, 2010 to a great set of reviews! Here's a sneak peek at Broadway Beat's openight night coverage of the show!

Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angles Drama Critic's Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, has announced an eclectic quintet of shows to celebrate its fifteenth season of Broadway in Concert musicals.

The Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize Award-winning rock musical "Next to Normal" is coming to the Ordway for a two-week run from May 10-22.

J.L. 'Lynn' Singleton, President of the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC), is pleased to announce PPAC's 34th Anniversary Broadway Season

Billie Joe Armstrong, who is currently starring in AMERICAN IDIOT at the St. James Theatre, recently chatted with Details magazine about everything from Broadway to politics.

Last year the Pulitzer prize-winning play August: Osage County absolutely lit up the Fox Theatre, going down in my memory as one of the finest productions I'd ever had the pleasure to have seen, and this year the Pulitzer prize-winning musical NEXT TO NORMAL arrives with similar high expectations and critical acclaim and, I'm happy to report, doesn't disappoint. At a time when the safe bet seems to be simply plucking a comedy from Hollywood's recent past and reworking it for the stage, it's refreshing to see an original work that actually addresses a real life issue, which in this case is mental illness and the devastating effect it can have on individuals and their families. NEXT TO NORMAL is a phenomenal show that's gripping from beginning to end, and the current production playing the Fox Theatre is required viewing for any fan of modern musical theatre.

The team behind the world premiere of Bring It On: The Musical (which took place at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre in January) was an extraordinarily rare union of some of Broadway's most acclaimed, award-winning, young creators. With an original book by Tony Award® winner Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q), music and lyrics by Tony Award®-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights), music by Pulitzer and Tony Award®-winning composer Tom Kitt (next to normal) and lyrics by Broadway lyricist Amanda Green (High Fidelity), the production is directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler (In the Heights).

Local Equity Principal Auditions (EPAs) for Pioneer Theatre Company's 2011-2012 Season will be held on Thursday, May 12, 2011.

Though Universal Pictures has chosen not to produce an IN THE HEIGHTS film, the studio has its sights set on another Broadway hit: Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT.