Tom Meehan News

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR opened on Broadway last night, Thursday, March 22 and BroadwayWorld.com was there to capture the red carpet arrivals!

A thundering chorus of 3,000+ Broadway stars, students and teachers will lock step and raise their voices and hearts in song during the 2012 Junior Theater Festival, a monumental celebration of on-stage and backstage excellence happening January 13 - 15, 2012 in Atlanta, GA, it was announced today by Theater of the Stars president Nick Manos and Timothy Allen McDonald, founding chairman of iTheatrics. Presented by New York's iTheatrics and Atlanta's Theater of the Stars and sponsored by leading theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI), Disney Musicals and NBC, the Junior Theater Festival is the world's largest musical theater festival dedicated to groups working with elementary school, middle school and high school aged students.

A thundering chorus of 3,000+ Broadway stars, students and teachers will lock step and raise their voices and hearts in song during the 2012 Junior Theater Festival, a monumental celebration of on-stage and backstage excellence happening January 13 - 15, 2012 in Atlanta, GA, it was announced today by Theater of the Stars president Nick Manos and Timothy Allen McDonald, founding chairman of iTheatrics. Presented by New York's iTheatrics and Atlanta's Theater of the Stars and sponsored by leading theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI), Disney Musicals and NBC, the Junior Theater Festival is the world's largest musical theater festival dedicated to groups working with elementary school, middle school and high school aged students.

The Ivoryton Playhouse will be holding local Equity and non-Equity auditions for the summer musical production 'The Producers' by Mel Brooks and Tom Meehan on Saturday, April 16th from 10am - 6pm at the Rehearsal Studio, 24 Main Street, Centerbrook, CT 06409.

In June, 2011, The Ivoryton Playhouse reaches its 100th birthday. 100 years of hosting dances and town meetings, producing great theatre, discovering movie stars and great directors and perhaps even the stars of tomorrow. The 2011 season - the Centennial Celebration - will build on this success and provide audiences with musicals and plays that reflect the unique history.

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) presents the Off-Broadway premiere of the new true musical comedy, The Road to Qatar!, featuring book and lyrics by Stephen Cole and music by David Krane, with direction by Phillip George (Forbidden Broadway), choreography by Bob Richard (Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!) and musical direction by David Caldwell (Children of Eden). The five- member cast features James Beaman (Spamalot, National Tour) as Michael, Keith Gerchak (Finding Nemo, The Musical) as Jeffrey, Bill Nolte (La Cage aux Folles) as Mansour, Sarah Stiles (Avenue Q) as Nazirah, and Bruce Warren (The Wizard of Oz) as Farid.

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) presents the Off-Broadway premiere of the new true musical comedy, The Road to Qatar!, featuring book and lyrics by Stephen Cole and music by David Krane, with direction by Phillip George (Forbidden Broadway), choreography by Bob Richard (Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!) and musical direction by David Caldwell (Children of Eden).

This Spring, Roundabout will produce it's third show to be featured at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre/Laura Pels Theatre for the 2010-2011 Season: Death Takes a Holiday. Here is a conversation with Roundabout Artistic Director Todd Haimes about this exciting new musical production:

Having essayed the roles of Belle in BEAUTY & THE BEAST and the title role in MARY POPPINS on Broadway, as well as having created a role in the jukebox revue ON THE RECORD, Ashley Brown has carved a place for herself as the premiere Disney leading lady of the 21st century and her participation in the recent symphonic presentation of SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARVES only furthers that point. I spoke to Ashley yesterday as she was on her way to rehearsals for SIR TIM RICE & FRIENDS, a special concert taking place in NYC on Friday at 6 PM and we discussed her career so far and her plans for the future, both near and far. Also, here you will find the first news of Ashley's upcoming PBS special airing in March and a forthcoming original Charlie Chaplin musical as well as a Cole Porter revue based on the film ROMAN HOLIDAY.

Since September 2009, Beth Leavel has been lending her big Broadway voice to ABBA's hit songs, starring as reluctant mother-of-the-bride Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia! She has previously appeared on The Great White Way in Young Frankenstein, 42nd Street, The Civil War, Showboat and Crazy for You, and her performance in The Drowsy Chaperone earned her a Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award in 2006.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) today announced the selections for the 2010 Next Link Project, NYMF's primary writer service program. The Next Link Project empowers emerging musical theatre writing teams as both artists and entrepreneurs by providing the training and relationships needed to help them move their musicals from readings to fully-realized productions and to advance their careers by maximizing the exposure they receive in the Festival. Twelve of the Festival's full production slots are reserved for participants in The Next Link Project.

The Grand Jury for 2010 Next Link from the New York Musical Theatre Festival will include Donna Lynne Champlin, Ken Davenport, Kimberly Grigsby, Beverley MacKeen, Tom Meehan, Jack Viertel, and Scott Wittman. Next Link is presented annually as a part of the NYMF.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) announced today that the timeline for submissions to the Next Link Project, which guarantees production slots in the 2010 Festival, has been extended. Applicants who register shows on the NYMF website by Monday, March 1st will be given until Friday, March 5th at 6pm EST to finish uploading their submission materials.

Coffee. Hot chocolate. Cozy fireplaces. Hot buttered rum. Snuggies. All of these are excellent ways to warm oneself on a cold and snowy New York day. Another very effective manner to beat the winter chills is to receive a phone call from Harriet Harris, the Tony Award winning actress who starred in such Broadway shows as OLD ACQUAINTANCE, THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, CRY-BABY and THOUROUGHLY MODERN MILLE, for which she received her coveted Tony. Currently co-starring with Victor Garber and Brooks Ashmanskas in the Roundabout Theatre's production of Noel Coward's comedy PRESENT LAUGHTER, Miss Harris took time out between matinee and evening performances for a conversation in the midst of a severe snowstorm. She was an excellent conversationalist and displayed great perception about theatre, human behavior and the production she is currently appearing in. Additionally, there's a warmth to her voice that made it easy to forget the inclement weather outside the window.

Now entering its seventh year, The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) exists to revitalize musical theater culture by discovering and promoting new musical theater artists, producers and projects; nurturing a vibrant and innovative artistic community; and connecting one of America's greatest art forms with a diverse, contemporary audience.

Now entering its seventh year, The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) exists to revitalize musical theater culture by discovering and promoting new musical theater artists, producers and projects; nurturing a vibrant and innovative artistic community; and connecting one of America's greatest art forms with a diverse, contemporary audience.

Can you really get a big heaping spoonful of traditional British holiday fun in Federal Way? Yes indeed. For the past three seasons Centerstage's managing artistic director, and British ex-pat, Alan Bryce has included a theatrical tradition from his homeland in the Centerstage Season -The English Pantomime (informally, panto).

Can you really get a big heaping spoonful of traditional British holiday fun in Federal Way? Yes indeed. For the past three seasons Centerstage's managing artistic director, and British ex-pat, Alan Bryce has included a theatrical tradition from his homeland in the Centerstage Season -The English Pantomime (informally, panto).

Can you really get a big heaping spoonful of traditional British holiday fun in Federal Way? Yes indeed. For the past three seasons Centerstage's managing artistic director, and British ex-pat, Alan Bryce has included a theatrical tradition from his homeland in the Centerstage Season -The English Pantomime (informally, panto).