Tony Reilly News

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans presents John Patrick Shanley's new romantic comedy Outside Mullingar. The play by the Pulitzer, Oscar and Tony Award-winning writer of Moonstruck and Doubt will be directed by Artistic Director BJ Jones. The production will run at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie, from March 13-April 19, 2015. The press openings are Friday, March 20, 2015 and Saturday, March 21, 2015.

BroadwayWorld previously reported that Portland, Maine actor Tony Reilly was in a medically-induced coma after sustaining several injuries in a motor vehicle accident last week which killed his wife. Friends of Reilly say he is still in recovery.

Portland, Maine actor Tony Reilly is still in a medically-induced coma after sustaining several injuries in a motor vehicle accident earlier this week which killed his wife.

The American Irish Repertory Ensemble is bringing a colorful, lighthearted celebration of Christmas to the Studio Theatre at Portland Stage. The company presented staged versions of beloved Irish folktales, Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales and Susan and Tony Reilly's A Wren's Tale, told in song, verse, and in the Celtic dance of the StIllson School of Irish Dance troupe. The veteran actors and cast of charming children brought a warmth and naturalness to the 'feel-good' evening.

'Outside Mullingar' is now being performed at the George Street Playhouse through November 2nd. Written by John Patrick Shanley and directed by David Saint, this wonderful production is perfect to kick off the theatre's 2014-2015 season.

City Theatre kicks off its 40th anniversary season with a 2014 Tony Award 'Best Play' nominee. OUTSIDE MULLINGAR, by John Patrick Shanley, directed by Tracy Brigden, will run on City Theatre's Mainstage today, October 11 - November 2, 2014.

City Theatre kicks off its 40th anniversary season with a 2014 Tony Award "Best Play" nominee. OUTSIDE MULLINGAR, by John Patrick Shanley, directed by Tracy Brigden, will run on City Theatre's Mainstage October 11 - November 2, 2014.

South Portland's Mad Horse Theatre Company ended its season with a poignant and ambitious production of the Tony-award-winning musical, Grey Gardens. A musical is a bit of a departure for the small theatre company and its tiny black box space, but they acquitted themselves with both substance and aplomb. Premiered in New York in 2006 with music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie, and book by Douglas Wright, the play tells the heartbreaking story of Jacqueline Kennedy's reclusive aunt and cousin, whose eccentric lives descend into disarray and squalor. With a script that is part Long Day's Journey into Night and a score that is part Stephen Sondheim, Grey Gardens is laden with pathos and a bittersweet humor. The lyrics are mordant; the music through composed as an extension of the dialogue, it is a theatre piece which calls for sensitive singing-actors and a director who can plumb its depths. Fortunately, the Mad Horse Theatre has both!

Mad Horse Theatre Company will be producing its first musical in 17 years, as well as a Maine Premiere, and one of such depth and beauty.

Mad Horse Theatre Company will be producing its first musical in 17 years, as well as a Maine Premiere, and one of such depth and beauty.

City Theatre announces the six-play lineup for its 40th anniversary season, including a wistful Broadway comedy; a music-filled portrait of actress Judy Holliday; a poignant exploration of a Harlem community; a wild 'have and have-nots' comedy set in Martha's Vineyard; an irreverent comic-drama about family, art, and inspiration; and an adventure- and song-filled romp through Edinburgh.

A veteran actor is touched by 'the tenderness in the writing' of John Patrick Shanley's OUTSIDE MULLINGAR, which has been called an Irish MOONSTRUCK.

Despite its location far, far north, and its relatively sparse population compared to cultural capitals, Maine boasts a rich regional theatre climate. There are quite a few thriving, adventurous, permanent professional companies, as well as an excellent contingent of community theatres. This year offered a wealth of exciting choices. Here is my personal list for 2013, grouped by theatre company and show:

The Good Theater's (Portland, ME) New England premiere of A.R. Gurney's latest play, The Grand Manner, is a wistful, droll, and stylish production of this charming, nostalgic paean to theatre on the Great White Way in 1948. The play, which originally opened at New York's Lincoln Center Theatre in 2010, deals with an autobiographical episode, augmented into legend.

Good Theater presents the New England premiere of A.R. Gurney's charming and funny THE GRAND MANNER directed by Brian P. Allen, playing November 6-24. Good Theater is the professional theater company in residence at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland. For tickets and information contact Good Theater at 207-885-5883 or go towww.goodtheater.com. Performance schedule: Wednesdays* 7:00 ($20), Thursdays 7:00 ($20), Fridays 7:30 ($25), Saturdays 3:00* ($25) & 7:30 ($28) and Sundays 2:00 ($28). Wednesdays 11/6 & 11/13; Saturday matinees at 3:00 11/16 & 11/23.

Good Theater has announced the New England premiere of A.R. Gurney's charming and funny THE GRAND MANNER directed by Brian P. Allen, playing November 6-24. Good Theater is the professional theater company in residence at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland. For tickets and information contact Good Theater at 207-885-5883 or go to www.goodtheater.com. Performance schedule: Wednesdays* 7:00 ($20), Thursdays 7:00 ($20), Fridays 7:30 ($25), Saturdays 3:00* ($25) & 7:30 ($28) and Sundays 2:00 ($28). Wednesdays 11/6 & 11/13; Saturday matinees at 3:00 11/16 & 11/23.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson runs now through October 20, 2013 at Portland Stage. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

'Blues are a way of understanding,' Ma Rainey tells her band in the second act of August Wilson's 1984 play set in a 1920s recording studio in Jim Crow era Chicago. And, indeed, Wilson uses music as a means of making sense of the African-American experience in a world scarred by racism and violence. The Portland Stage's new production, which opens its 2013-2014 season, is a tautly directed, intensely acted interpretation of Wilson's meditation on what it is like to be black in a white man's world. The play, which uses the a quasi-musical blues structure of long, seemingly improvised solos interspersed with short rhythmic exchanges of dialogue, builds slowly and tensely to its chilling climax. Along the way, it penetrates the recesses of the musicians' hearts, their troubled pasts and their tenuous presents. And it examines the high cost of 'making it' in white America, where, for all their artistic talent and success, these determined entertainers remain faceless and invisible. Delivering Wilson's prose with an engaging blend of humor and pathos, the Portland Stage Company's cast scales the poetic heights of the playwright's genius.

The brutality and barbarism of Shakespeare's early 'revenge' play, Titus Andronicus, make it difficult fare for modern audiences. And yet, as director Stacey Koloski says about her staging at South Portland's Mad Horse Theatre Company: 'Titus Andronicus shows the human cost to the cycle of war and violence.' That the tragedy with all its on-stage atrocities may be 'frighteningly relevant today' does not make the experience any less painful for the spectators. Yet despite its assault on our emotions and senses, the audience at the Mad Horse Theatre cannot help but be gripped and moved by what it witnesses.

I am here to tell you that not only can Shakespeare's work be truly life changing, but it IS accessible, and topical in our present world climate. And a production like the Mad Horse Theatre's stellar presentation of Titus Andronicus proves that to a tee.