Touchstone News

One of Shakespeare's most problematic works makes its Shakespeare in the Parking Lot debut July 28 to August 13 when Ezra Barnes directs 'The Merchant of Venice.'

This July, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com/Feinsteins or call (646) 476-3551.

Name one person worth passing through the gates of Hades for while singing a song so sorrowful the stones would weep--A parent? A child? A partner? Perhaps even a true friend? American Players Theatre stages Eurydice, steampunk style in the Touchstone Theatre, recreating Sarah Ruhl's ethereal, surreal play examining love and the lengths someone would travel to serve that love. Based on the Greek myth of lovers Eurydice and musical rock star Orpheus, the child of Calliope and perhaps the God Apollo, Ruhl transforms the myth with a tale in tribute to her own father. Directed by Londoner Tyne Rafaeli, this production acquires a spiritual ambiance drawing the audience into Ruhl's and Rafaeli's underworld where Orpheus searches for Eurydice and literal sobs, tears flowing freely, were heard in the audience on opening day.

? For its 18th summer, Theatre Under The Trees is adding a modern, musical twist to the classic Shakespeare comedy, As You Like It. Theatre Under The Trees has always brought unique, show-specific music to York County audiences thanks to co-founder, music, and voice director Gayle Eubank. Eubank will be composing original music for the five songs included in the play, taking inspiration from the late 1980's.  These songs will be performed by Strange Oaths, a five part band created just for the show.

? Midsommer Flight kicks off its fifth season this summer with the delightful comedy As You Like It, presented outdoors in four Chicago parks. Dedicated to presenting high quality, accessible productions of Shakespeare's plays, Midsommer Flight is a proud arts partner with the Chicago Park District.

The Arc Theatre returns for its 7th year at Shakespeare on the Ridge with the bard's comedy of romantic deceptions, relentless lovers and rambunctious denizens of the Forest of Arden, directed by Artistic Director Mark Boergers* playing July 23rd through August 14th at Ridgeville Park, 908 Seward St., Evanston. ADMISSION IS FREE. The Press Preview is Friday, July 22nd at 7pm.  

Four local men gather in a forgotten pub in a remote part of Ireland and attempt to impress an outsider, a young woman newly-arrived to the area, with their ghost stories, but she delivers a haunting story of loss that devastates them.

Outside the Touchstone Theatre in Spring Green, American Players Theatre (APT) stages an exuberant African Dance accompanied by the thunder of drums and keyboard. The impromptu performance celebrates the legacy of color about to be admired on stage in a production of Carlyle Brown's The African Company Presents Richard III. Set in 1821 New York, the play focuses on actual historical events where a small African-American theater company produced their production of Shakespeare's Richard III on the exact same night  the famous Park Theatre owned by Daniel Price opened their production featuring English actor Julius Booth as the deformed king.

The Drilling Company's critically-praised Steampunk adaptation of 'As You Like It,' which debuted in Shakespeare in the Parking Lot last summer, is to be remounted July 21 to 23 for Bryant Park Presents Shakespeare with its original cast mostly intact and expanded music by Natalie Smith and Andrew Gombas. The production offers delightful lessons of love, starting off in a stately English Victorian world and moving into a Steampunk paradise when the scene shifts from a conventional Duchy to the mythical Forest of Arden. Hamilton Clancy directs.

GUYS AND DOLLS today announces that Simon Lipkin will be joining the West End cast for a limited time at the Phoenix Theatre to play the part of Nathan Detroit from Tuesday 28 June until Sunday 21 August 2016. He will play opposite the award-winning actor Rebel Wilson as Miss Adelaide.

 Mayor Martin J. Walsh joined Huntington Managing Director Michael Maso and developer John Matteson of QMG Huntington, LLC to announce a partnership that will allow the Huntington Theatre Company to stay in its current home, the Boston University Theatre.

'FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME' (FLS) is a musical comedy show like no other, and is coming to Seeso June 23 with newly captured scenes with the original cast, including Broadway's hit Tony Award winning musical 'HAMILTON's' Lin-Manuel Miranda

Verve/UMe is proud to announce, as part of Verve's 60 th anniversary celebration, new vinyl reissues on June 24 for two long unavailable live performance classics by a pair of jazz legends the peerless Ella Fitzgerald's Mack The Knife: Ella In Berlin and funk-master Jimmy Smith's Root Down: Jimmy Smith Live!.

The Fresh Voices showcase returns to Touchstone Theatre on July 8 and 9, 2016. This annual event is a celebration of new theatre, featuring original works-in-progress by the 2015-16 Touchstone Apprentices, Raven Dailey and Julia Elberfeld. The evening is composed of three original works-in-progress and this year, centers around the female experience.

OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS by Joe DiPietro, opened Off-Broadway in 1998 and ran for over 800 performances during the original two year run. Audiences may be more familiar with DiPietro as the author of the long-running musical revue I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. It is easy to see why the show was a long running success. It is a script full of warmth, wit and familial truth that speaks directly to the generation gap experienced by Baby Boomers.

?Complete casting has been announced for Wolfbane Productions' upcoming, professional premiere of Bubble Boy the Musical , which will be presented at the Wolf P.A.C. in Appomattox, VA from September 22-October 15.

Jamie Wilson is delighted to announce casting for the national tour of Curve's all new production of the hit musical comedy SISTER ACT, directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood and opening at Curve on Saturday 30 July 2016. Tour schedule below with further casting to be announced.

Run away with the circus this summer and weave your way through an array of hidden gardens and spectacular lawns at The Savill Garden in this immersive production of Shakespeare's much loved AS YOU LIKE IT from 22 June to 24 July 2016.

According to Deadline, just a few weeks after Universal bumped up the release date of PITCH PERFECT 3, starring Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson to July 21, 2017, the studio has now pushed it back to December 22, 2017.

Golden Globe Award® winner Emily Blunt (“Into the Woods,” the upcoming “Girl on the Train”) and Emmy®, GRAMMY®, Tony Award® and Pulitzer Prize winner Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton,” “In the Heights”) are set to star in MARY POPPINS RETURNS, a sequel to the studio's 1964 classic, “Mary Poppins,” which will be released on December 25, 2018.