Verona News

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for the West Coast premiere of THE METROMANIACS by supremely clever playwright David Ives (All in the Timing, Time Flies). This uproarious new 'translaptation' of a classic French farce, Alexis Piron's La Metromanie, will be directed by one of America's most renowned stage directors, Michael Kahn, presented in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company.

It is announced today that Claudie Blakley, Marcus Fraser, Mark Hadfield and Alex Macqueen will join previously confirmed cast members Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon in the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company's new comedy The Painkiller. The fifth production in the Plays at the Garrick season will play from 5 March until 30 April with press night on 17 March.

Yale Repertory Theatre presents the world premiere of THE MOORS by Jen Silverman, directed by Jackson Gay, beginning tonight, January 29, where it will run through February 20 at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street). Opening Night is Thursday, February 4.

The Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House (CWRU/CPH) MFA Acting Program will open its 20th Anniversary season with Shakespeare's delightful comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona in the Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab Theatre (The Helen) for 10 performances, February 10-20, 2016.

Norm Lewis, the Tony Award-nominated Broadway star of The Phantom of the Opera, Porgy & Bess and more, has been added to the all-star lineup of INSPIRATIONAL BROADWAY, a dynamic and soulful evening of music.

The Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company presents Red Velvet, the third production in the inaugural Plays at the Garrick season. The production, which originally premiered at the Tricycle Theatre in 2012 before transferring to St Ann's Warehouse in New York in 2014, will play at the Garrick Theatre from tonight 23 January until 27 February 2016.

59E59 Theaters will welcome the NYC premiere of DEAD DOG PARK, written by Barry Malawer and directed by Eric Tucker. Produced by Boz and the Bard Productions, Inc. & Bedlam, DEAD DOG PARK begins performances on Thursday, February 11 for a limited engagement through Sunday, March 6.  Press opening is Sunday, February 28 at 7:15 PM.  The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:15 PM; Friday at 8:15 PM; Saturday at 2:15 PM & 8:15 PM; and Sunday at 3:15 PM & 7:15 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org. 

Deadline reports that ABC has given a pilot order for the Romeo and Juliet sequel STILL STAR CROSSED from Shonda Rhimes. The project is based on Melinda Taub's book of the same name.

Asolo Rep continues its 2015-16 season with quintessential American playwright Eugene O'Neill's sentimental comedy AH, WILDERNESS!, directed by Greg Leaming, associate artistic director of Asolo Rep and the director of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. The Tony Award, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner's sole comedy opens tonight, January 22 at 8pm and runs in rotating repertory through Sunday, April 10 in the Mertz Theatre, located in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. 

Award Winning Playwright, Vanda, presents a monthly stage performance of her soon to be released book, JULIANA. The novel and live performance centers around LGBT life in New York City in the 1940's. The performances are directed by Ray Fritz. 

Shakespeare & Company has announced its lineup for the 2016 summer season, which includes three Shakespeare plays: The Merchant of Venice, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Twelfth Night, plus the Regional Premieres of Or, by Liz Duffy Adams, and Lauren Gunderson's The Taming. Additional titles include Ugly Lies the Bone by Lindsey Ferrentino a bracing drama fresh from an acclaimed Off-Broadway production, Sotto Voce by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz, and the return of Stephan Wolfert in Cry 'Havoc!'

Lyric Opera of Chicago continues its 61st season with Romeo and Juliet in a new-to-Chicago production created by Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher, Monday, February 22 through Saturday, March 19(nine performances). This is the eighth and final mainstage opera production of the widely acclaimed 2015/16 season.

Asolo Rep continues its 2015-16 season with quintessential American playwright Eugene O'Neill's sentimental comedy AH, WILDERNESS!, directed by Greg Leaming, associate artistic director of Asolo Rep and the director of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. The Tony Award, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner's sole comedy previews tonight, January 20 and Thursday, January 21 at 8pm, opens Friday, January 22 at 8pm and runs in rotating repertory through Sunday, April 10 in the Mertz Theatre, located in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. 

Hartford Stage presents William Shakespeare's most popular play, ROMEO & JULIET, directed by Hartford Stage Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak, who previously helmed the critically acclaimed productions of HAMLET, MACBETH, TWELFTH NIGHT and THE TEMPEST. The tragic romance will play from February 11 through March 20 only.

BroadwayWorld is excited to report that Callie Cooke, Tahirah Sharif and Phaldut Sharma will reprise their roles in Phil Davies' debut play, FIREBIRD, following a run at Hampstead Downstairs last autumn.

Underground Railway Theater are proud to present the Danai Gurira's The Convert January 28 - February 28, 2016. The Convert is directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian. The press performance is Monday, February 1 at 7:30PM.

Up The Road Theatre and the Unity Theatre are excited to announce their new 2016 tour; Bardolph's Box, a small-scale Shakespeare inspired production for 8-12 year olds, celebrating 400 years of Shakespeare's work. The 5-week tour will begin at Unity Theatre, Liverpool on Tuesday 1st March then continues to visit schools, libraries and theatres across the England's North West and South East, ending in The Citadel Arts Centre, St Helens on Sunday 3rd April.

Ballet Kelowna celebrates the New Year with the mixed repertory programme BOUNDLESS, at the Kelowna Community Theatre, February 5 and 6, 2016, at the Merritt Civic Centre, February 9, 2016 and at the Summerland Centre Stage Theatre, March 6, 2016.

This year the Crescent City is cast as a lead actor in the global commemorations surrounding the 400th anniversary of the death of the world's most famous playwright. 

How does the musical black comedy LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS fit into the Cleveland Play House's 100th anniversary theme of paying homage to their history? To find the answer requires going back to May, 1916, when the theatre staged THE DEATH OF TINTAGILES. The avant-garde play starred marionettes created by Helen Haiman Joseph, who created The Puppet Players Theatre at CPH in the mid-1920s.