Verona News

Paper Mill Playhouse will welcome 122 of the of the region's most talented young performing artists from Paper Mill Playhouse's Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory in a fully produced, original concert on the Paper Mill mainstage titled New Voices of 2015: Hooray for Hollywood!

The complete cast and creative team have been announced for The Comedy of Errors as The Old Globe's 2015 Summer Shakespeare Festival continues the Globe's 80th Anniversary festivities as part of the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration.

England's foremost playwright is suspiciously murdered days before he is to be tried for treason. And an unknown actor suddenly becomes England's star playwright virtually overnight. Murder, mystery and manhunts in 1593. How could Christopher Marlowe, a known spy and England's foremost playwright, be suspiciously murdered and quickly buried in an unmarked grave just days before he was to be tried for treason? How could William Shakespeare, an unknown actor who 'held horses for the gentry while they watched the plays,' become England's star playwright virtually overnight? 'The Shakespeare Conspiracy' is a comedy-thriller that intertwines the two mysteries. It's a wild ride through the gay London theatre world as the city fights the black plague, the hunt for Catholics, and the questions about Marlowe's murder. As Marlowe and his sponsor/lover, Sir Thomas Walsingham realize that the sentence for heresy is always death by being 'drawn and quartered.' So they fake Marlowe's murder and arrange for an unknown actor to front the new works by Marlowe. Quickly the crown becomes suspicious of Marlowe's mysterious murder and the similarities of his works with those of Shakespeare's. (There are actually more than 100 identical or similar lines in the works of the two authors.) A manhunt begins with Marlowe being chased from city after city in Italy. He flees the Venetian city just as he finishes 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Othello.' He runs from Padua as he writes 'The Taming of the Shrew' and he must leave Verona after a close call while he tries to finish 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Two Gentlemen of Verona.' The chase continues to Rome and Sicily where Marlowe in finally cornered. Meanwhile back in London, Shakespeare is trying to hide from the investigations of Constable Maunder and defend his writing of plays he's never read. And the homoerotic references in the recent works plague Shakespeare with his drinking buddies, his concubines and his wife. The whole chase culminates in a final confrontation of excitement and murder. All the historical facts presented in the book are accurate except for one date (which is explained in the preface). The last third of the book is a supplement verifying the facts in the novel. 'The Shakespeare Conspiracy' is available in both print and ebook formats. Book Details: 'The Shakespeare Conspiracy' By Ted Bacino Publisher: AuthorHouse ISBN: 978-1452050669 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1452050652 (hardcover) ISBN: 978-1452050676 (ebook) ASIN: B009CMFXUE Pages: 288 Genre: Historical Comedy-Drama About The Author: Ted Bacino has had a wild career as a newspaper reporter, high school and college educator, executive-assistant Secretary of State in Illinois, and vice-president of a chain of banks. He has also directed more than 100 musicals for three colleges, a dinner-theater, and Starlight Theater. As a writer he has lived in Germany, London, Venice, and Paris. He is now 82 years old and resides in Palm Springs, CA. He has a BA and MA from Northern Illinois University and a KSG from Harvard. For review copies, author interviews, or more information please contact: Ted Bacino Email: TBacino@AOL.com Website: http://www.TheShakespeareConspiracy.com PR by BookBuzz.net

The John W. Engeman Theater announces the cast and creative team for THE COTTAGE. THE COTTAGE is brought to you by the Engeman official Main Stage Sponsor - North Shore LIJ Health System, and Show Sponsor - Lewis Johs Avallones Aviles, LLP Counsellors at Law. Performances begin on Thursday, July 23, 2015 at 8:00pm and run through September 6, 2015.

Quintessence Theatre, Philadelphia's only all-classical repertory theatre, announces its sixth season of progressive classics.

Actors of the Utah Shakespeare Festival come together once again to put on weekly Cabarets as part of REACH (Really Eager Actors Crying Hire) fundraising efforts. These company members sing, dance and perform to raise money to bring artistic directors and casting agents from across the country to Cedar City to audition Festival actors for upcoming jobs.

BroadwayWorld has confirmed that Javier Muñoz will star as Alexander Hamilton, 'the ten-dollar Founding Father without a father,' once a week in the Broadway production of Hamilton. Hamilton will begin previews at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (226 W. 46 St.) on July 13 prior to an official opening night on August 6.

When the Sadler's Wells (now the Royal Ballet) first performed "Cinderella" on its triumphant 1949 debut performance at the old Metropolitan Opera, John Martin, the eminent New York Times dance critic, was not engrossed. He wrote that it was difficult to be enthusiastic about it, but "if it were stripped of all its dead wood, both musical and choreographic, it would run considerably less than the two and a half hours it now undertakes to fill."

Tickets to all shows for the Hartford Stage 2015/16 Season, including the world premieres of Rear Window and the new musical Anastasia, will go on sale July 13 by phone at 860-527-5151 or online at www.hartfordstage.org.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, in collaboration with the Boys & Girls Clubs, will present three Fair Verona Festivals, free open-air, family-friendly community arts days, on July 10, 11 and 17.  Each festival will feature workshops and performances by local artists in dance, music, visual artists plus a performance of CSC2's Romeo & Juliet, which recently performed for a week at Boston's Historic Strand Theater. 

The Utah Shakespeare Festival says a fond farewell to the historic Adams Shakespearean Theatre at the end of this summer. Next season, 2016, will usher in a whole new audience experience at the Festival with the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center of the Arts and the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. However, before the lights dim forever in the Adams Theatre, the Festival has planned celebrative activities throughout the season. Patrons can come and experience all the magic the Adams has to offer as well as say goodbye.

The Old Globe's presentation of Kiss Me, Kate, the classic musical comedy featuring a book by Sam and Bella Spewack and an iconic score by Cole Porter, begins tonight, July 1, on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

Producers Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, and Jam Theatricals just announced that Tony nominee JESSICA HECHT (A View From the Bridge, “Breaking Bad,” The Last Night of Ballyhoo) and ADAM KANTOR (The Last Five Years, Next to Normal, Rent) will join the cast of Fiddler on the Roof. Hecht will play the role of Golde and Kantor will play the role of Motel. Further casting will be announced soon.

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) is proud to announce the cast of Smokey Joe's Cafe, playing July 14 - 19 for TUTS' 48th consecutive year of offering FREE musical theatre at Miller Outdoor Theatre.

 Macbeth and Banquo reminded director Jesse Ontiveros of Fidel and Che, and that was the genesis for his idea to set 'Macbeth' in a banana republic for the Drilling Company's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, in a production to be presented July 30 to August 15 in the parking lot at 114 Norfolk Street (between Delancey and Rivington Streets), behind The Clemente.

   Claire Shannon Kelly of New Canaan has been named artistic director of Shakespeare on the Sound which concluded its 20th season in Rowayton's Pinkney Park June 28 with 16-night run of "All's Well That Ends Well."

The best thing about living in Minnesota is: a) theater, and b) lakes. Combine those two, and you have about as perfect of a Minnesota experience as you can have. Classical Actors Ensemble is presenting Shakespeare's comedy TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA at Lake of the Isles (and other select locations) this summer. I saw the matinee yesterday, and it was a lovely way to spend a picture perfect Minnesota summer afternoon. The show is utterly charming, and something about doing it outdoors in a public space makes Shakespeare seem more immediate, natural, and real, like this is a story that's happening in our world here and now. I sometimes have a hard time getting into Shakespeare, but this company makes it extremely accessible and so easy to become engaged in the stories, characters, and Shakespeare's beautiful words, which sound modern and fresh in this context. Their mission is: 'Classical Actors Ensemble is dedicated to engaging audiences by capturing the spirit in which plays of the English Renaissance were originally performed - with immediacy, passion, and as popular entertainment.' Mission accomplished.

The Old Globe presents William Shakespeare's delightful and romantic Twelfth Night, directed by Rebecca Taichman, whose production of the time-traveling Time and the Conways fascinated audiences last April, as part of the 2015 Summer Shakespeare Festival. The Old Globe engagement runs through July 26, 2015, with opening night tonight, June 27 at 8:00 p.m., in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre.

Co-founders John Stoops and Tim Evans proudly announce the third season of the Three Oaks Theater Festival, an annual summer event that brings limited-engagement runs of highly- acclaimed, professional productions to audiences in Harbor Country, Michigan. This season will be performed at the Acorn Theater with a staged reading to take place at the Vickers Theatre.