Verona News

Rock superstars Pat Benatar and Neil 'Spyder' Giraldo are celebrating their latest musical milestone with the release of the CD/DVD set, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo: The 35th Anniversary Tour today, April 28.

John Goodman and Tom Sturridge join Damian Lewis in the major new revival of David Mamet's gripping 1975 play American Buffalo. Directed by Daniel Evans, American Buffalo will run at Wyndham's Theatre for a strictly limited, opening tonight, 27 April and playing through 27 June 2015.

This summer, On Site Opera (OSO) will present a new production that exemplifies the company's mission to stage operas in non-traditional locations ideally suited to the stories they tell. OSO will offer an immersive site-specific staging of Giovanni Paisiello's The Barber of Seville at the opulent Fabbri Mansion (House of the Redeemer) on New York City's Upper East Side. Conducted by the company's newly appointed Music Director, Geoffrey McDonald and directed by OSO's Co-Founder and Artistic Director, Eric Einhorn, the production will be updated to the early decades of the twentieth century (when the Fabbri Mansion was built) and staged in themansion's outdoor courtyard and library.

In Shakespeare's First Folio edition, 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona' opens with Valentine leaving Verona for Milan to finish his education, leaving his friend Proteus at home to woo Julia. The Drilling Company's version, which opens the second season of Bryant Park Shakespeare, is set in NYC's Little Italy and Shakespeare's two cities are transformed into two rival New York restaurants. This free Shakespeare production will be in Bryant Park, where food kiosks serve affordable meals, capacious rest rooms are close at hand and seating on bistro chairs is guaranteed for everyone. Best of all, there will be no waiting in line for tickets.

The new musical comedy Something Rotten!, directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Aladdin), with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner Wayne Kirkpatrick and Golden Globe Award nominee Karey Kirkpatrick and a book by Karey Kirkpatrick and best-selling author John O'Farrell, officially opens on Broadway tonight, April 22, 2015 at the St. James Theatre (246 West 44th Street). Scroll down to learn more about the company and watch interviews with the cast!

Naked Shakespeare, Acorn Productions' performance series dedicated to presenting the works of the Bard in accessible ways for contemporary audiences, presents the company's latest installment of their new First Friday performance series on Friday, May 1st at 7pm in The Ballroom at Mechanics Hall.

In this taut 2013 theatrical adaptation of Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela's award winning-book, the apartheid regime's most notorious assassin and head of its death squad, Eugene de Kock (played by Matthew Marsh), sits opposite psychologist Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela (played Noma Dumezweni) in Pretoria Central Prison in 1997. Gobodo-Madikizela is a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission determined to understand his actions. She questions de Kock, who is sentenced to two life terms plus 212 years for crimes against humanity, murder, conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, assault, kidnapping, illegal possession of firearms, and fraud.

Eisa Davis, Gabriel Ebert, Nikki M. James, Joseph Keckler, Chris Sarandon, and Or Matias, on piano, begin rehearsals today for the LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater production of PRELUDES, a new musical by Dave Malloy, inspired by the music of Sergei Rachmaninov, developed with and directed by Rachel Chavkin.

Today we are talking to a terrifically talented triple-threat who made a major mark on Broadway with her star turns in GYPSY and WICKED before appearing this season in the brand new Shakespeare-themed musical comedy SOMETHING ROTTEN!, the effortlessly cute and convivial Kate Reinders. Discussing her hilarious role in the fresh Broadway musical, Reinders praises her starry assortment of co-stars - including Brian D'Arcy James, Christian Borle and John Cariani - in addition to analyzing all the details about putting a brand new musical on its feet directly before the eyes of Broadway. Additionally, Reinders shares some of her favorite moments in the show and touches upon some of the changes that have been implemented to the new Shakespeare-themed musical as it was refined over the course of previews, having opened straight in NYC without an out-of-town tryout. Besides all about her fabulously jocular turn in SOMETHING ROTTEN!, Reinders also reflects on some of her most familiar performances to date on the Great White Way and beyond, including her star-making performance in the 2003 revival of GYPSY, starring Bernadette Peters and directed by Sam Mendes, in addition to her notable run in mega-hit Oz musical WICKED. All of that, INTO THE WOODS revival memories, A YEAR WITH FROG & TOAD and much, much more!

Berkshire Theatre Group and Artistic Director/CEO, Kate Maguire, are thrilled to announce the casting for Berkshire Theatre Group's 87th summer season.

Sonnet Repertory Theatre is pleased to announce a hilarious new adaptation of Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, with original music by Bandits on the Run and members of the company, adapted and directed by Nicolas Minas (Assistant Director Driving Miss Daisy on Broadway, Sweeney Todd Live at Lincoln Center). The Servant of Two Masters will play a limited engagement at Teatro LATEA (Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center, 107 Suffolk Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10002). Performances began Friday, April 17 (Preview performance) and continue through Saturday, May 2. Opening Night is tonight, April 18 (8 p.m.). Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast in rehearsal!

SONNET REPERTORY THEATRE has announced a hilarious new adaptation of Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, with original music by Bandits on the Run and members of the company, adapted and directed by Nicolas Minas (Assistant Director Driving Miss Daisy on Broadway, Sweeney Todd Live at Lincoln Center). The Servant of Two Masters will play a limited engagement at Teatro LATEA (Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center, 107 Suffolk Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10002). Performances begin tonight, April 17 (Preview performance) and continue through Saturday, May 2. Opening Night is Saturday, April 18 (8 p.m..

Lanford Wilson's 'Talley Trilogy' continues on the Aurora Theatre Company main stage with FIFTH OF JULY. Aurora Artistic Director Tom Ross (A Bright New Boise, This Is How It Goes, Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, The Shape of Things) helms FIFTH OF JULY, featuring Craig Marker (The Shape of Things, The Persians), Elizabeth Benedict, John Girot, Jennifer Le Blanc, Oceana Ortiz, Harold Pierce, Josh Schell, and Nanci Zoppi. FIFTH OF JULY plays tonight, April 17 through May 17 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley.

The Theatre School at DePaul University is pleased to present The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster, on the Fullerton Stage Theatre at The Theatre School at DePaul University. The production, directed by Lavina Jadhwani, premieres tonight, April 17, and runs through Sunday, April 26, 2015.

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, presents the world premiere of Shining Lives: A Musical. Directed by Jessica Thebus and developed through Northlight's Interplay Series, the musical is adapted from the Northlight-commissioned play These Shining Lives. The production will run at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie, from May 8 - June 14, 2015. Shining Lives: A Musical opens May 15 and 16, 2015.

The Public Theater announced a special 40th anniversary tribute to A CHORUS LINE tonight, April 16 in honor of the first performance of this legendary musical that premiered in The Public's Newman Theater 40 years ago and went on to make musical theater history.

John Goodman and Tom Sturridge will join Damian Lewis in the major new revival of David Mamet's gripping 1975 playAmerican Buffalo. Directed by Daniel Evans, American Buffalo will play at Wyndham's Theatre for a strictly limited run from tonight 16 April - 27 June 2015.

Today we are shining a spotlight on some rarely discussed and unusual connections between the world of William Shakespeare and theatrical pop culture at large. Given the wide breadth of material contained within the canon of the Bard, it is certainly no understatement to claim that the connections are virtually endless between many modern tropes, terms, themes and ideas that derive in his classic plays - whether they be tragedies, comedies, histories or latter plays - yet the intriguing aspects of many of the lesser-known theatrical connections between Shakespeare and modern theatre are illuminating and fascinating to unearth. Ranging from the influence of Shakespeare on some of our greatest musical theatre masters - Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and William Finn included - through to the inspiration behind both Broadway's most lucrative production in history (THE LION KING) and the longest-running show in NYC to date (THE FANTASTICKS), the impact of Shakespeare on Broadway is impossible to accurately calculate - and, now, with the lovable and hilarious Shakespeare paean SOMETHING ROTTEN! poised to open later this month, the Bard is about to get a fresh jolt of electricity, buzz and excitement from the theatre community at large. Fear no more, indeed.

Sonnet Repertory Theatre is pleased to announce a hilarious new adaptation of Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, with original music by Bandits on the Run and members of the company, adapted and directed by Nicolas Minas (Assistant Director Driving Miss Daisy on Broadway, Sweeney Todd Live at Lincoln Center). The Servant of Two Masters will play a limited engagement at Teatro LATEA (Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center, 107 Suffolk Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10002). Performances begin Friday, April 17 (Preview performance) and continue through Saturday, May 2. Opening Night is Saturday, April 18 (8 p.m.). Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast in rehearsal!

VERONA, N.J.