Verona News

'If you like action-packed thrillers,' writes Lynnea Benson, Artistic Director of Frog and Peach Theatre, 'you are going to love King John.' She calls the seldom-produced history play 'Game of Thrones, Shakespeare style,' being filled with wars over crowns, gold and power; craven courtiers, bickering in-laws, a greedy, power-mad Cardinal; illegitimate relatives and two very ambitious Queen Mothers. She will direct the classic today, April 24 to May 18, 2014 featuring a cast of Frog and Peach stalwarts including Karen Lynn Gorney ('Saturday Night Fever,' 'All My Children') as the ruthlessly clever Queen Elinor.

Sarasota Opera is pleased to announce the expansion of its new broadcast and film series called 'HD at the Opera House'. This new series is allowing Sarasota Opera to expand its programming from the fall and winter season to year-around. In addition to opera, the series will include ballet and theater from some of the world's most famous venues. All showings will occur in the William E. Schmidt Opera Theatre at the Sarasota Opera House.

Fiasco Theatre's production of Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, delights and impresses. Lighthearted and gay (as in 'keenly alive and exuberant'), the six-member ensemble's streamlined presentation of the tale is filled with chuckles and bubbles, buffoonery and romantic jests.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: the 2014 Drama League nominations will be announced, CASA VALENTINA opens on Broadway tonight, and it's Shakespeare's 450th birthday!

'The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess,' winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, opens at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre tonight, April 23 and play through June 1, 2014.

In advance of American Conservatory Theater's (A.C.T.) upcoming U.S. premiere of James Fenton's acclaimed adaptation of The Orphan of Zhao, a classic Chinese legend that has its roots in the fourth century BCE, A.C.T. and the Commonwealth Club of California are proud to present BD Wong and A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff in Conversation for one-night-only - Monday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m. at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater (415 Geary St., San Francisco).

Malcolm Gets will join Jennifer Bowles and Rob McClure in the New York City Center Encores! production of Irma La Douce, running for seven performances, May 7 - 11, 2014. Mr. Gets replaces Allan Corduner, who has had a scheduling conflict. The final production of the 2014 Encores! season will also feature Sam Bolen, Ben Crawford, Stephen DeRosa, Zachary James, Ken Krugman, and Chris Sullivan. Irma La Douce will be directed by John Doyle and choreographed by Chase Brock, with music direction by Rob Berman. Jack Viertel is Encores! Artistic Director.

Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announce Writers Theatre's World Premiere production of Days Like Today, with music and lyrics by Alan Schmuckler and book by Laura Eason, directed by Artistic Director Michael Halberstam, music direction by Doug Peck and choreography by Tommy Rapley. The production runs May 6-July 13, 2014 at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. The press opening is May 22, 2014 at 7:30pm.

Welcome to BWW's exclusive talk show, BACKSTAGE WITH Richard Ridge. Follow Richard as he visits the theater's best and brightest in their dressing rooms, on their stages and favorite hang outs to talk about their lives, careers and all of the things you don't know, but want to know. In the special interview below, Broadway's new bad guy, Will Swenson, talks all things Les Miserables- plus he shares stories about how he got his start in theatre, his past Broadway roles, and more. Check out the full interview below!

The Harbor Lights Theater Company, led by Executive Artistic Director Tamara Jenkins, Co-Artistic Director Jay Montgomery, and Associate Producer Beth Gittleman, announces that special preparations are being made for the Mother's Day performances of Driving Miss Daisy, running May 9th through the 18th at the Music Hall at Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Gardens.

Il 18 aprile, giorno del Venerdi Santo, debutta al Teatro Sistina di Roma lo spettacolo piu atteso della stagione: la versione evento di JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, la piu grande opera rock di tutti i tempi, con un cast d'eccezione che non manchera di richiamare l'attenzione di tutti gli appassionati di musica e teatro.

The highly celebrated New York troupe Fiasco Theater will make their Washington, DC debut with their production of William Shakespeare's clever comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona at Folger Theatre. Directed by company members Jessie Austrian and Ben Steinfeld, The Two Gentlemen of Verona will play at the Folger from today, April 17 - May 25, 2014.

Acclaimed Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko will make her Met debut as Elvira in a revival of Bellini's I Puritani, with Met stars Lawrence Brownlee and Mariusz Kwiecien in their respective company role debuts as Arturo and Riccardo. Michele Mariotti conducts a cast that also includes Michele Pertusi as Elvira's father, Giorgio, in a revival of the bel canto opera opening tonight, April 17.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) has been awarded an $80,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support the 2014 production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. OSF is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant, which will help fund 38 performances as well as surrounding education and audience engagement events for William Shakespeare's comedy of young male bonding and betrayal, which OSF will present with an all-female cast.

The RSC is releasing a selection of music and speeches from Gregory Doran's productions of Henry IV parts I and II on a new CD and for download from iTunes. The recording is the second in the ongoing series which continues the ambition to capture the specially commissioned music composed for RSC productions of all Shakespeare's plays, as the Company works its way through the canon over the next six years.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 16th Not Your Typical Season with a special run of Love, Loss, and What I Wore -- a witty and wise celebration of womanhood adapted by Nora and Delia Ephron, creators of such hits as 'When Harry Met Sally,' 'Sleepless in Seattle,' 'You've Got Mail,' 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' and 'Silkwood.'

Berkeley Repertory Theatre continues the second half of its season with Tribes, a sophisticated and moving family drama by celebrated British playwright Nina Raine. Her profound and powerful new play became an award-winning hit in London and New York. Now renowned director Jonathan Moscone brings it to Berkeley Rep this April for its Bay Area premiere. Tribes follows Billy, a young man who was born deaf into a loquacious and highly opinionated academic family who raised him to lip-read and integrate into the hearing world. When he meets Sylvia - raised by Deaf parents and going deaf herself - Billy decides it's time to speak on his own terms and to be heard. Playing out in words, sign language, and sometimes mesmerizing silence, this penetrating drama examines familial love, notions of belonging, and the intersections of communication. Tribes began previews Friday, April 11, opens tonight, April 16, and closes on Sunday, May 11, 2014.

Il 18 aprile, giorno del Venerdi Santo, debutta al Teatro Sistina di Roma lo spettacolo piu atteso della stagione: la versione evento di JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, la piu grande opera rock di tutti i tempi, con un cast d'eccezione che non manchera di richiamare l'attenzione di tutti gli appassionati di musica e teatro.

Renowned Palestinian theatre company ASHTAR Theatre return to London following their acclaimed production of Richard II at 2012's Globe to Globe Festival,

Muse of Fire Theatre Company today announced a unique fundraiser - a gourmet dinner and reading of Romeo and Juliet where the roles are auctioned off to the general public. No acting experience required! The event, catered by two-time James Beard Award winning Chef Sarah Stegner of Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook, is co-hosted by beloved local children's librarian Martha Meyer and Board Member Julie Fenton.