Verona News

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Cincinnati's stage for the classics, presents William Shakespeare's poetic history 'Richard II', playing from tonight, January 11- February 3, 2013. This production is directed by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company Producing Artistic Director Brian Isaac Phillips and features CSC Resident Ensemble Members Giles Davies, Jim Hopkins and Brent Vimtrup. Get a first look at the show in the photos below!

Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer will make his Met debut with a new production of Verdi's Rigoletto, in a staging that moves the opera's tragic events from a decadent 16th-century Italian court to the glitzy, depraved setting of the Las Vegas strip circa 1960.

The Flea Theater will continue it's tradition of late-night offerings with The Shakes: Romeo and Juliet. Five teams of actors helmed by five Flea Resident Directors each perform an act from Shakespeare's most tragic love story. Cast from The Flea resident acting company, The Bats, Romeo and Juliet follows the inaugural Shakes, The Honest Whore by Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton. The Shakes: Romeo and Juliet will be performed in one-act installments until the play is complete.

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Cincinnati's stage for the classics, presents William Shakespeare's poetic history 'Richard II', playing from tonight, January 11- February 3, 2013.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announced today casting for its contemporary retelling of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, staged by acclaimed British director Jonathan Munby in his Chicago debut, February 5-March 24, 2013 in CST's Courtyard Theater. The production features a celebrated company of artists that includes Jeff Award-winning Chicago actor David Darlow in the title role, Canada's Stratford Festival favorite Dion Johnstone as Marc Antony, New York stage and screen actor Jason Kolotouros as Caius Cassius and British actor John Light as Marcus Brutus. The production also welcomes the return of veteran CST actors David Lively as Ligarius/Lepidus, Barbara E. Robertson as Calphurnia and Larry Yando as Casca.

The Metropolitan Playhouse and JAJ Production present the World Premiere of David Koteles' My First Lady, directed by Jason Jacobs as part of the Metropolitan Playhouse Founder's Festival (running January 14- 27) The Playhouse is located at 220 East 4th Street.

NVA will present THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, Horton Foote's beautiful American classic about finding your way home, in honor of founding Ensemble member Sandra Ellis-Troy (1942-2010.) NVA is thrilled to have Ellis-Troy's close friend Sylvia M'Lafi Thompson anchoring the cast in the pivotal role of Carrie Watts.

Belief in oneself and the notion that anything is possible are the themes of ArtsPower's new musical, 'The Little Engine That Could Earns Her Whistle,' based on the beloved children's classic. This show comes to Mercer County Community College's Kelsey Theatre on Saturday, Jan. 26, with performances at 2 and 4 p.m. Kelsey Theatre is located on the college's West Windsor campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road.

Spring Awakening, winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, will open Olney Theatre Center 75th Anniversary Season playing on the Mainstage February 7 - March 10, 2013.

New Line Theatre Off Line presents a quirky, decidedly adult evening of cabaret, SOME SONGS 'N' SH!T, for one night only, January 19 at the Kranzberg Arts Center Cabaret in Grand Center, featuring the New Generation of New Liners, Taylor Pietz (Evita, Cry-Baby, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love Kills, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Zachary Allen Farmer (Hair, Assassins, Urinetown, Return to the Forbidden Planet, Love Kills, High Fidelity), and Mike Dowdy (Cry-Baby, bare, Spelling Bee, Forbidden Planet, High Fidelity, The Wild Party), with music direction by Justin Smolik and direction by Mike Dowdy. BroadwayWorld has a first look below.

The Opera Orchestra of New York presents an opera-in-concert performance of Umberto Giordano's verismo opera, Andrea Chénier conducted by Music Director Alberto Veronesi at Avery Fisher Hall today, January 6, 2013 at 4:00 pm. Tenor Roberto Alagna sings the title role of Andrea Chénier, one of opera's most dramatic lyric-tenor roles, for the first time, with soprano Kristin Lewis as Maddalena di Coigny, baritone George Petean as Carlo Gérard, with a special appearance by mezzo soprano Rosalind Elias as Madelon.

Festival Stage of Winston-Salem continues its third season of professional theatre with a production of Moises Kaufman's new drama 33 Variations, presented at Hanesbrands Theatre (209 N. Spruce Street, Winston-Salem) from Feb. 1 to Feb. 24.

South Coast Repertory wraps up its current season with a fresh take on an American classic and a world premiere. The Fantasticks, the longest-running musical of all time, in a new setting by Amanda Dehnert, will be the final production of the season. SCR also will present the world premiere of Beau Willimon's The Parisian Woman as part of the 2013 Pacific Playwrights Festival.

The Porters of Hellsgate present William Shakespeare's KING LEAR, starring Larry Cedar and directed by Thomas Bigley.

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston presents Moises Kaufman's 33 VARIATIONS, tonight, January 4 - February 2, 2013.

L'intreccio è il tipico della commedia degli equivoci a più personaggi, dove lei è una strega caduta dal cielo. Deve redimersi da qualche errore del passato, causato dal suo temperamento. Divisa tra due mondi si rapporta con un uomo, invece molto terreno. Lui un divertente misogino che riscoprirà la vita con la crescita del rapporto con lei. Una metafora divertente sul rapporto tra un uomo e una donna, alle prese con la diversità e gli scherzi di uno strano e bizzarro destino.

Happy Birthday, Reneé Elise Goldsberry! Goldsberry played Nala in the Broadway production of The Lion King and was nominated for a Drama League Award for 'Distinguished Performance' and won a New York magazine Best of 2005 Award for her performance as Silvia in the 2005 New York City Shakespeare in the Park revival of Two Gentlemen of Verona. She later originated the role of Nettie in The Color Purple, the Broadway musical adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel of the same name from November 2005 to mid-January 2006. On June 16, 2008, Goldsberry was the last actress to play the role of Mimi Marquez in the Broadway musical Rent.

Top picks for 2013. Keep in mind that not all of the usual suspects have announced their seasons so I'll have more info to come, but for now, here's a look at some Southern California Shakespeare productions not to miss.

The nominations are out for the 11th Annual New Hampshire Theatre Awards. Like Broadway has the Tony Awards, NH has the NHTA's. Those awards will be handed out on Saturday January 26th at the Stockbridge Theatre on the campus of Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire. The award ceremony begins at 7pm.

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Cincinnati's stage for the classics, presents William Shakespeare's poetic history 'Richard II', playing from January 11- February 3, 2013. This production is directed by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company Producing Artistic Director Brian Isaac Phillips and features CSC Resident Ensemble Members Giles Davies, Jim Hopkins and Brent Vimtrup. This production is generously sponsored by Charles Parsons and The Mercantile Library's Canon Club, the design is sponsored by Osborne Rohs Williams & Donohoe and the ensemble is sponsored by Messer Construction.