Will Rogers News

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) is pleased to announce that they will join 15 other professional theater organizations from 11 states participating in the first annual presentation of The Jimmy Awards, to be held in New York City on Monday, June 29 at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York University.

Rubicon Theatre Company has announced the cast and creative team for the World Premiere of THE BEST IS YET TO COME: THE MUSIC OF CY COLEMAN, which begins previews July 9 at Rubicon's intimate 200-seat home at 1006 E. Main Street in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District. The show continues Wednesdays through Sundays through August 2, 2009.

Fresh from his acclaimed stint as Jordan 'Bick' Benedict in the Signature Theatre's production of Michael John LaChiusa's Giant, Lewis Cleale has returned to the role of El Gallo in The Fantasticks. He previously played the role from September 2008 through March 2009. Addi McDaniel will join the cast as Luisa on Monday, June 29, 2009. They replace, respectively, Bradley Dean and Ramona Mallory.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Artistic Director, Mark W. Jones-Executive Director) The Rising Star Awards are modeled after the Tony® Awards and Paper Mill's program serves the entire state of New Jersey with 100 entered productions from high schools. The 2009 Rising Star Award ceremony was held at Paper Mill Playhouse on Tuesday, June 16th in which the nominees performed and the award recipients were presented with a crystal award from Rising Star Award partner Tiffany's & Co. Investors Savings Bank Foundation is the title sponsor of the 2009 Rising Star Awards.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Artistic Director, Mark W. Jones-Executive Director) The Rising Star Awards are modeled after the Tony® Awards and Paper Mill?s program serves the entire state of New Jersey with 100 entered productions from high schools. The 2009 Rising Star Award ceremony was held at Paper Mill Playhouse on Tuesday, June 16th in which the nominees performed and the award recipients were presented with a crystal award from Rising Star Award partner Tiffany?s & Co. Investors Savings Bank Foundation is the title sponsor of the 2009 Rising Star Awards.

Bill Cosby, one of the most influential comedians and storytellers of his generation, will give a solo stand-up comedy performance - his only scheduled New York appearance - on Saturday, October 17, 2009, at 7:00 and 9:30 p.m. at Avery Fisher Hall.

The Cleveland Play House is excited to announce that Dee Hoty, a three-time Tony Award? nominated actress, will be the featured entertainer at their Annual Gala on Saturday, June 6, 2009. Born and raised in Lakewood, Ohio, Hoty began her professional career at The Cleveland Play House as a member of the repertory company (1975 and 1976). The evening begins at 6:30pm and will include complimentary valet parking, a cocktail hour with hors d'oeuvres, dinner, silent and live auction, entertainment and dancing. Hoty earned Tony Award? nominations for her starring roles in Footloose, The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, and The Will Rogers Follies. She recently starred on Broadway in Mamma Mia! and continued on the national tour in eight major U.S. cities. She can be heard on the original recordings of City of Angels, The Will Rogers Follies, The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, and Footloose, and on the 2CD set of Stephen Sondheim's Follies from the Papermill Playhouse production. She is also featured on the video/DVD of My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies. Other Broadway shows include City of Angels, Me and My Girl, Big River, The Five O'Clock Girl and Shakespeare's Cabaret. A favorite of Tommy Tune's, Hoty starred opposite him in the recent U.S. tour of Doctor Dolittle. She also appeared with Stacy Keach in the first national tour of Barnum. Her New York nightclub and cabaret appearances include the Russian Tea Room, Rainbow and Stars and the Metropolitan Room with Larry Gatlin.

La Jolla Playhouse announced today the addition of the world-premiere musical Bonnie & Clyde, to its 2009-10 season, replacing The Big Time. This production features music by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel), lyrics by Tony Award-winner Don Black (Sunset Boulevard, Song and Dance), book by Ivan Menchell (The Cemetery Club, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), and direction by Jeff Calhoun (Deaf West's Big River and Pippin, Grease!). Bonnie & Clyde will run November 10 - December 20, 2009 in the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre.

La Mirada Theatre For the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment are thrilled to present the fifth and final production of La Mirada Theatre?s 2008-2009 season of shows, the West Coast Premiere of a new and completely revised production of Ring of Fire, created by Tony Award-winner Richard Maltby, Jr., conceived by William Meade, orchestrations by Steven Bishop and Jeff Lisenby, choreography by Jane Lanier and directed by and starring one of the original cast members from the Broadway production, Jason Edwards. Ring of Fire will begin performances on Friday, June 5 and will run through Sunday, June 21 at La Mirada Theatre For the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Boulevard in La Mirada, near the intersection of Rosecrans Avenue.

The theater community recentky kicked off The Fantasticks 50th anniversary year with an early curtain of the show and a post-performance cocktail reception at The Snapple Center on Monday May 4th. The beloved hit also recently welcomed a number of new cast members, including the charming young actress Ramona Mallory as 'Luisa.'

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment are thrilled to present the fifth and final production of La Mirada Theatre?s 2008-2009 season of shows, the West Coast Premiere of a new and completely revised production of RING OF FIRE, created by Tony Award-winner Richard Maltby, Jr., conceived by William Meade, orchestrations by Steven Bishop and Jeff Lisenby, choreography by Jane Lanier and directed by and starring one of the original cast members from the Broadway production, Jason Edwards.

After a 48 year absence, Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) will present the first new Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie as the inaugural production of the new Henry Miller's Theatre (124 West 43rd Street) beginning Thursday, September 10th, 2009 with an official opening on Thursday, October 15th, 2009. This will be a limited engagement through January 10th, 2010.

Theatre Aspen, Aspen¹s only professional theatre and school, is pleased to announce that casting is complete for the 2009 summer season, reported Artistic Director Paige Price. Theatre Aspen enters its 26th season with an award-winning mix of music, comedy and family fare.

WMRA and Theater at Lime Kiln today announced a free screening of the new documentary: Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes, May 29, 8:30 pm, Theater at Lime Kiln Lime Kiln gates open at 7:00 for concessions and picnicking.

The masterful work of Gilbert and Sullivan returns to the Huntington Theatre Company stage for the conclusion of its 2008-2009 Season. Pirates! (or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder'd) transports the action of The Pirates of Penzance, the classic operetta about a Pirate King and his motley band; a dutiful pirate apprentice and his nurse; a modern Major-General and his virgin wards; and a Sergeant of Police and his skittish force to the Caribbean in a raucous and rowdy update complete with swordfights, sex appeal, and Sullivan's original music. Gordon Greenberg (Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris), Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde, the Musical), and John McDaniel ('The Rosie O'Donnell Show') co-conceived the adaptation.

Celebrating 50 years of presenting 'the music and magic of Broadway,' the Diablo Theatre Company, formerly known as DLOC (Diablo Light Opera Company), is honoring repeated patron requests for a full-scale, eye-popping production of the classic Broadway musical 'Hello, Dolly!' The show opens June 5 for 14 performances through June 28 at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek.

Circle Theatre, a professional, contemporary regional theatre company in Sundance Square, will preview Hail Mary! by Tom Dudzick on May 14, 15, 16 (matinee). Hail Mary! officially opens Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 8:00pm. A post-show opening night celebration, follows Saturday evening's performance.

9 To 5: The Musical star Stephanie J. Block is set to release her debut CD, 'This Place I Know' on Tuesday, June 2nd on the PS Classics label. The CD is now available on iTunes beginning today May 12th. Stephanie J. Block performed at a special Good Housekeeping Mother's Day lunch on Friday, May 8th, and BroadwayWorld.com was there to celebrate the festive afternoon.

9 To 5: The Musical star Stephanie J. Block is set to release her debut CD, 'This Place I Know' on Tuesday, June 2nd on the PS Classics label. It will be available on iTunes on May 12th.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Artistic Director, Mark W. Jones-Executive Director) Since their inception in 1996 the Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theatre have ignited the careers of many notable performers, all of whom attended high school in New Jersey. Among the early nominees and winners are Academy Award® nominee Anne Hathaway, and Tony® winner Laura Benanti.