Will Swenson News

You and your guest will meet Audra McDonald with tickets to her April 11 performance at Verizon Hall's Kimmel Center in Philadelphia!

On Friday, January 31 at 8:00pm, Broadway stars and musicians of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra perform a concert reading of The Big Time, a new musical comedy from Douglas Carter Beane, author of Broadway's Sister Act, Cinderella, and Xanadu. It's the height of the Cold War when Russian spies take over an ocean liner holding all of NATO. Leave it to lounge singers on board to save the day by teaching the communists to put down their Kalashnikovs and pick up singing, dancing, and comedy. The war is cold but the numbers are hot in this show with score and lyrics by Douglas J. Cohen, music direction by Fred Lassen. This is the second installment of the new PRINCETON POPS series, a collaboration of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and McCarter Theatre Centre at McCarter's Matthews Theatre.

Emmy, Grammy, and six-time-Tony-Award-winning Broadway star, Audra McDonald, will headline the Theatre Under The Stars Gala 2020 at The Omni Houston Hotel on Saturday, March 28 at 6:30pm.

Today's top stories: Cameron Dallas joins Mean Girls tonight, and more!

Classic Stage Company (CSC; Artistic Director, John Doyle) has announced that Ethan Slater will join their John Doyle-directed upcoming production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins, as Lee Harvey Oswald/The Balladeer.

The Town Hall & Mark Cortale continue with the latest installment of the internationally acclaimed concert series Seth Rudetsky's Broadway, hosted and music directed by Sirius/XM Radio star Seth Rudetsky at The Town Hall (123 W. 43rd Street). On Monday, February 3rd, Seth welcomes Broadway and television star Patina Miller. Patina won the Tony® Award for her role in Pippin and co-starred in the CBS series 'Madam Secretary.'

Adam Chanler-Berat, Tavi Gevinson, and Andy Grotelueschen have joined the upcoming Classic Stage Company revival of Assassins. They will play the roles of John Hinckley Jr., Squeaky Fromme, and Samuel Byck respectively.

AT THIS PERFORMANCEa??  returns to The Green Room 42 featuring Standbys and Understudies from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS; HAMILTON; THE LIGHTNING THIEF: THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL and WICKED on MONDAY, DECEMBER 2ND at 7PM.

They've been to Wally World, Europe, and Vegas . . . and now The Griswolds are coming to Broadway!

Williamstown Theatre Festival (Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director) announced that the 2020 WTF Gala in New York City honoring Bo & Katherine Peabody will be held at Tao Downtown in New York City on Monday, February 10, 2020, and feature special appearances by Tony Award winner Laura Benanti (My Fair Lady, She Loves Me, Gypsy), Joshua Boone (Network, WTF's Artney Jackson, Actually, and Where Storms are Born), Tony Award nominee Ashley Park (WTF's Grand Horizons, Mean Girls, The King and I), and Kyle MacLachlan (a?oeTwin Peaksa??, a?oePortlandiaa??, a?oeDesperate Housewivesa??), among many others to be announced at a later date.

Producer Mark Cortale has announced that Audra McDonald will return to his acclaimed Broadway @ NOCCA series with Sirius XM Radio star Seth Rudetsky as music director and host, on December 14 at 8:00 pm. Historic six-time Tony Award Winner Audra McDonald has thrilled audiences in starring roles on Broadway in The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Carousel and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, on television in The Good Wife and NBC's live telecast of The Sound of Music. She will be joined by special guest, husband and fellow-Broadway star Will Swenson. 

tah Repertory Theater and the new Noorda Theatre on the Utah Valley University Campus have teamed together this Halloween season to bring the cautionary tale of Sweeney Todd, Sondheim's reminder of what happens when a person's heart is guided completely by revenge. When the show was first announced, there was great excitement that Utah's own Will Swenson was going to take on the lead roll, however due to a schedule conflict, last month it was announced that he would be replaced by Broadway Alumni Jeff McCarthy. While I was initially disappointed, I did get the chance to see McCarthy as Officer Lockstock in Urinetown on Broadway, so I was intrigued to see what he could bring to the role of Sweeney.

Musical Theatre of Anthem announces that Noelle and Lennon Hammond will be in the Fun Home reading at the Plaza Jewish Community Chapel on the Upper West Side in New York City on December 19, 2019. The twins will be playing Small Alison and John, respectively.

Just last night, October 21, BKLYN came back with a 15th Anniversary reunion concert for one-night-only. The company was led by Eden Espinosa (RENT, Wicked) as Brooklyn, Karen Olivo (Moulin Rouge, In the Heights) as Faith, and stage star Ramona Keller (The Public Theatre's Hercules, City Center's Little Shop of Horrors) as Paradice, with Tony Award nominee Will Swenson (Hair, Les Miserables) as Taylor Collins, Grammy Award nominee Quentin Earl Darrington (Once On This Island, CATS) as Streetsinger, Original Broadway cast members Julie Reiber (Come From Away), Horace V. Rogers (Tarzan), and Caren Lyn Tackett (High Fidelity).

Today's top stories: casting has been announced for the Broadway production of Company, and more!

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge checks in with Espinosa, musical director James Sampliner and director Matt Logan as they take a break from rehearsals. Plus, watch as Eden joins James at the piano to perform 'I Never Knew His Name.'

Broadway leading man Jeff McCarthy received a personal message from Stephen Sondheim while in rehearsal for SWEENEY TODD, a co-production of UVU's Noorda Center for the Performing Arts and Utah Repertory Theater Company, running Oct. 24-Nov. 9, 2019.

Design impresario Ken Fulk and theatre producer Mark Cortale have announced that they will present Heavenly Bodies, a special event benefiting The Foundation at Saint Joseph's Arts Society in San Francisco, starring historic six-time Tony Award Winner Audra McDonald on Friday, November 1 at 7:30 PM.

Today, producers Eden Espinosa, Bridget Elise Yingling, Scott Prisand, Doug Feurring and Jana Shea announced additional stars for the one-night-only 15th Anniversary reunion concert of BKLYN: The Musical. Tony Award nominee Will Swenson (Hair, Les Miserables) will reprise his role as Taylor Collins, and Grammy Award nominee Quentin Earl Darrington (Once On This Island, CATS) will play the role of Streetsinger. Original Broadway cast members Julie Reiber (Come From Away), Horace V. Rogers (Tarzan), Caren Lyn Tackett (High Fidelity) will complete the cast, joining the previously announced Eden Espinosa (RENT, Wicked) as Brooklyn, Karen Olivo (Moulin Rouge, In the Heights) as Faith, and stage star Ramona Keller (The Public Theatre's Hercules, City Center's Little Shop of Horrors) as Paradice. The concert, which benefits Covenant House Foundation (www.covenanthouse.org), will be presented on the 15th anniversary of the show's Broadway opening night, Monday, October 21 at 7:30 PM, at Brooklyn Steel (319 Frost Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222). Tickets can be purchased HERE.

Classic Stage Company's 2019 gala will honor Anika Noni Rose, whose singular performance in CSC's recent production of Carmen Jones propelled it to widespread acclaim, and Ted Chapin, visionary President of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization.