William Finn News

Artists in Partnership (AIP), a non-profit cultural arts organization, will host its 12th Annual Cabaret Festival May 15-18 at the Long Beach Public Library, 111 West Park Avenue, Long Beach, NY. All performances are FREE to the public. The festival will be a celebration of the cabaret genre honoring the Great American Songbook with performances by renowned local and New York City-based artists.

William Finn's shows are not easy to produce. Maybe that's why (with the exception of Spelling Bee) they're not done as often as they deserve. And his largely autobiographical "A New Brain" is no exception with its emotional storyline and rich score not to mention some odd staging elements it requires. So if you're going to produce it you'd better have all your ducks in a row. Well all of the ducks are there for the current production from STAGEright now performing at the Cornish Playhouse Black Box but some of them didn't quite stay in that row.

Playwrights Horizons is now accepting entries for its popular LIVEforFIVE online lottery for up to two $5 tickets each to the New York premiere of FLY BY NIGHT: A NEW MUSICAL, conceived by Kim Rosenstock (Tigers Be Still); written by Will Connolly (performer, Once), Michael Mitnick (Sex Lives of Our Parents, the upcoming film The Giver) and Ms. Rosenstock; choreographed by Sam Pinkleton (Mr. Burns at PH; Natasha, Pierre…); and directed by Carolyn Cantor (The Great God Pan and After the Revolution at PH, Pumpgirl, Orange Flower Water).

America's Orchestra opened its 129th spring season with Keith Lockhart conducting and Jason Alexander as special guest artist. Best known as Seinfeld's best buddy George Costanza, the Tony Award-winning Alexander is a consummate showman and offered a celebration of Broadway music to complement the Pops' selections by American masters from Copland to Ellington to Gershwin.

November 21, 1963. On the night before their deployment to Vietnam, three young Marines set out for one final boys' night of debauchery. But when Corporal Eddie Birdlace meets Rose, the unassuming and idealistic waitress he enlists to win a cruel bet, she rewrites the rules of the game and opens his eyes to what really matters in life.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director Tristan Wilson, has announced casting for the company's 20th Anniversary Season opener - Kiss Me, Kate, to be presented June 11 through July 12 on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage (30 Union Street).

Working Artists Theatre Project, in collaboration with the David Lynch Foundation, presents a staged play reading benefit of James McLure's companion comedies Lone Star and Laundry and Bourbon under the title 1959 Pink Thunderbird, featuring a cast of Broadway talent. All proceeds will benefit the Operation Warrior Wellness Project in teaching War Veterans with PTSD Transcendental Meditation.

Theatre UCF, part of the UCF School of Performing Arts, introduces an Annual Arts Festival to its 2014-15 season, in addition to its regular schedule of plays and musicals.

Following their successful run of William Finn's A New Brain, The Brown Paper Box Co. has announce their next cabaret series: PROUD AT MARY'S: A June Cabaret. Ticketing information for this evening of Pride-based stories and songs can be found at www.brownpaperbox.org.

Fraggled Productions has put together a respectable production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Cupcake Theater in Hollywood with a delightfully oddball cast and the requisite fun audience participation. The Tony Award-winning musical, featuring music & lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin, additional lyrics by Jay Reiss, and based on a concept by Rebecca Feldman, is a 90-minute comical look at the drama of an annual spelling bee competition with adults playing the roles of its middle school participants

Today in 2005, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre, where it ran for 1136 performances. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a one act musical comedy conceived by Rebecca Feldman with music and lyrics by William Finn, a book by Rachel Sheinkin and additional material by Jay Reiss. The show centers on a fictional spelling bee set in a geographically ambiguous Putnam Valley Middle School. Six quirky adolescents compete in the Bee, run by three equally-quirky grown-ups. The 2005 Broadway production, directed by James Lapine, was nominated for six Tony Awards, winning two, including Best Book. The show has spawned various other productions in the U.S., including a national tour with performances in Canada, and Australian productions.

Artists in Partnership (AIP), a non-profit cultural arts organization, will host its 12th Annual Cabaret Festival May 15-18 at the Long Beach Public Library, 111 West Park Avenue, Long Beach, NY. All performances are FREE to the public. The festival will be a celebration of the cabaret genre honoring the Great American Songbook with performances by renowned local and New York City-based artists.

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons announced today a list of performers and speakers for its annual Spring Gala on Monday evening, May 5 at the event space 583 Park Avenue. Titled "IN THE BEGINNING," the evening will honor the theater company's Founding Artistic Director Bob Moss.

Mark the countdown to the Tony Awards with award-winning cabaret performer Jamie deRoy when she celebrates Broadway with a roster of Tony Award winners on her Multi MAC award-winning Variety Show, Jamie deRoy & friends, on Monday, June 2nd (7PM) at New York's wonderfully-appointed cabaret The Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd Street ~ btw. 5th & 6th Avenues).

The cast and creative team of the hit Off-Broadway musical Murder for Two are teaming up with some of New York's brightest up and coming composers and BroadwayWorld.com every Monday night for their spring concert series, Murderous Musical Mondays. Composer Joe Iconis contines the series on Monday, May 5, 2014, immediately following the 7pm performance of Murder for Two at New World Stages (Stage 5 - 340 West 50th Street). Performers will include Liz Lark Brown, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Seth Eliser, Lauren Marcus, Jeremy Morse, Lance Rubin, Jared Weiss, and Jason "SweetTooth" Williams.

Two additional performances of ONE WOMAN SHOW have been added to Shakina's limited engagement at Sophie's, New York's newest midtown cabaret venue. Extending the sold-out run, new shows have been added May 1st at 10:30pm and May 2nd at 11pm.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents 9 Songs...By James Harvey, tonight, April 22nd at 11:30pm.

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced additional top items for the 2014 edition of its popular, annual online auction. Bidding for the auction, which features an eclectic array of items and unique opportunities continues at www.biddingforgood/playwrightshorizons now through Monday, April 28 at 8PM.

The cast and creative team of the hit Off-Broadway musical Murder for Two are teaming up with some of New York's brightest up and coming composers and BroadwayWorld.com on select Monday nights for their spring concert series, Murderous Musical Mondays. Featured on Monday, April 21, 2014 will be the Pace New Musicals Writers' Room (curated by Ryan Scott Oliver), immediately following the 7pm performance of Murder for Two at New World Stages (Stage 5 - 340 West 50th Street). Meet the new composers below!

Broadway vet and singing sensation Alysha Umphress - fresh off her starring turn as Cee Cee in the World Premiere of Beaches (Signature Theatre) - joins the line up.