William Finn News

The show's Tony Award-winning creative team has created the unlikeliest of hit musicals about the unlikeliest of heroes: a quirky yet charming cast of outsiders for whom a spelling bee is the one place where they can stand out and fit in at the same time. Check out a first look below!

Premiere Stages is proud to present the New Jersey Premiere of Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris from July 11th through July 29th in the Zella Fry Theatre at Kean University. Directed by Wes Grantom, this Tony Award-winning play is an exceptionally witty and deliciously dry satire that explores the reactions of Clybourne Park's 1950s all-white community when a couple unknowingly sells their house to a black family. The tables of gentrification turn when - fifty years later - the now all-black community greets the news of an impending sale to a white family with the same level of apprehension.

Playhouse Jr., Point Park University's family and children's theatre company and the nation's second oldest continuously running children's theatre company, will celebrate its 65th season with three engaging productions that can be enjoyed by all ages.

Completing the programming for the 10th annual New York Musical Theatre Festival, NYMF announced several additional concerts, a series of educational workshops, and a "Musicals on Television" screening series in partnership with the Paley Center for Media. This year's Festival will begin July 8th and continue through July 28th. Single tickets are currently on sale.

Barrington Stage Company, the award-winning theatre in downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership ofJulianne Boyd Artistic Director and TriStan Wilson Managing Director, presents the Bernstein/Comden/Green musical On the Town now through July 13 on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. The show just opened and you can check out photos from opening night below!

The New York Musical Theater Festival will present a one-night-only staged concert featuring the music and lyrics of the 2013 Kleban Award-winning writer Daniel Mate on Monday July 15th with performances at 6:30pm and 9:30pm.

Barrington Stage Company, the award-winning theatre in downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Julianne Boyd Artistic Director and TriStan Wilson Managing Director, presents the Bernstein/Comden/Green musical On the Town now through July 13 on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. The press opening was last night, June 16 at 5pm. The show just held a post show talk-back with Amanda Green and William Finn and you can check out photos from the event below!

Today we are talking to an exceptionally accomplished actress known for her many leading and featured roles in a number of illustrious musical theatre properties - among them, part of the original Broadway casts of FALSETTOS, CITY OF ANGELS, PARADE, LESTAT, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, SCANDALOUS and many more - the gifted and genuine Carolee Carmello. Discussing many aspects of originating roles in those aforementioned shows as well as her replacement gigs in everything from KISS ME, KATE to SISTER ACT and MAMMA MIA!, Carmello sheds some light on her process in bringing such a striking series of characters to life onstage eight times a week, including creating roles Off-Broadway in ELEGIES, HELLO AGAIN and JOHN & JEN. Additionally, Carmello shares stories from the set of NBC's musical drama series SMASH as well as comments on other potential roles she would like to pursue someday. Most importantly, Carmello previews her highly anticipated performance at this Monday night's NIGHT OF A THOUSAND JUDYS and comments upon her affection for the iconic Ms. Garland. Plus, Carmello shares behind-the-scenes stories involving many of her notable collaborators and inspirations such as William Finn, Stephen Sondheim, Kathie Lee Gifford and she also expresses enthusiasm for her upcoming turn in the new musical TUCK EVERLASTING, set to premiere later this season. All of that, early Broadway and touring memories from CHESS, LES MISERABLES, CITY OF ANGELS, observations on the newly-released SCANDALOUS cast recording and much, much more in this career-spanning conversation.

In 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee', set to open today, June 15 at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater in Hagerstown, Maryland, all of the hilarious and heartwarming events you wish had happened at your own childhood spelling bee actually occur, and they are turned into musical numbers!

Here's a listing of the top ten places that are really burning it up in theater this summer, in Chicago and the region nearby. Seek them out, and enjoy!

Lincoln Center Theater has announced four productions to be produced in the Vivian Beaumont and Mitzi E. Newhouse Theaters during the 2013-2014 season: the world premiere ofDomesticated, a new play by Bruce Norris, featuring Laurie Metcalf, directed by Anna D. Shapiro beginning performances Thursday, October 10 in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater; a new production of Shakespeare's Macbeth, featuring Ethan Hawke in the title role, directed by Jack O'Brien, beginning performances Thursday, October 24 in the Vivian Beaumont Theater; Act One, adapted and directed by James Lapine from the autobiography by Moss Hart, beginning performances Thursday, March 20 in the Beaumont; and the world premiere of The City of Conversation, a new play by Anthony Giardina, directed by Doug Hughes, beginning performances Thursday, April 10 in the Newhouse. In addition to these four productions, LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater's initiative to produce the work of new artists and to engage new audiences, will produce a season of three plays, to be announced, in the Claire Tow Theater.

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, presents the world premiere production of Muckrakers, a new play by Zayd Dohrn, directed by Giovanna Sardelli (BSC's The North Pool and Lord of the Flies). Muckrakers begins previews tonight, June 13, opens Wednesday, June 19 and will run through Saturday, July 6 at the St. Germain Stage, at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

The Theatre Group at SBCC is excited to open the 2013-2014 season with the quirky musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Music and Lyrics by William Finn, Book by Rachel Sheinkin, Conceived by Rebecca Feldman, and additional material by Jay Reiss. Directed by R. Michael Gros and Musical Direction by David Potter, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a hilarious tale of overachievers' angst chronicling the experience of six adolescents vying for the spelling championship of a lifetime. The show's Tony Award-winning creative team has created the unlikeliest of hit musicals about the unlikeliest of heroes: a quirky yet charming cast of outsiders for whom a spelling bee is the one place where they can stand out and fit in at the same time.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Julianne Boyd Artistic Director and Tristan Wilson Managing Director, has announced casting for Chaim Potok's The Chosen, adapted and directed by Aaron Posner, and Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Julianne Boyd at the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield.

In "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", set to open June 15 at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater in Hagerstown, Maryland, all of the hilarious and heartwarming events you wish had happened at your own childhood spelling bee actually occur, and they are turned into musical numbers!

The New York Times Arts Blog reports that Stephanie J. Block and Will Chase will star in the Second Stage Theater's upcoming production of the new musical LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. The actors recently received Tony nominations for their co-starring roles in Broadway's 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood.'

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) will present The Drowsy Chaperone, starring Pat Sajak as the Man in the Chair, as the first of its three-show Summer Nutmeg Summer Series, tonight, June 6 - 15 in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, Storrs.

Portland Center Stage (PCS) welcomes Broadway's Andrew Samonsky to star in the world-premiere production of the new musical Somewhere in Time, based on the novel by renowned authorRichard Matheson (I Am Legend, What Dreams May Come) and the subsequent hit film starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer.

Happy Birthday, Mary Testa! Testa is a two-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town (1998) and 42nd Street (2001). She made her debut as Miss Goldberg in William Finn's one-act musical In Trousers (1979), part one of his 'Marvin Trilogy,' winning audiences over with her rendition of 'Set Those Sails' and 'I Am Wearing a Hat,' as well as 'The Rape of Miss Goldberg by Marvin.' She returned to Broadway in July, 2007 in the musical-theater remake of the 1980 film Xanadu for which she received a Drama Desk Award nomination.

El trabajo del musico y letrista catalan, que ha colaborado con compañias como Dagoll Dagom o La Cubana, ha cruzado fronteras este año, llegando hasta Puerto Rico con la version en español del musical de Stephen Sondheim Into The Woods. De esto y de Tots Fem Comedia, la nueva obra de Joaquim Oristrell, en la que ademas participa como actor nos habla en esta entrevista para BroadwayWorld.