William Finn News

A special re-airing of the popular TV show Jamie deRoy & friends will be broadcast on Wed. March 18, 2009 @ 7:30pm on Time Warner 57 / RCN 84 channels. This acclaimed episode includes performances from Eric Comstock, Barbara Fasano, and Anne Steele. Also, scenes from Distracted Starring Cynthia Nixon and Guys And Dolls on Broadway. It will also feature two special segments--- Charles Strouse, who will be honored by the NY POPS and Stephen Schwartz, who recently performed at our Academy Awards show.

George Street Playhouse has announced full casting for New Year's Eve a world premiere from the pen of ARTHUR LAURENTS. George Street Playhouse Artistic Director DAVID SAINT will direct a starry cast comprised of WALTER BELENKY, KEITH CARRADINE, PETER FRECHETTE, MARLO THOMAS and NATASHA GREGSON WAGNER. New Year's Eve marks the ninth collaboration between Saint and Laurents at the New Brunswick Playhouse, and the return engagement of Ms. Thomas, who starred in Elaine May's Roger is Dead last season.

The producers of ROCK OF AGES announced the complete, awesome cast for Broadway's new, smash hit musical today. Constantine Maroulis, ('American Idol' Season 4, Broadway's The Wedding Singer, RENT) reprising his critically acclaimed role as 'Drew', is now joined by Broadway's best 1970's & 1980's period actors Amy Spanger (The Wedding Singer, Kiss Me Kate) as 'Sherrie' and James Carpinello (Saturday Night Fever, VH1's 'So NoTORIous') as 'Stacee Jaxx'.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) has announced the two plays which will be presented as part of the company's seventh annual Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series this summer: Zakiyyah Alexander's 10 Things To Do Before I Die, directed by Jackson Gay, and Lila Rose Kaplan's Wildflower, directed by 2008 Callaway Award winner Giovanna Sardelli.

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, a new musical based on the beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder series of classic American books, will launch a national tour in October at The Ordway Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, following a five-week engagement beginning September 10 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J. Melissa Gilbert, who rose to fame as a child playing ?Laura' in the hugely successful NBC television series 'Little House on the Prairie' during the 1970's, now continues her legacy ?on the prairie' by taking on the role of Ma. LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE will also star Steve Blanchard as Pa and Kara Lindsay as Laura.

The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer The Bay Area Premiere of Carson Kreitzer's Award-Winning Play Artistic Director Brian Katz directs; Second Wind's Ian Walker stars as Oppenheimer DESCRIPTION: 'Do I dare disturb the universe?' Kreitzer's award-winning play shows J. Robert Oppenheimer's rise and fall erupt in this kaleidoscopic drama exploring questions of faith, conscience, and the consequences of the never-ending pursuit of knowledge.

For the past 18 years, Jamie deRoy has hosted and produced the critically acclaimed variety show, Jamie deRoy & friends, which also serves as a basis for her 16-year-old cable television show, 'Jamie deRoy & friends.' The award-winning television show which chronicles theatre and cabaret talent will move to a new time and channel starting Sunday, March 29th airtime 7:30PM on channels: Time Warner 56/ RCN 83 every other Sunday. Produced by Jamie deRoy & friends, inc. the show is directed by Barry Kleinbort and taped & edited by Applause Video. A mainstay on Manhattan cable-TV, the show spotlights a wide variety of well-known entertainers and newcomers lighting up the cabaret, theater and comedy worlds.

For the past 18 years, Jamie deRoy has hosted and produced the critically acclaimed variety show, Jamie deRoy & friends, which also serves as a basis for her 16-year-old cable television show, 'Jamie deRoy & friends.'

Due to a scheduling conflict with Director Scott Ellis, Douglas Carter Beane's new comedy, Mr. & Mrs. Fitch, has been postponed from Second Stage Theatre's season, announced Artistic Director Carole Rothman. A new mainstage summer production will be announced shortly. Mr. and Mrs. Fitch had been scheduled to begin previews on June 16.

Splash Bar is proud to present another diva-licious edition of Scott Nevins' Curtain Call with one of our favorite belting beauties - XL STAR winner, 'After Party' co-host and cast member of this past season's William Finn revue 'Make Me a Song' - ALYSHA UMPHRESS ! Tonight, directly following the video madness of Musical Mondays, Alysha takes to the stage to serve up a full set of theater's hottest tunes with her signature sassy style and sizzling vocals!

The 2009 Festival of New American Musicals, a four-month musical theatre festival, will be held in April through July, 2009, throughout Southern California. Marcia Seligson, Bob Klein, and Linda Shusett are the Executive Producers of the second annual Festival.

World Premiere of INKED BABY, a new play by 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn nominee Christina Anderson in her Off-Broadway playwriting debut. INKED BABY begins previews on Thursday, March 5 at 7:30 PM at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street).

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) will hold its annual Spring Gala Benefit on Monday evening, April 27th at Guastavino's (409 East 59th Street).

On Friday, March 27, multi award-winning composer and lyricist Ryan Scott Oliver will bring sexy schoolteachers, provocative rent-boys, obsessive homicidal teenagers, and fairy dust to The Theatre at Boston Court.

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) will hold its annual Spring Gala Benefit on Monday evening, April 27th at Guastavino's (409 East 59th Street).

Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director of Signature Theatre, today announced casting for the world premiere production of the musical Giant by composer Michael John LaChiusa and playwright Sybille Pearson.

Celebration Theatre announces that Sharon McNight brings her critically-acclaimed, smash-hit, 'Songs to Offend Almost Everyone' to Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood. SONGS TO OFFEND ALMOST EVERYONE is the new over-the-top show of Sharon McNight. The selection of songs is a throwback to the party records of the 1950s and is designed to offend minorities and majorities of every persuasion.

Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, February 25 at 10:00 AM, Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) will be accepting entries for its popular LIVEforFIVE online lottery for $5 tickets to its next production, the World Premiere of INKED BABY, a new play by 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn nominee Christina Anderson in her Off-Broadway playwriting debut. A total of 40 tickets will be available via the online lottery.

With equal parts hope, humor and heartbreak, Portland Center Stage's 2009-2010 Season explores the challenges and rewards of creating community in a nation both defined and distracted by the chasm that often exists between our ideals and our actions... and between one neighbor and another.

Producer Randy Taradash announced today that bare, the original rock musical by Damon Intrabartolo and Jon Hartmere will hold an invite only New York presentation on Tuesday, February 24 in anticipation of its San Francisco Bay Area premiere in late Fall of 2009. The cast for the reading includes Scott Porter (NBC's 'Friday Night Lights', Altar Boyz), Matt Doyle (Spring Awakening, the CW's 'Gossip Girl'), Shoshana Bean (Wicked, Hairspray), Manoel Felciano (2006 Tony award nominee Sweeney Todd), Kecia Lewis-Evans (The Drowsy Chaperone), Janine LaManna (The Drowsy Chaperone, Sweet Charity), Neil Haskell (Altar Boyz), and Alysha Umphress (2008 MAC Award nominee, Make Me A Song: The Music of William Finn).