William James News

90s Dreams Fan Fest featuring The California Dreams Band and Thomas Ian Nicholas will play New York City on October 13th

The five finalists of the 2023 Chicago Cabaret Professionals Emerging Artist Showcase will be performing on August 24 at 7:30pm at Epiphany Center for the Arts in Chicago. Each will perform a three-song set and a panel of judges will determine the winner, who will receive the Denise Tomasello Cabaret Scholarship to support the production of a solo cabaret show.

After Chicago Cabaret Professionals successfully launched the organization's first Emerging Artist Showcase in 2022, the Showcase returns this year with the concert scheduled on August 24 at 7:30pm at Epiphany Center for the Arts in Chicago. 

Maine State Music Theatre’s new production of 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL with Dolly Parton’s pulsating score is a high energy, hilarious madcap misadventure that somehow also manages to ring uncannily true. Both a period piece and a contemporary one, this tale of women in the workplace is propelled by zany humor, but also fueled by the empathetic characters at its core. The trio of women embattled with their narcissistic boss are - as Parton, herself, phrased it “just a step on the boss man's ladder” - and yet they sing and dance their way into our hearts in an evening filled with laughter and warmth.

Full casting has been announced for the world première production of the heart-warming, original musical Then, Now & Next, written by Christopher J Orton (My Land's Shore) and Jon Robyns (currently playing the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera) in a first-time collaboration for the pair.

Hedgerow Theatre announced both a one-week extension and a virtual streaming option of the company's Barrymore Recommended world premiere production of The Puzzle by Juliette Dunn.

The new album was recorded at Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee and produced by Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, John Prine, Elvis Presley). It follows the band’s critically acclaimed 2022 album The Alien Coast.

“City Federal Building” follows previously released singles, “Lonely Love Song”—named “a prayerful and powerful lullaby” by Garden & Gun—and “Sea Star,” which debuted to critical praise from NPR, Relix and Glide Magazine, alongside a video directed by Gus Black. Watch/share the video—an homage to the band’s home state of Alabama.

Broadway veteran Kurt Peterson appears in On the Steps of the Shubert, a video commemorating the 50th Anniversary of 'Sondheim: A Musical Tribute'. Narrated by Kurt from the steps inside Broadway's Shubert Theatre in the rear orchestra where he sat beside Stephen Sondheim that evening, the video just debuted online in celebration of the event's 50th anniversary and you can watch it in full.

St. Paul & The Broken Bones unveil a new single, “Lonely Love Song.” “Lonely Love Song” follows the record’s first single, “Sea Star,” which debuted last month to critical praise from NPR, Relix and Glide Magazine, with an accompanying video—an homage to the band’s home state of Alabama—directed by Gus Black.

Broadway veteran Kurt Peterson will appear in On the Steps of the Shubert, a video commemorating the 50th Anniversary of “Sondheim: A Musical Tribute”, the first celebration of Stephen Sondheim's work, originally presented at the Shubert Theatre, Sunday, March 11, 1973. 

The producers of the world premiere production of FISHERMAN'S FRIENDS: THE MUSICAL have announced the full cast for the UK & Ireland tour, docking at Theatre Royal Brighton from Tuesday 7 to Saturday 11 March 2023.

Angels in Science Fiction will release their new album from St. Paul & The Broken Bones. The record’s first single, “Sea Star,” is out now with an accompanying video, an homage to the band’s home state of Alabama that introduces the album’s themes—life and death, beauty and truth—directed by Gus Black.

Award-winning actor Monica Horan joins Broadway veteran Matthew Hydzik to lead Fulton Theatre's upcoming production of Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley. Doubt, the second production of this season's Ellen Arnold Groff Studio Series, begins previews February 7 and 8 with an official opening February 9, 2023.

The Fulton Theatre has announced complete casting of their holiday production of Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Will Ray (Bob Wallace) and Hanley Smith (Betty Haynes) join forces once again.

The cast of Fisherman's Friends the Musical sailed into Salford in style today aboard the City Centre Cruise's Emmeline Pankhurst, singing sea shanties as they docked outside The Lowry.

Check out an all new music video of Parisa Shahmir singing ‘Village By The Sea’, a new song written for  FISHERMAN'S FRIENDS: THE MUSICAL by James Findlay, who is also co-musical director and musician in the production.

Broadway veteran Kurt Peterson (Dear World, Follies) will appear in the NYC concert debut of Proud Ladies at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center (129 W. 67th St.) on Monday, October 10 at 7:00pm. 

Full casting has been announced for FISHERMAN'S FRIENDS THE MUSICAL, which will embark on a UK and Ireland tour next year.

“JOSEPH’s ability to be done in a thousand different ways is what keeps it fresh,” declares Maine State Music Theatre’s Artistic Director, Curt Dale Clark. “I have heard people say they almost didn’t come to see it because they had already seen it many times, and then when they did see it, they were blown away by a new fresh production.” Clark is joining the two stars of MSMT’s current production, Jordan Alexander (Joseph) and Alyssa Anani (Narrator) at the second PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN panel discussion, hosted by Broadway World Maine editor, Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold, on July 6 at Curtis Memorial Library to discuss with patrons the theatre’s second main stage show.