Across the globe the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare's birth will be commemorated in many ways. In Paris a week-long conference will occur. In London anew indoor Jacobean theatre within the complex of Shakespeare's Globe opens. And here in New York the Richmond County Orchestra (RCO) marks its 15th season by celebrating the anniversary with a Happy Birthday Bill performance on April 26 at The Music Hall at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden. The concert is FREE for students and children.
The McCallum Theatre presents the five-time Tony Award winning musical play Peter and the Starcatcher for a limited engagement of five performances with one performance tonight, March 28, at 8:00pm; two performances on Saturday, March 29, at 2:00pm and 8:00pm, and two performances on Sunday, March 30, at 2:00pm and 7:30pm. Peter and the Starcatcher, a grown up's prequel to Peter Pan, is the innovative and imaginative musical play based on the best?selling novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. A company of a dozen actors play more than a hundred unforgettable characters, all on a journey to answer the century?old question: How did Peter Pan become The Boy Who Never Grew Up? I had the chance to chat briefly with author Ridley Pearson about Peter And The Starcatcher's incredible journey from page to stage. Here are a few excerpts from that conversation:
Huntington Theatre Company continues its 2013-2014 Season with playwright-in-residence Melinda Lopez's latest play, the stirring new drama Becoming Cuba. Huntington Associate Producer M. Bevin O'Gara makes her Huntington directorial debut of the Huntington's playwright-in-residence's latest work. Performances of Becoming Cuba begin at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA tonight, March 28. Due to popular demand, the run has been extended to May 3, 2014.
The McCallum Theatre presents the five-time Tony Award winning musical play Peter and the Starcatcher for a limited engagement of five performances with one performance on Friday, March 28, at 8:00pm; two performances on Saturday, March 29, at 2:00pm and 8:00pm, and two performances on Sunday, March 30, at 2:00pm and 7:30pm. Peter and the Starcatcher, a grown up's prequel to Peter Pan, is the innovative and imaginative musical play based on the best?selling novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. A company of a dozen actors play more than a hundred unforgettable characters, all on a journey to answer the century?old question: How did Peter Pan become The Boy Who Never Grew Up? I had the chance to chat briefly with author Ridley Pearson about Peter And The Starcatcher's incredible journey from page to stage. Here are a few excerpts from that conversation:
The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for the California premiere of Quiara Alegria Hudes' Water by the Spoonful, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Directed by Edward Torres, Water by the Spoonful will run April 12 - May 11, 2014 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run April 12 - April 16. Opening night is Thursday, April 17 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. In conjunction with local organizations Combat Arts and So Say We All, The Globe will also host an ongoing exhibit of art by returning veterans, and an evening of local veterans performing stories they have written about their service.
The New York premiere of the late award-winning playwright Oni Faida Lampley's play Tough Titty, a poignant and funny exploration of what comes next for a Brooklyn mother diagnosed with breast cancer, will be presented next month by actress/producer Ami Brabson (Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: SVU, Damages) & her husband, Emmy and Obie Award-winning actor Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, Glory, City of Angels). Lydia Fort will direct. The play premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and made Lampley a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award.
Off-Broadway's award-winning Irish Repertory Theatre announces the final production of its 2013-2014 Season, a revival of Gardner McKay's SEA MARKS, directed by Ciaran O'Reilly. The romantic two-hander will star Tony and Drama Desk Award nominee Xanthe Elbrick (CORAM BOY, Irish Rep's CANDIDA) and Patrick Fitzgerald (Irish Rep's GIBRALTAR). SEA MARKS will be performed April 23rd through June 15th on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage of the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street). The Press Opening is scheduled for Sunday, May 4, 2014 at 7PM.
Magic Theatre will welcome back one of Scotland's leading contemporary playwrights, Linda McLean, with the world premiere of Every Five Minutes, directed by Producing Artistic Director Loretta Greco. Every Five Minutes runs today, March 26 - April 20.
Today, Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), the nation's oldest AIDS service organization, announces the sensational news that its annual dinner gala will be hosted by the award-winning actress, singer and dancer, Chita Rivera, and held at Cipriani 42nd Street, tonight, March 26, 2014. A revered Broadway legend, Ms. Rivera is not a stranger to GMHC. In 2004, she starred in GMHC's benefit concert, 'Showstoppers,' featuring 20 Broadway stars performing their signature numbers at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.
Scenic designer, writer and professor, MARJORIE BRADLEY KELLOGG, and costume designer DEBORAH M. DRYDEN are among the 2014 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, May 2, at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Ms. Kellogg will receive the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design and Ms. Dryden was selected to receive the 2014 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design. Ms. Kellogg's award will be presented to her by director Kenny Leon and Ms. Dryden's award will be presented to her by designer David Woolard.
New Georges will present The New Georges Jam On Toast, a brand-new festival featuring work by The New Georges Jam, a 'performance gym' for early-career playwrights and directors founded in 2010 by Lucy Alibar, Jess Chayes, and Portia Krieger. New Georges will take over the legendary downtown performance space Dixon Place (161 Chrystie Street between Rivington and Delancey) from May 14-31 with World Premiere productions running in rep, works-in-progress presentations and cabaret-style shows, for a total of 47 performances over two and a half weeks.
Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: MOTHERS AND SONS opens tonight, Block, Groff, Lewis, Rannells and more join forces for BROADWAY BACKWARDS and more!
The Old Globe today announced the creative team of Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning farce Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which will be directed by Jessica Stone. Stone, who is a frequent collaborator with Old Globe Associate Artist Nicholas Martin, will base this production on his Tony-nominated Broadway direction. Martin had been previously announced to return to San Diego to direct but had to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will run May 17 - June 22, 2014 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run May 17 - 21. Opening night is May 22 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by subscription only. Single tickets are scheduled to go on sale on Friday, April 4 at 12 noon and will be available online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.
Noor Theatre Artistic Director Lameece Issaq, Executive Director Maha Chehlaoui, and Producing Artistic Director Nancy Vitale announce the world premiere of The Myth Project. This director-driven workshop production in three parts from Director/Writers Kareem Fahmy, Noelle Ghoussaini, and Pirronne Yousefzadeh, will run from Thursday, May 1 - Sunday, May 4 at New York Theatre Workshop's 4th Street Theatre.
Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced the 2014 Nikos Stage offerings, completing the 60th Anniversary Season for the Tony Award-winning theatre company. The Nikos Stage season kicks off on July 9th with the East Coast premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's acclaimed play A Great Wilderness (July 9 - 20) and will also include a revival of Sam Shepard's Fool For Love, directed by Daniel Aukin with Lauren Ambrose (making her Festival debut) and Chris Pine (returning to Williamstown after 12 years), playing July 24 - August 3. The Nikos Stage season ends with the anticipated return of the PigPen Theatre Co.'s celebrated production of The Old Man and the Old Moon (August 6 - 17).
F*It Club, the New York Innovative Award-winning film and theatre company, continues its annual series of short, commissioned world-premiere plays at the brand new Sheen Center in lower Manhattan with The Spring Fling: First Love, six new short plays by Halley Feiffer (How to Make Friends and Then Kill Them), Kate Gersten (Benefit of the Doubt), Jason Grote (Mad Men, Smash, Hannibal, 1001), Mark Sitko (Rocky Philly, Tube), Tommy Smith (White Hot, Pigeon), and Lauren Yee (The Hatmaker's Wife). Performances will be Thursday, May 1st through Sunday, May 11th with Wednesday through Saturday night performances at 8pm and Sunday matinees at 2p. Tickets are $18 and available at ovationtx.com and at the door.
Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Joe Masteroff, John Kander and Fred Ebb's Tony winning musical Cabaret, starring Tony Award-winner Alan Cumming and Golden Globe-winner Michelle Williams, begins previews tomorrow, Friday March 21. Cabaret officially opens on Thursday, April 24, 2014 at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street). This is a 24-week limited engagement. Scroll down to learn more about the full company, plus watch a TV spot for the production below!
Award-winning seven-member indie-folk band/theater troupe PigPen Theatre Co. returns to New York City for a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 5 as part of their nationwide tour. The tour takes the band to major markets across the U.S., including stops in Austin for SXSW (details to come) and the acclaimed Firefly Music Festival. Please see below for full tour itinerary.
BAY STREET THEATRE NEW WORKS FESTIVAL will take place on April 25-27 at the Bay Street Theatre on the Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, NY. The Festival is produced in Association with SPACE on Ryder Farm.
Directed by Tony Award-winner Anna D. Shapiro, the new Broadway production of Of Mice and Men begins performances tomorrow, Wednesday, March 19, 2014 and will officially open on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street). Scroll down to learn more about the full company, plus watch interviews with the cast and get a sneak peek at the play below!
