My Vaudeville Man! 2008 - Articles Page 11

The Board of Directors and Artistic Director, David E. Leidholdt, are pleased to announce the stage adaptation of the the cult classic The Rocky Horror Show on the Ryan Main Stage.

Queens Theatre will present the award winning play In the Car with Blossom and Len written by Joni Fritz and directed by Tony Award nominee Lynne Taylor-Corbett (Broadway's SWING!) at the Queens Theatre's Shulman Theatre located at 14 United Nations Avenue South in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Broadway's Rufus Bonds, Jr. will be tilting at windmills on The 5th Avenue Theatre stage when he takes over the role of Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha. Bonds was recently seen as Porgy in The Gershwins' Porgy & Bess in London's West End, and was a member of the original Broadway casts of RENT and Parade.

Millbrook Playhouse gets ready to make a splash with Disney's The Little Mermaid opening July 8 through July 23, 2016. This classic tale will have everyone longing to be under the sea with such classic songs as "Kiss the Girl," "Poor Unfortunate Souls," and the Academy Award-Winning best original song "Under the Sea".

The world premiere of Unexpected Joy, opening July 21 at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, will be directed by Lynne Taylor Corbett. Musical Direction is by Gillian Berkowitz. This world premiere by Bill Russell and Janet Hood is produced in association with Jim Kierstead, Linda & Craig Wielkotz, and Gabby Hanna & Marcy Feller. Casting is by Stephen DeAngelis. Unexpected Joy opens July 21, running Wednesdays-Mondays through August 20.

ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS by Richard Bean is an English adaptation of The Servant of Two Masters, the 1743 Commedia dell'arte play by Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni. Bean has replaced the original Italian setting with 1963 Brighton. It first opened at the National Theatre in 2011, toured the UK and then opened in the West End in November 2011, with a subsequent Broadway opening in April 2012. The basic premise centers on eternally ravenous Francis Henshall (Martin Burke) who ends up being employed by two men at the same time: Roscoe Crabbe, a local gangster, and Stanley Stubbers (Tyler Jones), an upper class criminal. Francis works frantically at keeping the two from meeting, so that neither finds out that Francis is working for two men at the same time. What no one knows is Roscoe is really Rachel Crabbe (Amy Downing) in disguise. Her twin brother Roscoe was killed by her lover, Stanley Stubbers. Subplots include Pauline Clench (Madison Weinhoffer) who was to marry Roscoe in an arranged marriage by her father Charlie "The Duck" Clench (Michael Stuart) but is planning to elope with amateur actor Alan Dangle (Andre Martin).

The Flat Rock Playhouse 2016 season will continue with Tony award-winning musical The Music Man, which will run from June 16th through July 9th at the Clyde & Nina Allen Mainstage in the village of Flat Rock.

Now after more than a year, NEWSIES' North American First National Tour is nearing its conclusion, finally stopping at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through May 29 (the musical will motor down to San Diego the following week). After seeing the original Broadway production in NYC and then seeing its Los Angeles debut at the Pantages Theatre last year, experiencing this exuberant, high-energy, smile-inducing crowd-pleaser again here in my own home turf felt like a special gift. NEWSIES is a fun, uplifting night at the theater... and continues to be in subsequent, multiple viewings. With its winning combination of incredibly acrobatic dancing, family-friendly comedy, engaging story, awesome singing, and dazzling showmanship, there is a lot to love with this show---whether you're 5 or 95. Heck, it certainly made a #Fansie out of me.

It's only the 10th Annual National Pet Day. but Cole Porter knew of the joys of furry friends back in 1941.

Marking the One Hundredth anniversary of the first UK production of this classic comedy, HOBSON'S CHOICEwill play at London's Vaudeville Theatre for a limited season, Wednesday 8th June - Saturday 10th September.

Amphibian Stage Productions (Kathleen Culebro, Artistic Director) presents its second main stage play of the 2016 season, I'LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS by John Logan. Starring Karen Murphy, the play will run tonight, April 7, through Sunday, May 1 at the Berlene T. and Jarrell R. Milburn Theatre at Amphibian Stage Productions.

The touching love story of a boy and his cow, with a Mysterious Man, a Giant, Ogra the Giant's wife, and more jokes than legally allowed. The fun? You can't handle the fun.

Amphibian Stage Productions (Kathleen Culebro, Artistic Director) has announced the cast and creative team for its second main stage play of the 2016 season, I'LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS by John Logan.  Starring Karen Murphy, the play will run Thursday, April 7 through Sunday, May 1 at the Berlene T. and Jarrell R. Milburn Theatre at Amphibian Stage Productions.    

AMERICAN SHOWSTOPPERS, featuring Fred Barton & His Orchestra in 'An Evening with Cole Porter', stars a cast of today's best Broadway performers. The concerts take place at Pace University's Schimmel Center in New York tonight, March 4 at 7:30 PM and then Kingsborough Community College's 'On Stage at Kingsborough' in Brooklyn tomorrow, March 5 at 8:00 PM.

The Board of Directors and Producing Artistic Director, David E. Leidholdt, are proud to announce casting for their one night only benefit concert Broadway Show Stoppers. The festivities will take place March 12, 2016, at 7:30 at Sloan Performing Arts Building on the campus of Lock Haven University.  

With a professional theater season full of premieres and award winning women playwrights, Centenary Stage Company keeps the ball rolling with the bitingly hilarious BECKY SHAW, running tonight, February 19, through March 6 in the Lackland Center. 

Broadway stars Lisa Howard (It Shoulda Been You) and John Bolton (A Christmas Story: The Musical) are joining the cast of AMERICAN SHOWSTOPPERS featuring Fred Barton & His Orchestra in 'An Evening with Cole Porter' next month.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

With a professional theater season full of premieres and award winning women playwrights, Centenary Stage Company keeps the ball rolling with the bitingly hilarious BECKY SHAW, running February 19 through March 6 in the Lackland Center. 

? In 1916, World War I was well underway and German Zeppelins were bombing Paris.  Charlie Chaplin had just been signed to his first film contract, Mary Pickford became the first female film star to sign a million-dollar contract, and Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 13th World Series.

Laurel and Hardy must be smiling in the comedy Valhalla. Cabrillo Music Theatre's near-perfect production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which opened last night at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza's Scherr Forum, brings back the classic, broad humor from vaudeville, performed by an inspired cast of crazies who not only aren't afraid of anything going wrong, but are probably HOPING for mishaps that would destroy any other show. This is, of course, because Forum is one of those shows where spontaneity and the unexpected is almost as obligatory as Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart's uproarious script and Stephen Sondheim's witty lyrics.

With a professional theater season full of premieres and award winning women playwrights, Centenary Stage Company keeps the ball rolling with Gina Gionfriddo's hilarious Becky Shaw running February 19 through March 6 in the Lackland Center.  A Pulitzer Prize finalist, Off-Broadway smash hit and now NJ Premiere, Becky Shaw is a comedy from Obie Award-winner Gina Gionfriddo.

Next week Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond, including Ben Vereen, Elizabeth A. Davis and more!

AMERICAN SHOWSTOPPERS - featuring Fred Barton & His Orchestra and starring a cast of today's best Broadway performers - will present "An Evening with Cole Porter" at Pace University's Schimmel Center in New York on Friday, March 4 at 7:30 PM and then Kingsborough Community College's Goldstein Center in Brooklyn on Saturday, March 5 at 8:00 PM.  The cast of outstanding Broadway performers includes Beth Leavel (Tony Award winner for The Drowsy Chaperone), Sean McGibbon, Paula Leggett Chase, Damon Kirsche, Karen Murphy and Jesse Luttrell in addition to the Scott Thompson Dancers. The show is produced, orchestrated, conducted and hosted by Fred Barton with direction and choreography by Scott Thompson.

In 2015, Seabright Productions - an independent commercial theatre production company based in London and led by James Seabright - produced shows around the UK and abroad, including West End seasons for Potted Sherlock (Vaudeville) and Showstopper! The Improvised Musical (Apollo), UK tours of It's A Wonderful Life, Outings and The Only Way Is Downton, plus international tours of Potted Potter (US & Canada) America's Got Downton (US) andUpside Downton (Toronto) and Edinburgh fringe premieres. Shows for 2016 include (in chronological order):