From the rockin' dance halls of Memphis, Tennessee comes this hot and bothered new Broadway musical with heart, soul and energy to burn. Set in the turbulent south in the 1950s, it is the story of Huey Calhoun, a white radio DJ whose love of good music transcends race lines and airwaves. Get ready to experience all the exuberance and the emotion... the beauty and the controversy... of a wondrous, defining time in our history. You're tuning in to Memphis, so turn up that dial!
MEMPHIS features a brand new score with music by Bon Jovi's founding member/keyboardist David Bryan and lyrics by Bryan and Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change), who also pens the musical's book. Bryan and DiPietro also collaborated on the current award-winning off-Broadway hit, The Toxic Avenger. MEMPHIS is based on a concept by the late George W. George (producer of the Tony nominated Bedroom Farce and the film My Dinner With Andre), with direction by Tony nominee Christopher Ashley (Xanadu) and choreography by Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys).
Lea Salonga, the singing voice of Jasmine in the iconic ALADDIN film took a magic carpet ride to Broadway for a night to visit Aladdin himself - Adam Jacobs! Salonga provided the singing voice of two official Disney Princesses: Jasmine in Aladdin (1992), and Fa Mulan in Mulan (1998) and Mulan II (2004). She was named a Disney Legend in 2011 for her work with The Walt Disney Company. Most recently, she's toured with IL DIVO.
The National High School Musical Theater Awards (NHSMTA) just announced that 56 high school students from across America will compete for the coveted Jimmy Award for Best Performance by an Actor and Best Performance by an Actress, at the 6th annual presentation at the Minskoff Theatre on Monday, June 30. Ryan McCartan, 2011 Jimmy Award winner, will host the 2-hour talent showcase that features dynamic ensemble and solo performances. McCartan recently starred as JD in the Off-Broadway hit musical, Heathers, appears regularly as Diggy in Liv & Maddie on the Disney Channel, and is a recurring character on the USA Network's Royal Pains. The event will be held at the Minskoff Theatre (200 W. 45th St) and begins at 7:30 pm. Tickets, which range from $39-$175, are on sale at Ticketmaster.com.
On Site Opera, which has garnered acclaim for immersive, site-specific productions, will perform Rameau's one-act Pygmalion in two unusual-and unusually apt-venues this summer, just before the 250th anniversary of the composer's death: Madame Tussauds New York, on June 17, and Lifestyle-Trimco Showroom, on June 20 & 21.
Broadway In Chicago, The Nederlander Organization and Estefan Enterprises, Inc have announced that On Your Feet! - a new musical based on the life story of seven-time GRAMMY winning international superstar Gloria Estefan and her husband, legendary producer-musician-entrepreneur Emilio Estefan - will have its Pre-Broadway World Premiere in Chicago in Summer 2015 with Broadway In Chicago theater and performance schedule to be announced. It will open on Broadway in Fall 2015 at a Nederlander theatre to be announced.
The Nederlander Organization and Estefan Enterprises, Inc have announced that On Your Feet! - a new musical based on the life story of seven-time GRAMMY-winning international superstar Gloria Estefan and her husband, legendary producer-musician-entrepreneur Emilio Estefan - will premiere on Broadway in Fall 2015 at a Nederlander theatre to be announced, following a Summer 2015 World Premiere engagement in Chicago.
For its 2014 Countryside series, Apollo's Fire proudly premieres "GLORY ON THE MOUNTAIN: An Appalachian Journey." Created and directed by Jeannette Sorrell and starring singers Amanda Powell and Ross Hauck, the program will be performed in 8 concerts in rustic venues in Hunting Valley, Chardon, Bay Village and Bath, during June 12-22.
On Site Opera, which creates immersive, site-specific opera productions, has partnered with Figaro Systems, developer of groundbreaking libretto simultexting technology, to preview a future in which opera is further freed from the opera house. OnThursday, June 19 at Lifestyle-Trimco Showroom in Manhattan, the companies will give a special performance of On Site's new production of Rameau's one-act Pygmalion for users of Google Glass. As the performers move about the space during the performance, audience members will be able to read an English translation of Ballot de Sovot's libretto conveniently in their Glass field of vision.
From the controversial and crass to the inspiring and romantic, the past decade's Tony winners for Best Musical delighted us then and continue to captivate us as they play in productions across the country and around the world. And what better way to refresh and prep for this year's big award than to relive the stand-outs from the last 10 years on Broadway? Scroll down to learn more about the winners since 2004, and be sure to tell us which musical gets your pick for 2014!
On Site Opera, which has garnered acclaim for immersive, site-specific productions, will perform Rameau's one-act Pygmalion in two unusual-and unusually apt-venues this summer, just before the 250th anniversary of the composer's death: Madame Tussauds New York, on June 17, and Lifestyle-Trimco Showroom, on June 20 & 21.
Love is blossoming in Seattle this spring when The 5th Avenue Theatre debuts the lush new musical, A Room with a View. Based on the E.M. Forster novel that inspired the Merchant Ivory film, this enchanting adaptation features a wonderfully rich score by Jeffrey Stock and a witty and moving book and additional lyrics by Marc Acito. This beguiling and intimate romantic comedy features a cast of Seattle's best-loved musical theater stars including Laura Griffith and Louis Hobson as Lucy and George. Directed by The 5th Avenue's David Armstrong, A Room with a View also features Patti Cohenour, Jadd Davis, Allen Fitzpatrick, Richard Gray, Suzy Hunt, Matt Owen, Will Reynolds, and Jenny Shotwell.
The New York Philharmonic and American Composers Orchestra (ACO), in collaboration with ACO's EarShot: the National Orchestra Composition Discovery Network, announce the selection of 13 emerging composers from an international pool of more than 400 applicants from seven countries and 37 states ranging in age from 9 to 84, whose original scores for orchestra have been chosen for readings and performances by the Philharmonic and ACO as part of the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL.
Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre was originally set to present a re-imagined concert version of Lerner and Loewe's Tony Award-winning musical GIGI this May, but the company has been forced to cancel the production due to internal scheduling conflicts. The musical has been announced for a Broadway opening in 2015.
Love is blossoming in Seattle this spring when The 5th Avenue Theatre debuts the lush new musical, A Room with a View. Based on the E.M. Forster novel that inspired the Merchant Ivory film, this enchanting adaptation features a wonderfully rich score by Jeffrey Stock and a witty and moving book and additional lyrics by Marc Acito. This beguiling and intimate romantic comedy features a cast of Seattle's best-loved musical theater stars including Laura Griffith and Louis Hobson as Lucy and George. Directed by The 5th Avenue's David Armstrong, A Room with a View also features Patti Cohenour, Jadd Davis, Allen Fitzpatrick, Richard Gray, Suzy Hunt, Matt Owen, Will Reynolds, and Jenny Shotwell.
Courtney Lewis, age 29, has been named New York Philharmonic Assistant Conductor beginning in September 2014. Current Assistant Conductor Case Scaglione, age 31, will be promoted to Associate Conductor, also to begin in September 2014. They will assist Music Director Alan Gilbert and all guest conductors throughout the season, and will lead educational events, including School Day Concerts and Young People's Concerts. Joshua Weilerstein, who has been Assistant Conductor along with Mr. Scaglione since September 2011, will conclude his tenure as Assistant Conductor at the end of the 2013-14 season.
Choreographers Camille A. Brown, Gabrielle Lamb, and Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener, who will be working together, have been awarded New York City Center's 2014 Choreography Fellowships. The Fellowship supports choreographers at critical stages in their careers and reflects City Center's long history of nurturing dance makers, from George Balanchine to Christopher Wheeldon.
Million Dollar Quartet, the longest-running Broadway musical production in Chicago's history, has been extended through August 31, 2014. With over 2,000 performances and 5 smash years in Chicago, the Tony Award-winning rock 'n' roll musical recently set a new record for the longest-running Broadway musical in Chicago. Tickets will go on sale Friday, February 7, 2014, at 10am.
New York, NY – American Composers Orchestra (ACO) announces the release of its fourth digital album, an all music-video release entitled Orchestra Underground: A-V, streaming free of charge on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/channels/orchestraunderground. This new album (the A-V stands for “audio-visual”) is the first of its kind for ACO, and features the orchestra in multimedia works by some of today's leading composers and film artists – Margaret Brouwer with Kasumi inBreakdown (2008); Sebastian Currier with Pawel Wojtasik in Next Atlantis (2009); and Michael Gandolfi with Ean White in As Above (2005).
AOP (American Opera Projects), and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture will co-present an evening of scenes from Nkeiru Okoye's folk opera Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom that tells of how a young girl born in slavery, becomes Harriet Tubman, the legendary Underground Railroad conductor. The musical excerpts will be followed by an artist Q&A moderated by WQXR's Terrance McKnight. The concert will be presented today, December 9, 2013 at 6:30 PM at the Langston Hughes Auditorium: 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801.
When the Tony-winning MEMPHIS closed on Broadway in 2012, producers announced that a West End production was coming soon. According to the UK Daily Mail, soon could be in 2014, at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End, following a scheduled run of THE PAJAMA GAME.
In just five short years, The New Colony has established itself as "one of Chicago's essential off-Loop companies" (Chicago Tribune). Through the premiere of fifteen world premiere plays and musicals, devised through an open, collaborative process, The New Colony has cultivated a diverse audience of theatergoers eager to have a voice in the storytelling.
AOP (American Opera Projects), and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture will co-present an evening of scenes from Nkeiru Okoye's folk opera Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom that tells of how a young girl born in slavery, becomes Harriet Tubman, the legendary Underground Railroad conductor. The musical excerpts will be followed by an artist Q&A moderated by WQXR's Terrance McKnight. The concert will be presented on Monday, December 9, 2013 at 6:30 PM at the Langston Hughes Auditorium: 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801.
East Jefferson General Hospital Broadway in New Orleans announces the lineup of Broadway's biggest hits for the 2013 - 2014 season to be showcased at the newly-renovated Saenger Theatre.
Producers Whoopi Goldberg, Stage Entertainment and Troika Entertainment have announced that the North American Tour of the five-time Tony Award nominated musical SISTER ACT will begin its second year of performances. The tour opened on October 2, 2012 at Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre and is still rocking the rafters across the country. SISTER ACT opened to stellar reviews and continues to receive them across the country.
The full cast of Disney's Aladdin, a new musical based on the Academy Award winning animated film, began rehearsals today in New York City. Aladdin will launch at Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre (formerly the Canon) November 1, 2013 to January 5, 2014. Opening night there is November 21, 2013. BroadwayWorld has photos of the cast in rehearsal below!
Join a live studio audience on the set of a '70s-style sitcom as The Inconvenience, The New Colony and the University of Chicago's Theater and Performance Studies Program team up to co-produce the world premiere of B-SIDE STUDIO, co-written by Inconvenience Resident Writer Ike Holter and New Colony Co-Artistic Director Evan Linder and directed by Nicholas J. Carroll, Andrew Hobgood and Gus Menary. B-SIDE STUDIO is performed on Fridays and Saturdays at 9/8c (that's 8 pm in Chicago, meathead!) from tonight, September 13 - October 12, 2013 at The Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. in Chicago.
Videos
