Wicked - Articles Page 5

The NOLA Project theatre company is proud to announce its 2018-19 Season of productions, the 14th since the company's founding in 2005. Artistic Director A.J. Allegra says, "The 2018-19 slate offers our community a wildly-varied collection of stories meant to inspire and ignite the human imagination. Each production is fiercely imaginative and utterly theatrical in its creation. These are all stories meant to be seen, heard, and felt together."

The American Shakespeare Center (ASC) celebrated 150 performances of the Wicked Folly Tour and Spring Season productions on May 30 with a performance of The Taming of the Shrew.

Grammy-nominated band Panic! At The Disco today released 'High Hopes', the third track off their highly anticipated sixth studio album, Pray For The Wicked. Listen to the song HERE. Pray For The Wicked is due for release on June 22, 2018 via Fueled By Ramen/DCD2 Records and is available for pre-order now HERE. Fans who pre-order the album will receive instant downloads of 'High Hopes' and previously released tracks 'Say Amen (Saturday Night)' and '(f**k A) Silver Lining'. 'High Hopes' is currently featured in the NHL's promotional campaign for the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, which will begin on Monday, May 28.

Casting is announced for two REPRISE 2.0 productions with two Tony Award leading actress nominees: Laura Bell Bundy (Legally Blonde - Tony Nomination, Hairspray, Anger Management) is to play Charity in Sweet Charity, directed and choreographed by three time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall from June 20 to July 1, and Carmen Cusack (Bright Star - Tony Nomination, Wicked) is to play Victoria Grant in Victor/Victoria directed by Richard Israel and choreographed by John Todd from September 5 to 16 at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.

On last night's Celebrity Duets episode of American Idol, Lea Michele appeared to sing a duet version of Defying Gravity from Wicked with contestant Ada Vox.

From April 10th-12th, two-time Tony Award-nominee Stephanie J. Block will join the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Broadway star Ramin Karimloo and conductor Steven Reineke to present ON BROADWAY, an evening of Broadway's greatest hits at the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto! BroadwayWorld's Taylor Long sat down with Stephanie ahead of her upcoming concert with the TSO.

Theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI) has secured worldwide licensing rights to Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook, an original new musical featuring the beloved songs of Academy and Grammy award winning composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell).

The world premiere of Wicked Pagan Gays by playwright Jeff Dinnell, produced by 20 Milligrams Entertainment and Directed by Kiff Scholl, will open February 23rd at The Zephyr Theatre on Melrose. Tickets on sale at: www.plays411.com/wicked.

20 MILLIGRAMS ENTERTAINMENT are thrilled to announce that acclaimed director Kiff Scholl, will be at the helm of the World Premiere of 'Wicked Pagan Gays' by playwright Jeff Dinnell. The show will open February 23rd at The Zephyr Theatre On Melrose.

What do you do when the leading man of a world premiere musical suffers an injury less than 48 hours before the first preview? For Bucks County Playhouse, the answer was simple: Call Justin Guarini.

Members of the original Broadway company of LENNON, which opened on Broadway in 2005, will reunite for a concert presentation of the musical at Feinstein's/54 Below on Monday, October 9th, 2017, at 9:30pm.

This September, John Abernathy will return to the Marquee Room at the Stadium Theatre in a brand new cabaret show 'Give My Regards' featuring the music of Broadway. Backed by Tom LaMark on piano, the show will include songs from 'West Side Story', 'Wicked', 'The Lion King', 'Avenue Q', and many more.

Tony Award winners Alice Ripley (Next to Normal), Judy Kaye (The Phantom of the Opera), Wayne Cilento (Wicked), and more, recently joined the Broadhurst Theatre's centennial birthday bash at Feinstein's/54 Below tonight, August 16th, 2017, at 7:00 pm & 9:30 pm.

Tony Award winners Alice Ripley (Next to Normal), Judy Kaye (The Phantom of the Opera), Wayne Cilento (Wicked), and more, have joined the Broadhurst Theatre's centennial birthday bash at Feinstein's/54 Below Wednesday, August 16th, 2017, at 7:00 pm & 9:30 pm.  

Producers Work Light Productions (RENT, Mamma Mia!, Motown The Musical) and The Araca Group (Urinetown, Wicked), in association with Aged in Wood and Michael Barra, today announced that a stage production of the murder mystery comedy thriller CLUE will tour North America beginning in the fall of 2018.

Two-time Tony Award nominee Mary Testa (Queen of the Mist, On the Town), Arielle Jacobs (Wicked, In the Heights), Krysta Rodriguez (The Addams Family, Smash) and Jason Gotay (Bring It On, Spider-Man; Turn Off the Dark) have joined the cast of the Good to Go Songwriters' Showcase.

The Chicago Premiere of playwright Matty Selman's "Uncle Philip's Coat" will run at the Greenhouse Theater Center (2257 N. Lincoln Ave) Nov. 27 - Dec. 31. Directed by Elizabeth Margoliusand starring Gene Weygandt (best known as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in "Wicked" in Chicago and on Broadway), "Uncle Philip's Coat" follows Matty on his humorous and heartfelt journey of personal discovery, sparked by his inheritance of a tattered coat from his eccentric Russian-Jewish immigrant uncle Philip. 

Ana Gasteyer is a true renaissance woman. Having been a cast member on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE for six seasons, she subverted some expectations after leaving the sketch show by going on to play Elphaba in WICKED, originating the role in Chicago's sit-down production before eventually taking her Green Girl to Broadway. Gasteyer has also had extensive success in the concert capacity, and she is now preparing for a major milestone in any solo performer's career: her debut at the Cafe Carlyle. BroadwayWorld spoke with Gasteyer ahead of her Carlyle shows, the first of which is on October 25, about the differences between SNL and eight shows a week (both are grueling, but disparately so), why she yearns for the emotional connection of performing live, and whether or not Donald Trump makes her miss being in the trenches of live comedy.

Here are our suggestions - our choices, as it were - for the shows to catch, the people to see, before Monday morning rolls around. Again. When work beckons, we promise you'll have so much more interesting water cooler chatter to share that you'll be the envy of everyone at the office:

Currently the 10(th) longest- running show in Broadway history, the blockbuster musical WICKED will celebrate its 13(th) Anniversary this October 30(th). Today, September 9, in conjunction with this milestone, the GRAMMY award-winning, multi-platinum Original Cast Recording has received its first-ever wide release on vinyl as a double LP via Verve/UMe.

The Chicago Premiere of playwright Matty Selman's "Uncle Philip's Coat" will run at the Greenhouse Theater Center (2257 N. Lincoln Ave) Nov. 27 - Dec. 31. Directed by Elizabeth Margoliusand starring Gene Weygandt (best known as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in "Wicked" in Chicago and on Broadway), "Uncle Philip's Coat" follows Matty on his humorous and heartfelt journey of personal discovery, sparked by his inheritance of a tattered coat from his eccentric Russian-Jewish immigrant uncle Philip. 

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Nancy Dussault in "MY LIFE UPON THE WICKED STAGE" on September 27, 2016 @ 7:00PM. Nancy will take the audience on a musical journey, returning to those heady days of her Broadway life. Expect this Golden Age leading lady to sing the brilliant songs of Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne, Burton Lane, and Stephen Sondheim. You'll also get to re-live the time when she introduced the classic, "Make Someone Happy". Nancy will regale with tales of being the first co-host of Good Morning America, co-starring in the New Dick Van Dyke show, and starring with Ted Knight in "Too Close For Comfort", before returning to Broadway in Side By Side By Sondheim and Into The Woods. In "My Life-Upon The Wicked Stage" Dussault brings her musicality, comedic storytelling, and unique personal accessibility to songs including "Getting Married Today", "Look To The Rainbow", "Where Is The Tribe For Me", "Old Friend" and of course, " Make Someone Happy".

It's hard to imagine this but the musical WICKED is now a teenager. The Stephen Schwartz musical, based on the story of the Wizard of Oz as told from the Wicked Witch of the West's prospective, debuted on Broadway in 2003 and captured theatre goers' rapture and attention.

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Holloway: In Concert on Sunday, August 14th at 9:30PM. Holloway is a new, contemporary pop based musical inspired by events of the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway. With a score and book by new writer Joseph Alan Smith, the musical is a story of passion, hope, and love, and begins to ask the question-what does it mean to live?

When SPAMALOT opened on Broadway in 2005, I wasn't much of a Monty Python fan, but the buzz around town convinced me to go see the show before it eventually won three Tony Awards, including Best Musical. And even though a few jokes (and a cow) seemed to fly right over my head, when the British shtick met the high kicks and glitz, I caught myself laughing until I cried. The star-studded cast at Casa Manana, appearing only though June 12th, might miss a beat here or there throughout the evening, but they are so energetic and enthusiastic that the opening night audience couldn't help but love them.