A Man of No Importance

The Green Room 42 will bring Spotlight Theatre Company's celebration of Broadway's premier composers Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty to The Green Room 42, 570 Tenth avenue 4thFloor (YOTEL) NYC! Directed by Jacques Stewart, with Musical Direction by Phil Hall, Why We Tell the Story is an evening of Broadway highlights from Ragtime, Seussical, Once On This Island, Rocky, Anastasia, The Glorious Ones, A Man Of No Importance, Lucky Stiff and My Favorite Year.

Tomorrow, November 9th, (5:00pm EST) BroadwayWorld's Steve Schonberg is getting up close and personal with not one, but two stars of The Ferryman- Niall Wright and Fra Fee.

This lively conversation between Todd S. Purdum and Ted Chapin, who is President and Chief Creative Officer of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, was inspired by Purdum's recent book, Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution.

This Friday, November 30th at 9:30 pm brings the Spotlight Theatre Company's celebration of Broadway's premier composers Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty to The Green Room 42, 570 Tenth Avenue 4th Floor (YOTEL) NYC!  Directed by Jacques Stewart, with Musical Direction by Phil Hall, Why We Tell the Story is an evening of Broadway highlights from Ragtime, Seussical, Once On This Island, Rocky, Anastasia, The Glorious Ones, A Man Of No Importance, Lucky Stiff and My Favorite Year. 

There's just one month left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Louisville Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

Upcoming Shows - Week of 11/20/2018 for Albuquerque

Paper Mill Playhouse will present 'Holiday Inn' from November 21 through December 30. This spectacular musical has a book by Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge; choreography by Denis Jones; direction by Gordon Greenberg; and musical direction by Shawn Gough. Broadwayworld.com had the pleasure of interviewing Shawn Gough to chat about his career and the upcoming show.

 Pride Films and Plays will celebrate the beginning of summer and the Pride Month of June along with offering patrons a look at the upcoming season when the company hosts its first summer fundraiser on Tuesday, June 11.

Second Stage Theater has announced complete casting for the Broadway production of Tracy Letts's Linda Vista. Directed by Dexter Bullard, the production will feature Ian Barford (Wheeler), Sally Murphy (Margaret), Caroline Neff (Anita), Chantal Thuy (Minnie), Jim True-frost (Paul), Cora Vander Broek (Jules) and Troy West (Michael).

One of modern drama's most prolific playwrights, Terrence McNally, sits down with Rob and Kevin to look at his upcoming production of Frankie and Johnny In The Clair De Lune, as well as take a look back on his incredible career which includes such shows as Love! Valor! Compassion! Master Class, It's Only a Play, The Ritz, and writing the book to such musicals as The Rink, Ragtime, A Man of No Importance, and many more.

Transport Group announces its next musical in concert, Sweet Charity! Sweet Charity in Concert takes place Monday, June 17, 2019 at 8pm at the Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center, 129 West 67 Street.

The rumors R true. 2Scoops, The Legendary, Chart-Topping, Entirely Fictional 90's Girl Group are parting ways and saying goodbye on their very first Farewell Tour.

The full cast is announced for the Theatr Clwyd and Menier Chocolate Factory co-production of Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending. Theatr Clwyd's Artistic Director Tamara Harvey directs Catrin Aaron (Beulah Binnings), Michael Geary (Pee Wee Binnings), Valentine Hanson (Uncle Pleasant), Jenny Livsey (Eva Temple / Woman), Laura Jane Matthewson (Dolly Hamma), Mark Meadows (Jabe Torrance), Ifan Meredith (David Cutrere / Dog Hamma), Hattie Morahan (Lady Torrance), Seth Numrich (Val Xavier), Ian Porter (Sheriff Talbott), Jemima Rooper (Carol Cutrere), Carol Royle (Vee Talbott) and Carrie Quinlan (Sister / Nurse Porter). Public booking for the Menier Chocolate Factory dates opens at 9am today.

President and Executive Producer Wally Jones is thrilled to announce the 2019-2020 Broadway Season at Casa Mañana Theatre, presented by Frank Kent Cadillac.

Early in my acting career, I was represented by an agency that got me an audition for a recurring role in the series Breaking Bad. It clearly would have been the biggest break of my acting career. I had a short side of two pages to learn for the audition. Usually, I have a pretty photographic memory for lines, and I work hard to be sure I know them cold. But for this audition due to nervousness I could never get the lines solid, and sadly what the producers saw was not a potential character in their show, but an actor clearly struggling to remember the next word he was supposed to say. My biggest opportunity and worst audition all rolled into one disappointing 10-minute take.

The Crazy Coqs Presents: Pride at the Musicals

The Menier Chocolate Factory today announces the full company for the UK premiere of the musical of Robert James Waller's bestselling novel The Bridges of Madison County in a new staging by Trevor Nunn.

Husband-and-wife duo John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey make their annual fall pilgrimage to Cafe Carlyle with an all-new show, November 5-16.

Have you ever 'trash talked' a fellow theater-goer as you passed each other in the aisle? Probably not, right?

Back by popular demand! 2Scoops returns to Joe's Pub with The Farewell Tour.

Today's subjects Deb Gottesman and Claire Schoonover are currently living their theatre lives onstage at Keegan Theatre playing two very resourceful and cutthroat senior citizens in the DC area premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire's Ripcord. The production runs through July 6th.

The Barrow Group announces its 2019-2020 season, which consists of three timely productions that invite audiences to take a look deep within-inspiring positive change in action and awareness.

We can placate a certain segment of society by providing 'enrichment' courses in the arts, but it should no longer be a mystery that you can't achieve holistic education without a strong emphasis in the arts. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released an astounding statistic that reports over $763 Billion of contribution by the arts sector to the US economy. That's around 5 million workers in the industry, which accounts for hundreds of billions of dollars in compensation. Yet here we are, still waiting for an increase in financial support for arts programs in the schools. You can talk about Broadway, Hollywood, and TV culture all day, but young people are tomorrow's audiences and we owe it to the industry to develop an enlightened culture of young participants and consumers of the arts.

Spotlight Theatre Company, a Staten Island theatre and production company, is introducing the smash hit musical, MAMMA MIA!. This entertaining performance features principals Amy Decker, Charlie Siedenburg, Jennifer Neuland Gerlach, John Watson Stewart, Shelby Caffrey, and Steve Witting and many more cast members.

It's a whole new year with a whole new slate of fabulous theater coming to Seattle and the surrounding areas. So many exciting shows ready to thrill and astound us, make us laugh and cry. And so, I thought I'd let you in on the Top 10 shows coming up that I'm most excited about (actually 11 since I couldn't narrow it down to 10 but 'Top 10' sounded better) in chronological order.

Bay Area Cabaret welcomes back world-renowned guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli and singer Jessica Molaskey, a duo Time Magazine calls the "Astaire-Rodgers of the cabaret world." Bay Area Cabaret audiences will have the chance to see, or choose between, two varied programs:  The first, at 3:30 is a centennial tribute to Nat King Cole, a Venetian Room regular, whose work is celebrated on Mr. Pizzarelli's upcoming CD, Centenially Yours. The second show, American Stories, at 7:30, is a duo show by John and his talented wife Jessica that debuted at Cafe Carlyle and features an eclectic mix of music by George and Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Paul Simon, Stephen Sondheim, Stevie Nicks and the couple's signature mashups and medleys. Aligned both in their love of the American Songbook and their desire to expand and present it to new audiences, Bay Area Cabaret and John Pizzarelli and his wife Jessica enjoy a partnership that reaches back well over a decade.

Spotlight Theatre Company, a Staten Island theatre and production company, is introducing the smash hit musical, MAMMA MIA!. This entertaining performance features principals Amy Decker, Charlie Siedenburg, Jennifer Neuland Gerlach, John Watson Stewart, Shelby Caffrey, and Steve Witting and many more cast members.

NewYorkRep is proud to announce our inaugural Education Fellows Sarah Stowell and Gabrielle Smith, for the 2019 season.

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with the following acts:

On February 25, in a ceremony held at Spalding University's Columbia Theatre Ballroom, Arts-Louisville Managing Editor Keith Waits presided over an awards presentation for excellence in theatre in Louisville and the surrounding area. Categories for student, professional, and locally produced productions were chosen by participants voting through Broadway World.com's online awards portal.

It didn't take a genius to work out that this story would make a great play. I wondered what had actually happened during the trials and what Wilde had said. Was he persecuted or the author of his own downfall? Everyone loves a courtroom drama, but this one would feature the wittiest man who ever lived.

What good is sitting alone in your room this week? If you don't already have plans to see a Broadway show, come out to see your favorite Broadway stars in a cabaret act instead. After Broadway orchestras begin their overtures, ensemble members take their dance breaks, and performers belt out their eleven o'clock numbers, the party continues at various cabaret venues throughout New York City. Highlights this week include Derek Klena, John Lloyd Young, Jennifer Holliday, and more!

Complementing performances of Tony Award-winning actress and director Victoria Clark's production of Conor McPherson's new version of Strindberg's The Dance of Death, Classic Stage Company (CSC; Artistic Director, John Doyle) presents the second installment of its new Classic Conversations series. The series began with acclaimed actor Raul Esparza on the occasion of his "blisteringly good" (New York magazine) turn in Bertolt Brecht's Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui; another conversation will be announced this spring. The March 5 at 7pm event will serve as a rare, intimate, and engaging distillation of Clark's life in theater through conversation-with CSC Artistic Director John Doyle and celebrated music director Ted Sperling-and song. Sperling, who memorably worked with Clark on The Light in the Piazza, for which they both received Tony Awards, will also accompany Clark on piano for the musical portion of the evening. This one-night-only engagement takes place Tues, March 5 at 7pm at Classic Stage Company (136 E 13th Street, New York); tickets are $100-$150 and can be purchased at classicstage.org or 212-352-3101 (or toll free 866-811-411). The Dance of Death runs in repertory with director Shariffa Ali's staging of Yael Farber's Mies Julie through March 10.

The Broadway blockbuster WICKED will welcome new cast members to the Gershwin Theatre this spring. Beginning Monday, February 18, Michael McCormick will assume the role of The Wizard. Gizel Jimenez will assume the role of Nessarose on Tuesday, March 12.

The Trials of Oscar Wilde returns for an exciting UK tour - this fascinating production, co-written by Merlin Holland, Oscar Wilde's own grandson, and John O'Connor tells of what actually happened during Wilde's trials, drawing on the original transcripts.

Transport Group has announced that its annual A Toast to the Artist gala will honor Tony Award-winning orchestrator Michael Starboin and composer Carmel Dean with the Transporting American Theatre Award. The evening takes place Monday, March 11 at 6:30pm at The Current, Pier 59 @ Chelsea Piers, and includes a cocktail party, seated dinner, performances, dessert reception, and silent and live auctions. The Transporting American Theatre Award recognizes significant contributions to the American Theatre. Past recipients of the Transporting American Theatre Award include Dick Scanlan, Mary- Mitchell Campbell, Michael John LaChiusa, Gretchen Shugart, Barbara Whitman, Beth Williams, Sue Frost, Christian Borle, Paul Huntley, Douglas Carter Beane, Lewis Flinn, A.R. Gurney, Liz Smith, Barbara Frietag, Terrence McNally, and Joe Mantello among others. Tickets are now on sale and may be purchased at transportgroup.org.

Theatre enthusiasts packed the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts last night to hear Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley and Executive Director Phil Santora of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley reveal the lineup for the company's 50th season, which launches this summer. Kelley's 50th and final season as Artistic Director of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley includes triumphant returns of TheatreWorks favorites, bold premieres developed at the company's annual New Works Festival, and celebrated works from the nation's leading playwrights.

Transport Group has announced that casting for The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, written by Daniel Berrigan and directed by artistic director Jack Cummings III, includes Mia Katigbak (Awake and Sing!, I Remember Mama), Eunice Wong (Mourning Becomes Electra, Smart People) and David Huynh (Henry VI, A Midsummer Night's Dream). The Trial of the Catonsville Nine runs Wednesday, January 16 through Sunday, February 23, 2019 at the Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street. The opening night is scheduled for Wednesday, February 6 at 7:30pm.

There's just one month left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Louisville Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories: True West begins previews, and more!

It's the last week to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Louisville Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

Transport Group will honor Tony Award-winning orchestrator Michael Starboin and composer Carmel Dean with the Transporting American Theatre Award. The evening takes place Monday, March 11, at The Current, Pier 59 @ Chelsea Piers, and includes a seated dinner, performances, dessert reception, and silent and live auctions.

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Louisville Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

The 2017 Tony Award nominee for Best Play and the most-produced play of the 2018-2019 season, A Doll's House, Part 2 makes its Boston debut at the Huntington Theatre Company at the Avenue of the Arts / Huntington Avenue Theatre (264 Huntington Avenue, Boston) in a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Written by Tony Award nominee Lucas Hnath and directed by Obie Award winner Les Waters, performances will run January 4 through February 3. The press opening will be Wednesday, January 9 at 7pm. 

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Louisville Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

Adapte from the 1994 film, A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE centers around Alfie Byrne, a down on his luck bus conductor and theater director whose latest theatrical production leads to a powerful journey of self-discovery.

Mario Lanza brought Opera to Hollywood and Sean Patrick Murtagh brought Mario Lanza to the Cabaret World at The Green Room 42 last night. Sean's lyric baritone effectively handled the repertoire usually sung by a tenor's voice and brought a distinctive vivacity to the songs usually associated with Mario Lanza and other celebrated tenors. Actually this show was about Mario and Richard (not Tucker). It was a heartfelt tribute to Sean's vocal teacher Richard who first exposed him to the Mario Lanza songbook. With his superior musical theater acting skills and charming personality Sean Patrick Murtagh is an exciting addition to the Cabaret World. Similar to the Metropolitan Opera, The Green Room 42 was full of Bravo's last night and I was thinking 3 Tenors plus 1 great Lyric Baritone would also make a great performance.

Pride Films and Plays will stage the first Chicago production in more than a decade of A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, the heartwarming musical created by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, and Terrence McNally, the team that wrote RAGTIME and ANASTASIA. A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE is based on a 1994 film starring Albert Finney as a Dublin bus conductor and features a gorgeous Irish-influenced score. Donterrio Johnson, the Jeff award-winning actor who directed PFP's BUYER AND CELLAR earlier this year and is currently appearing in THE SPITFIRE GRILL with American Blues Theater, will direct. Music direction is by Robert Ollis, who most recently music directed SOUTHERN COMFORT for Pride Films and Plays and was a 2019 Jeff nominee for his music direction of HAYMARKET: A NEW FOLK MUSICAL. Ollis was Music Director for the 2008 production of A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, which earned five Jeff Award nominations for Bailiwick Repertory.

In the third concert of her More About The Melody series, cellist Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf invites Tony Award-winning music director, Ted Sperling to host an evening celebrating the music of the three generations of the iconic Rodgers family: Richard Rodgers, Mary Rodgers, and Adam Guettel.

Just in! Two-time Tony Award and three-time Emmy Award winner Laurie Metcalf and two-time Emmy Award winner Eddie Izzard will star on Broadway next season...