After Ashley - 2005 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 1

xThe LA Phil has unveiled the 2026 season at The Ford, its hillside open-air venue, running from May 8 to October 31. The 2026 season brings together a multidisciplinary mix of music, dance, film, theater, comedy and spoken word.

Perhaps the most well-known instance of a show changing titles during the development process belongs to the groundbreaking 1943 phenomenon, Oklahoma! The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that changed the art form in terms of subject matter, integration of elements, and more was originally titled Away We Go! when it went out of town for a New Haven tryout. Oklahoma! is far from the only instance where a musical changed its title along the development road.

Musicals and plays based on movies? Many. Based on books? Also plentiful. Based on true stories? Of course. But musicals and plays based on or inspired by magazine articles? These are a rare breed. One recently opened on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre.

What did our critic think of CLYDE'S at Burbage Theatre Company?

Broadway has a long history of one-person shows, including many that have been added to the canon in this century.  Seeing one actor powerfully create a whole world on stage can be an exceptional experience. Of course, one handers are hardly one-person projects; while there may only be one actor on stage, they are collaborating with an entire team of creatives, designers, and behind-the-scenes personnel to bring a show to life. 

Next month, 54 Below will present some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond for Women's History Month, including Linda Eder, Kate Baldwin, Jenn Colella and more. 

Good theatre can be socially and emotionally regulatory. Finding a safe space to talk about heavy things in a nice way, in an ugly way, straight forward, or hidden in plain sight—The Bent’s production of In the Wake by Lisa Kron offered this in a really good piece of theatre.

Current star of Masquerade Telly Leung discusses with Jennifer Ashley Tepper playing the Phantom in the immersive production, the full circle from Rent fan to Rent actor, Gavin Creel’s leadership during a production that never was, and much more. 

CIRCA Pintig will present THE ART OF BELONGING, a multidisciplinary theater and film project exploring Filipino immigrant life in the Midwest, at the Rizal Center in Chicago.

This history gives context to the legacies of theatrical dynasties—considered to consist of at least three subsequent generations of theatre creators. In 2026, there is a stigma around any successful professional who follows a parent into their line of work, with this being seen as a pattern of nepotism.

The history of shows that have transferred from off-Broadway to Broadway is well documented. Hundreds of Broadway plays and musicals started out off-Broadway before making the leap to a Broadway house. But much more rare is the circumstance of a show starting out off-off-Broadway (that’s right, two ‘off’s!) and traveling all the way to the main stem. One of these shows is playing right now, and is a major theatre success story with off-off-Broadway roots!

The Broadway production of Ragtime was a glorious accomplishment, a riveting testament to the original American musical and to all that America itself could be. The show ran for 834 performances at the Ford Center, closing in the final year of the 20th century. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, taking home four.

One of the most powerful love stories of modern times arrives on Brazilian stages. Brokeback Mountain makes its São Paulo debut at Teatro Itália on January 14, marking only the second official stage production of the work worldwide. Adapted by Ashley Robinson from Annie Proulx’s acclaimed short story, the musical revisits the intense, unspoken romance between cowboys Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar in 1960s rural America. Directed by Moacyr Góes, the Brazilian production stars Marcéu Pierrotti and Júlio Oliveira and features an original score by Dan Gillespie Sells. Following a highly praised London run, the show blends music and drama to explore love, repression, intolerance, and the lasting cost of silence.

While different tryout theaters have different relationships to the development of new shows, it’s worth looking at both which commercial rental theaters and which non-profit theaters have had the most Best Musical Tony Award winners come from their stages.

Diane Keaton made her Broadway debut in the original Broadway production of Hair at the age of 22. The landmark musical started out at the Public Theater off-Broadway in 1967 before transferring to the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway in 1968. Keaton joined the cast for the Broadway run, originating her track in the show.

Three staged readings of ICEWORLD, A Life After Life Musical with book and music by Andrew Monohan and book and lyrics by June Rachelson-Ospa, will be presented at OPERA America's National Opera Center.

Roundabout Theatre Company has named Executive Producer and General Manager Rebecca Habel as Managing Director. Learn more about Habel and about Roundabout here!

West End star Tosh Wanogho-Maud will be taking over the role of Lola in the brand-new Made at Curve production of the Olivier, Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical KINKY BOOTS.

This past season contained a higher than usual amount of Broadway shows involving death; in fact, Operation Mincemeat and Dead Outlaw both specifically revolved around transporting a corpse! And Death Becomes Her leans into the hilarity as two women become gorgeous living corpses before our very eyes, thanks to a touch of magic. But plays and musicals about death and its attendant macabre topics have been a part of the theatre landscape for many decades...

Just In Time’s origin story as well as overall conceit has much in common with one of Broadway’s very first jukebox musicals, which was ahead of its time. In 1985, Leader of the Pack, telling the story of pop singer-songwriter Ellie Greenwich, opened at the Ambassador on Broadway. Learn all about pop music bio-musicals here!

Second Stage Theatre’s 43rd Street off-Broadway house, right near 8th Avenue, recently changed hands and is now the home of Studio Seaview . Seaview’s first production in the space is Angry Alan, starring John Krasinski. They have renovated and updated the space since Second Stage switched off-Broadway locations to now present shows at the Signature.

Second Stage Theater has just announced five productions for the Company’s upcoming 47th Season, which will include productions of Marjorie Prime, Becky Shaw, Meet the Cartozians, Meat Suit, and. he Receptionist. We have all of the details here!

It’s not out of the ordinary these days for worthwhile musicals that originally premiered off-Broadway and then entered the canon to receive their Broadway debuts decades later. Floyd Collins shares this journey with shows including Assassins, Gutenberg! The Musical!, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Last 5 Years, Little Shop of Horrors, and Violet.

The new musical Goddess can currently be seen in its New York premiere production at the Public Theater on Lafayette Street. Directed by the Public’s associate artistic director and resident director Saheem Ali, who is currently Tony Award-nominated for directing Buena Vista Social Club, Goddess is playing at the Public’s largest space by capacity, the Newman Theatre.

Portland Stage will present an American Theater Classic of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Learn more about the upcoming performance and the show here!