Extant Expands Edinburgh Fringe Accessibility Programme for Visually Impaired Audiences
by A.A. Cristi - May 5, 2026
Extant, the UK's leading performing arts company of blind and visually impaired artists, will present an expanded Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme, with projections suggesting up to 12% of shows could be accessible to visually impaired audiences.
Review: THE LION KING Reigns Supreme at Dr. Phillips Center For The Performing Arts
by Albert Gutierrez - Apr 25, 2025
Life's greatest tragedy is the passage of time. It is a lesson we all must learn eventually. Within the proverbial circle of life, there is only a beginning and an end that occurs in the immediacy of our own lifetime. Yet, the cyclical nature of birth, death, and rebirth ensures that our spirit will carry on in legacy rather than in flesh. If we are loved, then we are remembered. And if we are remembered, then we live forever. Disney’s The Lion King transposes this message from screen to stage through an international collaboration of talent that supercedes the strength of the 1994 animated film from which it came.
Photos: Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks & More Bring THE COLOR PURPLE to the American Black Film Festival
by Michael Major - Jun 19, 2023
Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Blitz Bazawule, and more brought The Color Purple to the 27th American Black Film Festival. Check out photos from the first look screening and Q&A at day four of the festival now!
Photos: Go Inside Rehearsal For THE CANTERVILLE GHOST At Southwark Playhouse
by A.A. Cristi - Sep 28, 2022
The cast of four valiant vaudevillians has been announced for Oscar Wilde's uproarious spectacular The Canterville Ghost, which will haunt and delight audiences at the Southwark Playhouse this autumn, as part of a wider UK Tour. The gloriously ghoulish show, directed by Olivia Jacobs, is part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the award-winning theatre company Tall Stories. See photos from inside rehearsal.
BWW Review: ANASTASIA National Tour Impresses All Ages at Gammage Auditorium
by Tim Shawver - Nov 2, 2019
The first clue that ANASTASIA was going to be different than what I expected was a note on the title page reading, “Inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Pictures.” Plural? A savvy journalist, I quickly asked Siri to bring up the imdb page for “Anastasia”. Turns out Fox made ANASTASIA twice, the 1997 animated movie and a 1957 film that scored Ingrid Bergman's second Oscar and marked Helen Hayes' transition to the big screen. And it turns out the musical version has more in common with LES MISERABLES and RAGTIME than Beauty and the Beast. Gone is the hell-wizard Rasputin, his talking fruit bat sidekick, and the singing demon caterpillars. At intermission, I asked my third grade niece, Adalyn, how she was liking it. “It's awesome…it's real people, like no Beast or anything. No animals.” We decide that Disney staged musicals are great but more it's more impressive when you can achieve the magic without a story that departs from reality. ANASTASIA is historical fiction hypothetical. It poses a “what if…?” that a daughter of the last czar of Russia (The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna) escaped when the czar's family was executed in 1918. Rumors persisted for decades that Anastasia did, in fact, escape. In 2007, DNA testing confirmed the remains of all four Grand Duchesses were in the Imperial grave. In this version, Terrence McNalley's book follows Anastasia's rediscovery of her identity after surviving the attack on her family and sustaining some plot enabling amnesia. Renamed “Anya” she grows up and makes a life in post-Revolution Russia. Anastasia's grandmother, the Dowager Empress (in a staggeringly moving performance by Joy Franz) has fled to France and offered a cash reward for anyone escorting the rumored alive Anastasia to Paris. The wily duo Vlad (Edward Staudenmayer) and Dmitry (Jake Levy) pull a My Fair Lady style makeover on Anya to collect the Dowager's prize. They are pursued by Gleb (Jason Michael Evans). A Soviet officer drawn to Anya romantically but tasked with finding and eliminating the last Romanov. Anya's memory becomes somewhat coaxed back, but the Dowager has stopped seeing Anastasia claimants after too much heart-break from countless frauds. It sounds dark, but with high-tech digital scenery and inspired performances across the cast it is delightful. Stephen Flaherty (Music) and Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics), responsible for bringing us RAGTIME, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, LUCKY STIFF, as well as the Oscar nominated songs carried over from the animated film. ANASTASIA is a perfect context for this pair. “Stay, I Pray You” (my favorite song of the evening) is evocative of RAGTIME's “New Music”. The two songs literally race my heart in a strangely specific way. My real test of a National Tour at Gammage is how fast I get the music playing in my car on the way home. At ANASTASIA I was already finding, “Stay, I Pray You” walking through the parking lot. The rest of the score is similarly haunting. Lila Coogan, as Anya/Anastasia, powers through the score with nuance, clarity, and passion. Tari Kelly, as Countess Lily, and Stadenmayer (Vlad) were Adalyn's favorite performances and I have to agree. This incredibly gifted pair take the “triple threat” designation (singer, dancer, actor) and go quadruple with the addition of flawless comic timing. The choreography by Peggy Hickey is masterful. It somehow combines inventive and traditional throughout and the ten-minute slice of “Swan Lake” infused into “Quartet at the Ballet” is the highlight of the second act. It's a fun-size version that gets an under-represented art form onto the plate. This kind of trope often means the plot putting the plot on hold. But here, it is the connective tissue between Anya, Dmitry, the Dowager, and Gleb as they each bring us up to speed heading into the show's climax. Ultimately, the show's success comes from applying a higher artistic standard to the “previously-animated-film-now-theatrically-staged” genre. It cashes in on the name draw of the 1997 film then gives the viewer something much more enriched than what they think they are coming to see.
Photo Flash: Casts of FROZEN, ALADDIN & THE LION KING Unite to Celebrate Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month
by Nicole Rosky - May 14, 2019
During Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPIHM), Disney on Broadway is putting the spotlight on the Asian American and Pacific Islander cast members of its hit musicals THE LION KING, ALADDIN, and FROZEN.
Photo Flash: Christian Borle, Susan Egan, and More Speak on Disney Theatricals Panel at BroadwayCon
by Stephi Wild - Jan 12, 2019
Last night (Friday, January 11, 2019) Disney Theatrical Productions hosted 'Disney Theatrical at 25: The Stars Align' at BroadwayCon in Manhattan. The lively panel was made up of some of the stars who created these indelible shows and characters in their original productions. Moderated by Disney Theatrical Productions head Thomas Schumacher, the panel was a fascinating and hilarious discussion filled with behind-the-scenes stories. Panelists included Christian Borle (Tony®-winning Black Stache in Peter and the Starcatcher), Ashley Brown(title role in Mary Poppins), Merle Dandridge (Kala in Tarzan), Susan Egan (Belle in Beauty and the Beast), James Monroe Iglehart(Tony-winning Genie in Aladdin), and Patti Murin (Anna in Frozen).
Photo Flash: Rajiv Joseph's GUARDS AT THE TAJ In Rehearsal At Steppenwolf
by A.A. Cristi - May 21, 2018
Now in rehearsals, Steppenwolf Theatre Company is thrilled to present Guards at the Taj, a stunning tale about the search for beauty in desperate circumstances, written by acclaimed playwright Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo). As previously announced, ensemble member Amy Morton directs this Chicago premiere, featuring the original cast members, Omar Metwally (Humayun) and Arian Moayed (Babur), who were last seen on Steppenwolf's stage together in Homebody/Kabul. Morton directed the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway world premiere, which won the 2016 Obie Award for Best New American Play.
Photo Flash: Northern Stage presents THE LITTLE MERMAID
by A.A. Cristi - Nov 22, 2017
The Little Mermaid by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Glenn Slater, and Doug Wright, based on the Hans Christian Andersen story and the Disney film, runs live on stage at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction, VT, November 15 - January 7.
Photo Flash: First Look at Frank McCourt's THE IRISH AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY, a Co-Production of MSMT and Portland Stage
by Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold - Aug 15, 2016
Two of Maine's most revered cultural institutions, Portland Stage in Portland and Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) in Brunswick, are pleased to announce their co-production of Frank McCourt's THE IRISH... AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY. BroadwayWorld brings you a first look below!
Videos
