First Down - 2022 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 13

In June 2016, my mom and I went to New York during Tony Awards weekend. On the day of the telecast, we both walked all the way to the Beacon Theatre (where the ceremony was taking place) while rehearsal was going on

What did our critic think of ROMANTIC VISIONS at Jacobs Music Center? Conductor Rafael Payare showed why in a performance driven with his usual gymnastic vigor.

We’re thrilled to have the chance to speak with composer Bob Kelly, one of the creators behind Confessions: A New Musical, which is set to have a private industry reading in New York City on October 20. The musical is based on Tom Rastrelli’s memoir Confessions of a Gay Priest and explores the powerful intersection of faith, sexuality, and identity through the eyes of a Catholic priest confronting his truth.

Lyric Opera of Chicago has revealed that Sylvia Neil, Chair of its Board of Directors, will step down in May 2026. Learn more about the leadership transitions here!

bergenPAC has revealed two new shows for this season. Broadway star Jessica Vosk on Saturday, March 14, 2026 at 8 p.m. and more. See how to purchase tickets.

Nominated for 13 Tony Awards, the 2022 musical adaptation SOME LIKE IT HOT is a surprisingly delightful, hilariously fun, and gleefully silly musical comedy that also has an endearingly open-minded new twist that re-contextualizes the movie's main raison d'être into something more empowering and thoughtful. The infectiously joyful show's marvelous touring production—directed and choreographed with rousing, kinetic energy by Casey Nicholaw direct from its Broadway origins—continues performances at OC's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA through October 19, 2025.

As a dramatic soprano, Alexandra LoBianco is accustomed to performing some of the most challenging roles in the repertoire, including Leonore in “Fidelio,” with the Vienna State Opera and North Carolina Opera, Brünnhilde in “Die Walküre,” Minnie in “La fanciulla del West,” with Des Moines Metro Opera, and the title roles in “Turandot,” with Des Moines Metro Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and Maryland Lyric Opera, and “Aida” at Seattle Opera, to name but a few.

The New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) in San Francisco has announced that longtime collaborator Ben Villegas Randle will become its next Artistic Director in January 2026.

Michael R. Jackson will receive the William Finn Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre at Barrington Stage Company's annual fall celebration. Learn more!

Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl dropped on October 3rd, and it includes plenty of references—some explicit and some ambiguous—to real showgirls throughout history. Many of these women have a Broadway past worth exploring that adds new context to Swift’s songs.

As the fight for women to have equal rights and opportunities has evolved, so has the presence of plays telling these stories. When I wrote my book, Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy that the History Books Left Out, the first-ever book about female musical theatre writers, I researched many musicals that are in this genre as well.

Chickasaw American composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate will unveil his latest work for orchestra, Ko'koom'fena: Our Grandmother, commissioned and performed by CityMusic Cleveland. Learn more!

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is October 3, 2025 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours.

Sadler's Wells has announced the cast for Ebony Scrooge as well as the creatives behind the production. This is the first ever Christmas show at Sadler's Wells East, as well as the first Christmas show from Zoonation: The Kate Pirnce Company.

AMT Theater will open the new Al Tapper musical 'The Paparazzi' in March, running for six weeks. Learn more about the production and see how to purchase tickets.

Pulitzer Prize Finalist Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries will return to the New York stage in a new production starring three-time Emmy Award nominee Nicholas Braun (“Succession”) and two-time Tony Award winner Kara Young.

Korean singer-songwriter and global rockstar WOODZ has released his latest artistic chapter with the release of a two-track digital single, titled 'I’ll Never Love Again.' Listen here!

The North American Tour of SUFFS, the empowering and acclaimed Tony Award-winning musical, is now underway! Read the reviews as they come in here and learn more about the show.

While a lot has been written about two handers, a term for two-person shows, less has been penned about three-handers. Yet, three-person plays are just as common a genre on Broadway as pieces with only two players. Currently, Art, by Yasmina Reza, is receiving an all-star revival at the Music Box.

Perhaps no one is more surprised Steve Hackett is doing a retrospective on THE LAMB 50 years after the fact than the guitarist himself. THE LAMB was ranked in the top ten of Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 progressive rock albums of all time. The BBC called it a “conceptual masterpiece.” Hackett has another word for it: an anomaly.

We're falling into fall with a great Broadway read! This season, Broadway's best have put pen to paper to turn out theatre page-turners of every kind. From theatre biographies to theatre fiction; theatre books for kids to theatre history; check out our collection of 25 new Broadway books for every theatre lover's Fall 2025 reading list.

Six-time GRAMMY Award-nominated violinist and composer Curtis Stewart has revealed his 2025-2026 season, highlighted by his first public performance of Coleridge-Taylor's Ballade with National Philharmonic, the world premiere of a new work, and more.

Fresh off its sit-down engagement at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre, the new(-ish) 2022 Broadway jukebox musical & JULIET is finally making its long-awaited pit-stop an hour south of L.A. at OC's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through September 21, 2025. Unabashedly gleeful and quite a broad crowd-pleaser, this fun, empowering, and infectiously giddy musical is, simply put, such an endearing, delightful surprise. Featuring thrilling visuals, a uniformly talented, likable cast, a wonderfully silly yet still aspirational premise, and a long list of ear worm bops that weave seamlessly into its organized mayhem, this entertaining tongue-in-cheek stage show is, hands down, this reviewer’s favorite touring direct-from-Broadway production of 2025 so far by a mile.

Next week, 54 BELOW will presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond, including WRITE OUT LOUD, FEAT. TAYLOR IMAN JONES, JULIA KNITEL, plus more. See the full lineup here!

many shows struggled this summer, particularly long running shows that tend to do well with international tourists. International tourists in previous seasons have made up about 21% of Broadway ticket buyers, but that number is poised to decrease this year.