Gotta Dance - 2015 - Chicago Articles Page 9

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. It's the TOP TEN HOT TOPIX for the last half of 2015! What are the shows and stories we've been most excited about? Here they are! I hope you have a happy new year. And I'll see you at The Call on January 10, 2016 for the BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards Celebration!

Let's check out what the critics had to say...

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? This weekend's big news: It's almost 2016, and Broadway stars are celebrating at 54 Below, with the NY Phil, in Las Vegas and more tonight!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: GOTTA DANCE opens in the Windy City and Linda Lavin returns to Broadway!

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, December 27, 2015 - Sunday, December 27, 2015.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'Gotta Dance' makes announcements, and 'My Way' and 'Christmas Dearest' extend. 'A Midwinter Mummers Tale' sells out, as'Guys And Dolls' rounds out the year. DePaul hosts a new children's musical, Northwestern hosts the Sarah Siddons Society, and 'Nunsense' aims for series regularity. And vote for the BWW Chicago Awards!

Producers Dori Berinstein and Bill Damaschke have announced that Gotta Dance, the new Broadway-bound musical comedy about professional basketball's first ever aged 60-and-older dance team, has extended one week on the heels of its first performance in Chicago on December 13. The pre-Broadway World Premiere of Gotta Dance will now play through January 17, 2016, at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago), before opening on Broadway in the Fall of 2016.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, December 13, 2015 - Sunday, December 13, 2015.

The pre-Broadway World Premiere of GOTTA DANCE, the new Broadway-bound musical about professional basketball's first ever aged 60-and-older dance team, begins performances today, December 13, 2015 at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago). GOTTA DANCE runs through January 10, 2016.

BroadwayWorld has just learned that Gotta Dance! which announced previously that it was aiming for Broadway in 2016 and targeting the Spring, has now shifted plans to the Fall of 2016, due to theatre availability. 

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: Off-Broadway is packed with opening shows, WICKED welcomes new faces on tour, Jim Broadbent takes on 'Scrooge' and more!

Spend your holidays with the country's funniest comedy crew, Chicago's own Second City, when The Second City's Holidazed and Confused Revue descends on the Paramount's Copley Theatre, 8 E. Galena Blvd. in Aurora, for a holiday run, tonight, December 4-20.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'The Wiz Live!' has arrived, as have the casts of three tours to the Loop. 'Bridges' is in Iowa, though. The Marriott takes on 'Spring Awakening,' and the Piccolo Theatre, Congo Square and Theo Ubique do December in their own ways. The Second City opens another revue, and in Milwaukee, 'My Fair Lady!'

Can YOU feel a brand new day? We're gearing up to ease on down the road with powerhouse newcomer Shanice Williams and the rest of the gang from Oz, when THE WIZ LIVE! premieres Thursday, December 3, at 8pm on NBC.  Of course, as was the case in 2013's THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE! and last year's PETER PAN LIVE!, the cast is certainly not short on big-name talent — and most come with Broadway or theatrical credits, no less. As if you didn't already know, be sure to look out for Queen Latifah (of 2002's CHICAGO and 2007's HAIRSPRAY), Elijah Kelley (also of 2007's HAIRSPRAY), Uzo Aduba (of CORAM BOY and 2011's GODSPELL), and David Alan Grier (2012's PORGY AND BESS). 

The pre-Broadway World Premiere of GOTTA DANCE begins performances on December 13, 2015 at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago).  GOTTA DANCE, the new Broadway-bound musical about professional basketball's first ever aged 60-and-older dance team, just met the press in the Windy City, and BroadwayWorld has photos from the meet and greet below!

Broadway star and Emmy Award winner Andre De Shields joined NBC's News Janice Huff to talk about his role in the 1975 production of THE WIZ and his current role on the new Broadway musical GOTTA DANCE

Andre De Shields talks THE WIZ and GOTTA DANCE live tonight (Monday,  November 23) with NBC-TV's Janice Huff on News 4 New York at 7:00 PM.  De Shields, who created the title role in the original 1975 Broadway production of the landmark musical (which won 7 Tony Awards including Best Musical), will talk about the show's 40th anniversary, the upcoming The Wiz Live! which airs on NBC December 3 at 8 PM ET and his current show GOTTA DANCE.

In what has become an annual ritual, a total of 36 established and emerging composers, lyricists, and librettists will converge on the Goodspeed campus from mid-January through mid-February 2016 to participate in the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. The writing teams, representing 19 new musicals, will populate the campus, creating a truly exciting environment for discovery and inspiration. BroadwayWorld is excited to report that Goodspeed has announced its 2016 participants. Scroll down for details!

Ever since I was dazzled by Creating Arts Studios production 'Thenardiers Inn' which well-deservedly went on to win the 2015 Hollywood Fringe award for best cabaret and variety show, I wait with anticipation for their next totally immersive theater experience, knowing it will be like no other. It was true for their 'The Experiment Cabaret' and I was not disappointed when I walked into the world famous Sayers Club in Hollywood, transformed into the Copa Room at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas during the reign of the Rat Pack in their current celebratory piece entitled 'A NIGHT AT THE SANDS' - A Vegas Musical Cocktail With an L.A. Twist.

Director Cassey Kivnick has been chosen as the 2015-2016 Mike Ockrent Fellow on Jerry Mitchell's Gotta Dance. Ms. Kivnick's fellowship will last the entire length of the production process, with pre-production and rehearsals on Gotta Dance beginning in November 2015 and continuing on until the spring 2016 premiere on Broadway.  Ms. Kivnick will receive a $5000 award.

Need a pick-me-up from a bad day? Aching to smile heartily through a pleasantly peppy stage musical? Then you need not look further than the rousing, just-launched new touring production of the Tony Award-winning hit 42ND STREET, now currently entertaining audiences at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through November 22. Earnestly cheerful and unabashedly optimistic, this feel-good, all-singing, all-dancing 1980 stage adaptation of Busby Berkeley's classic 1933 movie musical is back on the road in a brand new, non-Equity national tour directed by co-writer Mark Bramble, who earned a Tony nomination for directing the Tony-winning 2001 Broadway revival. Aside from its Broadway-caliber creative aspects, this new tour succeeds tremendously thanks to its young, energetic, and incredibly likable ensemble cast that brings vim and vigor to the aging Great-Great-Grand-Daddy of all backstage musicals.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. The BWW Chicago Award nominations are out and voting is open! Broadway In Chicago is bringing us five musicals for the holidays, and the Goodman, House, Barrel Of Monkeys and Mercury theaters are bringing us their perennials. Plus some future shows, and two Sherlock Holmes musicals!

In Chicago last night (November 9), two-time Tony Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Andre De Shields was honored by The Theatre School at DePaul University with the 2015 Award for Excellence in the Arts. The 27th Annual Awards for Excellence in the Arts Gala, which also honored Broadway In Chicago President Lou Raizin and Theatre School alumna Karen Aldridge, was held in the Atlantic Ballroom of the Radisson Blue Aqua Hotel. Scroll down for photos!

Antonia Productions and Tony Montiglio will present an invite-only industry presentation of the Disco Era musical, THE ART OF THE HUSTLE written by Annette Alicanti, directed by Jonathan Cerullo, with choreography by Kristine Bendul & Ralph Ramirez and musical direction by Oliver Marsh on Monday, November 16, 2015 at 7PM

The Theatre School at DePaul University will honor Andre De Shields with the 2015 Award for Excellence in the Arts tonight, November 9 at the Atlantic Ballroom of the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel (221 North Columbus Drive), Chicago, IL. In honor of the occasion, De Shields sat down with Dean Richards to chat about his upcoming show GOTTA DANCE, his storied Broadway career and more. Watch the interview below!