I Got Shoes 1963

Encore Performing Arts has a long and varied history of selecting projects for their appeal to the audience, both within the immediacy of the moment, as well as in the endurance it will hold in the memory for years to come.

That's the truth I'm hoping to be a part of. I'm hoping to be a part of a movement where the face of black men isn't just always so frownish. They're just more opportunities to see men as fathers who love the opportunity to be a father. I'm hoping that the writing gives that opportunity for us to see a black man enjoying being both a husband and a father and his voice in the community and what that meant and how reverberated in his community. That's important to me.

We've rounded up some of the top productions on stage this summer! Find something near you to see using our comprehensive guide below!

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the 101 greatest Motown songs from 1960-1994. See if your favorite songs or artists made the list!

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the best musical theatre characters from 1940-2020; see if your favorites are on our list of the best characters from Broadway musicals.

Go inside the creation and 63-year evolution of the musical theatre masterpiece, West Side Story.

SHE LOVES ME is a rare gem in the 21st century. 

When it comes to Tony Award snubbing, there are several artistic high crimes and misdemeanors. For instance, Fiorello! winning Best Musical over Gypsy, or the good Music Man besting the better West Side Story. Or how about this awful upset: Two Gentlemen of Verona (the since-forgotten musical) beating both Grease and Follies for the top honor. Perhaps worst of all is this: Even though A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM was Stephen Sondheim's first and most successful Broadway show as a composer and lyricist, and even though it would win six of its eight nominated Tony Awards in 1962-1963 (including Best Musical), Mr. Sondheim himself was not even nominated for his lyrics and score. A show that features some of the most beloved comic songs from the early 1960's--'Comedy Tonight,' 'Lovely,' and 'Everybody Ought to Have a Maid'--wasn't even nominated for these iconic numbers. (For the record, Oliver! won that year for Best Score.) Broadway's greatest composer would have to wait almost a decade to receive his first Tony Award.

Nina Simone didn't write her most iconic song inside Birmingham's bombed out 16th Street Baptist Church just after four girls were killed there in 1963. But she was so full of rage she could have. It's not the only flight of fancy in Christina Ham's dynamic theatrical work 'Nina Simone: Four Women' at Arena Stage.

Emery Entertainment, Inc. has announced the 2017-2018 lineup being presented at the Playhouse @ Westport Plaza. Fan favorites, Off-Broadway comedies, and a brand new Artists Lounge Live Series make up the exciting theatrical season at one of St. Louis' most intimate venues.

Emery Entertainment, Inc. has announced the 2017-2018 lineup being presented at the Playhouse @ Westport Plaza. Fan favorites, Off-Broadway comedies, and a brand new Artists Lounge Live Series make up the exciting theatrical season at one of St. Louis' most intimate venues.

National Theatre has announced today the new season for June 2017 - January 2018. Take a look at the shows coming to the theatre!

'It's all in the way she placed her voice. I like to call it the Kermit the Frog place - the soft palate at the back of the throat, and that's what activates the yodel, the catch, the cry, the growl which are the iconic hallmarks of her singing. Patsy Cline wasn't really a technical singer; this all just came naturally to her, but for me as an actress and technical singer who has to do the show eight times a week, I have to make sure I am singing in a healthy, safe way and understand how to make that happen. So if I place the voice right - if I place it in the 'Patsy place'- it all happens without trying.'

Six-time Tony Award-winning costume designer CATHERINE ZUBER and legendary scenic designer TONY STRAIGES are among the 2017 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients which were just announced by Theatre Development Fund (TDF), a not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts.

Actress/LA theatre inaugurator, Penny Fuller has embarked on a new leg of her career as a cabaret artiste. Ms. Fuller will be bringing her solo musical play 13 THINGS ABOUT ED CARPOLOTTI to the Broad Stage beginning January 11. I had the most delightful opportunity to chat with the vibrant, vivacious Ms. Fuller. She possesses a memory of an elephant, effortlessly listing off names of cast compatriots and retelling intriguing incidents of her theatre highlights.

Old School Square has served for over 25 years as the gathering place for Delray Beach, and the 2016-17 Season will launch a new era of arts and entertainment for all ages.

Pop Quiz! Who's the greatest star, who is by far, a person who needs people like us to love her from a-far? You guessed it - Barbra Streisand! This month San Francisco bay area people are in for a scrumptious theatrical treat called Buyer & Cellar, which is touring the country after rave reviews Off-Broadway in New York. It's being presented to us by SHNSF at the Curran Theater, August 19-31, 2014 so get your tickets now!

In playing the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Dirden is merely stepping into the shoes of the most towering figure in the American civil rights movement.

The University of Utah's Department of Theatre production of 'She Loves Me' embraces the musical's unabashed romanticism and lovingly reveals its many charms.

High school seniors of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) got the graduation ceremony of their dreams on Saturday, May 18, when Disney Theatrical Group President Thomas Schumacher delivered their commencement address, and the diplomas were presented by 'Mary Poppins' herself: UNCSA alumna Rachel Wallace. A 2009 college graduate, Wallace just completed a run in the national tour and the New Zealand company of the popular Disney show. Scroll down for photos from the ceremony!

So many cabaret shows, so little time . . . to write reviews that is. During his almost two years as a cabaret reviewer, BroadwayWorld.com critic Stephen Hanks managed to do a pretty good job of writing critiques during a show's run or soon after the run ended. But this summer he just couldn't keep up. Finally, here are observations on 10 performances over the past two months.

Today, May 29th, President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Medal of Freedom is our Nation's highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. The Medals were presented at the White House in an afternoon ceremony. What follows is a transcript of the president's remarks. To read more about each of this year's honorees, click here.

A television staple since the very beginnings of the format, the Christmas episode is a tried and true trope of TV this time of year and no show promises more hatfuls of holiday cheer and buckets of glee more than, well, GLEE does - and, last night, on the seasonally-themed "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" (titled after one of the two new original songs penned for the episode), GLEE was a cool, neon blue star in the oft-midnight black galaxy - one far, far away, evidently; especially given the Chewbacca cameo and STAR WARS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL nods - of network TV today (or ever, for that matter). Capturing the copious charm of the cast and commonalities of the holidays among us all, the Matthew Morrison-directed Christmas special was a jolly Santa, his decked-out sleigh and all the merry reindeer to go along with them. Positively overflowing with song selections from the simply spectacular GLEE: CHRISTMAS VOLUME 2 - available now - last night's GLEE was not only a holiday music lover's and gleek's dream, but it also came with a maraschino cherry on top for the Broadway babies among us - THE SOUND OF Music's "My Favorite Things"; sung in Summer in the famous Rodgers & Hammerstein show and Robert Wise film version, the song has nevertheless become widely associated with the season due in no small part to Barbra Streisand's unforgettable inclusion of it on her peerless 1967 classic, A CHRISTMAS ALBUM. "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" also gave Sue Sylvester some room to exact her ongoing revenge - and redemption - while the rest of the episode contained a multitude of New Directions-centric plot developments, surprises and, of course, seriously Santa-friendly musical numbers - all, fascinatingly enough, with an all-inclusive (and, even, religion-friendly; in Rory's nativity story scene) style. Not that Judy Garland's Christmas classic special wasn't paid as much homage as Santa and the baby Jesus were - as we should always expect from GLEE - because it was. More on that in a moment. So much to discuss!

The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall announces a 2011-2012 Season rife with star-studded talent.

The multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre presents Vibrant 2011 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, its annual festival of Finborough Playwrights, running from 5-30 July 2011. The festival features - and is centred around - a month long run of Nick Gill's Mirror Teeth