John, His Story - 1997 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 2

The idea of the concept album took flight at the same time as the idea of the rock musical. A concept album introduces audiences to the score of a musical by deliberately releasing an album of the songs before any live production exists at all. The concept album ostensibly stands on its own terms.

Cher, Paul Simon, Whitney Houston, and more will be honored during the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards Ceremony on Jan. 31, 2026. The event will celebrate the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustee Award and Technical Grammy Award recipients at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre. 

This season, three plays are receiving Broadway debuts which already made significant noise off-Broadway in their original productions, years ago. Becky Shaw, Bug, and Marjorie Prime will all be opening on Broadway in early 2026 in brand new productions. The first and last are spending time on Broadway at the Hayes under the auspices of Second Stage while Bug is being presented by Manhattan Theatre Club at their home, the Friedman. 

The Storm Theatre Company announced the cast and creative team for for its upcoming production of An Ideal Husband, the classic play by Oscar Wilde which will be presented at The Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres.

In a kinder, gentler world, Ben Folds’ name would be mentioned in the same breath as piano greats Billy Joel and Elton John. Like the other two, Folds is a brilliant lyricist, a fantastic pianist, and an amazing storyteller.

Stereophonic, the 2024 Tony Award winner for Best Play, is now on its first National Tour. Read the reviews for the tour as they come in, and learn more about the show, here!

Page 73 has announced 12 semifinalists for the 2026 Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship: Benjamin Benne, Kate Cortesi, Alexa Derman, Ryan Drake, JuCoby Johnson, Aditya Joshi, Chad Kaydo, Adin Lenahan, Dhari Noel, Abigail C. Onwunali, Anike Sonuga, and Mallory Jane Weiss.

Only two new musicals are opening on Broadway in the first half of the 2025-2026 season: The Queen of Versailles and Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). There has been much discourse on the topic of whether rising capitalization costs and the rareness of full recoupment is impacting the number of new musicals being produced on Broadway. 

Old Library Theatre (OLT) will open its 2025 season with the musical JEKYLL & HYDE, running October 17–26 at the George Frey Center for Performing Arts in Fair Lawn.

​The Fall 2025 season has officially begun, and with it, comes new plays for theatre lovers of all kinds. Whether you live for intense dramas or would rather escape with zaney comedies, there's something for everyone both on and off-Broadway in October 2025.

Performances are now underway for Lincoln Center Theater's revival of Ragtime at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Meet the cast of Ragtime here and learn all about the starry cast and talented ensemble's bio and credits!

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.

To celebrate the return of The Sound of Music in theaters, we are taking a look back at Christopher Plummer's expansive stage career, from Cyrano to King Lear, and more.

BroadwayWorld is here with your fall 2025 guide to all the shows lighting up New York’s stages. From world premieres to long-awaited revivals, this season’s Off-Broadway lineup delivers something for every kind of theater fan!

Emmy winning actor Kevin Spirtas has joined the cast in the role of Sir Simon, in The Group Rep’s haunting new musical romance, MY SPIRITS SOAR, a contemporary take on a beloved short story in the music style of Broadway-Pop, running September 26th through November 2nd at The Group Rep Theatre in North Hollywood, California.

Elton John’s album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy will receive a 50th Anniversary Edition reissue, featuring the 2016 remaster of the original album, previously unreleased session demos, plus Elton’s live performance of tracks from the album, recorded during 2005 for the album’s 30th anniversary.

Disney’s The Lion King musical is playing in Vancouver, BC for a limited four-week engagement at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre from August 20 to September 14.

The Den Theatre today announced upcoming October 2025 shows at the theatre's Wicker Park stages, including Alex Borstein, Janeane Garofalo and more. See the full lineup here!

San Francisco Shakespeare Festival has announced its 43rd season of Free Shakespeare in the Park, featuring William Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona. See here for more details!

With Disney's Hercules now playing on the West End, take a look at the rich evolution of this musical, which has seen several iterations throughout the years both on stage and screen.

This summer’s installment of Shakespeare Under the Stars, Shakespeare in Love marked Elliott Lemberg’s 50th production as head of the New Albany High School Theatre Department! For Mr. Lemberg, 50 productions also highlight 18 years of commitment to his students and their education.

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!

Central Works' season continues with The Last Goat, written and directed by Gary Graves, in which a young woman lives alone with her grandmother on an isolated Greek island, desperately longing to see the world. 

 To commemorate Pride month, The David Drumgold Variety Show will return to Teaneck's Puffin Cultural Forum for a special one-night-only Pride edition. Learn more!