Reasons to be Pretty Happy - Off-Broadway Articles Page 4

Previews begin today, Wednesday, May 8 for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) World Premiere production of FAR FROM HEAVEN.

Playwrights Horizons presents Far From Heaven, a new musical with book by Tony Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain, the current Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Assembled Parties both now on Broadway), music by Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, Finding Neverland) and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, The Grapes of Wrath, Finding Neverland). The musical is choreographed by Alex Sanchez (Giant, Fiorello!) and directed by three-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway; Rent, Next to Normal, Giant). The musical is based on the Focus Features/Vulcan Productions motion picture Far From Heaven, written and directed by Todd Haynes.

MCC Theater today announced a one-night only reading of Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute's acclaimed play, The Mercy Seat, on June 17, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC).

DIRECTV announced today that it has ordered ten episodes of the original drama, FULL CIRCLE from award-winning screenwriter Neil LaBute (The Shape of Things, In the Company of Men), in his television series debut.

According to Variety, DIRECTV and Momentum Television are close to settling on a deal for the 10-episode series 'Full Circle', a drama penned by Neil LaBute, on its AUDIENCE Network channel. Production is set to begin in LA this June.

Beginning today, Wednesday, April 10, tickets will go on sale to the general public for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) World Premiere production of FAR FROM HEAVEN.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, and the show that's currently blowing the roof off Broadway, opens at The Orpheum Theatre on April 23, 3013 for a limited, one week engagement.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, opens at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre on May 14 for a limited one week engagement! Tickets go on sale Friday, March 29 at 10 a.m.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) announced today complete details for FAR FROM HEAVEN, a new musical with book by Tony Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain, the current Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Assembled Parties both now on Broadway), music by Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, Finding Neverland) and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, The Grapes of Wrath, Finding Neverland). The musical is choreographed by Alex Sanchez (Giant, Fiorello!) and directed by three-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway; Rent, Next to Normal, Giant). The musical is based on the Focus Features/Vulcan Productions motion picture Far From Heaven, written and directed by Todd Haynes. FAR FROM HEAVEN will now begin previews Wednesday evening, May 8 at 8PM with an Opening Night set for Sunday, June 2 at 7PM. The limited engagement subscription run will play through Sunday, June 30 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). Headlining the cast is the previously-announced four-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara (nominated for her acclaimed performances in The Light in the Piazza, The Pajama Game, South Pacific and the current Nice Work If You Can Get It). One of Broadway's leading musical stars, she returns to Playwrights Horizons for the first time since starring in the World Premiere of the new musical My Life with Albertine in 2003. She will reunite with co-star Steven Pasquale (The Spitfire Grill at PH; reasons to be pretty on Broadway; The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide… at The Public; Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle nominations for A Man of No Importance at Lincoln Center; The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall, star of the NBC series 'Do No Harm'). Ms. O'Hara and Mr. Pasquale created their respective roles in FAR FROM HEAVEN for the musical's Preview Production run at Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer. In addition to Ms. O'Hara and Mr. Pasquale, the full cast of FAR FROM HEAVEN will feature J.B. Adams (Parade, Beauty & the Beast, Me & My Girl on Broadway; Annie Warbucks Off-Broadway; the film Far From Heaven), Marinda Anderson (From the Inside, Out at NY Fringe Festival; Freedom Train for TheatreWorks USA), Olivier Award nominee Nancy Anderson (Wonderful Town, A Class Act on Broadway; Kiss Me, Kate in London; Yank! Off-Broadway), Elainey Bass (Radio City Christmas Spectacular), Obie Award winner Quincy Tyler Bernstine (In the Next Room… on Broadway; Ruined at MTC), Justin Scott Brown (Les Miserables, Spring Awakening national tours), Obie Award winner Alma Cuervo (PH's The Heidi Chronicles and Isn't It Romantic?; Titanic, Cabaret, Women on the Verge… on Broadway; Road Show at The Public; Wicked national tour), Korey Jackson (Wild with Happy at The Public; 'Homeland'), Isaiah Johnson (Peter and the Starcatcher; The Merchant of Venice on Broadway), Jake Lucas (Newsies), James Moye (Million Dollar Quartet, Ragtime, White Christmas, on Broadway; Happiness Off-Broadway), Julianna Rigoglioso (Pippi Longstocking Off-Broadway; Mary Poppins national tour, The Smurfs), Sarah Jane Shanks (Wicked, Promises Promises, Shrek, Wonderful Town, The Apple Tree on Broadway), Tess Soltau (The Addams Family on Broadway; Into the Woods for The Public/Shakespeare in the Park), Mary Stout (Cather County at PH; Jane Eyre, Beauty & the Beast, Me & My Girl on Broadway) and Victor Wallace (Mamma Mia! on Broadway, Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera national tours). FAR FROM HEAVEN will feature scenic design by Tony Award nominee Allen Moyer, costume design by five-time Tony Award winner Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Tony Award winner Kenneth Posner, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, projection design by Peter Nigrini and orchestrations by Tony Award winner Bruce Coughlin. Musical Director is Lawrence Yurman and Production Stage Manager is Judith Schoenfeld. Cathy Whitaker (Ms. O'Hara) seems to be the picture-perfect wife and mother in 1957 suburban Connecticut. But roiling beneath the surface, secret longings and forbidden desires cause her world to unravel, with incendiary consequences. With a lush score that is both jazz-inflected and hauntingly lyrical, FAR FROM HEAVEN is a powerful story of romance, betrayal and intolerance, as a woman grapples with her identity in a society on the verge of upheaval. FAR FROM HEAVEN was commissioned, developed, and produced through the Playwrights Horizons Musicals in Partnership Initiative, with leadership support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Through this initiative, the musical had a Preview Production run at the Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer, also featuring Ms. O'Hara, Mr. Pasquale, Mr. Adams, Ms. Bernstine and Ms. Stout. The program allows Playwrights Horizons to develop new works of musical theater, each in partnership with a Regional theater - wholly within the not-for-profit system. This seven-year program aims to commission at least four new works of musical theater and develop and produce three or four full-scale productions. Each of the three musicals will be produced at both one specific Regional partner and at Playwrights Horizons. Generous support for FAR FROM HEAVEN was also provided by The Laurents / Hatcher Foundation, Stacey & Eric Mindich Fund for New Musicals at Playwrights Horizons, Daniel & Joanne Smith, Cathy & Stephen Weinroth, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Tobin Theatre Arts Fund, Thomas & Patricia Barron, Bruce Horten, Rosalee A. & Bruce Lovett, Larry Tatelbaum, Elroy and Terry Krumholz Foundation, and Nancy Roistacher & Wayne P. Merkelson. The original 2002 film, which stars Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert and Patricia Clarkson, earned over 100 awards, honors and nominations. It was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Actress (Ms. Moore), Best Original Screenplay (Todd Haynes), Best Cinematography (Edward Lachman) and Best Original Score (Elmer Bernstein), and was named one of the 10 Best Movies of the Decade by Entertainment Weekly. It was also named Best Film of the Year by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, Independent Spirit Awards and the Village Voice, among many others. Far From Heaven also earned 4 Golden Globe nominations including Best Screenplay, a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a bevy of additional awards for leading actress Julianne Moore, including one from the National Board of Review Award and nominations from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes. With FAR FROM HEAVEN, Playwrights Horizons continues its commitment to developing unique and ground-breaking new musicals, including Grey Gardens, James Joyce's The Dead, Floyd Collins, Assassins, Once on This Island and Sunday in the Park with George. FAR FROM HEAVEN reunites the theater company with Mr. Frankel, Mr. Korie and Mr. Greif, the composer, lyricist and director of Grey Gardens, which was one of Playwrights Horizons' most heralded original musicals. The project also marks the long-awaited return to the theater company of Mr. Greenberg, who was last represented there in 1987 with his play The Maderati. The performance schedule for FAR FROM HEAVEN will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7PM, Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 PM & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 PM & 7:30 PM. Both the Wednesday, May 8 and Tuesday, May 28 evening performances have 8PM curtains and the Sunday, June 2 matinee has an early 2PM curtain. Beginning the week of April 8, single tickets, starting at $80, may be purchased online via www.TicketCentral.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily), via Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PlaywrightsHorizons or in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues). A ticketing initiative created as part of Playwrights Horizons' Arts Access program, LIVEforFIVE makes available $5 tickets for the first preview performance of each Playwrights Horizons production through a lottery via the company's website. The LIVEforFIVE lottery for FAR FROM HEAVEN will be for tickets to the first preview on Wednesday, May 8 at 8PM. Details for the lottery are as follows: beginning Wednesday, May 1 at 12 Noon, theatergoers can enter the lottery by filling out an entry form at www.PlaywrightsHorizons.org. Entries will be accepted until Monday, May 6 at 12 Noon. Winners of the lottery will be notified via email no later than 3PM on Monday, May 6 with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets. Unclaimed tickets will be offered via email to a limited standby list starting at 12 Noon on Tuesday, May 7 on a first-come, first-served basis. One or two tickets may be purchased for $5 each. A limited number of tickets will be available for Mainstage shows via the lottery. Reflecting Playwrights Horizons' ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company will offer HOTtix, $25 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before showtime to patrons aged 30 and under. Proof of age required. One ticket per person, per purchase. Cash only. LIVEforFIVE and HOTtix are two of Playwrights Horizons' popular Arts Access initiatives, which allow the institution to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket. This program is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and The McGraw-Hill Companies. A special open captioned performance of FAR FROM HEAVEN for theatergoers who are deaf and hard of hearing will be held on the Saturday, June 8 matinee at 2:30 PM. Funding for this program is provided, in part, by the Theodore H. Barth Foundation, and TDF and TAP Plus, which is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, and the show that's currently blowing the roof off Broadway, opens at the DuPont Theatre on April 30-May 5, 2013 for a limited engagement of eight performances only.

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) has just announced that Leslie Bibb (Iron Man, ABC's 'GCB') and Jenna Fischer (NBC's 'The Office') will be making their New York City stage debuts opposite Josh Hamilton (The Coast of Utopia) and Fred Weller (MCC's Still Life and In a Dark Dark House) in the world premiere of MCC Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute's new play, Reasons to Be Happy, which LaBute will also direct. Reasons to Be Happy is a companion piece to LaBute's critically-acclaimed award-winning play, Reasons to Be Pretty, first produced at MCC Theater in 2008 before moving to Broadway where it was nominated for three 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Play. Performances begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on May 16, 2013 and continue through June 23, 2013. An official opening is set for June 11, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are now on sale.

According to Deadline.com, The Office's Jenna Fischer will be starring in Neil LaBute's Reasons To Be Happy off-Broadway at MCC Theater's Lucille Lortel Theater, beginning May 16, the same night The Office finale will air on NBC. The show will open on June 11, 2013. This will be Fischer's stage debut.

MCC Theater has announced the extension of the New York premiere production of Paul Downs Colaizzo's Really Really, directed by David Cromer (the Obie Award and Lucille Lortel Award-winning director of hits Our Town, Adding Machine and Tribes). The production, which marks Colaizzo's New York playwriting debut, is now scheduled at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) through March 24, 2013. It was previously scheduled through March 10th. Tickets for the added performances are on sale now.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, opens at the Fisher Theatre on April 9 for a limited engagement! Tickets will go on sale Sunday, February 17 at 12 p.m. at the Fisher Theatre box office, all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 1-800-982-2787, and online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.broadwayindetroit.com.

Performances begin today for the MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) New York premiere production of Paul Downs Colaizzo's Really Really, directed by David Cromer (the Obie Award and Lucille Lortel Award-winning director of hits Our Town, Adding Machine and Tribes). The production, which marks Colaizzo's New York playwriting debut, plays at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) through March 10, 2013. An official opening is set for Tuesday, February 19th at 7:00 p.m. As announced on January 29th, the world premiere of Really Really, which opened in February 2012 at the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre in D.C., has been nominated for 'The Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical' at this year's Helen Hayes Awards. As previously noted, MCC's New York premiere of Really Really marks a brand new production of the play directed by Cromer.

Singer-songwriter Brian Dolzani crafts an impressive, intimate collection of personal stories on his new CD 'If I Don't Speak A Word'. With vocals that evoke early Neil Young, precise and often stinging lyrics, deceptively catchy melodies and a knack for building quietly painful anecdotes, Dolzani has delivered what might be described as a relationship album for those who've lost their voice along the way.

Bachelorette Sarah Herron has proved to be an early favorite on this season of ABC's THE BACHELOR. The courageous 26 year-old advertising executive from Los Angeles, CA has learned to navigate through life with just one arm. Her bravery has certainly caught the attention of Bachelor Sean Lowe. Herron recently spoke with reporters about her experience on the ABC dating competition.

Lea Salonga, who starred in the original stage production as 'Eponine' and the 2006 revival as 'Fantine' wrote the following review on the new film for Inquirer. Check it out below!

There is no denying that 2012 was a great year for theatre in Houston. Excellent productions were housed all over the city. And with the way things are shaping up, it appears that 2013 will be another fabulous year for theatre in the city. As I glance at the calendar for 2013, I find that there are many productions that I am already looking forward to. Utilizing the greatest restraint I could muster and considerable effort, I offer to you my top 5 most anticipated shows of 2013 in the order that they open...

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) announced today that Matt Lauria (NBC's "Friday Night Lights" & "Parenthood"), Zosia Mamet (HBO's "Girls", AMC's "Mad Men"), Lauren Culpepper (Signature's Really Really), David Hull (Broadway's Wicked & How to Succeed…), Evan Jonigkeit (Broadway's High with Kathleen Turner), Kobi Libii (Off-Broadway's CQ/CX), and Aleque Reid (Hair 1st National Tour) will star in the New York premiere production of Really Really by Paul Downs Colaizzo. The production, which marks Colaizzo's New York playwriting debut, is directed by David Cromer, the Obie Award and Lucille Lortel Award-winning director of hits Our Town, Adding Machine and Tribes. Performances of Really Really begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on January 31, 2013 and continue through March 10, 2013. An official opening is set for Tuesday, February 19th at 7:00 p.m.

In this week's "Meet the Press" PRESS Pass conversation, David Gregory sat down with former Pennsylvania Senator and GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum to discuss the fiscal cliff and the future of the Republican party.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, comes to the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) tonight, December 4 through Sunday, December 9, 2012 for a limited engagement.

Eminent artists, friends and peers of this year's seven honorees converged in Washington, D.C., last night (Dec. 2) to present entertaining and heartfelt tributes at THE 35TH ANNUAL KENNEDY CENTER HONORS, an entertainment special to be broadcast Wednesday, Dec. 26 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, with Caroline Kennedy as host for the 10th consecutive year.

MCC Theater has announced that MCC Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute will direct the world premiere of his new play, Reasons to Be Happy, as part of its 2012-13 Season. Performances of Reasons to Be Happy begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on May 16, 2013 and continue through June 23, 2013. An official opening is set for June 2, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. Additional information, including complete casting, will be announced shortly.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony® Award Winner for Best Musical, and the show that's currently blowing the roof off Broadway, opens at Marcus Center for the Performing Arts on January 8-13, 2013 for a limited engagement.