Reasons to be Pretty Happy - Off-Broadway Articles Page 5

We have now been in Cambridge for a week and are in the full swing of "tech." I explained in my last blog that this is the part of the process when the show is moved out of the rehearsal room and onto the stage. As some may know, we begin at the top of the show and carefully move forward step by step and cue by cue setting lights and figuring out the logistics of the show. A lot goes into making a musical flow smoothly.

Yesterday's MEET THE PRESS WITH DAVID GREGORY featured interviews with Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), House Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), and Honeywell CEO David Cote; and a roundtable conversation with MSNBC's Rev. Al Sharpton, National Republican Senatorial Committee vice chair Carly Fiorina, New York Times columnist David Brooks, documentary filmmaker and historian Ken Burns, and NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell.

Yesterday's MEET THE PRESS WITH DAVID GREGORY featured interviews with Chair of the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and a roundtable conversation with Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID), New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, former Clinton White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, Republican strategist Mike Murphy, and NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell. Below are highlights of the program

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

Vineyard Theatre will open its 30th Anniversary season with the world premiere production of Douglas McGrath's play CHECKERS. Opening night is set for tonight, October 28th. The production will be directed by Terry Kinney, it has been announced by The Vineyard's Artistic Director Douglas Aibel and Co-Artistic Director Sarah Stern.

Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with American Repertory Theater, presents the world premiere of Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi, directed by Rebecca Taichman. Marie Antoinette will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) October 26 through November 17. Opening Night is Thursday, November 1. The cast includes Fred Arsenault, Hannah Cabell, David Greenspan, Marin Ireland, Vin Knight, Jo Lampert, Polly Lee, Steven Rattazzi, Jake Silbermann, Teale Sperling, Brian Wiles, and Ashton Woerz.

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 3-8, 2013 for a limited engagement.

Yesterday's MEET THE PRESS WITH DAVID GREGORY featured a roundtable discussion with Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA); Mayor Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta); Fmr. Gov Jennifer Granholm (D-MI); GOP strategist Alex Castellanos; and NBC's Tom Brokaw. Below are highlights from the broadcast.

Vineyard Theatre will open its 30th Anniversary season with the world premiere production of Douglas McGrath's play CHECKERS. Preview performances begin tonight, and opening night is set for October 28th. The production will be directed by Terry Kinney, it has been announced by The Vineyard's Artistic Director Douglas Aibel and Co-Artistic Director Sarah Stern.

The X Factor has entered the final stretch before its live shows, and there was plenty of drama do go around on the road to get here. Whether you missed the show or just want to re-live a performance, read on for a full recap of tonight's episode!

Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with American Repertory Theater, presents the world premiere of Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi, directed by Rebecca Taichman. Marie Antoinette will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) October 26 through November 17. Opening Night is Thursday, November 1. The cast includes Fred Arsenault, Hannah Cabell, David Greenspan, Marin Ireland, Vin Knight, Jo Lampert, Polly Lee, Steven Rattazzi, Jake Silbermann, Teale Sperling, Brian Wiles, and Ashton Woerz.

Thomas Sadoski, a Tony nominee for his work in reasons to be pretty and who currently stars in HBO's The Newsroom, is set to appear in the world premiere production of Michael Golamco's Build in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse.

Yesterday's MEET THE PRESS WITH DAVID GREGORY on NBC featured interviews with Romney supporter Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) and White House senior adviser David Plouffe; a roundtable conversation with conservative activist and founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition Ralph Reed, Fmr. Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), the BBC's Katty Kay, NBC News political director and chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd; and the latest live from Afghanistan with NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel.

Sunday, September 23rd marked the 60th anniversary of Richard Nixon's political game-changing 'Checkers speech,' and today, September 24th at 10 a.m. tickets go on sale for the Vineyard Theatre's world-premiere production of CHECKERS, a play by Douglas McGrath about Nixon, his wife Pat and that historic speech. CHECKERS is directed by Terry Kinney. Preview performances begin at The Vineyard (108 E. 15 St.) on October 12; October 31 is opening night. Tickets can be purchased by calling The Vineyard box office at 212 353 0303 or online at

Sunday, September 23rd marks the 60th anniversary of Richard Nixon's political game-changing 'Checkers speech,' and on Monday, September 24th at 10 a.m. tickets go on sale for the Vineyard Theatre's world-premiere production of CHECKERS, a play by Douglas McGrath about Nixon, his wife Pat and that historic speech. CHECKERS is directed by Terry Kinney. Preview performances begin at The Vineyard (108 E. 15 St.) on October 12; October 31 is opening night. Tickets can be purchased by calling The Vineyard box office at 212 353 0303 or online at www.vineyardtheatre.org.

Rains are coming and going, altering the barometric pressure in the air and creating what feels like a mix between a pressure cooker and sauna. It's that time of year where summer takes it last, lingering steps before being put to bed for a handful of months in Houston. All of this occurs simultaneously with a new season of theatre dawning in the city. On a particularly humid, rainy Saturday evening, Kim Tobin and Philip Lehl, co-founders and Artistic Directors of Stark Naked Theatre Company, invited me to chat with them in their studio at Spring Street Studios. On the floor below us, Studio 101 is well on its way to be a hot locale for local theatre and the starting point for our conversation.

Thomas Sadoski, a Tony nominee for his work in reasons to be pretty and who currently stars in HBO's The Newsroom, is set to appear in the world premiere production of Michael Golamco's Build in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse.

Vineyard Theatre will open its 30th Anniversary season with the world premiere production of Douglas McGrath's play CHECKERS. Preview performances begin on October 12th, and opening night is set for October 28th. The production will be directed by Terry Kinney, it has been announced by The Vineyard's Artistic Director Douglas Aibel and Co-Artistic Director Sarah Stern.

Amy Sohn is the author of the novels Prospect Park West, My Old Man and Run Catch Kiss. Her latest novel, Motherland, features Melora Leigh, a former A-list actress who is starring in a Broadway revival of 'Fifth of July'. Sohn enjoys mixing fact and fiction, including a passage which reads: 'Page Six had run an item on Melora...and it had been picked up by BroadwayWorld.com' The shout-out to our site prompted us to chat with this talented author and find out how her passion for theater influences her creative process

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony® Award Winner for Best Musical, and the show that had its pre-Broadway run at the Silicon Valley's own THEATREWORKS, opens at BROADWAY SAN JOSE performing at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 for a limited engagement.

Neil Simon's 1965 chestnut gets warmed up with production featuring Pat Sajak and Joe Moore.

Theater Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB), the renowned Off-Broadway company known for its productions that integrate able-bodied actors with artists with disabilities, presents MORE OF OUR PARTS - its second annual festival of short plays about disabilities and the people affected by them, featuring world premieres by Neil LaBute, A.R. Gurney, Bekah Brunstetter, Bruce Graham, Samuel D. Hunter, and Jeffrey Sweet - with performances to run tonight, June 21 through July 1 at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street). TBTB artistic director and founder Ike Schambelan, Tony-nominee Pamela Birch, Christopher Burris, TBTB company member Christina Roussos, and Russell Treyz, and direct.

Easton's State Theatre has announced its 2012-13 season- on sale to State Theatre Members Wed, August 1 (Box Office window at 453 Northampton Street opens at 6 AM; Online Ticketing and Phone lines open at Noon). Tickets will go on sale to the Public August 15th at 10 AM. Limit 6 tickets per Member per performance during Members Only sales. Membership to the Non-Profit State Theatre starts at $75, lasts one year and is tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Actor/singer Douglas Sills began his Broadway career in the 90s essaying the role of infamous Sir Percy in Frank Wildhorn's musical of The Scarlet Pimpernel for which he won critical acclaim and a Tony Award nomination. Since then, he has been in, among many others, the revival of Little Shop of Horrors, Into the Woods, The Secret Garden, all on Broadway, as well as the rarely seen concert of the 1930s Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein Music in the Air with Kristin Chenoweth and a slew of musical roles in LA including Mack Sennett in Reprise's Mack and Mabel and Ravenal in the Hollywood Bowl's production of Showboat. He has just started the tour of The Addams Family starring as Gomez and will open at the Pantages Theatre on June 5. In our chat, he talks at length about playing Gomez, the changes since New York in the road version of Addams Family and chooses some of his favorite all-time roles.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony® Award-winner for Best Musical, opens at the Ohio Theatre on May 29 for a limited engagement.