SIX - 2019 - Chicago (Regional) Articles Page 13

Manhattan School of Music will confer Honorary Doctor of Musical Arts degrees on mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges, Misty Copeland, Donna McKechnie, Jane Chu, and Jason Moran at its annual Commencement Ceremony at The Riverside Church in New York City.

In New York, awards season rolls on: Schmigadoon! and Ragtime led the 70th Annual Drama Desk Awards, Dorian Award nominations have been announced, and John Lithgow is slated for a lifetime achievement honor. Chicago’s Jeff Awards have halted non-Equity adjudication to overhaul policies following community backlash, while the UK’s National Theatre is launching a 12-venue partnership to rescue a collapsing regional touring network. We round out the news with a wave of key executive appointments in Massachusetts, Dallas, and London, a breakdown of Australia’s complex new $1.1 billion arts budget, and the return of BroadwayWorld's My Show’s Curtain Call for the 2025-2026 season.

MainStage Irving-Las Colinas announced the cast and creative team for THE GODS OF COMEDY, Ken Ludwig's comedy about two classics professors whose academic discovery goes awry when ancient Greek gods appear, running at the Dupree Theater at Irving Arts Center.

With The Late Show with Stephen Colbert coming to an end this week, we are looking back at some of our favorite Broadway performances and musical theater-themed moments from over the past ten years.

All new photos have been released from the double bill of new musicals, Gunfight at the Not‑So‑OK Saloon and Does Not Compute. Check out the photos and learn more here!

Obie Award-winning Harlem9 announced six playwrights, including Kermit Frazier, Kristen Adele Calhoun, and Naomi Lorrain, for 48HOURS IN…HARLEM®, marking 15 years of the festival with a tribute to the late Woodie King Jr.

Theatre World Awards Board of Directors has named John Lithgow as the winner of the 13th Annual John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

The Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick announced its first season in a new RIBA award-winning building, featuring six productions including Ian McKellen in LEAR and a 50th-anniversary revival of FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE / WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF.

The nominations are here for the 2026 Tony Awards. This year, a high number of titles have onscreen counterparts, and we have rounded up how to watch these versions at home, from The Lost Boys to Schmigadoon!

San Francisco Opera will present Richard Strauss' ELEKTRA, led by Music Director Eun Sun Kim, in Keith Warner's contemporary museum staging featuring a cast including Elena Pankratova and Elza van den Heever.

Porchlight Music Theatre announced Klaus Peter Schuller as its new executive director and Michael Weber as The Elaine Cohen and Arlen Rubin Artistic Director, with Schuller set to join the Chicago company later this year.

Sierra Madre Playhouse will present HAUNTED, a one-act dance opera with music by Paul Salerni and libretto by former California Poet Laureate Dana Gioia, featuring baritone Rod Gilfrey and three dancers.

Andrea Macasaet, known for her role as Anne Boleyn in SIX, is scheduled to appear at the SilverVox Film & Music Festival.

Disney’s The Lion King has announced that Robb Sapp and Sam Linda, who play the role of Ed on Broadway and tour, respectively, will switch productions. Learn more here!

This week's theater news spans awards season milestones, legal disputes, labor tensions, and the business challenges facing the art form on both sides of the Atlantic. The 2026 Tony nominations are in — with Schmigadoon! and The Lost Boys leading the pack. Voting is also now open for BroadwayWorld's own Theater Fans' Choice Awards. On a more turbulent note, a fire at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre has shuttered The Book of Mormon through at least May 17, a second lawsuit has been filed against the producers of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, and IATSE is accusing the Kennedy Center of using its upcoming temporary closure as cover to permanently eliminate union jobs. Regionally, The Naples Players have secured a multi-year grant to expand paid apprenticeships for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And internationally, The Stage examines whether the UK touring sector — where the number of touring plays has fallen 64% since 2019 — can find a path forward through its mounting financial and structural pressures.

The full cast has been announced for the 20th anniversary UK and Ireland tour of JERSEY BOYS, led by Luke Baker as Frankie Valli, with the production opening at New Wimbledon Theatre and booking through 2027.

Utah Opera closes its 2025-26 season with Verdi's LA TRAVIATA at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre, featuring soprano Lydia Katarina alongside tenor Isaac Hurtado and baritone Weston Hurt.

The San Francisco Symphony announced its summer season, featuring classical programs, film concerts, and performances with Andrew Bird, Sutton Foster, Kelli O'Hara, A.R. Rahman, and St. Vincent at venues including Davies Symphony Hall, Shoreline Amphitheatre, and Sigmund Stern Grove.

In her first season as the new artistic director at Opera Theatre of St. Louis (OTSL), Patricia Racette has programmed a festival season that holds something for everyone. Three of the four Operas being presented are written in English. Two, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance and The Light in the Piazza, are from the canon of the American Musical Theatre. The other two, A Streetcar Named Desire and Romeo and Juliet, are well known dramas. If you’ve never seen an Opera, this is the season to take in a show at OTSL.

The Duke's Theatre Company's open-air production of ROMEO AND JULIET, directed by Joseph Pitcher, will tour UK venues including Hever Castle and the Minack Theatre, featuring a cast of six.

Awkward Prods announced a new solo show inspired by a real-life homophobic attack on performer Linus Karp in Soho. LINUS KARP WAS HIT WITH AN UMBRELLA will play Underbelly Bristo Square at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Friendship is nearly always a side element in musicals. From the comic sidekick of the leading character to the backup pals who provide background vocals, friends are part of the fabric of many shows—but rarely are they the main event. 

The Broadway touring production of BEETLEJUICE will play a one-night-only Melbourne premiere engagement at the King Center, closing out the Broadway at the King Center Series.

& JULIET on Broadway has announced a series of special events, including a $20 lottery, fan nights, and a sing-along performance hosted by *NSYNC's Joey Fatone at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at CUNY will present WORLD VOICES, a four-day festival featuring staged readings of new plays in translation by playwrights from Tuscarora/Canada, Austria, France, Senegal, and Germany.