Show Boat Revival

Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans announce the World Premiere of Low Down Dirty Blues, by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman, the creators of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues and Fire on the Mountain.

Broadway performers Nat Chandler (THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL / THE MUSIC OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER) and Teri Dale Hansen (THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE / SHOW BOAT) will celebrate Mother's Day at the White Plains Performing Arts Center singing a concert of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Actor John Jarboe, seen by Media Theatre audiences as Frank in 'Show Boat' and as Scarecrow in 'The Wizard of Oz' this season, returns in his own cabaret performance Saturday night May 15. His show, 'Back in The Army', will take place one night only at 11pm following the evening's Broadway Series performance of 'Rent'.

Revisit one of the most-acclaimed musical productions of all time when Pittsburgh CLO kicks off the 64th Summer Season with its production of Oliver!, June 1-6 at the Benedum Center in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District.

Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans announce the World Premiere of Low Down Dirty Blues, by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman, the creators of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues and Fire on the Mountain. The production will feature Tony Award nominee Felicia P. Fields (The Color Purple) in her first role in Chicago since The Color Purple and two-time Jeff Award-winner Mississippi Charles Bevel. The production will be directed by Randal Myler with musical direction by Dan Wheetman. Low Down Dirty Blues runs May 27 - July 3, 2010 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie. The press opening is Saturday, June 5, 2010.

MID-LIFE! THE CRISIS MUSICAL is set to play at The Crown Uptown Theatre June 25 through August 15. The show was created by Bob Walton and Jim Walton in 2006 and has been touring the country ever since. Older Daddy Music recently released the studio cast recording.

Three couples, two dinner parties, one adulterous affair. International City Theatre presents How the Other Half Loves, the delicious comedy by Alan Ayckbourn that ingeniously juggles time and space to create a whirlwind of chaos, confusion and laughter. Director Todd Nielsen will close the production on May 23.

After breaking box office records and selling out in record time in 2007, the smash-hit musical WICKED will return to the Ohio Theatre for five weeks only July 28-August 29. Tickets for the return engagement will go on sale to the public Thursday, May 20.

A tuneful, funny musical score meets a giant man-eating plant when Cabrillo Music Theatre's production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS devours the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. One of the longest-running Off-Broadway shows of all time, with a hit movie and a Broadway revival to its credit, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS will close Sunday, May 2nd. Locally produced exclusively for Southern California audiences, performances take place at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.

The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, a new musical comedy from the creative team of the 12-time Tony Award winning smash The Producers, will end its limited engagement on May 2.

A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of orchestra seats will be held daily for WICKED, which will be performing from May 19 to June 13 at Ovens Auditorium. Each day, 2½ hours prior to show time, people who present themselves at the Ovens Auditorium box office will have their names placed in a lottery drum and then, thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of orchestra seats at $25 each, cash only.

Signature Theatre, the current recipient of the Tony Award® for Regional Theatre, presents the world premiere musical Sycamore Trees by Ricky Ian Gordon, composer of the acclaimed opera The Grapes of Wrath and the OBIE Award-winning Orpheus and Euridice, as well as the musicals My Life with Albertine and Dream True.

Previews will begin today at Virginia's Signature Theatre for the world premiere musical Sycamore Trees written by Ricky Ian Gordon, the award-winning composer of the opera The Grapes of Wrath and the musicals Dream True and My Life with Albertine. A starry Broadway cast portrays Gordon's own family story - complete with a tough Bronx-born father and former 'Borscht Belt' singer/comedian mother - in a tale of two generations' struggles and triumphs in the decades from World War II through the 1990s.

On Monday, May 17th at 6pm journalist and theater critic Don Shewey will interview Tony Award-winning actress Carole Shelley. On stage, Shelley made her Broadway debut in the original 1965 production of The Odd Couple, playing Gwendolyn Pigeon, a role which she reprised for the film version and for the first season of the subsequent television series.

Theatre legends Hal Prince and Susan Stroman, in an interview with The Times Online, discuss their opinions and frustrations on the state of the musical and theatre, their pasts and their directorial collaboration on Paradise Found, set to begin previews this week at London's Menier Chocolate Factory.

Actor John Jarboe, seen by Media Theatre audiences as Frank in 'Show Boat' and as Scarecrow in 'The Wizard of Oz' this season, returns in his own cabaret performance Saturday night May 15. His show, 'Back in The Army', will take place one night only at 11pm following the evening's Broadway Series performance of 'Rent'.

A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of orchestra seats will be held daily for WICKED, which will be performing from May 19 to June 13 at Ovens Auditorium. Each day, 2½ hours prior to show time, people who present themselves at the Ovens Auditorium box office will have their names placed in a lottery drum and then, thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of orchestra seats at $25 each, cash only.

After breaking box office records and selling out in record time in 2007, the smash-hit musical WICKED will return to the Ohio Theatre for five weeks only July 28-August 29.

Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans announce the World Premiere of Low Down Dirty Blues, by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman, the creators of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues and Fire on the Mountain. The production will feature Tony Award nominee Felicia P. Fields (The Color Purple) in her first role in Chicago since The Color Purple and two-time Jeff Award-winner Mississippi Charles Bevel. The production will be directed by Randal Myler with musical direction by Dan Wheetman. Low Down Dirty Blues runs May 27 - July 3, 2010 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie. The press opening is Saturday, June 5, 2010.

Village Theatre produces the most celebrated backstage musical story of our time, 42ND STREET, opening in May. This production will have one preview performance in Issaquah on Wednesday, May 12, and will officially open the following day, running May 13-July 2, 2010 in downtown Issaquah, and July 9-August 1, 2010 in downtown Everett.

A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of orchestra seats will be held daily for WICKED, which will be performing from May 19 to June 13 at Ovens Auditorium. Each day, 2½ hours prior to show time, people who present themselves at the Ovens Auditorium box office will have their names placed in a lottery drum and then, thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of orchestra seats at $25 each, cash only.

Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans announce the World Premiere of Low Down Dirty Blues, by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman, the creators of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues and Fire on the Mountain.

One of Broadway's longest-running musicals makes its regional professional premiere at The Media Theatre May 5-June 6. 'Rent', Jonathan Larson's rock and roll odyssey of the lives and loves of a group of friends on Manhattan's Lower East Side, became such a huge phenomenon that it spawned the careers of several popular performers (Adam Pascal, Taye Diggs, Idina Menzel, and Daphne Rubin-Vega) and ran for 12 years.

Revisit one of the most-acclaimed musical productions of all time when Pittsburgh CLO kicks off the 64th Summer Season with its production of Oliver!, June 1-6 at the Benedum Center in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District.

Broadway leading man Hugh Panaro (The Phantom of the Opera, Lestat, Show Boat, Side Show, Les Miserables) is set to perform at Inside Broadway's 2010 Broadway Beacon Awards being held at 5:30pm on June 17th, 2010 at the historic Players Club at Gramercy Park. Harry Coghlan, President and General Manager of Clear Channel Outdoor's New York and Spectacolor Divisions, has also been added as an award recipient for the evening.

Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans announce the World Premiere of Low Down Dirty Blues, by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman, the creators of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues and Fire on the Mountain.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'Million Dollar Quartet,' 'Oh Boy!,' 'Low Down Dirty Blues,' 'Sugar,' 'The Drowsy Chaperone,' 'Sweet And Hot,' more....

Broadway's Hugh Panaro (The Phantom of the Opera, Lestat) and Denis Lambert (Yank!, Broadway's A Chorus Line) will appear with soprano Dorothy Stone in a gala concert of opera and musical theatre at Etcetera Etcetera on Saturday June 26th. Proceeds will go to VoceDoro, an organization dedicated to the study of music and the advancement of vocal training. Tickets are currently on sale at Smarttix.com or Vocedoro.com

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT), the professional producing arm of the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, continues its Nutmeg Summer Series with the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller musical revue, Smokey Joe's Café, playing June 24 through July 4, 2010 in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre.

The Sacramento Music Circus production of Monty Python's 'Spamalot,' opening at the Wells Fargo Pavilion on July 9, will mark a few firsts. It will be the first time a regional theatre has been given the rights to produce the Tony Award-winning best musical. It will also be the first time the musical has been produced in the round. And significantly for the region's largest arts organization, it will be the first time in its history that California Musical Theatre has hosted a regional theatre premiere. But among the firsts, there is another milestone. 'Spamalot' will be the 500th opening night for Music Circus at the corner of 15th and H Streets.

The Muny has announced casting for its 2010 summer season, featuring a number of Broadway veterans reprising roles they created on Broadway. Performers include Ken Page, Gary Beach, Stephanie J. Block, Georgia Engel, Ashley Brown and more.

Broadway leading man Hugh Panaro (The Phantom of the Opera, Lestat, Show Boat, Side Show, Les Miserables) is set to perform at Inside Broadway's 2010 Broadway Beacon Awards being held at 5:30pm on June 17th, 2010 at the historic Players Club at Gramercy Park. Harry Coghlan, President and General Manager of Clear Channel Outdoor's New York and Spectacolor Divisions, has also been added as an award recipient for the evening.

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT), the professional producing arm of the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, continues its Nutmeg Summer Series with the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller musical revue, Smokey Joe's Café, playing June 24 through July 4, 2010 in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre.

The American Theatre Wing's 64th Annual Antoinette Perry 'Tony' Awards were held at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 13, 2010 and broadcast on the CBS Television Network. For more information visit tonyawards.com.

Previews will begin today at Virginia's Signature Theatre for the world premiere musical Sycamore Trees written by Ricky Ian Gordon, the award-winning composer of the opera The Grapes of Wrath and the musicals Dream True and My Life with Albertine. A starry Broadway cast portrays Gordon's own family story - complete with a tough Bronx-born father and former 'Borscht Belt' singer/comedian mother - in a tale of two generations' struggles and triumphs in the decades from World War II through the 1990s.

Signature Theatre, the current recipient of the Tony Award® for Regional Theatre, presents the world premiere musical Sycamore Trees by Ricky Ian Gordon, composer of the acclaimed opera The Grapes of Wrath and the OBIE Award-winning Orpheus and Euridice, as well as the musicals My Life with Albertine and Dream True.

Revisit one of the most-acclaimed musical productions of all time when Pittsburgh CLO kicks off the 64th Summer Season with its production of Oliver!, June 1-6 at the Benedum Center in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District.

Flashback to the 1950s and some of that decade's greatest hits - Catch a Falling Star, Three Coins in the Fountain, Love is a Many Splendored Thing - with National Players' summer musical, Forever Plaid.

Three couples, two dinner parties, one adulterous affair. International City Theatre presents How the Other Half Loves, the delicious comedy by Alan Ayckbourn that ingeniously juggles time and space to create a whirlwind of chaos, confusion and laughter. Todd Nielsen directs a four-week run April 30 through May 23, with low-priced previews beginning April 27.

On Monday, May 17th at 6pm journalist and theater critic Don Shewey will interview Tony Award-winning actress Carole Shelley. On stage, Shelley made her Broadway debut in the original 1965 production of The Odd Couple, playing Gwendolyn Pigeon, a role which she reprised for the film version and for the first season of the subsequent television series.

The WFMT Radio Network in Chicago, producer of radio programs for the New York Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Wigmore Hall and other major national and international organizations, will produce a new 13-hour series, 'No Song Is Safe From Us,' highlighting the unique and renowned musical programs of New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org).

Village Theatre produces the most celebrated backstage musical story of our time, 42ND STREET, opening in May. This production will have one preview performance in Issaquah on Wednesday, May 12, and will officially open the following day, running May 13-July 2, 2010 in downtown Issaquah, and July 9-August 1, 2010 in downtown Everett.

On May 6th, CAP21 (Collaborative Arts Project 21) will transform its block box theater 'The Shop' into Europe during WWI, the backdrop for Fengar Gael's 'The Usher's Ball'. The play will have a month long run in May, as part of CAP21's Spring/Summer season.

One of Broadway's longest-running musicals makes its regional professional premiere at The Media Theatre May 5-June 6. 'Rent', Jonathan Larson's rock and roll odyssey of the lives and loves of a group of friends on Manhattan's Lower East Side, became such a huge phenomenon that it spawned the careers of several popular performers (Adam Pascal, Taye Diggs, Idina Menzel, and Daphne Rubin-Vega) and ran for 12 years.

A tuneful, funny musical score meets a giant man-eating plant when Cabrillo Music Theatre's production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS devours the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. One of the longest-running Off-Broadway shows of all time, with a hit movie and a Broadway revival to its credit, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS takes root on Friday, April 23rd, 2010, and blossoms until Sunday, May 2nd. Locally produced exclusively for Southern California audiences, performances take place at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.

A tuneful, funny musical score meets a giant man-eating plant when Cabrillo Music Theatre's production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS devours the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. One of the longest-running Off-Broadway shows of all time, with a hit movie and a Broadway revival to its credit, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS takes root on Friday, April 23rd, 2010, and blossoms until Sunday, May 2nd. Locally produced exclusively for Southern California audiences, performances take place at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.

The cast of THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, which ended its twice extended, sold-out run at Vineyard Theatre on Sunday, April 18, will record an Original Cast Album of the musical on Friday, April 23rd, it has been announced by Vineyard Theatre Artistic Director Douglas Aibel. The cast album of THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS will be recorded and released by JAY Records. Release date TBA.

On Thursday, April 22 at 8:00 p.m., acclaimed mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, with pianist Martin Katz, sings her New York farewell concert in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Her varied program includes works by some of the greatest contemporary and 20th century American composers: Ned Rorem, Jake Heggie, Virgil Thomson, Aaron Copland, Lee Hoiby, Leonard Bernstein, Carol Hall, William Bolcom, and Stephen Sondheim.

Signature Theatre, winner of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents the Washington premiere of the hit musical comedy [title of show], winner of three Obie Awards and a Tony nomination. A zany take on two friends' decision to write a musical, [title of show] runs April 6 through June 27 in Signature's remarkably intimate 110-seat ARK Theatre.

Tony Award winner Elaine Stritch will perform her concert, 'Singin' Sondheim...One Song at a Time' at the Cafe Carlyle from April 20 - April 29, 2010. Stritch will additionally perform the show as part of Hartford Stage's 2010 SummerStage series from June 17 - 20, 2010, as BroadwayWorld previously reported. Stritch will be joined in Hartford by Chita Rivera and Ben Vereen, who will also be performing solo concerts in Hartford on June 22-27 and July 6-11, respectively.