Sweeney Todd - 1996 - Regional (US) Articles Page 7

As BroadwayWorld sadly reported yesterday, stage star Phyllis Newman passed away yesterday, September 15, at the age of 86. Newman got her start in show business at 4 years old imitating Carmen Miranda in theatres and clubs. Her portrayal of Martha Vail in the Jule Styne/Comden and Green musical Subways Are For Sleeping - costumed only in a bath towel - earned her a Tony Award. Her other Broadway credits include Bells Are Ringing, The Apple Tree, On the Town, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Awake and Sing, Wish You Were Here, First Impressions, and her one-woman musical The Madwoman of Central Park West, which she co-authored with Arthur Laurents. She garnered a Tony Award nomination for her highly-acclaimed performance in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound.

The renaming of the theatre was dedicated to Stephen Sondheim, the greatest and best known artist in American musical theatre on his 80th birthday. 

The 1996 Film The Spitfire Grill was a big winner at Sundance and other festivals. It is a drama about a small New England town called Gillead where one restaurant The Spitfire Grill has been up and running for 40 years. Since then a musical was created by Fred Alley and James Valq and little is changed. Characters and most of the plotline are the same as in the movie, with the addition of music, of course. The Spitfire Grill is a small restaurant business for a small community. Its owner Hannah Ferguson (Sarah Saviano) cooks three meals a day and runs the place by herself.  Bold and stubborn as a mule, Hannah keeps a dark secret about a close relation. It takes a stranger to Gillead to uncover the secret, to cause further complication and ... to gradually set things right. Now onstage at the Garry Marshall Theatre through August 11, The Spitfire Grill  is a winning production that will entertain you and simultaneously tug at your heart strings.

Cameron Mackintosh today announces he is delighted that in honour of Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday next March, the Queen's Theatre will be renamed the Sondheim Theatre, making him the only living artist to have a theatre named in his honour both in the West End and on Broadway. Following the renovation of wartime bomb damage and a major restoration of the auditorium and the complete backstage, the newly named Sondheim Theatre will continue as the home of world's longest running musical Les Miserables as it enters its 35th year.

With a legendary book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, Chicago is now the #1 longest-running American musical in Broadway history.

The 72nd Annual Tony Awards are this Sunday June 10th at 8/9c hosted by Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles. It's the biggest award show of the Broadway season and it closes out a long awards season for Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals and plays. We can't help but wonder what chances this year's Best Musical and Best Play nominees have of taking home the ultimate prize...

Multi-awarded recording artist and musical theater performer Ima Castro and internationally-renowned baritone Andrew Fernando will join the cast of Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group's SWEENEY TODD, starring Lea Salonga and Jett Pangan.

Maria Friedman and Anita Dobson join the company of Trevor Nunn's critically acclaimed production of Fiddler on the Roof, which is currently running at the reconfigured Playhouse Theatre until 28 September. Friedman plays Golde, and Dobson plays Yente from 18 June, taking over from Judy Kuhn and Louise Gold respectively. They join Andy Nyman (Tevye), Nicola Brown (Chava), Harriet Bunton (Hodel), Dermot Canavan (Lazar Wolf), Stewart Clarke (Perchik), Joshua Gannon (Motel), Matthew Hawksley (Fyedka), and Molly Osborne (Tzeitel), as well as Miles Barrow, Sofia Bennett, Philip Bertioli, Lottie Casserley, Elena Cervesi, Lia Cohen, Talia Etherington, Shoshana Ezequiel, Isabella Foat, Fenton Gray, James Hameed, Adam Linstead, Adam Margilewski, Robert Maskell, Benny Maslov, Robyn McIntyre, Gaynor Miles, Ellie Mullane, Tania Newton, Craig Pinder, Valentina Theodoulou and Ed Wade.

As I'm going through all my Gypsy CDs (yes, to ensure I have them all either on my hard drive or accessible in the cloud, before throwing them out), I'm finding myself weirdly most drawn to Tyne Daly's recording, from her Tony-winning performance in the 1989 revival. The thing is I know Tyne Daly, I mean I know her work. She's been a familiar and distinctive presence on stage and screen for as long as I can remember and I even have a few musical theater recordings featuring her singing, but hers is not a singing voice I live with on a LITERALLY daily basis like, say, Ethel Merman's, Angela Lansbury's, Bette Midler's, Bernadette Peters's or Patti LuPone's. So to me, Tyne Daly's Rose is a unique sound that I can only identify with Tyne Daly's Rose and, therefore, a character. For today, that's the Gypsy I most feel like listening to.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Happy Friday! Finish off your week by catching up on the latest Broadway news!

San Francisco Playhouse celebrates the magic of the holiday season with the hit Broadway musical Mary Poppins. Susi Damilano will direct the Playhouse production, with music direction by Katie Coleman and choreography by Kimberly Richards.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced the full cast and creative team for Paradise Square: An American Musical. The world premiere is helmed by acclaimed director Moises Kaufman, with choreography by the legendary Bill T. Jones and a book by Marcus Gardley, Craig Lucas, and Larry Kirwan. Music by Jason Howland and Larry Kirwan, with lyrics by Nathan Tysen, and based on the songs of Stephen Foster. Paradise Square is produced by special arrangement with Garth H. Drabinsky in association with Peter LeDonne and Teatro Proscenium Limited Partnership.

Today's subject, Nancy Anderson, has been living her theater life on Broadway and in regional theaters for many years now. You can currently see her as the tight-fisted, but caring dance teacher Mrs. Wilkinson in Billy Elliot at Signature Theatre. The production plays through January 6, 2019 in the MAX space. Directed and choreographed by Signature Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner, it very well may be the largest production the company has presented to date.

Selladoor Worldwide has announced the launch of Selladoor Creation - a brand new platform for new writers to showcase and develop their work with the backing of one of the UK's leading theatre producers. With this new company, Selladoor will continue to support diverse and challenging work from talented artists, and bring innovative new work to the national and international stage, making it accessible for all audiences.

The play will be shown from March 21, 2019 until March 24, 2019. 

Let the bells peal!  Ring in the holidays with a classic tale.  Long Island's newest theatrical venue The Argyle Theatrepresents the musical The Hunchback of Notre Dame, based on the novel by Victor Hugo and songs from the Disney film originally developed by Disney Theatrical Productions, with music by Alan Menkin, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and book by Peter Parnell.

Angela Lansbury has enjoyed a career without precedent. Her professional career spans more than half-a-century, during which she has flourished, first as a star of motion pictures, then as a four-time Tony Award-winning Broadway musical star, and most recently as the star of 'Murder, She Wrote,' the longest running detective drama series in the history of television.

On this Seas 2 premiere episode of BroadwayWorld's theatre business podcast, 'The OHenry Report,' Broadway producer and investor Oliver Henry Roth goes inside the mechanics of closing a Broadway show with veteran theatrical general manager, Daniel Kuney. The Oliver chats with four-time Tony-winning producer Kevin McCollum about how the decision to close a show works on his level, but also what goes into the decision to reverse course and push back an announced closing date, as he did with Broadway's 'The Play that Goes Wrong.'

This year, a living legend of musical theatre turns 90: Lyricist-bookwriter Tom Jones (who also, under a stage name) appeared in the original company of his most famous and wildly successful record-breaking musical, The Fantasticks. His collaborator, composer Harvey Schmidt, just recently passed away. The production's record-breaking run closed, on January 13, 2002, after 17,162 performances. Their shows also include 110 in the Shade, I Do! I Do!, Philemon, Celebration and many more. And celebration is what it's about when Broadway veterans Carole Demas, who originated the role of Sandy in Grease, and Sarah Rice, who originated the role of Johanna in Sweeney Todd, return to celebrate Jones & Schmidt. Demas and Rice have based the show on their 50 years of work and personal relationships with Tom and Harvey. With very special guest Broadway's Hal Robinson who is also a Fantasticks alumni.

San Francisco Playhouse celebrates the magic of the holiday season with the hit Broadway musical Mary Poppins. Susi Damilano will direct the Playhouse production, with music direction by Katie Coleman and choreography by Kimberly Richards.

Celebrating the centennial of Alan Jay Lerner, The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director; Evans Haile, Executive Director), dedicated to the development of new musicals and rediscovery of musical gems from the past, is proud to announce that its acclaimed Musicals in Mufti series will celebrate the work of the legendary librettist and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, whose hundredth birthday was August 31, 2018. The series honors one of the creators behind such classics as Brigadoon, Camelot, Love Life, and My Fair Lady.

WaterTower Theatre Artistic Director Joanie Schultz announced today the naming of "The Terry Martin Main Stage." The dedication ceremony is set for Opening Night of the company's first show of the 2018-2019 Season, A Doll's House.

Veteran Broadway press agents Jim Byk and Shane Marshall Brown have created The Press Room, a new theatrical and entertainment publicity office now open in New York City. Founders Byk and Brown are joined by publicist Kelly Guiod, who serves as Vice President for the company.

Yeston & Kopit's 'PHANTOM' made its New York Premiere here at WBT in 1992. During our record breaking nine- month run, over 120,000 people attended. Night after night, audiences rose to their feet for the stunning musical thriller. The original production was directed by William Pullinsi and starred Robert Cuccioli as the Phantom and Glory Crampton as Christine Daee. 'PHANTOM' returned to our stage in 1996 and 2007 directed and choreographed by Tom Polum, who had been in the original production. This extraordinary piece will grace our stage once again with Tom Polum at the helm.  

The Stage kicks off Season 36 with the Obie-winning play 'The Lieutenant of Inishmore' by acclaimed playwright Martin McDonagh; screenwriter, director, and producer of this year's Golden Globe winner for Best Motion Picture - 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'.  McDonagh's work is built into the fabric of San Jose Stage Company's mission to illuminate the human condition. 'The Lieutenant of Inishmore' marks The Stage's 5th work by Martin McDonagh previously producing the Leenane Trilogy 'The Beauty Queen of Leenane' (2001), 'A Skull in Connemara' (2002), 'The Lonesome West' (2004) and 'The Pillowman' (2009).  "Through 'The Lieutenant of Inishmore' McDonagh forces us to view the ludicrous nature of terrorism with his special brand of black comedy."- Randall King | Artistic Director- San Jose Stage