The Clean House - 2017 - Williamstown, MA (Regional) Articles Page 7

HELLO DOLLY first landed on Broadway in 1964, and the current (2017) revival, playing at Providence Performing Arts Center through March 8, won the Tony Award for Best Revival and Best Actress for Bette Midler. While those who have nostalgia for this show will no doubt think it's fun, the uninitiated may find themselves wishing for a few of the less memorable songs to be traded for more robust character development. Not unlike the recent revival of Miss Saigon, which tried to win new audiences by actually casting Asian actors to play Asian roles and by spending a tremendous amount of money on technical wizardry; this revival of Hello Dolly went all out on sets and costumes, presumably to distract from mostly forgettable songs and a book that is bloated, dated and not nearly as charming as it thinks it is.

Hazel and Robin are retired physicists, living in a small cottage on the English coast, in the aftermath of a recent nuclear disaster. Their daily routine of keeping house, yoga, and tending to the cows is upended by the sudden and unexpected arrival of Rose, a former colleague and friend. As crackers and wine are trotted out, so are old jealousies, and the true reason for this visit, which seems to be an evening of laughter, food, and memories, reveals itself to be something else entirely. Stage West presents Lucy Kirkwood's thrilling and astonishing Tony nominee The Children, which begins a 5-week regional premiere run on Thursday, March 12.

Mercury Theater Chicago announced today the cast and crew of the spectacular musical comedy PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT, running in the Venus Cabaret Theater from March 20 through June 28.

The founder and CEO of Fields Good Chicken (FGC) is Field Failing. Broadwayworld.com had the pleasure of interviewing Field about his background, career, and Fields Good Chicken.

REELZ today announced new programming for March 2020 with three new original specials, five new episodes of returning original series Autopsy: The Last Hours of... , the U.S. premiere of documentary ABBA: Secrets of Their Greatest Hits and the REELZ premiere of Dolly Parton: Here She Comes Again! Every Sunday in March a new episode of Autopsy: The Last Hours of... premieres celebrating the lives and examining the untimely deaths of celebrities including disco sensation Andy Gibb, Diff'rent Strokes star Dana Plato, WWE champion Chris Benoit, Academy Award(R) winning actress Audrey Hepburn and country music legend Glen Campbell. Natalie Morales hosts two new original Behind Closed Doors specials about hit family sitcom The Facts of Life and romantic comedy Pretty Woman which marks its 30th anniversary since hitting the big screen in March 1990. New original special House of Horrors: The Friends Speak explores the Turpin family nightmare in which 13 children were abused by their parents for decades.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting award, the oldest and largest prize awarded to women playwrights.

A seminal work of Jewish culture or an act of traitorous libel? Indecent explores the origins of the highly controversial play The God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch. We follow the path of the artists who risked their careers and lives to perform it in this deeply moving play accompanied by a small live klezmer band.

Fantasy or Reality? Which is which? When does a stage kiss cross the delicate line into a real one?

As BroadwayWorld previously announced, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's classic musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is returning to New York in a special concert presentation from Manhattan Concert Productions on February 17th at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall! In celebration of the highly-anticipated production, we're giving you a guide to the star-studded cast, including Noah Galvin, Alex Newell, Jessica Vosk, Andy Karl, and so many more!

San Francisco Playhouse announced casting for the second production of their 2019/2020 Sandbox Series of World Premieres: Born in East Berlin, written by Rogelio Martinez. Margarett Perry will direct the world premiere production, presented at The Creativity Theater.

In what has become an annual ritual, a total of 40 established and emerging composers, lyricists, and librettists will converge on the Goodspeed campus from mid-January through mid-February 2020 to participate in the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. The writing teams, representing 15 new musicals, will populate the campus, creating a truly exciting environment for discovery and inspiration.

This winter and spring, Joe's Pub a?" a program and venue of The Public Theater a?" is honoring new voices in musical theater through a variety of shows. From Broadway performers in concert to new musicals presented in the concert setting, there's something for every fan of musicals happening this season. Audiences are invited to celebrate the art of musical theater in non-conventional yet intimate ways with returning artists and new faces alike at Joe's Pub.

Seattle Rep will welcome back director Tim Bond and a cast of Seattle veteran actors for its production of Lucy Kirkwood's post-apocalyptic drama The Children, beginning February 7 in the Leo K. Theater. Tickets are on sale now through the Seattle Rep Patron Services Office at 206.443.2222 and online at seattlerep.org.

This morning, Bear Hands confirm their 31-date tour of the United States. The band toured extensively in 2019 with twenty one pilots, Foals, and X Ambassadors, and on their headlining tour Bear Hands will perform in cities including Chicago, Austin, Atlanta, Portland, and New York City (full dates below). IRONTOM­­­ are confirmed as support on all dates, and tickets will go on sale on Friday, December 20 at 10am local time (with the exception of Washington D.C.'s U Street show, which will go on sale Thursday at December 19 at 10am local time) here.

Grand Horizons is now in previews on Broadway!  Grand Horizons will play a strictly limited 10-week engagement, and officially open on January 23, 2020 at The Hayes Theater (240 West 44th Street).

The Drama League (Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, Executive Director Bevin Ross) announced today the acting company for the 36th annual DirectorFest, the only festival in the United States dedicated to the art of contemporary stage directing. Directorfest will take place January 10 - February 4, 2020 at various locations around NYC: The New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street), The Drama League Theater Center (32 Avenue of the Americas), LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (31-10 Thomson Avenue), and Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette Street). For festival details and tickets, visit directorfest.org or call (212) 244-9494 x102.

Lookingglass Theatre Company welcomes five new Ensemble Members and four new Artistic Associates into the Lookingglass family. Joining the Ensemble are Walter Briggs (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Moby Dick), Kasey Foster (The Steadfast Tin Soldier, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas), circus choreographer Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi (The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), Anthony Irons (The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Act(s) of God), and composer and sound designer Andre Pluess (The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Eastland). New Artistic Associates include Cordelia Dewdney (Moby Dick, Hard Times), Wendy Mateo (Big Lake Big City, Beyond Caring), costume designer Sully Ratke (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas) and Matthew C. Yee (Treasure Island, Moby Dick).

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the company for A Thousand Splendid Suns, adapted for the stage by Ursula Rani Sarma and based on the 2007 New York Times bestselling novel by Khaled Hosseini (Kite Runner). Set in 1992 in war-torn Afghanistan, this gripping story centers around a friendship that develops between two Afghan women following a tragedy. While facing insurmountable odds of a brutal and oppressive way of life, the two form an unlikely bond in a heart-rending fight for survival. Directed by Carey Perloff, A Thousand Splendid Suns runs January 17 - March 1, 2020 in the Kreeger Theater.

The Olivier Award-nominated producers of the 2017 smash-hit La bohème, announce the full cast for the Puccini double-bill, Opera Undone: Tosca & La bohème. The production will run at Trafalgar Studios 2 from 5 February to 7 March 2020. Adam Spreadbury-Maher, Artistic Director of the King's Head Theatre, will also direct the production, with musical direction from David Eaton. Opera Undone: Tosca & La bohème will have national press nights on Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 February 2020 for the two casts.

The Lone Bellow – Zach Williams, Kanene Donehey Pipkin, Brian Elmquist – have released 'Wonder,' the new song from their long-awaited soon-to-be-released album, HALF MOON LIGHT (Dualtone Records, an Entertainment One Company), the band's fourth studio LP and first one since 2017. Pulsing with the trio's signature harmonies, “Wonder” underpins the entire album with a loving call to reclaim the childlike awe and appreciation age takes away. It is the record's core message and transcendent truth. The song premiered yesterday via Relix, who called it 'moving, wistful.'

Second Stage Theater (Carole Rothman, President and Artistic Director; Casey Reitz, Executive Director) has announced Ben McKenzie (Ben) will complete the cast of Bess Wohl's GRAND HORIZONS. The production will mark his Broadway debut.

Combining a sad Irish mythological tale of four sisters doomed to live together silently as swans on a lake with a modern tale of a modern man suffering in silence from debilitating depression while living alone in a house soon to be lost after the death of his beloved mother on the shore of that same lake, is the essence of the Keegan-Dolan's tale, reminding us to do what it takes to reach the light and joy when the bell rings in our mind and allows us to express the release of negative emotions and let childlike joy enter our lives.

The Drama League announced today the 2020 line-up of DirectorFest: The 36th Annual Directors Festival, the only festival in the United States dedicated to the art of contemporary stage directing. For its 36th year, the festival will include six fully-staged productions, a showcase concert of a new musical, a town hall, and conversations with directors including 2017 Tony Award Winner Rebecca Taichman (Indecent), 2014 Tony Award Winner and 2010 Drama League Founders Award for Excellence in Directing Kenny Leon (A Soldier's Play), and Intimacy Director Claire Warden (HBO's Mrs. Fletcher).

Read to Me by Brendan Pelsue is open for reviewers Friday, October 25 at 7:30 pm. Read to Me is a poignant story about a child with a terminal illness who connects delicate moments in unusual ways. Discovering the mysterious a?oePostal Service,a?? he sends messages to the world and awaits a response. This poetic play, created through magical realism, reveals the quiet ways in which we connect. 

Music legend Sir Elton John opens up about his life with husband David Furnish, his contentious relationship with his late mother, drugs, recovery and his new autobiography, Me, in an interview with Tracy Smith for CBS SUNDAY MORNING to be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 13 (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.