The King and I Revival

Jelani Alladin (Kristoff), Greg Hildreth (Olaf), John Riddle (Hans) and the entire cast of the new Broadway hit Frozen surprised the sold-out house at the St. James Theatre this afternoon with a tribute to Rodgers & Hammerstein's classic musical Oklahoma!, which opened at the St. James Theatre 75 years ago today, on March 31, 1943.

Emma Williams's past work includes Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Half a Sixpence, Mrs Henderson Presents and Love Story. She's currently starring in a new musical version of the iconic Richard Gere film An Officer and a Gentleman, which opens at Leicester Curve on 6 April.

This April, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.

Broadwayworld.com. Its Lea with Part 2 of my Middletown blog. I will show life as we close Middletown, life after Middletown and a very special trip to see a show in a very special place plus wonderful experiences.

The NYTB REP program with a World Premiere by Richard Alston has now added encore performances of three of Jerome Robbins' rarely seen ballets: Septet, Concertino and Rondo, recently performed in sold-out shows in The Harkness Dance Festival 2018 at 92Y. The program will feature live music for all works.

Shana Dirik, Producing Artistic Director of Theater UnCorked - Boston's newest small theater company - today announced the full cast for the company's debut performance: Sweeney Todd in Concert - A Pop-Up Musical. This one-time-only benefit performance will take place on Saturday, June 2nd, 2018 at First Church in Cambridge (11 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138) at 7:30 pm.

Batter up! Frozen's resident Princess Anna, Patti Murin and Tony Award-winner Kelli O'Hara revealed some exciting news on Twitter this evening.

The NYTB REP program with a World Premiere by Richard Alston has now added encore performances of three of Jerome Robbins' rarely seen ballets

One thing is for certain about THE BOOK OF MORMON: this memorable, whip-smart, and downright gut-busting Broadway musical is still one of the funniest---if not the funniest---musical ever to exist in the 21st Century. The tour's return trip to Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa continues through April 1, 2018.

Broadway star Andy Mientus, who will play Tommy in the DCPA Theatre Company's upcoming stage production of 'The Who's Tommy,' based on the seminal concept album, performed songs from the musical on March 26, 2018, at the Alamo Drafthouse Denver, with proceeds benefiting The Denver Actors Fund. Mientus sang 'Sensation.' Guitar by Dave Devine. The live entertainment preceded a screening of Ken Russell's cult-classic film adaptation on the 43rd anniversary of its London release. The evening's host was Steven J. Burge, currently a featured performer in the Denver Center's First Date. Video provided by Avery Anderson and edited by John Moore.

Broadway star Lulu Fall, who will play The Acid Queen in the DCPA Theatre Company's upcoming stage production of 'The Who's Tommy,' based on the seminal concept album, performed songs from the musical on March 26, 2018, at the Alamo Drafthouse Denver, with proceeds benefiting The Denver Actors Fund. Guitar by Dave Devine. Video provided by Avery Anderson and edited by John Moore.

Maureen McGovern is celebrating the 45th Anniversary of her theme song, "The Morning After," which won the Oscar for Best Song of the Year in 1973, and became an international Gold Record and garnered her a Grammy Nomination for Best New Artist.  Along with musical director/pianist Jeff Harris, Ms. McGovern will perform some of her most beloved hits, including "Can You Read My Mind?," "We May Never Love Like This Again," and of course, "The Morning After," along with many other Oscar-winning and classic film songs.

Back by popular demand and for one night only, 'Magic at the Musicals with Cadbury Dairy Milk' is set to return to the stunning surroundings of London's Royal Albert Hall on 21st May 2018. Following rave reviews last year, this brand new show, complete with 60 piece orchestra, is set to wow audiences for a third year in a row.

Freeform announces its programming schedule for April 2018, which will include new episodes of the mermaid drama “Siren” (premiering Thursday, March 29), supernatural series “Shadowhunters,” and the second season premiere of fan-favorite “Famous In Love.”

Performing Arts Fort Worth announces its 2018-2019 Broadway at the Bass Season at Bass Performance Hall! Comprised of seven shows, plus two add-on specials, the series offers a mix of all-time favorites with brand-new shows direct from Broadway. Season ticket packages start at $268.40 - that's seven shows for $38 each!

Beloved classics and recent Tony Award winners mark North Carolina Theatre's seventh season at The Duke Energy Center. The national tours of Jersey Boys and The King and I headline the season. NC Theatre's productions of In the Heights, Mama Mia, Murder for Two (theatre debut), and family favorite Annie round out the season.

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and The Shubert Organization are pleased to announce the 2018/19 Broadway Philadelphia season, featuring an outstanding lineup of highly-anticipated Broadway shows, including the Philadelphia premiere of Hamilton. The monumental upcoming season boasts a prodigious collection of award-winning productions which have garnered a collective 47 Tony® Awards and 25 Drama Desk Awards - the highest number of shows holding awards to ever grace one Broadway Philadelphia season!

Cleveland Play House (CPH) is proud to announce the cast of the high-spirited, interactive musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Broadway and TV actress Ali Stroker (Glee, Deaf West's Production of Spring Awakening) joins Broadway veterans Kirsten Wyatt (Annie, Elf, Shrek), John Scherer (Sunset Boulevard, By Jeeves, Funny Girl), Lee Slobotkin, Chad Burris (both of Book of Mormon), Kay Trinidad Karns (Little Mermaid), and more in this laugh-out-loud musical directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge on the Allen Stage through May 6th. This production is sponsored by Huntington National Bank and Zinner & Co.

TCT Off Broadway will present a youth production of Broadway Beat on April 12 and 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Aril 14 at 2 p.m. at 213 East Franklin Street.   The show includes musical highlights from over a century of song and dance including Hairspray, The Music Man, The King and I, Wicked, Rent and Grease, and a medley of favorites from George M. Cohan! Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and younger and may be reserved by calling the TCT office at 844-1935.

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents I Will Always Love You: Broadway Fights Ovarian Cancer on Sunday, April 15, 2018 at 6:30pm. I Will Always Love You: Broadway Fights Ovarian Cancer brings together some of the best of Broadway for an unforgettable night of music to raise money to find a cure for and celebrate those battling Ovarian Cancer.

The first U.S. National tour of the hit musical THE BODYGUARD, will play the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts from April 10 - 15. Tickets are on sale now.

MasterVoices - dedicated to celebrating the power of the human voice through the art of musical storytelling - presents two performances of a new production of Orphic Moments, in conjunction with producers Anthony Roth Costanzo and Cath Brittan. 

Luna and the Gold River Docks, a musical by Eric Dietz inspired by the documentary The Whale by Michael Parfit and Suzanne Chisholm, will present a special reading presentation on Friday, March 23 at 2:00pm. 

State Theatre New Jersey unveiled its 2018-19 Broadway Season, featuring six fantastic Broadway shows. The 2018-19 Season will feature Tony Award-winning hits, beloved classics, and some returning favorites. Season ticket packages for the 2018-19 Broadway Series are now on sale.

Flashback to Opening Night and the first week of Middletown.

Don't Tell Mama is thrilled to present the return engagement of West End & Broadway star and Olivier Award-nominee Liz Robertson in 'Lerner Without Loewe,' an affectionate musical tribute to her late husband, Alan Jay Lerner, the internationally acclaimed author of My Fair Lady, currently in previews at The Vivian Beaumont Theatre and opening on April 19. Having debuted the show in a one night engagement last April, she now returns for three (3) performances -  Friday, April 13 at 7pm, Saturday, April 14 at 8pm, and Sunday, April 15 at 6pm. The evening is directed by Barry Kleinbort with musical direction by Ron Abel.

The national tour of the Lincoln Center Theater Production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I will make its Columbus premiere at the Ohio Theatre April 24-29 with an Ohio native in the lead female role of Anna Leonowens. Hailing from Chagrin Falls, Elena Shaddow takes on the character of the British schoolteacher hired by the King of Siam to educate his wives and children.

The tragic events surrounding the rise of the Khmer Rouge regime in mid-70's Cambodia serves as the overarching backdrop that links the past and the (near) present in Lauren Yee's stunning new play CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND---which continues its World Premiere production at Orange County's Tony Award-winning regional theatre South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa through March 25, 2018. Commissioned by SCR as part of its CrossRoads Initiative, this powerful and searing new drama---sprinkled with welcome bits of comedy and, yes, rock concert music interludes---had its initial staged reading at last year's Pacific Playwright's Festival and is now an absorbing, full-fledged production under the admirable direction of Chay Yew.

A season of Tony Award-winning Broadway hits - Center premieres and returning favorites - await audiences during Segerstrom Center for the Arts' 2018-2019 Broadway and Curtain Call Series, plus a special Bonus Offer. Coming to the Center for the first time are Waitress, Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away, Disney's Aladdin, and Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. There will be new productions of the Tony Award®-winning Best Musical Revival Hello, Dolly! starring Broadway legend Betty Buckley, Fiddler on the Roof and Cats. The season also includes two shows with remarkable and touching stories and iconic songs, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical and The Phantom of the Opera.

From the sun baked Oklahoma Territory at the turn of the 20th century comes the Broadway classic, Oklahoma!, beginning April 11 with a press opening on Wednesday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. at 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire. Due to high demand, an additional week is now on sale through June 10. Featuring a powerful score by legendary duo Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs, Oklahoma! will be directed by Artistic Director and Jeff Award-winner Aaron Thielen (She Loves Me, Spring Awakening). Jeff Award nominee Alex Sanchez (Marriott Theatre: Newsies, Evita, On the Town, Mary Poppins) will choreograph, with Musical Direction and orchestrations by Jeff Award winner Ryan T. Nelson.

Dean John-Wilson (who starred in the title role of Disney's original West End production of Aladdin) and Na-Young Jeon (Fantine in Les Miserables in the West End and Gigi in Miss Saigon on world tour) join the West End cast of THE KING AND I as the young lovers, Lun Tha and Tuptim. They will join Tony Award winner and "Broadway musical's undisputed Queen" (Sunday Times) Kelli O'Hara as Anna, Tony and Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe as The King and Tony award-winning Ruthie Ann Miles as Lady Thiang. Rodgers & Hammerstein's multi-award winning musical transfers from Broadway to the London Palladium on 21 June (Press Night 3 July).

After two successful consecutive runs on School of Rock (Broadway and Broadway's First National Tour as Tomika), 13-year-old star Gianna Harris will lead young aspiring artist ages 9-17, in The Broadway Star Project's Cast Recording Experience!

Looks like the West End will be getting to know Kelli O'Hara and Ken Watanabe. According to a report by the Daily Mail, Lincoln Center Theater's production of THE KING AND I 'has its eye on the London Palladium for a limited season next year.'

TimeLine Theatre Company, acclaimed for presenting plays inspired by history that connect to today's social and political issues, is thrilled to announce its 22nd season and to preview an upcoming partnership with Firebrand Theatre.

Lincoln Center Theater's upcoming production of Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady is officially in previews! Get to know the cast below as they begin Broadway performances!

The FSCJ Artist Series, sponsored by Vystar Credit Union, is proud to announce the 2018-19 Broadway in Jacksonville season, filled with award-winning blockbusters and family favorites. Next season's lineup will feature Broadway in Jacksonville's debuts of Waitress and Andrew Lloyd Webber's new high-octane hit The School of Rock, along with Les Miserables and Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I. All performances will be at the Times-Union Center.

BroadwayWorld UK writer Nicole Ackman shares her top picks for musicals that deserve a revival in the West End.

Award-winning pioneer playwright Qui Nguyen brilliantly chronicles the love story of his parents' meeting in an Arkansas refugee center after fleeing Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975. It's a buddy story, an all-American romance, and a motorcycle road-trip adventure that reexamines how we think about the heroes and victims of the Vietnam War. Vietgone skips through time and roams the globe with snarky humor, hip-hop, and lots of sex. It's one ironic, foul-mouthed, bad-ass new play.

A Chicago housewife turns one small step into a giant, life-changing leap in Bartram & Hill's new musical You Are Here. Goodspeed Musicals continues its commitment to innovative, thought-provoking works with this intimate tour-de-force new musical featuring Tony Award nominee Patti Cohenour as Diana, Broadway performers Andrea Frierson as Voice 1 and Stacia Fernandez as Voice 2, and Spamilton: An American Parody starDan Rosales as Voice 3.

Next Week, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.

Today, Carole Shorenstein Hays announced that single tickets are now available for SOFT POWER, the play featuring a musical by David Henry Hwang (play and lyrics) and Jeanine Tesori (music and additional lyrics). SOFT POWER will make its Bay Area premiere at San Francisco's Curran (445 Geary Street) June 20 - July 8, 2018. SOFT POWER is a Center Theatre Group co-commission with The Public Theater and will perform at the Curran following its world premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles

Takao Osawa, the multi-award-winning actor and star of one of Japan's most popular television series JIN, will join the cast of THE KING AND I to play the Kralahome, trusted adviser to The King of Siam, when the smash hit musical transfers from Broadway to the London Palladium for "London's theatrical event of 2018" (Daily Express) on 21 June (Press Night 3 July).

From April 10th-12th, two-time Tony Award-nominee Stephanie J. Block will join the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Broadway star Ramin Karimloo and conductor Steven Reineke to present ON BROADWAY, an evening of Broadway's greatest hits at the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto! BroadwayWorld's Taylor Long sat down with Stephanie ahead of her upcoming concert with the TSO.

What happens when you reverse all of the pronouns in some of Broadway's most famous songs?

Cambridge Arts Theatre today announces a new UK tour of James Roose-Evans' adaptation of Helene Hanff's novel 84 Charing Cross Road, in collaboration with Lee Dean and Salisbury Playhouse. Richard Beecham directs Stefanie Powers as Helene Hanff and Clive Francis as Frank Doel. The production opens at Darlington Hippodrome on Wednesday 23 May before touring to Wolverhampton, Malvern, Richmond, Oxford and finishing in Cambridge Arts Theatre on 30 June.

Batter up! Tony Award-winner Kelli O'Hara revealed belted one out in the ballpark today, singing the national anthem for opening day at Yankee Stadium! Check out video of Kelli officially ringing in the new baseball season with her flawless rendition!

Catskill's Bridge Street Theatre invites audiences to experience ENCORES!, a special one-time only performance by the legendary Flo Hayle on the BST Mainstage Saturday April 21st at 2:00pm. Producer Jan Grice and Musical Director Jay Kerr join Ms. Hayle for a potpourri of terrific tunes and fascinating tales in celebration of her 89th trip around the sun!

BroadwayWorld has a first look at Elena Shaddow in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE KING AND I! Check out new production photos below!

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's first musical, Oklahoma!, opened on Broadway on March 31, 1943, and will mark its 75th anniversary this spring. That show, along with Carousel (whose new Broadway revival opens on April 12), South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music firmly established Rodgers and Hammerstein at the apex of the great age of the American Songbook.

The Broadway cast of Jimmy Buffett's 'Escape to Margaritaville' added their own flavor to Rodgers & Hammerstein, celebrating the 75th Anniversary of 'Oklahoma!' with a very Buffett version of 'Surrey with the Fringe on Top,' complete with an appearance by Jimmy Buffett himself. Check out the video, featuring Buffett himself, below!