The Power of Yes - 2009 - West End Articles Page 15

The Off Broadway production of Alfred Preisser and Randy Weiner's CALIGULA MAXIMUS, at the Ellen Stewart Theatre, will be extended for one additional week to meet audience demand. CALIGULA MAXIMUS begins previews at the Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 E. 4th St, in New York on March 12th and has been extended through April 10th. Opening night is set for March 19th, with scheduled performances on Thursday and Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 8pm and 10pm.

The Tony® Award-winning actress will once again be gracing the stage of The Orange County Performing Arts Center's Samueli Theater to close out this year's Broadway talent-heavy Cabaret Series from April 8 thru 11. Besides her winning performance as Ms. Adelaide in the critically-acclaimed revival of Guys and Dolls, she has been balancing a rich career in film and television with a string of iconic shows on the Great White Way, which include Tony-nominated turns in A Catered Affair, Bells Are Ringing, and Jerome Robbins' Broadway. Most recently she hung up her tentacles playing the final Ursula in Disney's stage adaptation of The Little Mermaid before it closed on Broadway last year. But before she makes her triumphant cabaret return to Orange County, Ms. Prince spoke with BroadwayWorld about her upcoming show, her Tony ceremony woes, and her mission to inspire the next generation of theater actors to live out their dreams.

This week, we are taking a listen to the sparkling new cast recording of the hit 2009 Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim & Hugh Wheeler's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. While tickets are hard to come by due to the star-wattage on display each night at the Martin Beck, Tommy Krasker & Co. at PS Classics have given us an embarrassment of riches with this near-note-complete, 2-disc recording of the Sondheim masterpiece.

Principal photography began Friday, March 26, in New York on Columbia Pictures'/Sony Pictures Animation's hybrid live-action and animated family comedy, The Smurfs, it was announced today by Bob Osher, president of Sony Pictures Digital Productions, Hannah Minghella, president of Sony Pictures Animation and Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures.

UPCOMING SHOWS ON SALE THIS WEEK.

As the Helen Hayes Awards ceremony on April 5th honors performances and productions from the past year, DC theatergoers will be hearing two gorgeous scores by Jason Robert Brown and Jeanine Tesori, and seeing a new opera about a boxer, a splashing pool on stage, Tyne Daley as diva Maria Callas, Maurice Hines tapping his way on the Lincoln Theatre stage, Mrs. Robinson seducing Benjamin, a red balloon thrilling young audiences, Harvey Fierstein wishing he was a rich man, tales and songs from a Scottish Jewish composer, a new children's show with lots of princesses, a little musical with the title in [ ], a triumphant mounting of a short-lived Broadway musical, and a wordless Kafka classic performed in Georgian style. The crocuses, cherry blossoms, and azaleas will be in full bloom, as the nation's capital will be awash in beautiful colors. It's the perfect time to visit and see some great shows in our DC area theatres.

New Edgecliff Theatre closes its 2009-2010 season with Cyrano [rehearsed], a new adaptation of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac - a unique twist on the well-known tale by outgoing Artistic Director Greg Procaccino. The audience arrives to find the cast immersed in rehearsal for the musical version of Reservoir Dogs, only to see it transmogrify from gunplay to swordplay, and from contemporary songs of violence to classic words of romance.

The Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, New York's premiere eco-friendly/socially-conscious theatre festival, is proud to announce this years line-up which include new works, musicals, adaptations, one-acts, solo shows and more.

The Off Broadway production of Alfred Preisser and Randy Weiner's CALIGULA MAXIMUS, at the Ellen Stewart Theatre, will be extended for one additional week to meet audience demand. CALIGULA MAXIMUS begins previews at the Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 E. 4th St, in New York on March 12th and has been extended through April 10th. Opening night is set for March 19th, with scheduled performances on Thursday and Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 8pm and 10pm.

BROADWAY BACKWARDS 5, the one night only event held Monday at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, raised a record-breaking $186,780 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (The Center).

I, Barbara Jordan will play its final performance on Feb. 20 Neuhaus Stage.

Ryan Knowles, host of Nickelodeon's ME:TV, Justine Joli, adult film star and Penthouse Pet, FunkFace founder musician Luqman Brown and Lady Circus troupe aerial artist Anya Sapozhnikova lead the cast of Alfred Preisser and Randy Weiner's CALIGULA MAXIMUS, at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre, March 11- April 3, 2010.

Alley Theatre's Sold Out Tour of I, Barbara Jordan Kicked Off at Barbara Jordan's Alma Mater, Wheatley High School. Public performances of I, Barbara Jordan are scheduled for February 13 & 20, 2010 on the Neuhaus Stage.

Talk about a makeover. Just over one year ago, Diane Paulus was merely a freelance director with a hit on her hands. Now, that hit - Hair - is a Tony Award winning musical, and she a Tony-nominated director, newly appointed Artistic Director of one of the most prestigious regional theaters in the country (A.R.T. in Boston), and soon to be triple tasking on productions on Broadway, in London, and at her theater in Boston. Did I mention she's also a mother of two?

This weekend, two-time Tony winner George Hearn is finally making his Encores! debut in Fanny, a 1954 musical.

Alley Theatre's Sold Out Tour of I, Barbara Jordan Kicked Off at Barbara Jordan's Alma Mater, Wheatley High School. Public performances of I, Barbara Jordan are scheduled for February 13 & 20, 2010 on the Neuhaus Stage.

Musical Theatre West's incredible production of SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET transports you instantly to London, circa early 1846. This is no sunny fairy tale-life is bleak, poverty is rampant, corruption is the rule, and a devoted family man can progressively turn into a vengeful murderer and not even blink with the slightest of guilt. Thanks to top-notch production values (sometimes a lovely surprise with regional theater productions) and an impressive cast performing what is arguably Sondheim's most defining career-spanning masterpiece, this is one of Musical Theatre West's most spectacular musical offerings in the past few years.

WORLD PREMIERE by Chris Lee, Directed and Designed by Ken McClymont. 'This we have craved. This is our nightmare. This is tomorrow.'

A list of upcoming shows at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn has been released for the month of January and February.

With the strains of 'Auld Lang Syne' mere moments away, minds are apt to be caught up in reflection, remembering the year now ending as a new one awaits just over the horizon. Certainly that's what I've been doing lately, looking back over the past year in Nashville theatre as I pencil in dates in my new 2010 (Here's a question to ponder: Is it 'two thousand ten' or 'twenty ten'...think about it and get back to me) calendar for the shows set to open in the months ahead.

As we celebrate Christmas and await the New Year, here's a new audio interpretation of 'The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry, written and recorded by local DC actors and designers who make up The Audible Group. It is Christmas Eve, 1935. In a small apartment in the H Street NE neighborhood of Washington, DC where James and Della Young, a young couple who, though rich in love, but down to their last pennies, still manage to give each other the perfect gift. It will fill you - from head to mistletoe - with the holiday spirit. Listen here

It's 'crunch-time' for gift giving and it's never too late to get a gift certificate from Amazon.com, who I wholeheartedly support, because I have yet to find better pricing on everything that my colleagues and I write about and review here at BroadwayWorld.com ... No, this is not a paid endorsement.

Current GRAMMY Award nominees Beyoncé, Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Antebellum, Maxwell, and Taylor Swift are the first performers announced for the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast.

Continuing the momentum and building on the critical success of its fall 2009 season, the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park will present a winter/spring 2010 season of impressive and diverse performances by the city's most acclaimed music and dance institutions as well as world-renowned national and international artists and ensembles through its Harris Theater Presents series.

WORLD PREMIERE by Chris Lee, Directed and Designed by Ken McClymont. 'This we have craved. This is our nightmare. This is tomorrow.'