You Got Older - 2018 - Chicago Articles Page 14

'The ManOPause Boys,' a new musical comedy with book and lyrics by Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore, and music by Wayland Pickard, celebrates the recent acquisition of its performance rights with two Tri-State area shows later this month.

Writers Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, opens its 2018/19 season with Qui Nguyen's Vietgone, directed by Lavina Jadhwani, featuring original music and music direction by Gabriel Ruiz and choreography by Tommy Rapley. Vietgone runs August 15 - September 23, 2018 in the Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. The Press Opening is Today, August 22 at 7:30 p.m.

New York City Center President & CEO Arlene Shuler today announced Anne Kauffman as Artistic Director of Encores! Off-Center for the 2019 season. Founding Artistic Director Jeanine Tesori will maintain her relationship with the popular summer series as Creative Advisor - working with Kauffman to curate programming which will conclude City Center's 75th Anniversary Season. Kauffman and Tesori served as Co-Artistic Directors for the 2018 series which included Jason Robert Brown's Songs for A New World, Michael Friedman's Gone Missing, and Micki Grant's Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope.

The first book in The Darkest Minds trilogy just became a movie--you can see it in theaters nationwide right now! This summer, author Alexandra Bracken also treated fans of the series to a brand-new novel set five years later, THE DARKEST LEGACY. Today, BroadwayWorld is thrilled to sit down with New York Times Best Selling Author Alexandra Bracken and ask her about the movie, her new novel, and what's next.

Does anybody have a map for replacing a Tony-winning actor in running Broadway show? The road isn't easy, but Lisa Brescia has traveled it before.

Casting has been announced for the new 2018/19 UK tour of DIRTY DANCING - THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE, visiting Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from Monday 1 - Saturday 6 April 2019.

BWW catches up with comedian and actress Anna Morris to chat about performing Bombastic at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sometimes a show comes along on Broadway that leaves you saying, 'Hmm I wonder what it would be like without the large scale production?' The 2014 Jason Robert Brown/Marsha Norman musical The Bridges of Madison County is one of those shows. It had a large production concept that I felt swallowed the small story it was trying to tell. Mind you Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale gave incredible performances as the two leads and Jason Robert Brown rightfully deserved his two Tony Awards for Best Score and Orchestrations after the show had already closed.

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE is thrilled to present the second show in its 98th season, Angela Ingersoll starring as Judy Garland in the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts/McCoy Rigby Entertainment production of the critically acclaimed END OF THE RAINBOW, written by Peter Quilter, with musical direction by Jon Steinhagen and directed by Ovation Award winner Michael Matthews.  

A Dead Whale Productions starts off its Season of Mischief with Kevin Michael Wesson's Where We Go Together or The Flashlight Play, directed by Daniella Wheelock. Performances begin July 19, 2018 and will run through August 4, 2018. All performances of Where We Go Together or The Flashlight Play will be held at Nox Arca Theatre, 4001 N. Ravenswood Ave #405.

Today's subject, John Leslie Wolfe, has been living his theater life to the fullest for many years now. His credits include Broadway, national tours, television, and film. Local theatergoers might remember him from his performances at Signature Theatre in Titanic, The Threepenny Opera, and West Side Story or in 1776 or Ragtime at Ford's Theatre. Currently, John is back at Signature Theatre in rehearsal for the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical Passion directed by Signature Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner. Performances begin on August 14th in Signature's MAX Theatre space. The production runs through September 23rd.

The Jeff Awards committee presents a panel conversation on the art and challenges of intimacy design on Tuesday, August 17 at 7:30 pm at the Greenhouse Theater. The discussion will be led by Intimacy Directors International co-founder Tonia Sina and Chicago actors and directors Sasha Smith and Gaby Labotka. Members of the public are welcome and encouraged to attend the program. If interested in attending the August 14 program, please email David Liesse, Jeff Awards Committee Chair at chair@jeffawards.org.

Lookingglass Theatre Company announces an extension of 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas adapted by David Kersnar and Althos Low, from the books by Jules Verne, directed by Ensemble Member David Kersnar. Due to high ticket demand, additional dates, August 30 - September 9, 2018, have been added. 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas plays at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson. This marks the second and final extension of the production.

Speak Up, Rise Up, now in its second year, is back with an all new storytelling festival. During the course of a week, over 40 productions and more than 100 artists will share the stage.

Writers Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, opens its 2018/19 season with Qui Nguyen's Vietgone, directed by Lavina Jadhwani, featuring original music and music direction by Gabriel Ruiz and choreography by Tommy Rapley. Vietgone runs August 15 - September 23, 2018 in the Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. The Press Opening is Wednesday, August 22 at 7:30 p.m.

A Dead Whale Productions starts off its Season of Mischief with Kevin Michael Wesson's Where We Go Together or The Flashlight Play, directed by Daniella Wheelock. Performances continue this weekend through next, July 26, 2018 through August 4, 2018

ANNIE, this year's Hollywood Bowl Summer Musical, will be performed by an all-star cast July 27, 28 and 29. Each year, a condensed version of a full-length Broadway musical corrals name performers from theatre, television and music with crazy, busy schedules that normally wouldn't be available for a full musical schedule commitment. We have the opportunity to chat with Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, who will be playing Grace Farrell in this production.

There are shows that I believe get rave reviews, awards, and heralded as classics because, at some point, "true theatre people" aren't allowed to not like them. If you bring up Oklahoma, Hello, Dolly, or The Sound of Music, and don't fawn over it for hours, you are expected to turn in your theatre card and walk away from all conversations thereafter. My Fair Lady, as a musical, falls into this category for me.

Education Dramaturge Ted Sod sits down with playwright Joshua Harmon to discuss the origins of 'Skintight' and his relationship with Roundabout. 

Clare Barron's Obie Award winning play (2015) YOU GOT OLDER makes it's Sydney Premiere under Claudia Barrie's astute direction. 

The hit stage adaptation Dirty Dancing returns to Glasgow next year as part of a UK tour.

Producer Karl Sydow has announced casting for the new 2018/19 UK tour of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage, as well as additional dates for 2019 in Ipswich, Manchester, Guildford, Grimsby, Glasgow and Bristol - on sale on Friday 20 July.

A Dead Whale Productions starts off its Season of Mischief with Kevin Michael Wesson's Where We Go Together or The Flashlight Play, directed by Daniella Wheelock. Performances begin July 19, 2018 and will run through August 4, 2018. All performances of Where We Go Together or The Flashlight Play will be held at Nox Arca Theatre, 4001 N. Ravenswood Ave #405.

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE is thrilled to present the second show in its 98th season, Angela Ingersoll starring as Judy Garland in the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts/McCoy Rigby Entertainment production of the critically acclaimed END OF THE RAINBOW, written by Peter Quilter, with musical direction by Jon Steinhagen and directed by Ovation Award winner Michael Matthews.  

Taking equal cues from the Flying Nun school of arty guitar pop, classic British post-punk and otherwise Velvets-indebted rock, Chicago's Clearance mixes eras and styles with ease (you're likely to hear as much Parquet Courts as the Soft Boys, for instance) and the result is a focused but coolly off-the-cuff sound that appeals to both the record-collector/fanzine set and casual rock fans alike.