Theatrely's Off-Broadway and Regional reviews of Empire Records, The Beacon and The Ghost of John McCain

Leana Rae Concepcion, last seen on Broadway in the Tony-winning revival of Merrily We Roll Along, will join the company of William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee. She joins the company as Marcy Park for the run at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater October 11-20, 2024. 

Center Theatre Group in Los Angels is joining forces with Deaf West Theatre to bring a new production of Green Day’s iconic rock opera American Idiot to the stage. As previous reported, The production will run October 2, 2024 through November 10, 2024, with an official opening night set for Wednesday, October 9 at the Mark Taper Forum. Daniel Durant returns to the stage after his star turn in the Academy-Award winning film CODA, which is also being adapted for the stage. The company also includes Milo Mannheim and Mason Alexander Park, the recent Emcee in the West End production of Cabaret. 

Natalie Joy Johnson talks starring as Diana in Next To Normal at Barrington Stage Company, following a short but beloved run in Lempicka.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced that the 2018 Kennedy Center Honoree and three-time Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler will direct and choreograph the upcoming Broadway Center Stage production of Nine. The production will star Steven Pasquale, Lesli Margherita, Carolee Carmello, and more.

Awards were presented last night in 37 categories including outstanding actors, directors, designers, choreographers, musicians, productions and 4 visiting productions by the Boston Theater Critics Association at the 41st Annual Elliot Norton Awards ceremony, held at the Huntington Theatre in Boston.

Barrington Stage Company will launch its 30th anniversary season with a new production of the multi-Tony Award-winning musical, La Cage aux Folles. The production will star Alex Michaels, aka Alexis Michelle as Albin and Tom Story as Georges.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces its 2024–2025 theater season featuring the world premiere production of Schmigadoon!, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Legally Blonde The Musical

Theatrely's regional review of Gun & Powder at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. Written by Angelica Chéri and composer Ross Baum, the musical is directed by Stevie Walker-Webb and stars Ciara Renée and Liisi LaFontaine.

The ART's world-premiere musical Gatsby, an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s legendary novel announced it's full casting.

Full casting for the highly anticipated Broadway Center Stage production of Bye Bye Birdie has been announced.

Geffen Playhouse has announced the six productions that will make up the 2024/2025 season lineup. The productions will include Waiting for Godot, Noises Off, and more.

The cast and creative team of the world premiere musical, The Preacher's Wife, have been announced. The cast will include Amber Riley And Loretta Devine.

RUTKA, a powerful new indie-rock musical adapted from Rutka’s Notebook: A Voice from the Holocaust, will make its world premiere at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park this upcoming fall. 

Christian Borle, Krysta Rodriguez, and Ephraim Sykes announced for the Kennedy Centers Broadway Center Stage production of Bye Bye Birdie in Washington DC.

The Axelrod Performing Arts Center in collaboration with Grind Arts Company will present a bold new production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece Sunday in the Park With George starring Graham Phillips and Talia Suskauer.

Angelica Chéri's Gun & Powder will star Liisi LaFontaine, Ciara Renée, Jeannette Bayardelle, Aaron James McKenzie, and Hunter Parrish at Paper Mill Playhouse this April.

Performances for the strictly limited five-week engagement of The Queen of Versailles are set to begin at Boston’s historic Emerson Colonial Theatre this summer.

Samantha Hurley’s I'm Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire have been acquired by Concord Theatricals

The new musical based on Sufjan Stevens' acclaimed concept album, Illinois, has announced its full cast.

La Jolla Playhouse has announced the cast and creative team for its world-premiere production of Redwood starring Idina Menzel.

Casting for tick, tick… BOOM! at the Kennedy Center will include: Brandon Uranowitz, Denée Benton, and Grey Henson.

Theatrely's picks for their favorite performances from 2023 from Merrily We Roll Along to Parade and everything Off-Broadway, regionally, and in London's West End.

Raúl Esparza to play Galileo in new musical. directed by Tony winner Michael Mayer.

Barrington Stage has announced its 30th Anniversary Season, which includes La Cage Aux Folles and Next to Normal.

Playwright Samuel Baum discusses his work with his play The Engagement Party at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, California.

Theatrely's review of Bulrusher at the McCarter Theatre Center written by Eisa Davis

Cast has been announced for BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical including Erich Bergen, Stephen DeRosa, Faith Prince, and Jasmine Amy Rogers as Betty Boop!

Theatrely's Los Angeles Review of Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan MacMillan with Johnny Donahoe and starring Daniel K. Isaac at the Geffen Playhouse.

Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada star in The Great Gatsby at Paper Mill Playhouse this fall.

Author Dan Brown, Michael Urie, and Hannah Cruz discuss bringing The Da Vinci Code to the stage in a new play at Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine

The Da Vinci Code will get its American premiere at Ogunquit Playhouse this fall starring Michael Urie, Hannah Cruz, Charles Shaughnessy, and more.

Christoper Mannelli joins the Huntington Theatre Company as the new Executive Director after seven years at Geva Theatre Center.

Call Fosse at the Minskoff, written and performed by Mimi Quillin, will play at Nantucket's White Heron Theatre Company.

Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada will star as Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan in Paper Mill Playhouse's world-premiere production of The Great Gatsby.

La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for its world-premiere production of The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical, music and lyrics by Joe Iconis, book by Joe Iconis and Gregory S. Moss, choreographed by Jon Rua and directed by Tony Award winner Christopher Ashley, running August 29 – October 1 in the Playhouse’s Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

The classic musical Grease will play at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City this August.

Ogunquit Playhouse has announced casting for Singin' in the Rain! The musical will star Broadway alum Max Clayton, Christian Probst, Chiara Trentalange, Greg Jackson, Kate Loprest, and Lance Roberts.

Tony Award winners Joanna Gleason and Phylicia Rashad will work on Master Class together, with Gleason directing and Rashad starring.

Initial casting has been announced for Barrington Stage's production of A New Brain playing later this summer.

The McCarter Theatre Center has announced their 2023-2024 season, which includes a Pulitzer finalist's play, a Tony nominated musical, and an Emmy Award winner's play.

Performances will run from June 7th (7:30pm…. Eastern Standard Time) through July 2nd at Paper Mill in Millburn, NJ.

Paper Mill Playhouse’s 2023–2024 lineup features The Great Gatsby (Oct 12–Nov 12, 2023), Fiddler on the Roof (Dec 6, 2023–Jan 7, 2024), After Midnight (Jan 31–Feb 25, 2024), Gun & Powder (Apr 4–May 5, 2024), and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (June 5–30, 2024).

The Huntington and SpeakEasy Stage will present the Tony-winning musical later this year. 

The world premiere production begins June 7 in Atlanta, Georgia, at Alliance Theatre. 

Illinois, inspired by Stevens’ 2005 album, will premiere at The Fisher Center at Bard this summer.

Theatrely's review of The Outsiders based on S.E. Hinton's novel. Now at La Jolla Playhouse before Broadway, the musical is written by Adam Rapp with music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival and Justin Levine.

Hercules is now in performance at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, through March 19.

Theatrely's Los Angeles review of The Secret Garden at Center Theatre Group. Directed by Warren Carlyle, the production stars Julia Lester, Aaron Lazar, Sierra Boggess, John-Michael Lyles, and more.

The Broadwat Center Stage production will run May 12-21 in the Eisenhower Theater.

The new adaptation will premiere in 2024 at American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

The star of Sunday in the Park With George at Pasadena Playhouse chats with Theatrely.

The Broadway-aimed musical is directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell.

The musical, which went viral on TikTok, is now playing at Arena Stage in the Washington, D.C. area through February 19.

The Tony winner and Tina Landau are collaborating on the project, set to premiere in the 2023-2024 season. 

The musical begins performances February 16, starring Bradley Gibson and Isabelle McCalla. 

The production will play at Paper Mill Playhouse in 2023, with James Monroe Iglehart and Shuler Hensley also announced to the cast. 

A local school board shut down the play, claiming the subject matter was inappropriate. Students and theatre community members say the decision is wrong and should be reversed.

The Kennedy Center production will run February 1-8 in Washington, D.C. for a limited engagement. 

The new musical stars Henningsen as entrepreneur Joy Mangano, the inventor of the Miracle Mop.

The revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rock opera was last seen at New York City Center in 2019. 

The annual education summit for musical theatre students and their teachers will be held January 13-15. 

The production is currently running through October 9 at the D.C.-area theatre.

Theatrely's review of Sing Street at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston. Directed by Rebecca Taichman and choreographed by Sonya Tayeh, the musical is written by Enda Walsh, Gary Clark, and John Carney.

The Kennedy Center production runs October 7-16, starring the previously announced James Monroe Iglehart, Jessie Mueller, Steven Pasquale, and Phillipa Soo.

The show is directed by Kimberly Akimbo auteur Jessica Stone. 

Theatrely's review of Lavenden Men, by Roger Q. Mason at Los Angeles' Skylight Theatre stars Alex Esola and Pete Ploszek.

Joshua Bergasse choreographs the new production, directed by Casey Hushion, at George Street Playhouse.

The musical, directed and choreographed by Randy Skinner, begins performances September 16 at the Connecticut theatre. 

The staging of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Tony-winning musical will begin August 6 at Barrington Stage Company. 

The out-of-town tryout begins at 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle later this summer. 

Natalie Y. Moore’s play is currently playing at the 16th Street Theater in Chicago. 

The initiative, founded by Paula Vogel, is streaming on demand thanks to McCarter Theatre Center. 

Katori Hall’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play is now running at Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., through July 31.

Theatrely's review of Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia.

The musical will have its world premiere in Chicago at the James M. Nederlander Theatre this summer. 

The theatre is known for its work engaging with the South Side community and expanding upon traditional or rare works. The annual honor is given to a local theatre and comes with a $25,000 grant. 

The Boston-area theatre company will present the Olivier-winning play as part of its 2022-2023 season. Life of Pi adapted from Yann Martel’s best-selling novel.

The musical, featuring songs by Bob Dylan, will travel across the U.S. next year. Earlier this week, the Broadway production scored seven 2022 Tony Award nominations.

Broadway favorite Jackie Burns is now leading A Walk On The Moon at George Street Playhouse in New Jersey.

The world premiere of Matthew Lombardo’s backstage comedy will be directed by Noah Himmelstein at The Bushnell in Hartford.

The world premiere musical features songs by some of the biggest and brightest country artists, like Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert, and Dolly Parton.

The upcoming 2022-2023 season will also feature On Your Feet!, The Sound of Music, Murder on the Orient Express, and Rent.

The LA Philharmonic is partnering with Deaf West Theatre to present a semi-staged production of Beethoven’s Fidelio April 14–16 at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Led by Gustavo Dudamel, the production is Deaf West’s first opera and was created specifically for both Deaf and hearing audiences. 

Theatrely's review of Personality: The Lloyd Price Musical at The People's Light Theatre in Malvern, Pennsylvania directed by Sheldon Epps.

John Cardoza will star as Daniel opposite Jovanni Sy as Mister Miyagi in The Karate Kid – The Musical. The production begins performances May 25 at STAGES St. Louis in Missouri.

The Griswold’s Broadway Vacation The Musical will take a cross-country road trip on its way to a planned Main Stem bow this year. Performances will run at 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle followed by a stint at Theatre Under the Stars in Houston.

Other World is now in performance at Delaware Theatre Company by Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen, and Ann McNamee.

This summer’s shaping up to be a honky-tonking good time. May We All: A New Country Musical will feature songs by a lengthy roster of superstars, including Kacey Musgraves, Dolly Parton, Miranda Lambert, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, and Florida Georgia Line. Also lending their songs to the jukebox musical are Brooks & Dunn, Chris Stapleton, Jessica Andrews, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Little Big Town, LOCASH, Old Dominion, Runaway June, Sara Evans, Tim McGraw, and Zac Brown Band. FGL’s Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard will also debut two original songs in the score. 

Isabelle McCalla has found great success on the stage in recent years from starring in Aladdin to The Prom, for her latest role, she headed to New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse for their hilarious farce murder mystery Clue. As the French maid Yvette, McCalla joins an all star cast that includes Kathy Kitzgerald, Michael Kostroff, John Treacy Egan, and more. 

Dear Evan Hansen wants the humorous but scathing energy that Mike Lew’s Teenage Dick has in spades. The similarities between Hansen and Teenage Dick run deep. Both shows follow awkward, lonely teenage guys trying to get through high school. Both protagonists gain incredible social power through the force of their storytelling. They use this power to woo their popular love interests, and excuse their gaslighting because of their disabilities. And in the end, everything comes crashing down because of dangerous lies exacerbated by social media. Both shows have had large cultural moments this year. Hansen’s film adaptation premiered in movie theaters this past September and re-opens on Broadway this weekend. Teenage Dick, which previously ran off-Broadway in 2018, is now touring through some of the most well-known regional theatres in America. Having already played at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company this fall, the show is now running at the Huntington Theatre Company and will head over to Pasadena Playhouse in February.

Get ready to Sell! Sell! Sell! The beloved film Trading Places will have its world-premiere musical at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta next spring directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon. Based off the 1983 film from Paramount Pictures, Trading Places is a contemporary reimagining of the prince and pauper fable. Billie Rae Valentine, a savvy hustler down on her luck, and Louis Winthorpe III, a minted commodities-trading firm director, have their lives deliberately switched by the devious Duke brothers to settle a petty bet in an outrageous debate of nature versus nurture. Trading Places is helmed by an exciting creative team including television and film writers Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant, musical writing team Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, acclaimed film, television, and music video choreographer Fatima Robinson, associate director Tinashe Kajese-Bolden.

Carolee Carmello has been wowing audiences for years with iconic roles in Parade, The Addams Family, Scandalous, The Hello Dolly National Tour — the list could keep on going. She is now back for her first performance post quarantine in Paper Mill Playhouse’s new vibrant production of Jason Robert Brown’s Songs For A New World. I recently caught up with Carmello as she was headed to the gym (yes, exercise), to chat about her fabulous co-stars, a quick rehearsal process, and jumping back into musical theatre. 

More than 17 months after COVID-19 forced theatres around the country to cancel performances, Papermill Playhouse is back and rocking it to the rafters with a vibrant revival of Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World. “Songs for a Thousand Cabarets” could be the alternative title for this revue-like collection of ardent musical theatre-pop-soliloquies given its popularity with soloists and cabaret artists. Those artists include stars as varied as Karen Akers, Betty Buckley, Audra McDonald, and Shoshana Bean―not to mention hundreds of thousands of aspirants around the world. Having grown up belting the original cast recording with my musical theatre friends as we skipped to rehearsal, I have always loved the show. But going into this Mark S. Hoebee directed production, I found myself wondering, “How does the full show of stand-alone solos, duets, and quartets stack up 26 years after its premiere?” As led by the sensational Carolee Carmello, as brilliantly as it did back in 1995.

We caught up with Bobby Conte Thornton, playing “Man 2” in Songs For A New World at the Cape Playhouse, as the show moves rehearsals from New York City up to Massachusetts, on what it's like to be performing in a show for the first time in sixteen months.

Following a world premiere on the West End earlier in May produced by Sonia Friedman, TheaterWorks Hartford has taken this new ambitious drama and produced a rather incredible US Premiere of Amy Berryman's Walden. One of the most thrilling and satisfying nights at the theatre that I have had the pleasure of attending in a very long time — this is one of those performances that will be with you for many days. 

The Guthrie Theater (Joseph Haj, Artistic Director), in association with The Foxboro Company, today announced that Destiny of Desire, written by critically acclaimed playwright Karen Zacarías (Native Gardens) and directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Broadway’s Jitney), will complete its 2021–2022 Season. Prior to an anticipated 2022 Broadway run produced by The Foxboro Company, the Guthrie is pleased to produce Destiny of Desire for its audiences.

It was announced today that Broadway’s Rema Webb (Book of Mormon, The Color Purple, Lion King) will step into the spotlight as the unforgettable jazz icon Billie Holiday in The Cape Playhouse’s upcoming production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill which runs July 14 through the 24th in Dennis, Massachusetts.

Directed by BT McNicholl, the hilarious musical comedy is the perfect production to introduce patrons back to in-person performances with Spamalot at Ogunquit Playhouse.

The Guthrie Theater today announced its 2021–2022 Season, including the national tour of the critically acclaimed What the Constitution Means to Me by famed writer Heidi Schreck; a world-premiere adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Lavina Jadhwani, featuring all-new creative design; Lorraine Hansberry’s heralded A Raisin in the Sun; William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, directed by former Artistic Director Joe Dowling in his first return to the Guthrie; Kate Hamill’s world-premiere adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, commissioned by the Guthrie; Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat; and a seventh title to be announced.