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A new stage musical based on the 1998 film comedy Waking Ned Devine is being developed with The Color Purple director John Doyle, Come From Away book writer David Hein and Oscar winning Once composers and lyricists Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard.

A production timeline for the Broadway-bound musical will be announced later.

In a statement, Doyle said, “Waking Ned Devine attracted me as a funny, heartwarming musical that serves as a timely reminder of the value of community. The inhabitants of a small Irish village working together, overcoming self-interest and greed, all for the good of their families and neighbors.”

Doyle continued, “No one could be better than Markéta and Glen to bring out the musicality in these Celtic characters and David is unmatched in his ability to find the heart and humanity in such a story.”

Written and directed by Kirk Jones, the Waking Ned Devine movie was released...

Starring in the hit sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, for over a decade, Jim Parsons earned significant acclaim and recognition for his portrayal of Sheldon Cooper. While his acting career continued to thrive with more TV and film roles, he has since shared his experience of seeking out meaningful roles that truly resonated with him.

Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory | Credit: CBS

Parsons opened up about the same in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, revealing that while he received several offers after The Big Bang Theory ended, many of them didn’t feel like the right fit for him.

Jim Parsons reflected on the post-The Big Bang Theory offers

After wrapping up his role as the brilliant Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, Jim Parsons has gone on to star in projects like Hollywood, The Boys in the Band, and Spoiler Alert.

Exclusive: “Unlimited”, Cynthia Erivo sings, “My future is unlimited.” The lyrics from The Wizard and I, a number from the musical Wicked, tumble sweetly, melodically – effortlessly – from her mouth. Such a moment could not have happened 10, 15 or even 20 years ago, because, the star reveals: “I was not ready.”

Erivo, 37, says that she first had to understand life in order to play Elphaba, the young woman with green pigmentation in a world of Caucasians, whose story she recounts breathtakingly in Universal’s movie musical extravaganza Wicked.

Directed by Jon M. Chu, the film is based on Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and the long running Broadway show it’s adapted from, with a book by Winnie Holzman and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. It details the friendship that developed between Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda,...

It’s been almost 70 years since it first aired, but finally someone is adapting iconic anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents for the stage. As a musical, obviously.

Last week, we found out a jukebox musical based on 2001 classic A Knight’s Tale is coming to the Manchester Opera House next year.

“Fine”, we said, with more genuine enthusiasm than a monosyllabic statement implies. Queen, David Bowie, and people poking each other with lances. They could get the War Horse people in to do the jousting. As the popular media to stage musical pipeline goes, that one makes a lot of sense. Sounds very fun, too.

Now, however, we have been intrigued, perplexed, bamboozled and filled with suspense (suspensed? Suspended?) by the news that Theatre Royal Bath Productions are adapting a far less likely-looking property for the board-treading classes. Alfred Hitchcock Presents – The Musical is coming to, you guessed it, the Theatre Royal Bath in 2025. This time,...

Castle Duckula, home for many centuries to a dreadful dynasty of vicious vampire ducks… The Counts of Duckula!

Terrifying until now…the current Count is a vegetarian vampire with a desire for showbusiness! Count Duckula: The Complete Collection includes all 4 series of this classic Cosgrove Hall animation in a 7-disc set which is out now on DVD in the UK courtesy of Fabulous Films.

“Count Duckula was The Rolling Stones to Danger Mouse‘s Beatles” Den of Geek

Airing between 1988 and 1993 Count Duckula is a spin-off of the Cosgrove Hall classic Danger Mouse (in turn another Cosgrove Hall animation Victor and Hugo was a spin-off of Count Duckula based on villains Gaston and Pierre). Both Danger Mouse and Count Duckula are voiced by David Jason. Count Duckula was a recurring villain in the Danger Mouse series having once teamed up with Danger Mouse’s arch-enemy Silas Greenback. In the Count...

Chita Rivera, the beloved Broadway star of West Side Story, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman, died today in New York following a brief illness. She was 91.

Her death was announced by her daughter, Lisa Mordente, who said that Rivera died peacefully.

One of America’s foremost Latina artists, Rivera was a groundbreaker, riveting critics and audiences alike with seminal performances of such soon-to-be Broadway standards as “America” and “A Boy Like That” from West Side Story and “All That Jazz” from Chicago. She was among the most nominated performers in Tony Award history – she earned 10 nominations, winning twice (for The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman) and receiving the 2018 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

Rivera rocketed to fame in 1953 with Guys and Dolls, then cemented her stature as a Broadway leading lady in 1954 with Can-Can, Mr. Wonderful in 1956 and, in 1957, the role that...

Each winter, we invite Notebook contributors to take part in our unique twist on the year-end poll. Rather than tally their favorite new releases from the year, they’re asked to creatively pair a new release with an older film they watched for the first time that year: a “fantasy double feature.” We’re delighted by the range of responses this year; this year’s doubles offer up inspired combinations of moving-image art that might otherwise slip through the cracks.We invite you to plunge into this collective viewing scrapbook, which captures our writers at their most imaginative, adventurous, and thoughtful—maybe it'll motivate you to test some of these out (or come up with your own) over the holidays.We hope you enjoy the read, and find our sixteenth year appropriately sweet!{{notebook_form}}Paul AttardNEW: Skinamarink + Old: Room Film 1973Homebound horror films shrouded in darkness, ones that transform...

Paradigm Talent Agency has hired Chris Till as an agent in their theater literary and content division, Variety has learned exclusively.

The hiring brings Till back to Paradigm, as he previously worked at the agency early in his extensive entertainment career, as he now has over 20 years of industry experience. He previously spent over a decade at CAA before joining Verve in 2020 to help launch that agency’s New York office.

Till will be based in Paradigm’s New York office as well, with a focus on representing writers and directors across theatre, film and television.

“I’ve always thought of Chris as the one that got away,” said Paradigm partner and head of the New York office Jack Tantleff. “He started his career as a young agent at Paradigm, and I have watched as he built his business to become one of the truly bright stars in our industry.

TV academy favorite Bradley Whitford could be in for another return to the Emmys as the veteran actor hunts down his ninth total Emmy bid and his fourth overall for “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

This acclaimed series, which has won a whopping 15 Emmys so far, depicts a dystopian future wherein a second American Civil War led to the creation of Gilead — a totalitarian society where women are forced to be handmaids, which is essentially child-bearing slavery. Season five took the bleak drama into new depths as Elisabeth Moss‘ June faces the consequences of murdering Commander Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) in the season four finale. Meanwhile, Yvonne Strahovski‘s Serena faces her own problems in Canada as Gilead begins to grow and Commander Lawrence tries to reform Gilead.

Lawrence is played by the inimitable Whitford, who shines in all seven of the episodes he appears in throughout this season. As Lawrence, Whitford is...

Revivals have been a mainstay of Broadway for decades. But it wasn’t until the 31st ceremony in 1977 that the Tony Awards added a new category honoring these productions. The nominees for the inaugural prize were “Guys and Dolls,” “The Cherry Orchard” and “The Three Penny Opera” with “Porgy and Bess” taking the honors. Other winners over the years included “The Pirates of Penzance,” “Anything Goes,” “Death of a Salesman,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Gypsy.”

In 1994, the category was divided into best revival of a musical with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” winning the award and “An Inspector Calls” taking home the best revival of a play honor.

This year’s nominees in both categories celebrate the work of Stephen Sondheim, Henrik Ibsen and three landmark black playwrights: August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks and Lorraine Hansberry. Here’s a closer look at this year’s contenders.

Best Revival of a Musical

“Into the Woods”

“Company,...

This year’s Tony race for Best Musical Revival has two Stephen Sondheim shows (“Into the Woods” and “Sweeney Todd”) in contention. Will one of them win or will they cancel each other out? Let’s go over both of them.

“Into the Woods” combines several fairy tales and explores the consequences of the characters’ quests. The main storyline focuses on a childless baker and his wife as they go into the woods to break a spell set upon them by a witch. There they run into various classic fairy tale characters, all before revealing what happens after “happily ever after.”

The original production won three Tonys in 1988 for Best Actress (Musical) for Joanna Gleason, Best Musical Book for James Lapine, and Best Original Score for Sondheim. Meanwhile, Best Musical that year went to “The Phantom of the Opera,” which wound up with six other awards. The last remounting of...

When Jesse Green wrote in his New York Times review of this season’s revival of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” that the show had been “restored to its proper size,” he meant its orchestrations, staging, and ensemble, but he could have been forecasting its Tony Awards nominations success, too. This most recent remounting of the legendary Stephen Sondheim musical received eight Tony bids, the most of any musical revival of the year. But how does it stack up against the original production and the two revivals that preceded it?

While this “Sweeney” is back to its original scale, it is actually just shy of the very first production in terms of the Tonys, missing its nominations record by one. The original from 1979 netted nine bids for Best Musical, Director (Hal Prince), Actor (Len Cariou), Actress (Angela Lansbury), Score, Book, and Scenic, Costume and Lighting Designs. The...

The power of "Sweeney Todd" lies in its ability to seduce its audience to stare (and chortle) at the ingenuity of murderous cannibalism. Since its 1979 opening on Broadway (starring Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury), the darkly comic "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street" has been a general favorite of Stephen Sondheim's musicals (depending on who you ask). It exists at the intersection of traditional musical theatre and operetta, permitting a flexible theatricality from the small-scale (John Doyle's 2005 version and the 2017 Barrow Street immersive pie shop staging) to the grandiose opera stage. In the hands of "Hamilton" director Thomas Kail, "Sweeney Todd" stays true to its theatrical technicalities on the Broadway stage for the most part.

Inspired by the 1840s penny dreadful serial and Christopher Bond's 1973 stage retelling, Hugh Wheeler's book deals with injustice in 19th-century London. "Sweeney Todd" follows the eponymous barber who returns...

Severance is an Apple TV+ sci-fi psychological thriller series created by Dan Erickson, directed by Ben Stiller, and stars Adam Scott, Zach Cherry, Britt Lower, John Turturro and Tramell Tillman.

An excellent series that has been awarded with an Emmy and has received raving reviews. Thrilling, engaging and intriguing, it tells a novel story with interesting characters brought forth with the astounding performances by an A-list cast. It navigates drama, thriller and sci-fi so craftily, it will have you glued to the screen.

Premise

Mark S. leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This innovative experiment in “work-life balance” is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work … and of himself.

Reviews

Stiller, who directed...

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Jim Parsons is learning to like control. For nearly his entire career, the actor best known for a 12-season run starring on The Big Bang Theory has been almost exclusively invested in delivering the best performances possible. Even after one of those massive deals to stay put at the late sitcom birthed a shingle, That’s Wonderful Productions, navigating the off-camera stuff often felt like work better suited to someone else. The company has thrived: The Big Bang spinoff Young Sheldon recently hit 100 episodes, the comedy Call Me Kat has been a rare scripted success at Fox, and Netflix’s Special proved a critical darling. But its latest project, in which Parsons also stars, signals a shift. “Spoiler Alert has changed everything,” he says of the movie, out in theaters Dec. 2 via Focus Features and based on Michael Ausiello’s memoir about losing his partner to cancer.

Jim Parsons will star in an Off Broadway revival of A Man of No Importance, the 2002 musical featuring a book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens.

The Classic Stage Company production will begin performances on Tuesday, October 11, with opening night set for Sunday, October 30 for a limited run through Sunday, December 4.

Parsons, the longtime star of CBS’ The Big Bang Theory who starred on Broadway in the 2018 production of The Boys in the Band and the 2020 Netflix adaptation, will portray Alfie Byrne, a bus driver for an amateur theatre group in 1960s Dublin determined to stage a production of Oscar Wilde’s Salome. As described by Csc, “Alfie confronts the forces of bigotry and shame over a love ‘that dare not speak its name.’ This evocative and award-winning musical illustrates the redemptive power of theater, love, and friendship, all for a man of seemingly no importance.

Winners of the 88th Annual Drama League Awards were announced on Friday, May 20 2022 at a ceremony hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Frank Dilella at the Ziegfeld Ballroom. The Drama League Awards honor both Broadway and Off-Broadway productions from the 2021-2022 theater season.

Tony Awards frontrunners mostly dominated the production categories. Best Musical went to “A Strange Loop,” Best Play went to “The Lehman Trilogy,” and Best Revival of a Musical was handed to “Company.” The Second Stage Theater production of “Take Me Out” prevailed in the hotly competitive Best Revival of a Play category.

The winners of the Drama League’s inaugural categories for direction of a musical and play went to Marianne Elliott (“Company”) and Kate Whoriskey (“Clyde’s”), respectively. Elliott sits far out front in the corresponding Tony race, though Whoriskey’s triumph comes as a surprise. This frequent collaborator of Lynn Nottage failed to earn a Tony nomination,...

Winners of the 2022 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were announced in a ceremony on May 1, 2022, at NYU Skirball. New musicals “Kimberly Akimbo” and “Oratorio for Living Things” tied for the most wins, with three trophies each. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by Tdf.

The cast of Ars Nova’s “Oratorio For Living Things” took home the inaugural award for Outstanding Ensemble, while the Broadway-bound “Kimberly Akimbo” nabbed the two individual musical acting categories, with Lead Performance going to Victoria Clark and Featured Performance going to Bonnie Milligan.

Special honorees this year included Deirdre O’Connell (“Dana H.”), who was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by Heidi Schreck; and David Henry Hwang, who was inducted onto the famed Playwrights’ Sidewalk by Jeanine Tesori.

Find the nominees and recipients of the 2022 Lucille Lortal Awards below.

SEEAlfie Allen (‘Hangmen...

Stephen Sondheim is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in musical theatre. He has claimed eight Tony Awards (more trophies than any other composer), eight Grammy Awards, and even picked up an Oscar for the “Dick Tracy” tune “Sooner or Later.” It may come as a surprise given his stature in the industry, that Sondheim is still an Emmy short of an Egot. More surprising still: Emmy voters have never even nominated him. This year, he could finally join the elusive Egot club thanks to the variety special “Tell the Story: Celebrating Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins.”

“Tell the Story” is one of many projects born out of the pandemic which shuttered the theatre industry. Classic Stage Company was set to produce a new revival of “Assassins” with an all-star cast, helmed by artistic director John Doyle (who famously directed the actors-as-musicians revivals of Sondheim’s...

Kim’s Convenience star Jean Yoon has come forth with her own claims about the recently ended CBC/Netflix comedy, on the heels of TV son Simu Liu expressing some frustrations.

Earlier this month, Liu penned a lengthy Facebook post which, in part, took issue with the upcoming spinoff Strays, in which cast member Nicole Power will star/reprise her role as Shannon. “I love and am proud of Nicole, and I want the show to succeed for her… but I remain resentful of all of the circumstances that led to the one non-Asian character getting her own show,” Liu opined.

Kim Convenience‘s Jean Yoon, who stars as the family matriarch, said that a lack of Asian women in the comedy’s writers room made the her time on the series less than ideal.

On Sunday, just days after co-star Simu Liu post a lengthy Facebook post revealing her experience on the series, Yoon defended the Shang-Chi star against The Globe and Mail TV critic John Doyle. The writer dissected Liu’s criticisms and shared that the series had a number of Asian woman writers. Yoon came to her on-screen son’s defense.

“Dear sir, as an Asian Canadian woman, a Korean-Canadian woman w more experience and knowledge of the world of my characters, the lack of Asian female, especially Korean writers in the writers room of Kims made my life Very Difficult & the experience of working on the painful show,” she responded to Doyle.

“Your attack on my cast mate @SimuLiu,...

Classic Stage Company was just two weeks into rehearsals for its highly anticipated off-Broadway production of Assassins when New York’s performance venues shut down on March 12th, 2020. Now, a year later, they’re announcing a star-studded virtual event to benefit the vital Manhattan theater institution.

On April 15th, Csc presents Tell the Story: Celebrating Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins, which will include performances and conversations exploring the legacy of the musical, including a rare conversation with Sondheim and Weidman about the enduring relevance of the work.

Assassins...

To celebrate the five-year anniversary of the Grammy Award-winning recording, Broadway Records has released a limited edition vinyl set of the 2016 cast album of The Color Purple.

The double record set of The Color Purple is printed on purple vinyl, and comes with a special album insert with photos from the Broadway production. The set is complete with show artwork, full billing, track list, album notes, and additional production photos.

Directed by John Doyle, The Color Purple received the 2016 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical and Best Actress...

Let’s take a closer look at the three nominees for Best Play Revival: “Betrayal,” “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” and “A Solider’s Play.” Our exclusive odds give the edge to “A Soldier’s Play,” but this only remains to be one of the closest races at this year’s virtual awards. Remember, only those Tony voters who saw all three nominees can vote in this category. Tony watchers theorize that this new rule helped “The Boys in the Band” win this race last year despite being the first production of the season to have opened.

The first nominee is the third Broadway revival of Harold Pinter’s 1978 award-winning play, “Betrayal.” The story chronicles a seven-year affair in reverse chronological order. The original Broadway edition earned Tony nominations for star Blythe Danner and director Peter Hall.

This edition came to town after a successful run in...

With Stephen Sondheim celebrating his 90th birthday, this episode of Broadway Rewind is very special for BroadwayWorld'sRichard Ridge because it us to the opening night of the Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman tuner Road Showat The Public Theater. It was directed and designed by John Doyle and starred Michael Cerveris and Alexander Gemignani. Cerveris told Ridge about this new version of the material, 'I saw Bouncein Washington so that was my first exposure to the material, but this really isn't a reexamination of that source material, it's an entirely new musical. So, when I saw the new draft that Stephen and John had done, it was really exciting.'...

Classic Stage Companycontinues the new, free online version of its signature series Classic Conversations, hosted by John Doyle, with Adam Chanler-Berat Peter and the Starcatcher, Next to Normal and Tavi Gevinson The Crucible, This Is Our Youth this Thursday, April 30, and next Thursday, May 7, respectively. The actors are the latest in a lineup of participants from Csc'spostponed production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins, which the institution plans to present when it is safe to reconvene at the theater.

This episode of Broadway Rewind is a look at Disney's Mary Poppins and a behind the scenes look at director John Doyle's production of the Stephen Sondheim and George Furth musical Company,which welcomed back to Broadway Raul Esparza as Bobby. Raul told BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge, 'The show is a groundbreaking piece of musical theatre, that is a masterpiece. I've seen many, many productions of it, and I've enjoyed them all, but I never knew, that it was this good and I feel like it was just written.'...

Classic Stage CompanyCSC Artistic Director,John Doyle Chief Operating OfficerGeneral Manager,Toni Marie Davis has announceda three-week extension, additional cast members, and the creative team for the company's highly anticipated, rapidly-selling-out staging ofStephen SondheimandJohn Weidman'sAssassins, directed byJohn Doyle. The production will now runApril 2 a' June 7opening April 16 at the LynnF.Angelson Theater at Classic Stage Company 136 E. 13th St, New York, spanning ten weeks of Sondheim's 90thbirthday year. Tickets for all extension performances will go on sale Tuesday, March 10, at noon Est.

A revival of Stephen Sondheim’s 1970 musical Company that played London’s West End has announced its Broadway opening on March 22, 2020, with a cast headed by Patti LuPone and Katrina Lenk.

Opening night at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre will coincide with Sondheim’s 90th birthday. The show tipped the Broadway run in a tweet Friday morning (see it below).

A Tony winner for her performance in The Band’s Visit, Lenk will be playing the character of Bobbie in the new version in a gender twist. Dean Jones originated the role of Bobby on Broadway, playing the 35-year-old single main character whose bachelor status elicits a range of emotions from those around him.

The concept musical, composed of a series of vignettes, is known for numbers like Side By Side, Being Alive, The Little Things You Do Together and Sorry-Grateful.

Lupone will reprise her West End performance as Joanne,...

He may not have sought nor did he accept a return to the White House, but Lyndon B. Johnson is coming back to Broadway: The Great Society, a companion play to Robert Schenkkan’s Tony-winning All The Way, will begin performances in September, with Brian Cox as the 36th President of the United States.

Also in the cast will be Richard Thomas, Marc Kudisch and Grantham Coleman (Amazon Studio’s upcoming Against All Enemies) making his Broadway debut as Martin Luther King Jr.

All The Way won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Play and Bryan Cranston took the Tony for his lead role as Lbj. All The Way director Bill Rauch will return in that capacity for The Great Society.

While the earlier play chronicled Lbj’s efforts on behalf of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the new play depicts the tumultuous events building to the conclusion of the Johnson...

Michala Banas and Benson Jack Anthony.

A dysfunctional blended family who are addicted to their screens is at the heart of Fam Time, Seven Studios’ narrative comedy which is shooting in Sydney.

Hayden Guppy is directing the 6 X 30′ series created by Michael Horrocks, who joined Seven Studios a year ago as executive producer, comedy, with the remit to drive the production division’s expansion into comedy.

It’s the Seven Network’s first narrative comedy in more than 20 years since Bullpitt!, which starred Ross Higgins as Ted Bullpitt, reprising the character he played in the 1980s sitcom Kingswood Country.

Scripted by Erica Harrison and Jack Yabsley, Fam Time stars Michala Banas as the family matriarch Belinda Box. She runs a blog which chronicles her daily adventures as a modern mum with a busy blended family in the digital age.

Duncan Fellows is her second husband John, aka ‘Handy Andy’, an...

Be More Chill and What The Constitution Means To Me, currently on Broadway, are among the just-announced Lucille Lortel Award nominees for their previous Off Broadway versions.

The Lortels, which honor Off Broadway productions, mark a sort of unofficial kick-off to New York’s theater awards season. Broadway’s Tony Award nominations will be announced Tuesday, April 30.

Winners of the 34th annual Lortel Awards will be announced Sunday, May 5 at an event hosted by Wayne Brady.

Another nominated Off Broadway production that later made its way to Broadway is Mike Birbiglia’s The New One, nominated in the Outstanding Solo Show category.

Tying for most Lortel nominations are Classic Stage Company’s Carmen Jones starring Anika Noni Rose and Ars Nova’s Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future, each with six nominations.

The nominations were announced today by the Off-Broadway League. The 34th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards will be handed out Sunday,...

No, directordesigner John Doyle does not have Raul Esparza wearing a blonde wig when he delivers his climatic oratory at the close of Csc's revival of Bertolt Brecht's 1941 allegorical satire, The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui, but listen closely to the chant of the crowd provided by sound designer Matt Stine and the production's message is ever so clear.

Anika Noni Rose has been cast as the lead in TNT’s drama pilot, Beast Mode (working title), inspired by the life of legendary boxing trainer Ann Wolfe.

Tina Mabry (Pose) is attached to direct the pilot, written and executive produced by David Schneiderman and produced by Ann Wolfe and MacRo in association with Studio T.

Pulling herself and her two daughters up from poverty, abuse, homelessness, and criminality, Marsha Blackstone (Rose) reached the pinnacle of boxing as a fighter and has become equally as successful a trainer known for unconventional methods and a fiercely combative style. Driven by the belief that any step backward is a slippery slope to her former life, when the boxer Marsha trained to a world title fires her, this complex and inspiring woman is determined to find a new fighter to eclipse the one she lost, but her emotional baggage and militant style could...

BroadwayWorld has a first look at Paper Mill Playhouse's The Color Purple, directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle. The Color Purple is the Tony Award-winning musical revival based upon the novel written by Alice Walker and the Warner Bros.Amblin Entertainment motion picture with a book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray.

Jon Batiste, the jazz and R&B multi-instrumentalist who heads up the band on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, has begun work on a stage musical about the life of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. He will write the as-yet-untitled show’s music and lyrics, with John Doyle, who won a Tony for his 2005 production of Sweeney Todd, directing.

Basquiat’s younger sisters, Lisane and Jeanine, have given the production the blessing of the artist’s estate, allowing the production to use Basquiat’s artwork; when the artist’s life was...

Alan D. Marks and Barbara Marks have announced the development of the Broadway bound original musical inspired by the life and art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Jon Batiste The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has written the music amp lyrics and Tony Award Winner John Doyle will direct. The development team is working closely with the Basquiat Estate and have secured the rights to Jean-Michel's art work and personal archives.

Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat will be the subject of a new Broadway-bound musical composed by Jon Batiste, bandleader and musical director of CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The project was announced today by producers Alan D. Marks and Barbara Marks, with Tony winner John Doyle set to direct.

The development team, according to the producers (Dear Evan Hansen), is working closely with the Basquiat Estate and have secured the rights to the painter’s art work and personal archives.

Additional creative team members and a production schedule will be announced at a later date.

Basquiat’s sisters Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Basquiat said in a statement, “Over the years, many people have approached us about telling our brother’s story on stage. But having discussed this project with the Marks over many months, our interest was piqued once we understood that their approach to telling our brother’s story treats his life,...

Classic Stage Company's new production of the musical Carmen Jones featuring Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose, which began performances Saturday, June 9 at Csc 136 East 13th Street, will have its official opening is Wednesday, June 27. Directed by Csc's Tony Award-winning Artistic Director John Doyle and choreographed by Tony Award winner Bill T. Jones, Carmen Jones features book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and music by Georges Bizet.

The new Andrew Lloyd Webber bio-musical Unmasked, which had been planned for a September debut at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse, has been scuttled, for now.

The regional theater said the Lloyd Webber retrospective musical will be replaced on next season’s schedule by director John Doyle’s Tony-winning revival of The Color Purple. That production will kick off Paper Mill’s 2018-2019 season on September 26. (Unmasked had been set for a September 27 debut).

Mark S. Hoebee, Paper Mill’s producing artistic director, said the change was due to “scheduling issues.”

“We received news last week from our producing partners in London that due to unforeseen scheduling issues, Unmasked can no longer be presented as part of our 2018-2019 Paper Mill Playhouse season,” Hoebee said in a statement Monday. “We look forward to presenting it in a future season.”

Hoebee said The Color Purple “has been on my wish...

Exclusive: Anika Noni Rose is coming back to musical theater. The actress will star in an off-Broadway production of Carmen Jones, her first appearance in a musical since winning a Tony Award for 2004’s Broadway production of Tony Kushner’s Caroline, or Change.

Directing for the Classic Stage Company will be Csc’s artistic director John Doyle, with choreography by Bill T. Jones. Beginning a limited engagement June 8, the production marks the first major New York revival of the the 1943 musical.

Since winning the Tony for Best Featured Actress 14 years ago, Rose co-starred in the film Dreamgirls, voiced African-American princess Tiana in Walt Disney Pictures’ 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog, played Kizzy in the History Channel remake of Roots and appeared on Broadway in the non-musical plays A Raisin in the Sun (co-starring Denzel Washington) and, with James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.

Classic Stage Company's production of the world premiere of Fire And Air, a new play by Tony Award winner Terrence McNally, directed by John Doyle, will extend its limited engagement through Friday, March 2 at Csc 136 East 13th Street. The cast of Fire And Air features James Cusati-Moyer Nijinsky, John Glover Dima, Douglas Hodge Diaghilev, Jay Armstrong Johnson Massine, Marsha Mason Dunya and Marin Mazzie Misia.

Just last week, Frank Langella was gasping for breath in his role as a Russian spy handler exposed to a deadly virus on FX’s The Americans. Here he is tonight on stage at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Broadway venue, the Friedman Theatre, suffering an equally distraught kind of ravagement in the title role of Florian Zeller’s The Father (not to be confused with August Strindberg’s play of the same name).

André is his name, and he pads about a spacious apartment in his pajamas. We’re not certain where in Paris this apartment is, and neither is poor André, who shows increasing evidence of Alzheimer’s disease. André appears to be in the care of his growingly exasperated daughter Anne, whose apartment this may actually be.

Anne insists her father needs an attendant; André resists even as his memory dims...

Here is one of the great triumphal surprises in a Broadway season that has had its share of them: A revival of The Color Purple that lifts an already formidable musical into greatness just seven years after its initial run closed. Propelled by a pair of knockout performances from Jennifer Hudson and Cynthia Erivo, both making their Broadway debuts, this transfer from London’s Menier Chocolate Factory takes a minimalist visual approach to a story that sprawls across decades and continents, training the focus firmly on the twists and turns of Alice Walker’s highly populated, Brontë-worthy tale of a Southern black girl who survives poverty, rape and deprivation before finding love and accomplishment in womanhood.

Erivo, a UK musical theater and contemporary opera prodigy, plays Celie, a teenage girl living in rural Georgia in 1909 who has borne two children by Pa (Kevyn Morrow), the man she believes to be her father.

Andrew Anastasios and Andrew Knight.s The Water Diviner won the top prize and the gong for best original feature at the 2015 Awgie Awards.

It was the first time a feature collected the Australian Writers' Guild's Major Award and the gong for original feature since 2012 when Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson won with The Sapphires.

The prize for feature film adaptation was shared by Brendan Cowell for Scarlett Productions'. Ruben Guthrie and Tommy Murphy for Matchbox Pictures' Holding the Man.

Matchbox and Full Clip.s Deadline Gallipoli was named best original TV miniseries, acknowledging the work of writers Jacquelin Perske (also script producer), Stuart Beattie, Shaun Grant and Cate Shortland.

FremantleMedia.s Wentworth Season 3, Episode 3 The Governor.s Pleasure by Stuart Page shared the TV series award with Endemol Australia.s Offspring Episode 511 by Michael Lucas. Jan Sardi and Mac Gudgeon took the award for best miniseries adaptation for...

Foxtel has commissioned new series Building Australia, which will be hosted by John Doyle.

The six-episode series, which will premiere on The History Channel in July, will explore the history of the Australian house in all of its incarnations, from the terrace to the Queenslander, homestead, Federation, the weekender and the classic suburban house.

Doyle is an actor, comedian and screenwriterwho is best-known as Roy Slaven of Roy and Hg fame.

.What I really like about Building Australia is that rather than exploring history through monumental buildings, it tells us who we were and who we are through the hidden history of houses," he said in a statement. "The series will reflect how people live, and have lived, in many parts of the country. This is the story of how we have built so much more than just a roof over our heads . we.ve built Australia..

Doyle will share...

Comedians and sports personalities ‘Rampaging’ Roy Slaven and Hg Nelson returns to ABC radio to present the Festival of the Boot parts one and two, the Afl grand final on Saturday 29 September and the Nrl grand final on 30 September respectively.

The announcement:

Returning to their spiritual home of the ABC, after a four year absence, Rampaging Roy Slaven and Hg Nelson will be hosting the Festival of the Boot Parts 1 and 2 only on ABC NewsRadio on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 September.

Hg Nelson says “The Festival of the Boot is the climax of the year. Politics, life style issues and food are forgotten about for a weekend of dreams. It has long been a dream of ours to bring the magic of The Boot to ABC NewsRadio. In 2012 both parts of The Boot embrace the yin and yang of the news community. Un Supremo, Ban Ki-moon is a rugby league nutter...

The Australian Writers’ Guild held its annual awards ceremony on Friday 24 August. The Sapphires and screenwriters Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson won most outstanding script. Michael Lucas won two awards, in the feature film original category for Not Suitable For Children and in the TV series category for an episode of Offspring.

The announcement:

The 45th Annual Australian Writers’ Guild Awgie Awards were held on Friday 24th August at Doltone House in Sydney. The only Australian scriptwriting awards judged solely by writers on the basis of the script recognised a new crop of creative talent bringing Australian stories to our screens and stages.

The best of Australian performance writing across feature films, theatre, television, radio, interactive and animation were celebrated at a star-studded affair at Doltone House in Sydney last night as part of the golden 50-year anniversary of the Australian Writers’ Guild. The awards were hosted by iconic Australian...

Four new movies are opening wide this weekend:

Opening in most theaters is the thriller Contagion directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Ehle, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Cranston and John Hawkes. The film’s music is composed by Cliff Martinez. A soundtrack album featuring the score by Martinez has been released by Watertower Music. Check out our previous article for more information and audio clips from the score. Also visit Film Music Magazine for a lengthy audio interview with the composer talking about his recent work.

Also opening wide is the drama Warrior directed by Gavin O’Connor and starring Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Morrison and Noah Emmerich. The movie’s score is written by Mark Isham. Lakeshore Records has released a soundtrack album including Isham’s score, as well as a song by The National. The...

Jeff Favreproduction: A Beautiful View, Son of Semele Theatre; Robots vs. Fake Robots, Powerhouse Theatre; Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, Geffen Playhouse.Playwriting: David Largman Murray, Robots vs. Fake Robots.Direction: Don Boughton, A Beautiful View; John Doyle, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre; Tiger Reel, Cartoon, Art/Works Theatre; Elise Robertson, The Women, Circus Theatricals.Music Direction: Sarah Travis, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Scenic Design: Simon Higlett, The School of Night, Center Theatre Group, Mark Taper Forum; Christine Jones, Spring Awakening, Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre; Anthony Ward, My Fair Lady, Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre.Lighting Design: Russell H. Champa, The School of Night; Richard Jones, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.Costume Design: Anthony Ward, My Fair Lady.Sound Design: Dan Moses Schreier, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.Perfomance In A (Primarily) Straight Play:Gregory Itzin,...