Michael Daugherty's 'Hell's Angels' is the first and, thus far, only concerto ever composed for a bassoon quartet, orchestra and police siren.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Israel Film Festival, organizer began its milestone year with a VIP Reception in the Edwardian Room of the Plaza Hotel, followed by an awards ceremony at the Paris Theatre.

1915 Among the dead after the sinking of the Lusitania are producer-manager Charles Frohman and playwright Charles Klein. Frohman's first success was Shenandoah. In 1893 he opened the Empire Theater in New York with his own stock company. Two of Klein's plays The Auctioneer and The Music Master were produced by David Belasco. At the time of his death, Klein was a play reader for Charles Frohman.

Some of the biggest talents on both sides of the Atlantic are featured in the cast of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' production of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's Follies, which begins previews May 7 at 7:30 PM.

City Theatre's Pittsburgh world premiere of Jeffrey Hatcher and Eric Simonson's comedy, Louder Faster, about Pittsburgh playwright George S. Kaufman trapped in the sort of comic plot that he once concocted, begins May 7.

A host of theatre and cabaret performers lend their talents to an "afternoon of song to help our furry friends" May 7 in Manhattan.

The Portmanteau Theatre Company's inaugural production, Clifford Odets' Waiting for Lefty, plays The Hartley House May 7-29.

Jacquelyn Piro Donovan, who has been seen on Broadway in Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, is Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi, the role created on Broadway by Tony winner Carol Channing, in the North Carolina Theatre's production of the classic Jerry Herman musical Hello, Dolly! beginning May 7.

The dysfunctional family of Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County at The Old Globe in San Diego includes Robert Foxworth as gone-missing Beverly Weston, Lois Markle as pill-popping matriarch Violet Weston and Angela Reed as volcanic daughter Barbara. Performances begin May 7.

The York Theatre Company's summer 2011 Musicals in Mufti Concert Series — presenting musical theatre gems in staged concert performances — will kick off with Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford's late-70s Off-Broadway hit, I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road, which will play in repertory with the world premiere of the show’s sequel, Still Getting My Act Together.

We saddle up for a chat with Seth Numrich, the young American actor who plays the English lad risking life and limb for his beloved War Horse on Broadway.

The Tony Award-nominated actor discusses his work in the Public Theater's production of Jonathan Marc Sherman's Knickerbocker.

One wonders: If Detroit had played like they did in the 1st period the first three games, surely this would look like a different series.

Transport Group Theatre Company, the winner of a special Drama Desk Award and two OBIE Awards, has announced casting and dates for the New York premiere of Lysistrata Jones, a new musical with a book by Douglas Carter Beane music and lyrics by Lewis Flinn directed and choreographed by Dan Knechtges. Previews begin Sunday May 15 on the basketball court of the Judson Memorial Church Gymnasium, 243 Thompson Street at Washington Square South. The opening is set for Sunday, June 5, at 8pm.

Brigid Brady, Gregg Edelman, Josh Grisetti, and Rachel Ulanet will perform the musical theater cabaret, Grey Music NYC, at the Museum of the City of New York, on May 14 and 15 at 3pm. Presented in conjunction with the Museum's current exhibition Joel Grey/A New York Life, the show is...

Join us and help ensure that our CHEFS program remains strong and continues to provide education and support to homeless adults in San Francisco.

From University Board Chairman Benno Schmidt today:

“I believe the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees needs to reconsider the Board’s decision to table the motion to approve the award of an honorary degree to Tony Kushner.  I would not ordinarily ask for reconsideration of a decision so recently taken.  But when the board has made a mistake of principle, and not merely of policy, review is appropriate and, indeed, mandatory.

“Freedom of thought and expression is the bedrock of any university worthy of the name.  If it were appropriate for us to take politics into account in deciding whether to approve an honorary degree, I might agree with Trustee Wiesenfeld, whose political views on the matters in controversy are not far distant from my own.  But it is not right for the Board to consider politics in connection with the award of honorary degrees except in extreme cases not presented by the facts here.  The proposed honorary degree for Mr. Kushner would recognize him for his extraordinary talent and contribution to the American theater.  Like other honorary degrees, it is not intended to reflect approval or disapproval for political views not relevant to the field for which the recipient is being honored.  Any other view is impractical as well as wrong in principle.  Would we want it thought that we approve of the politics of everyone who receives a CUNY honorary degree?  Certainly I have moved the approval of honorary degrees for persons with whose opinions I differ.

“In addition, I am concerned about the procedural unfairness of our action.  The objection arose at the eleventh hour without any opportunity for research and preparation necessary for the presentation of a full and balanced appraisal.  Accordingly, the Chancellor and I agree that reconsideration of the motion to table the honorary degree for Mr. Kushner is not only the right thing to do, but is our obligation. I will ask the Secretary of the Board to convene an Executive Committee meeting to reconsider this matter.”

All well and good. And proof once again that the only effective response to unfair pressure is...counter-pressure!

But do note that phrase "not intended to reflect approval or disapproval for political views not relevant to the field for which the recipient is being honored." So, if Mr Wiesenfeld doesn't like Kushner's screenplay for the film Munich, for example, canceling the award is ok? Dangerous precedent...

(I'll put aside for the moment Schmidt's statement of solidarity with Wiesenfeld's extreme rightist views. Perhaps he's just trying to quell the firestorm on both sides.)

I maintain, though, that the key issue here is not free speech in the abstract (important thought that is) but the utter and deliberate distortion of Kushner's actual views.  Wiesenfeld characterized him in terms usually reserved for Holocaust deniers. So I agree with Kushner that someone owes him a direct apology (or at least retraction) for putting slanderous statements about him in the public record.

Let's save the "Israel-haters have free speech rights, too" for another time--when such a person needs defending. Here Kushner's own respectful record of nuanced dissent from Israeli-Likud military policy is defensible enough for to justify his not being academically blacklisted.

By Isaac Butler The Times does everyone a favor by getting an interview with Jeffrey Weisenfeld, the former Pataki fixed who is at the center of the torpedoing of Kushner's honorary degree from CUNY. It turns out the guy is...

Travel back to the '60s in this new ad for the Tony-nominated Broadway musical Catch Me If You Can. The new commercial from SpotCo. is titled "Jet Set" and features the show's flight attendant chorus girls performing on the wings of a plane and showing off their legs for Aaron Tveit, who stars as Frank Abagnale, Jr. in the production. Also be sure to check out the cast and crew's behind-the-scenes video from the TV commercial shoot: For more info and to purchase tickets, visit www.catchmethemusical.com. -- Daniel Lehman

Following a three-week hiatus when previews resume next week, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark will play the following performance schedule Tuesday through Thursday at 730 p.m., Wednesday at 130 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 800 p.m., Saturday at 200 p.m., and Sunday at 300 p.m.

As recently announced, Bryan Cranston, Malin Akerman, and Russell Brand have been the latest stars added to the cast of the big screen adaptation of ROCK OF AGES. Also signed on the project are Tom Cruise, Julianne Hough, Alec Baldwin, Mary J. Blige and Diego Gonzlez Boneta. In the video below, Cruise Goes on the record about his excitement fr the project

Joining Ryan O'Connor for upcoming performance of Ryan O'Connor Eats His Feelings will be newly minted Tony Award nominees Nikki James on May 9th and Rory O'Malley May 16th, both from the Book of Mormon, followed by composerlyricist Scott Alan May 23rd

Joining Ryan O'Connor on the opening night of Ryan O'Connor Eats His Feelings on May 2 was Susan Blackwell title of show and Katie Thompson Spidermusical. The evening's proceeds benefited The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is determined to end suicide among LGBTQ youth by providing life-saving and life-affirming resources including our nationwide, 247 crisis intervention lifeline, digital community and advocacyeducational programs that create a safe, supportive and positive environment for everyone.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN stars Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz as Carl Hanratty, Aaron Tveit as Frank Abagnale, Jr., Tony Nominee Tom Wopat as Frank Abagnale, Sr. and Tony Nominee Kerry Butler as Brenda Strong. This new musical, created by a team of Tony winners, features a book by Terrence McNally, music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, choreography by Jerry Mitchell and is directed by Jack O'Brien. Click below for a behind the scenes look at the making of the show's television commercial.

Whether you've been living under a rock for the past week, or you're just in the mood for a recap of everything theatre, BroadwayWorld's new feature, 'This Week in Pictures' is here to satisfy your end of the week fix. Take a look below to catch up on the latest happenings from the Great White Way to the West End and everywhere in between with coverage of press events, rehearsals, opening nights and more

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, earlier this week board members of CUNY voted to withdrawal an honorary degree that was to be presented to famed playwright Tony Kushner at John Jay College in light of offensive remarks they feel he made against Israel. Kushner has aggressively defended his remarks, stating that he feels dismayed by the vicious attack and wholesale distortion of my beliefs on the part of CUNY and is asking for an apology from the university, adding that even if they were to reverse their decision, he would not accept the degree.

As part of the run up to the 2011 Tony Awards, The American Theatre Wing Theodore S. Chapin, Chairman, Board of Trustees Howard Sherman, Executive Director used the opportunity of the yearly Tony Nominees Press Reception - held just 24 hours after Tony nominations are announced - to solicit some key thoughts from newly minted nominees on their lives and careers so that emerging artists everywhere might benefit.

With last nights news of the passing of one of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century, if writerdirector Arthur Laurents is remembered a thousand years from new for only penning the books for WEST SIDE STORY and GYPSY, that alone would stand as a testament to the theatrical legacy he leaves behind. In this special digital remembrance of his life and legacy, we take a look back at all the plays, musicals and films that he had a hand in - WEST SIDE STORY and GYPSY, both revived in the 21st century under his direction, to ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES and NICK amp NORA on Broadway HOME OF THE BRAVE, THE SNAKE PIT, Hitchcocks ROPE, THE WAY WE WERE and THE TURNING POINT in Hollywood - as well as the countless hours of interviews and talks that he gave over the course of his long and storied career. As he wrote for Rose in GYPSY, You either got it or you aint, and, boy, oh boy, did Arthur have it - in spades.

A DRAMATIC END: Emma Goodman from Deana's Educational Theater performs "The Yellow Dress" yesterday at Toll Gate High School.

Acclaimed illustrator Ken Fallin's drawings of the greatest stars and scenes of the theatrical world are a recurring part of Playbill.com.

Tony Award nominees Andre De Shields and Alison Frasier will co-star in a staged reading of Michael Aman's play The Unbleached American May 9 on Theater Row.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Israel Film Festival, organizer began its milestone year with a VIP Reception in the Edwardian Room of the Plaza Hotel, followed by an awards ceremony at the Paris Theatre.

Grey Music NYC, a musical theatre cabaret show celebrating the shows and songs associated with Joel Grey, will play May 14-15 at the Museum of the City of New York, coinciding with MCNY's current exhibit "Joel Grey/A New York Life."

Tony Award winner Carole Shelley, Tony nominee Christiane Noll, Molly Ephraim, Condola Rashad and Lucas Near-Verbrugghe have been cast in the "AracaWorks" play-reading series, which begins May 10.

The numerous fans of Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth, who was most recently on Broadway opposite Sean Hayes in the revival of Promises, Promises, will have many reasons to celebrate in the next few months as the singing actress prepares to release her latest solo recording.

Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures, with Stephen Spinella, Linda Emond, Steven Pasquale, Michael Esper and more, officially opened Off-Broadway May 5 at the Public Theater.

Tony Award nominee Jonathan Freeman, who voiced the nefarious villain Jafar in the 1992 animated Disney feature "Aladdin," will bring the role to life on stage this July in Seattle.

THEATER REVIEW: "Festen" ★★★★ Through June 11 at Steep Theatre Company, 1115 W. Berwyn Ave.; Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes; Tickets: $22 at 866-811-4111 and steeptheatre.com Just a few minutes into “Festen,” the riveting new show at the Steep...

The musical "White Noise," an edgy show about a racist singing group, has posted its closing notice. The last performance at the Royal George Theatre in Chicago will be May 15.

 

Arthur Laurents, playwright (Hallelujah, Baby!, Radical Mystique), librettist (West Side Story, Gypsy), screenwriter (The Way We Were) director (the original Broadway production of La Cage aux Folles, three Gypsy revivals, the 2009 West Side Story revival and, less notably, Nick and Nora) and force of nature, has died at 93 from complications with pneumonia. Laurents won a Tony Award as a playwright for Hallelujah, Baby! in 1968 and was nominated for a Tony as a director for Gypsy revivals in 1975 and 2008 revival) as well as La Cage Aux Folles in 1984.

In 2010, he established an award for emerging playwrights, to be funded through the Laurents-Hatcher Foundation, a tribute to his relationship with Tom Hatcher, an aspiring actor when they met. The couple remained together for 52 years until Hatcher's death in 2006.

Over the years Laurents had become a gatekeeper to how Gypsy and West Side Story should be staged and revived. In 2008 he directed a revival of Gypsy on Broadway to much acclaim and while his 2009 revival of West Side Story was not universally praised for having the Sharks speak some dialogue in Spanish, the experiment was a hallmark of Laurents’ relentless drive for perfection—a drive that led to clashes with some of his collaborators and colleagues.

In their obituary the L.A. Times quoted Laurents acknowledging his legendary prickly behavior.

“They say I’m mean,” he acknowledged in a 1984 interview with The Times while enjoying the success of the smash musical “La Cage aux Folles.”

“They say this for two reasons,” he said. “I used to be mean. ... I think too fast and I talk as fast as I think and I’m often acerbic. But I say mean things as a defense. People who get their feelings hurt don’t realize I have a very developed set of defenses. But also I will not suffer fools and amateurs. What that has cost me is a ... reputation. So?”

But the New York Times also notes that “Mr. Laurents collected his share of brickbats as well. At various times critics deemed his work predictable, preachy or sentimental.” The New York Times’ obit has perhaps the best biography of Laurents’ life and paints the portrait of a man who “explored questions of honesty and self-deception, guilt and innocence, love and loyalty. That was in keeping with his belief that a writer’s job was not only to entertain but also to illuminate.”

Playbill’s obituary has an insightful look into how his insights into the source material for Gypsy swayed Jerome Robbins from his original vision of the play telling Gypsy Rose Lee’s story and made it focus more on Mama Rose:

According to Mr. Laurents, Robbins insisted he write the book to a musical adaptation of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee’s autobiography. After mulling the property for a while, the writer decided the show should focus not on Lee but on her mother. With a dry eye, the writer tracked the gradual rise and steep, steady fall of Mama Rose, a voracious stage mother whose two daughters are sacrificed to her undying ambition. Many musical historians consider the trenchant libretto the best ever written, the often shattering dramatic scenes easily the equal of the soaring songs.

Broadway will dim its lights for one minute at 8 pm on Friday, May 6 to honor him.

Tony Award winner and 2011 Tony nominee Laura Benanti will perform in Broadway at the Boat Basin, a benefit for Riverside Park Fund, on Monday, June 20. Benanti won the Tony for Gypsy, and she is currently Tony-nominated for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Additional Broadway...

Tony Award nominee Jonathan Freeman, who voiced the character of the evil royal vizier Jafar in Disney's 1992 animated film Aladdin, will play the same role in a new live stage musical version of Aladdin, at 5th Avenue Theatre, July 7-31. As previously reported, Casey Nicholaw will...

The cast and creative team of Transport Group's new Off-Broadway musical Lysistrata Jones presented a sneak peak for the press on Friday, May 6. The musical, a loose adaptation of Aristophanes' Lysistrata with a book by Tony Award nominee Douglas Carter Beane and music and lyrics by...

Arthur Darvill will play Mephistofiles opposite the previously announced Paul Hilton in the title role of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, to run June 18 - October 10 at Shakespeare's Globe as part of the company's summer repertory season. Matthew Dunster will direct the...

Stage and screen stars such as Sammy Davis, Jr., Andy Griffith, Florence Henderson, Bob Hope, Gene Kelly, Paul Lynde, Kay Medford, Ethel Merman, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Orson Welles are among the artists featured as guest stars on the new DVD collection, The Best of The Dean Martin...

The J. Paul Getty Museum has announced that the second of three productions in its annual Villa Theater Lab Series at the Getty Villa will be Not Man Apart Physical Theatre Ensemble's presentation of The Madness of Hercules, by the Roman playwright Seneca the Younger. It will be...

A lineup of guest artists for Ryan O'Connor Eats his Feelings, playing at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, has been announced. Book of Mormon Tony Award nominees Nikki M. James and Rory O'Malley will make appearances in the show on May 9 and 16, respectively. In addition, composer Scott...

Christopher Sieber and Lucas Steele will perform at The New Group's annual gala, to be held on Monday, May 9 at Capitale. As previously reported, the event will be hosted by Kristen Johnston and Frank Whaley. Ethan Hawke and Natasha Lyonne will serve as presenters for the evening,...

Carnegie Hall celebrated its 120th anniversary with an all-star gala benefit concert featuring the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Music Director Alan Gilbert on Thursday, May 5. The concert was recorded, and will be broadcast on PBS by on May 31. Four-time Tony Award winner...

Broadway veterans Milton Craig Nealy and Gay Marshall will perform in the Lundstrum Center for the Performing Arts' 11th annual High Hopes gala, which will take place at The Lundstrum Center in North Minneapolis on Saturday, May 14, at 6pm. Nealy originated the role of Four-Eyed Moe in...