Michael Evans News

Below are the CW Network's Primetime listings for the week of May 22nd. All times in the schedules are EST. 

 Island City Stage invites the community to listen, laugh and vote for South Florida’s funniest during its Stand-UP. STAND OUT! Comedy Contest in advance of PRIDE Month on May 23. The theatre company has sought out local comics to test their stand-up shtick in front of a live audience in the hopes of securing a spot to open-up for select shows during the run of the company’s upcoming production of “The Mystery of Irma Vep” by Charles Ludlam, a comedic horror satire. “The Mystery of Irma Vep” is part of the award-winning theater company’s 10th Anniversary 2021-22 South Florida Season.

Sabina is a profoundly moving psychological mystery, the story of Sabina Spielrein, a catatonic 19-year-old Russian girl who is sent to the Burgholzli Institute by her parents as a last resort. She is found there by Carl Jung, who is looking for a patient on whom to try Freud’s not-yet-proven Talking Cure.

The CW has announced their Primetime listings for the week of April 24th. Check out the listing below. 

The CW Network has released their primetime television programming for the week of April 17th. Below is the scheduling. 

Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons opened tonight at STAGES St. Louis for their final offering of the season. Winner of the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical, 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, Jersey Boys is among the most successful jukebox musicals ever produced. The STAGES St. Louis production runs through October 24, 2021 at the Ross Family Theater in the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center.

STAGES St. Louis has announced the casting for their upcoming production of JERSEY BOYS that will play September 24 – October 24, 2021 at The Ross Family Theater in the new Kirkwood Performing Arts Center. The cast will be headlined by Christopher Kale Jones who is best known for playing Frankie Valli in the 1st National Tour of JERSEY BOYS. With a book written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, JERSEY BOYS takes an exhilarating journey into the cultural phenomenon that is Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. The show features 30 show stopping performances of the hits that took the group all the way to the top of the charts, including: “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You.”

The title “Sound Of Music” is derived from the Pythagorean theory of musica universalis or the “music of the spheres” wherein Pythagoreas states that if objects in motion create sound then the planets forever in motion must forever produce sound.

Created by PYO Music Institute in 2014, the award recognizes inspiration and outstanding leadership in music education. There have been hundreds of nominees over the years, which demonstrates the respect and dedication students have for their music teachers in the Delaware Valley, who not only successfully teach music to their students, but also instill confidence in them.

BroadwayWorld has learned that all remaining performances on the Anastasia tour have been cancelled through Summer 2020, due to the health crisis.

CBS offers daytime drama fans memories of their most cherished episodes, as “Theme Weeks” for THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS and THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL continue on Monday, May 4 on the CBS Television Network.

Meet Anastasia on tour's new Anya, Beth Stafford Laird, who rejoins the national tour of Broadway's Anastasia beginning April 7, 2020.

'ANASTASIA,' with music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, and a book by Terrence McNally, based on the 1997 film of the same name, is now on stage at the Connor Palace, as part of the Key Bank Broadway series.

When the movie ANASTASIA was released in 1996, somewhere someone was humming along with the score of the 20th Century Fox film and thought 'This might make a fantastic musical.' It took nearly 20 years but the faith in the concept is paying off.

Perfectly timed for the blistery cold Rochester weather we're all suffering through, the RBTL is currently presenting 'Anastasia', the stage adaptation of the 1997 animated movie in which audience members are whisked away to snowy St. Petersburg during the height of the Russian Revolution of the 1920's. This era of political upheaval is the backdrop, but the story focuses on a young woman and her journey through the past to find her family and her identity.

A mysterious girl, who may or may not be the long lost Princess Anastasia Romanov of Russia, a grandmother intent on finding her, and the desperate men willing to do whatever it takes to get out of Russia. These are at the center of the musical ANASTASIA which is now playing at The Bushnell in Hartford.

“Live in Front of a Studio Audience: 'All in the Family' and 'Good Times'” adds even more star power to the highly anticipated live sitcom holiday special airing on ABC, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 18 (8:00-9:32 p.m. EST). In this one-night-only event, an all-star lineup of talent will tackle the roles first portrayed in the iconic television sitcom “Good Times,” including Viola Davis and Andre Braugher as Florida Evans and James Evans, Jay Pharoah as J.J Evans, Asante Blackk as Michael Evans, Corinne Foxx as Thelma Evans and Tiffany Haddish recreating the role of Willona Woods. Jharrel Jerome is also confirmed to join the star-studded cast. Joining forces for a show-stopping musical performance will be ABC's Anthony Anderson and the legendary Patti LaBelle. This holiday-inspired live event produced by Sony Pictures Television will recreate installments of Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin's Emmy® Award-winning series “All in the Family” and groundbreaking sitcom “Good Times,” created by Mike Evans, Eric Monte and developed by Lear. 

At first glance, the musical stage adaptation of ANASTASIA looks and feels like an appropriately grand, luxe affaira?"from its gorgeous costumes designed to the lush soundscapes created by the orchestra and the vocal talents that have been assembled for this tour. But the undeniable wow factor of the show is, of course, the stunning visual trifecta of its scenic design working in keen harmony with dazzling projections and stage lighting. The overall technical prowess of this stage musical is just jaw-droppinga?"and, I must say, is quite an adequate enough reason to experience the show. The adaptation's execution of the story itself, however, suffers slightly from its well-meaning intentionsa?"revealing a stage show that feels stilted by its own drama, and with an unsure footing of what it truly wants to be.

The first clue that ANASTASIA was going to be different than what I expected was a note on the title page reading, “Inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Pictures.” Plural? A savvy journalist, I quickly asked Siri to bring up the imdb page for “Anastasia”. Turns out Fox made ANASTASIA twice, the 1997 animated off-brand Disney princess movie and a 1957 film that scored Ingrid Bergman's second Oscar and marked Helen Hayes' transition to the big screen. And it turns out the musical version has more in common with LES MISERABLES and RAGTIME than BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Gone is the hell-wizard Rasputin, his talking fruit bat sidekick, and the singing demon caterpillars. At intermission, I asked my third grade niece, Adalyn, how she was liking it. “It's awesome…it's real people, like no Beast or anything. No animals.” We decide that Disney staged musicals are great but more it's more impressive when you can achieve the magic without a story that departs from reality. ANASTASIA is historical fiction hypothetical. It poses a “what if…?” that a daughter of the last czar of Russia (The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna) escaped when the czar's family was executed in 1918. Rumors persisted for decades that Anastasia did, in fact, escape. In 2007, DNA testing confirmed the remains of all four Grand Duchesses were in the Imperial grave. In this version, Terrence McNalley's book follows Anastasia's rediscovery of her identity after surviving the attack on her family and sustaining some plot enabling amnesia. Renamed “Anya” she grows up and makes a life in post-Revolution Russia. Anastasia's grandmother, the Dowager Empress (in a staggeringly moving performance by Joy Franz) has fled to France and offered a cash reward for anyone escorting the rumored alive Anastasia to Paris. The wily duo Vlad (Edward Staudenmayer) and Dmitry (Jake Levy) pull a My Fair Lady style makeover on Anya to collect the Dowager's prize. They are pursued by Gleb (Jason Michael Evans). A Soviet officer drawn to Anya romantically but tasked with finding and eliminating the last Romanov. Anya's memory becomes somewhat coaxed back, but the Dowager has stopped seeing Anastasia claimants after too much heart-break from countless frauds. It sounds dark, but with high-tech digital scenery and inspired performances across the cast it is delightful. Stephen Flaherty (Music) and Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics), responsible for bringing us RAGTIME, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, LUCKY STIFF, as well as the Oscar nominated songs carried over from the animated film. ANASTASIA is a perfect context for this pair. “Stay, I Pray You” (my favorite song of the evening) is evocative of RAGTIME's “New Music”. The two songs literally race my heart in a strangely specific way. My real test of a National Tour at Gammage is how fast I get the music playing in my car on the way home. At ANASTASIA I was already finding, “Stay, I Pray You” walking through the parking lot. The rest of the score is similarly haunting. Lila Coogan, as Anya/Anastasia, powers through the score with nuance, clarity, and passion. Tari Kelly, as Countess Lily, and Stadenmayer (Vlad) were Adalyn's favorite performances and I have to agree. This incredibly gifted pair take the “triple threat” designation (singer, dancer, actor) and go quadruple with the addition of flawless comic timing. The choreography by Peggy Hickey is masterful. It somehow combines inventive and traditional throughout and the ten-minute slice of “Swan Lake” infused into “Quartet at the Ballet” is the highlight of the second act. It's a fun-size version that gets an under-represented art form onto the plate. This kind of trope often means the plot putting the plot on hold. But here, it is the connective tissue between Anya, Dmitry, the Dowager, and Gleb as they each bring us up to speed heading into the show's climax. Ultimately, the show's success comes from applying a higher artistic standard to the “previously-animated-film-now-theatrically-staged” genre. It cashes in on the name draw of the 1997 film then gives the viewer something much more enriched than what they think they are coming to see.

We headed to St. Petersburg yesterday for an inside look at the Anastasia tour with Jake Levy as he took over BroadwayWorld's Instagram Story! So in case you missed it (or just want to relive all of the fun and excitement), we compiled clips for you to enjoy. Check it all out!