William Finn News

Bus Barn Stage Company in Los Altos comes home where the heart is for its 2012-2013 season, the 17th season in residence at Bus Barn Theater in Los Altos. (more...)

The Drama Desk Awards have announced the lineup of presenters for this year’s awards ceremony, hosted by Brooke Shields and Drama Desk winner Brian d'Arcy James. The presenters represent many different aspects of the New York theater community including Broadway royalty: Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jones, Bernadette Peters; award winning dramatists: Doug Wright and Rick Elice; legendary composers: Maury Yeston, William Finn; heralded directors: Roger Rees, Alex Timbers; celebrated designers: Peggy Eisenhauer; revered orchestrators: Jonathan Tunick; valued members of the New York theater scene: Oskar Eustis, Jenny Gersten; and, of course, popular performers: Martha Plimpton, John Larroquette, Julie Halston. The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards will take place on Sunday, June 3, 2012 at 8PM at The Town Hall. (more...)

Justin Brill and Methtacular, LLC today announced the inclusion of Steven Strafford’s METHTACULAR! in the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. (more...)

Philadelphia Theatre Company announces the world premiere of the new musical Stars of David to open its 2012-2013 season this fall. (more...)

The world premiere of the beautifully crafted musical “Los Otros” begins previews Wednesday, May 23 at 8 p.m. at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum. With book and lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh and music by Michael John LaChiusa, “Los Otros” opens on June 3, 2012; performances continue through July 1. Tony Award-winner Michele Pawk has been cast to play the role of Woman and Julio Monge will play the role of Man. (more...)

Following an acclaimed season which included the world premiere of Paul Weitz’s Lonely, I’m Not and a critically lauded second staging of Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winner, How I Learned To Drive, Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has just announced two of the four mainstage productions in the company’s upcoming 34th season. For subscription or ticket information, please call the Second Stage Box Office at 212-246-4422 or visit the company’s website, www.2ST.com. All productions are staged at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theatre, 305 West 43rd Street (just west of Eighth Avenue). (more...)

After more than 5,000 auditions in a coast-to-coast search, ANNIE has announced casting for the orphans for the new production of the classic Tony Award-winning Broadway musical. ANNIE will open on Broadway in Fall 2012 at a Nederlander theatre to be announced. The production will be directed by three-time Tony Award winner James Lapine and choreographed by Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler. (more...)

Tony Award nominee and Broadway veteran, Barbara Walsh, will bring Terrence McNally’s Master Class back to its birthplace when she portrays legendary opera diva, Maria Callas, in a production of the play at Alpine Theatre Project (ATP) in Whitefish, Montana June 15 -24. The Tony Award winning play was originally developed at “The Gathering” playwriting conference in nearby Bigfork, MT in the early 1990’s. ATP’s production will be the first professional production of the play in the area. It will be directed by David Ackroyd. (more...)

Local actor and singer Jerome Elliott will debut his latest cabaret one man show - Sweet Nerd Of Youth, his sixth show in the last four years, on Sunday, May 27, 2012 at the Arthur Newman Theatre in Palm Desert as part of the Sundays In Summer Series presented by Les Michaels' Life Is A Cabaret. (more...)

Acting Up Stage enjoyed a tremendously successful season last year, and they're aiming to top it with their latest offering which was announced a few weeks ago. Featuring a new Canadian musical and a much loved classic, Acting Up Stage's new season has something for everyone. BWW spoke to Artistic Director Mitchell Marcus about how he went about programming the season, how his company hopes to appeal to the next generation and what the secret to their success is. (more...)

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in downtown Pittsfield, under the leadership of Artistic Director, Julianne Boyd, and Managing Director, Tristan Wilson, will welcome back Shakina Nayfack, BSC’s Drama League Directing Fellow from last season. Shakina has been appointed Associate Producer of the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (formerly Stage 2). (more...)

Barrington Stage Company has announced its 2012 season performance schedule, including more than 230 performances of musicals, plays, concerts, readings and free events. See details below. (more...)

Today in 2005, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre, where it ran for 1136 performances. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a one act musical comedy conceived by Rebecca Feldman with music and lyrics by William Finn, a book by Rachel Sheinkin and additional material by Jay Reiss. The show centers on a fictional spelling bee set in a geographically ambiguous Putnam Valley Middle School. Six quirky adolescents compete in the Bee, run by three equally-quirky grown-ups. The 2005 Broadway production, directed by James Lapine, was nominated for six Tony Awards, winning two, including Best Book. The show has spawned various other productions in the U.S., including a national tour with performances in Canada, and Australian productions. (more...)

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director and Casey Reitz, Executive Director) has been chosen as one of the 40 finalists in this year’s Partners in Preservation program, which awards up to $250,000 to the cultural institutions that receive the most votes from its supporters. If selected, Second Stage Theatre will use the grant money to restore the façade of the company’s future home, the 100-year old Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway. The finalists were presented by celebrity guest Katharine McPhee of NBC’s hit “Smash” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Thursday, April 26. Second Stage at the Helen Hayes Theatre is the only Broadway theatre selected as a finalist. (more...)

Matthew Grills, tenor, of Rochester, N.Y, won the $15,000 First Prize in the finals of the 2012 Lotte Lenya Competition, held on April 21, 2012, at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. In a close contest, Justin Hopkins, bass-baritone of Philadelphia, and Jacob Keith Watson, tenor of Wynne, Ark., tied for Second Prizes of $10,000, and Megan Marino, mezzo-soprano of Malvern, Penn., was awarded the Third Prize of $7,500. (more...)

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), under the leadership of Julianne Boyd, Artistic Director, and Tristan Wilson, Managing Director, has purchased the Pittsfield V.F.W. at 36 Linden Street thanks to a generous gift from long-time BSC supporters Sydelle and Lee Blatt. Built in 1972 as Local V.F.W. Post 448, the 40-year-old building, which BSC has been leasing as Stage 2 since 2008, will now serve as its permanent home for new plays and musicals and an all-new cabaret space. (more...)

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for the Alley Theatre’s new production of Theresa Rebeck’s WHAT WE'RE UP AGAINST, part of the Alley Theatre’s New Play Initiative. WHAT WE'RE UP AGAINST runs on the Alley Theatre’s Neuhaus Stage May 11 through June 12, 2012. (more...)

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner announced today that acclaimed/awarding winning actresses Judy Kuhn and Melissa Errico will star as Fosca and Clara in the company’s new production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony Award-winning musical PASSION, to be directed by John Doyle (the Tony Award-winning revivals of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and Company). PASSION is slated to begin performances in February, 2013. Additional casting will be announced in the coming weeks and months, as well as full creative team. PASSION opened on Broadway in May of 1994 and received the Tony Award that year for Best Musical. (more...)

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College concludes its 2011-2012 Solo Sensations series with Roslyn Kind in concert on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 8pm. A dynamic, multi-talented entertainer and a native Brooklynite, she has forged a successful career in all facets of entertainment from critically acclaimed recordings to sold-out performances on Broadway and in top concert venues and nightclubs the world over. The New York Post summed it up best: “She's so good on so many levels; it's difficult to categorize her. This elegant, beautiful, petite, dynamo delight rules the stage with a royal command that demands adoration from every seat in the house.” (more...)

The Tony Award®-winning Hartford Stage, under the leadership of Darko Tresnjak, Artistic Director, and Michael Stotts, Managing Director, today announced that David Henderson has been appointed Director of Marketing, Sales and Communications, beginning April 9, 2012. (more...)