Abigail Arnold - Page 9

Kansas City's Musical Theater Heritage has announced an all-female production of 1776 to be presented from August 12 to August 29. The production will be directed by Sarah Crawford.

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has announced the addition of a 12th production to its 2011 playbill. Seana McKenna will present her one-woman show SHAKESPEARE'S WILL at the Studio Theatre.

PROMISES, PROMISES and MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET will hold special performances to benefit the Actors Fund.

Funeral services for actor Larry Keith, who died from cancer on July 17 at the age of 79, will be held on July 22 at 10am. The services will be held at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 West 76th Street (between Amsterdam and Columbus Ave).

American Idol and Grease star Taylor Hicks will kick off a national tour in New York city at the Highline Ballroom on July 25, 2010. The performance will begin at 8pm.

New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley will spend the next several weeks reporting on London theater, the Times has announced.

The full schedule for this year's Comic-Con, to be held at the San Diego Convention Center from July 22 to July 25, has been announced. The Comic-Con will feature special guests including GLEE stars Chris Colfer, Jenna Ushkowitz, Kevin McHale, Mark Salling, Heather Morris, and Naya Rivera, as well as GLEE executive producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The group will appear in Ballroom 20 from 1:30pm to 2:30pm on July 25 to answer questions and preview Season Two. In addition, the show's assistant costume designer, Jennifer Eve, will appear at a costume designers event on July 23.

thestar.com's Richard Ouzounian interviewed Andrea Martin, who is currently appearing in the Toronto production of Nora and Delia Ephron's LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE. Martin discussed the play ('It's a beautiful piece. Quite moving and very funny at the same time. My favourite kind of theatre'), her sources of inspiration ('I wanted to be just like [Chita Rivera]'), and her work on SCTV ('We were all kind of mad then and it was wonderful'). To read the full interview, click here.

thestar.com's Richard Ouzounian interviewed Randal Kleiser, who directed the film version of 'Grease.' Kleiser discussed the new 'Grease: Sing-A-Long' ('Now it's slick and revamped and pretty amazing'), his surprise at the film's enduring popularity ('a movie we made as a summertime treat for kids in the '70s has endured with audiences around the world for over 30 years'), and the new songs that were written for the film ('The original finale was a song called ‘All Shook Up,' which didn't really go anywhere, but once I heard ‘You're the One That I Want,' I knew we had something that would really land big'), among other topics. To read the full interview, click here.

Actor Michael Ealy is to join 'The Good Wife,' Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello reports. Ealy will play Derrick Bond, head of a law firm that merges with the firm where lead character Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) works.

Actor Seth Rogen is rumored to be in consideration to play Lonny in the upcoming film version of ROCK OF AGES, Toronto's thestar.com reports. Rogen attended the Toronto production of ROCK OF AGES on July 17, telling people that 'he was just there to enjoy the show.' Accorinf to the report, however, Rogan may have been taking in the production for more professional reasons. No casting informaiton of any kind for the film has been released to date.

FRECKLEFACE STRAWBERRY, a musical based on the children's books by Julianne Moore, will open Off-Broadway at New World Stages on October 4, the New York Times reports. Previews will begin on September 9. Moore tells the Times, 'It's really exciting and fun, and kind of amazing [and] given my history as a performer, super-weird to be in this other position.'

NPR's Michael Portantiere interviewed Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who is currently performing in Shakespeare in the Park's THE WINTER'S TALE and THE MERCHANT OF VENICE and who was recently nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance on 'Modern Family.' Ferguson talked about performing in Central Park ('it's honestly my favorite place to work'), the multiple Emmy nominations for actors playing gay characters ('I think we're all being recognized because the characters are well developed'), and which fellow Emmy nominee he would switch roles with ('Probably Jane Lynch on GLEE. That would be fun!'). To read the full interview, click here.

London's Southbank Centre has announced that it will present INTO THE HOODS: A LONDON FAIRYTALE and LE CIRQUE INVISIBLE this summer.

Annette Bening will receive this year's Will Award, presented by the Shakespeare Theatre Company, the Washington Post reports. Early in her career, Bening acted in Shakespeare's plays, as well as other classical theatre, at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre. More recently, she has appeared in MEDEA and THE CHERRY ORCHARD, as well as the 1995 film version of Richard III.

Tammy Blanchard and Chris Sarandon will join CBS's 'The Good Wife' for its second season, Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello reports.

International productions of American and British musicals are at an all-time high, The Wall Street Journal reports. Many productions are currently running in Japan, notably WICKED, while Disney's musicals, including THE LION KING, MARY POPPINS, and TARZAN, are playing throughout the world. BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL is soon to make its foreign language 'replica' production (major production, often utilizing a show's original production team) in Seoul, South Korea.

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival will host China's first English language musical, REEL TO REAL, The Stage reports. The show combines classic film footage from Hollywood and footage from Chinese films with live actors and features classic songs by such composers as Stephen Sondheim, Frank Loesser, and Irving Berlin.

A lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center against the city of Milwaukee has been settled, wispolitics.com reports. The city paid $20,000 to the Arts Center, whose suit alleged that the city 'violated the First Amendment by shutting down NAKED BOYS SINGING...after receiving complaints from a citizen who objected to its content,' wispolitics reports.

The Game Play Festival, which combines theater and video games, is currently running at Brooklyn's Brick Theater, the New York Times reports.