Jessica Lewis - Page 226

Simon Hammerstein and Randy Weiner, founding partners of famed downtown hotspot The Box, are gearing up for the official opening night party for Purgatorio, their newest nightlife venture, on Monday, October 26. Red carpet arrivals begin at 9:30pm.

Alternative Theatre Company (Joe Marshall, Founder/Artistic Director; Adrian Maynard, Managing Director) and The Actors' Playhouse present the much anticipated THE GAYEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER! written and directed by Joe Marshall. Performances begin on Friday, November 13; opening Sunday, November 29, initially running through January 3, 2010 at The Actors' Playhouse.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) begins its 2009-2010 Studio Theatre series with Bob Clyman's Secret Order.

Marc Kudisch and Ramona Keller have joined Chance and Chemistry: A Centennial Celebration of Frank Loesser, a concert to benefit The Actors Fund taking place at the Minskoff Theatre on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 7:30PM.

The Chance Theater has received six 2009 Ovation Award nominations from Los Angeles Stage Alliance: five nominations for HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, and one nomination for Best Season, a new category whose other nominees include Geffen Playhouse, Rubicon Theatre Company, Troubadour Theater Company, and Fountain Theatre. They are the only theater from Orange Country to receive recognition by the awards committee.

Emmy Award Winner Leslie Jordan returns to the live stage with another theatrical segment from his mindset, 'Full of Gin and Regret: An Evening with Leslie Jordan,' at the Renberg Theater at LA Gay & Lesbian Center in Los Angeles. The performance will feature special guest singer/actress Alexandra Billings and will run for two weekends only, December 10-13 and 17-20.

On November 10, Bogan Records will release Every Day is a Holiday, the new holiday album from singer-songwriter Mary McBride. The album follows McBride's praised 2004 release By Any Other Name and her acclaimed performance of the song 'No One's Gonna Love You Like Me' both onscreen and on the soundtrack of the Academy-award winning film Brokeback Mountain. Every Day is a Holiday features 'Do You Hear What I Hear,' a duet with Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor and singer Patrick Wilson (Watchmen, Lakeview Terrace, Angels in America).

Celebrationworks, where Denver theatregoers see new plays first, presents the Regional Premiere of the holiday comedy, 'Kosher Lutherans,' from November 6 through December 5.

Brian Friel's Faith Healer opens tonight, October 23 at the Guthrie Theatre with Guthrie director Joe Dowling making his American acting debut in the title role. The production will run through December 6.

In a special winter presentation, Sydney Theatre Company returns to BAM with Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by renowned actor/director/writer Liv Ullmann and featuring Academy Award-winning actress/Sydney Theatre Company Co-Artistic Director Cate Blanchett as Blanche DuBois, Joel Edgerton at Stanley Kowalski, Robin McLeavey as Stella Kowalski, and Tim Richards as Mitch. The production marks Liv Ullmann's U.S. directorial debut and Blanchett's second BAM engagement-following her acclaimed performance in Sydney Theatre Company's Hedda Gabler (2006 Spring Season). The production will run from November 27- through December 20.

The Victory Gardens Theater will host their 28th Annual Casting Auction, one of Chicago's most unique benefit fundraisers on Saturday, November 14 at 6 pm at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater.

Carolines on Broadway, 'America's Premier Comedy Nightclub,' announces its all-star line-up of talent for the month of November 2009, highlighted by headliners Mario Cantone, from HBO's 'Sex and the City,' Broadway's 'Laugh Whore' and ABC's 'The View,' November 5 - 8 (as part of the New York Comedy Festival) ; Ruperto Vanderpool, from HBO's 'P Diddy's Bad Boys of Comedy,' BET's 'Comic View' and the film 'The Cook Out,' hosts 'El Spanglish Comedy Show,' November 6 and 7 as part of the NYCF; Louis CK, from HBO's 'Lucky Louie' and the film 'The Invention of Lying,' November 8 (as part of the NYCF), and on November 25; Paul Mooney, 'Negrodamus' from Comedy Central's 'Chappelle's Show,' from Spike Lee's 'Bamboozled' and his Showtime special, 'Jesus Was Black,' November 12 -15, 19 - 22 and 26 - 29; 'The Gangster of Comedy' Capone, from BET's 'ComicView,' 'Showtime at the Apollo' and the film 'Death of a Dynasty,' November 20 - 22; and Charlie Murphy, from Comedy Central's 'Chappelle's Show' and the film 'Norbit' hosts 'Charlie Murphy and Friends,' on November 27 and 28.

THE NEIL SIMON PLAYS are the first Broadway revivals of two of Neil Simon's beloved Eugene Morris Jerome plays, Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound, directed by David Cromer. Brighton Beach Memoirs is currently in previews and opens this Sunday, October 25 at the Nederlander Theatre. Broadway Bound joins Brighton Beach Memoirs in repertory on November 18, with opening night on Thursday, December 10. THE NEIL SIMON PLAYS have been making headlines lately in some of the city's most high profile papers, receiving special features in the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal today.

Whatsonstage.com is reporting that the much hyped-about La Cage Aux Folles tour in the U.K. is now cancelled due to a lack of 'suitable stars.' The tour of the critically hailed Chocolate Menier Factory's production has been scheduled to begin in February of 2010.

Following a critically acclaimed inaugural year, theatre and Academy Award-winning film director Sam Mendes will again direct a transatlantic company of actors for the second season of The Bridge Project, a unique three-year series of co-productions by The Old Vic, BAM and Neal Street Productions devoted to producing large-scale, classical theatre for international audiences.

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes the return of Alan Ayckbourn and the Stephen Joseph Theatre Company (Scarborough) to Brits Off Broadway with the US premiere of MY WONDERFUL DAY, written and directed by Mr. Ayckbourn. MY WONDERFUL DAY begins previews on Wednesday, November 11 for a limited engagement through Sunday, December 13.

The American Theatre Wing has announced the launch of a new online, backstage video series, 'In The Wings,' available beginning today (Friday, 10/23) on americantheatrewing.org. Focusing on the people who are almost never in the news but who are essential to the making of the shows we all see and love, 'In The Wings' explores the talents and stories behind the scenes, from the costume and scenic shops to the rehearsal room to the stage itself, with designers, artisans and craftspeople explaining their unique contributions to theatrical art in their own words. These short videos shine the spotlight on disciplines many may not even realize are a part of theatrical production and celebrate the full diversity of talent that contribute to bringing a show to the stage. Click americantheatrewing.org/inthewings/ to subscribe to the podcast, listen or watch videos.

The Open Fist Theater Company will present Illusion, a baroque play by Pierre Corneille through November 21. The production had an opening night on September 26.

REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) presents the West Coast premiere of parades & changes, replays, a full-scale reinterpretation of Anna Halprin's 1965 masterpiece, parades & changes. Opening Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at REDCAT, parades & changes, replays runs for a limited four-night engagement through Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 8:30pm.

Gale Edwards returns to Sydney Theatre Company to direct a stellar cast in the comedy of bad manners, God of Carnage, by Yasmina Reza. The brutally funny satire from the author of Art and Life x 3 is at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, from October 3 to November 21. This closing date marks an extension of the show, due to demand.