Mary Hanrahan - Page 5

Casting has been announced for Chelsea Studios' readings of Alyss, a new musical by mother-son writing team Marilyn Michaels and Mark Wilk, which will take place on May 20 and 21.

Theatre legends Hal Prince and Susan Stroman, in an interview with The Times Online, discuss their opinions and frustrations on the state of the musical and theatre, their pasts and their directorial collaboration on Paradise Found, set to begin previews this week at London's Menier Chocolate Factory.

Casting is complete for the special May 25 one-night-only reading of Stan Richardson's VERITAS to benefit Lambda Legal, directed by Ryan J. Davis.

Deadline.com is reporting that Fox's smash hit series, GLEE, has landed the highly coveted post-Super Bowl air slot on February 6. The show, currently working toward the end of its critically acclaimed first season, currently airs after American Idol and is expected to receive a similar ratings boost the night of the singing competition's finale. GLEE will move from its 9PM Tuesday time to 8PM in the fall, and will move back to its original Wednesday 9PM slot midseason.

Like the episodes preceding it in the second half of the season, this week's episode of GLEE has a theme: finding one's voice. ‘Laryngitis' revolves around Puck's attempts to regain popularity after a trip to the skin doctor forces him to part with his signature mohawk, which in turn leads to his being deposited in a dumpster by the school's geeks, Rachel Berry's tonsillitis, and Kurt's attempts to connect with his father. Ultimately, though, ‘Laryngitis' left me wishing the writers would come down with a case of the illness themselves (I realize the tie-in is forced, but so is most of the show's writing).

The plot of William Finn's semi-autobiographical musical, A New Brain, is not typical fare for the genre: the story of composer Gordon Michael Schwinn and his simultaneous battle with a brain injury and artistic creativity. Though its synopsis is gloomy and a little hard to comprehend out of context, A New Brain as staged by Jack Haldoupis and Blackfriars Theatre is bursting with energy, hilarity, and above all, heart.

It almost seems too easy to take a jab at this week's episode of GLEE through its episode title, ‘Bad Reputation.' Given the absolute disparity of quality between the episode last week and this one, however, I can't help but go for it: the writing this week could give the popular series a really bad rep.

This morning, May 4, Jeff Daniels and Lea Michele announced the nominations for the 2010 Tony Awards. In the midst of celebration on the part of many, Gold Derby's Tom O'Neil of the Los Angeles Times questions the (perhaps surprising) absence of many left off the list.

Chad Kimballl, the newly-Tony nominated star of MEMPHIS, is headed to Seth's Broadway Chatterbox this Thursday, May 6th, at 6:00 PM.

According to Masterworks Broadway's website, the original Broadway cast recording of City of Angels is being reissued on CD today, May 4. The album is available on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and on the Masterworks Broadway website.

According to Variety, stage and screen veterans Brian Dennehy and Dianne Wiest have officially been cast in A Big Year, directed by David Frankel. Dennehy and Wiest join an all-star cast, including Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Anjelica Huston, among others.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sam Rockwell is joining the cast of DreamWorks' new film, Cowboys and Aliens, directed by Jon Favreau. The film will be the second collaboration between Rockwell and Favreau, the first being Iron Man 2, out in theaters this Friday, May 7.

According to Variety, Samuel L. Jackson and Neil LaBute are set to develop an as-of-yet unnamed television series together with the Showtime network.

According to The New York Times and other published reports, a suspect has been arrested in the Times Square bomb scare case.

Award-winning actor Mamie Gummer will debut as The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's first artist-in-residence. She will star as Lady Dunmore, in a new Revolutionary Story scene, 'Lady Dunmore Prepares for the Ball.

Irene Lewis, Artistic Director of CENTERSTAGE, and Jay Smith, President of the theater's Board of Trustees, announced today that Ms. Lewis will leave CENTERSTAGE in June 2011 after completion of the 2010-11 season, which will mark her 19th year as Artistic Director.

Kate Mulgrew, who starred as Katherine Hepburn in Tea at Five, one of Hartford Stage's most successful productions of all time, will return to the Tony Award-winning theatre (Michael Wilson, Artistic Director; Michael Stotts, Managing Director) in William Shakespeare's classic play, Antony and Cleopatra. Tina Landau will direct the production, which will run at Hartford Stage October 7 - November 7. Antony and Cleopatra will be the first production in Hartford Stage's renovated and expanded Church Street facility. Construction on the renovation project will take place this summer.

Olivier-winner Leanne Jones will be starring in a new production of Jonathan Larson's tick, tick...BOOM! at the Union Theatre in Southwark starting May 19. Jones, who originated the role of Tracy Turnblad in the West End premiere of Hairspray, will play Susan.

Robert Lopez, the Tony-winning composer of Avenue Q, is using his songwriting talents to benefit an Off-Broadway theater. Lopez will write an original song for and about the highest bidder at BiddingForGood.com.

Glenn Close, Richard Gere, Carey Lowell, Edie Falco, Christopher Meloni, Isaac Mizrahi, Lynn Redgrave, Edward Albee, Greg Louganis, Richard Belzer, and Cindy Adams are among the many celebrities that are featured in Docurama Film's My Dog: An Unconditional Love Story, directed by Mark St. Germain. The film is set to be released on DVD on May 25.