Global Roundup 10/18 - ONCE ON THIS ISLAND Tour, Starry THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA & More!

BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature Once On This Island, The Light in the Piazza, Sweeney Todd and more!

Check out our top news and features from around the BroadwayWorld below! Want more great global content? Check out our "Around The World" section!

Top Stories

Photo Flash: First Look at SWEENEY TODD Starring Lea Salonga and Jett Pangan - In cooperation with Atlantis Twenty and ABS-CBN, Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group presents Tony winner Lea Salonga (Mrs. Lovett) and Jett Pangan (Sweeney Todd) in Sweeney Todd. Take a first look: Atlantis Theatrical has just released some production photos. Check them out below!
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VIDEO: Get A First Look At The First UK Revival Of MAME Starring Tracie Bennett - BroadwayWorld has a first look at the first professional UK revival of Jerry Herman's much loved musical MAME with Tracie Bennett in the title role. Tracie Bennett is a two-time Olivier Award winner, six-time Olivier Award nominee and Tony Award nominee. Her theatre credits include Follies, Mrs Henderson Presents, End Of The Rainbow, La Cage Aux Folles, Hairspray, Les Misérables, High Society and She Loves Me in London's West End, and her television credits include Making Out, Joking Apart, Next of Kin, Coronation Street, Scott & Bailey and a regular role in the new ITV drama The Bay.
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VIDEO: Inside Opening Night of ANASTASIA at the Pantages - Hollywood Pantages Theatre presents the Los Angeles premiere of Anastasia from October 8 to October 27. The tour of the critically acclaimed Broadway production began performances in October 2018 at Proctors in Schenectady, NY before journeying to over 30 cities in its first year. Check out video footage from the opening night red carpet, as well as the cast's opening bows, below!
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VIDEO: Watch the Cast of FOOTLOOSE at the Kennedy Center Perform 'Holding Out For a Hero' - The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Broadway Center Stage presents Footloose, the explosive Broadway musical set to the rockin' rhythm of the film's Oscar® and Grammy®-nominated Top 40 score and augmented with dynamic new Tony®-nominated songs for the stage musical.
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Top Reviews

Los Angeles: Contributor Maria Nockin reviews THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, writing "On Saturday Evening, October 12, 2019, Los Angeles Opera presented Adam Guettel's THE Light In the Piazza. A musical theater work rather than an opera, Piazza provided the audience with a nostalgic excursion to Florence and Rome in the 1950s. For opera star Renée Fleming it was a tour de force as she not only showed onlookers various stages of her character's complete change of heart, but also gave us the glorious high notes and legato singing of opera along with the snappy repartee of musical theater. "

Los Angeles: Contributor Michael Quintos reviews MISS SAIGON's touring Revival at Segerstrom Center, writing "30 years after its stage debut, experiencing MISS SAIGON nowadays exposes just how outdated and out-of-touch it is with our increasingly diverse world view. The musical's original production---which first debuted in the West End in 1989 before transferring to Broadway in 1991---became a global hit despite some loud, very understandable controversy. Most audiences, however, ignored the accusations of orientalism, misogyny, and white-washing and instead focused on the show's epic melodrama and theatrical splendor, much of it powered by the lush music of Claude-Michel Schönberg and the lyrics by Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. The show continues at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through October 13, 2019."

Nashville: Contributor Jeffrey Ellis reviews ONCE ON THIS ISLAND's National Tour at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center, writing "Visually stunning. Inventively staged. Compellingly acted. Beautifully told. Utterly delightful. Heartrendingly poignant. What more can be said about Once On This Island, the Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty musical which launched its national tour in Nashville last night with a remarkable opening performance before a capacity crowd in Andrew Jackson Hall? The critical raves, audience adulation and awards for the recent Broadway revival of the Caribbean-influenced musical were enough to attract ticket-buyers, to be certain, but the sheer artistry of the production and its amazingly talented cast will be more than enough to propel the company forward on their cross-country tour where, we suspect, the accolades will continue to be bestowed upon the heartfelt and authentic story."

Detroit: Contributor Stefani Chudnow reviews HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL at Wayne State, writing "Until October 27th, Wayne State will be showcasing their sold-out production of Heathers: The Musical at the 110-seat theatre, Underground at the Hilberry. Based on the 1988 movie, Heathers: The Musical has music, lyrics, and a book by Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy."

Regional Editor Spotlight:

Jeffrey Ellis

Jeffrey Ellis is a Nashville-based writer, editor and critic, who's been covering the performing arts in Tennessee for more than 35 years. In 1989, Ellis and his partner launched Dare, Tennessee's Lesbian and Gay Newsweekly which later became known as Query. Ellis is the recipient of the Tennessee Theatre Association's Distinguished Service Award for his coverage of theater in the Volunteer State and was the founding editor/publisher of Stages, the Tennessee Onstage Monthly. He is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and is the founder/executive producer of The First Night Honors - the history of which can be traced to 1989 and the first presentation of The First Night Awards - which honor outstanding theater artisans from Tennessee in recognition of their lifetime achievements and also includes The First Night Star Awards and the Most Promising Actors recognition. Midwinter's First Night honors outstanding productions and performances throughout the state. An accomplished director, Ellis helmed productions of La Cage Aux Folles, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and An American Daughter, all in their Nashville premieres, as well as award-winning productions of Damn Yankees, Company, Gypsy and The Rocky Horror Show. Ellis was recognized by The Tennessean as best director of a musical for both Company and Rocky Horror. Since 2015, Ellis has been increasingly in demand as a director by a variety of Tennessee theater companies and he has helmed productions of Picnic (Circle Players), The Last Five Years (VWA Theatricals), The Miss Firecracker Contest, Cabaret, My Fair Lady, Daddy's Dyin'...Who's Got the Will?, South Pacific and Winter Wonderettes (The Larry Keeton Theatre) and The Little Foxes (ACT 1). He will be directing the first production of Mart Crowley's updated script for The Boys in the Band since its Broadway revival for his eponymous Jeffrey Ellis Presents... production company. In 2019, Ellis will direct Singin' in the Rain (Arts Center of Cannon County), The Wizard of Oz (The Larry Keeton Theatre) and The Secret Garden (Center for the Arts, Murfreesboro).

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