Bob Kelly News

Theatre Now's next Industry Night will be held on Monday, January 27th at 6:30pm, featuring a Master Class with award-winning writing team Janine McGuire and Arri Lawton Simon (The Bubble).

Theatre Now's next Industry Night will be held on Monday, October 21st at 6:30pm, featuring a Master Class with Tony-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead (Jelly's Last Jam, Working, BOOP!).

Once Off Productions presents 'The Hare' by Clare Monnelly and Bob Kelly. This one-woman play with live music explores isolation and the struggle to fit in rural Ireland. Touring to 10 venues across Ireland from February to March 2024.

The season will open with the Chicago premiere of the hilarious romantic musical GAY CARD, return to the British tradition of holiday pantomimes with Tom Whalley's very adult SLEEPING WITH BEAUTY, and close with Joe Calarco's all-male present-day re-imagining of ROMEO AND JULIET, SHAKESPEARE'S R & J.

On Saturday, April 29, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey (VACNJ) held its largest fundraising event of the year at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit. Shine On VACNJ’s 90th Anniversary Gala, raised a record-breaking $373,500 to support the Art Center’s powerful arts programming. Check out photos here!

On Saturday, April 30, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey held its largest fundraising event of the year at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit. Art & Soul, VACNJ's first in-person gala since 2019, raised a record-breaking $296,000 to support the Art Center's powerful arts programming.

The event, which will take place in Summit, NJ, is the Art Center’s largest fundraiser of the year, featuring live music by Gatsby Now, cocktails, and a seated dinner. The main attraction of the evening is the Art Center’s signature silent and live auctions of contemporary art highlighted by the return of celebrity auctioneer CK Swett. This year will mark the return to an in-person celebration for the first time since 2019.

Mamma Mia must be one of the greatest juke box musicals of all time. When the film came out, a colleague mentioned that Pierce Brosnan had an atrocious voice, so I passed. He had star power. That is how two of the most horrendous miscastings of movie musicals were cast; Marlon Brando in Guys and Dolls and even worse, Russell Crowe in Les Mis.

This is the last chance to vote for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Delaware Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

Time is running out to vote for for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Delaware Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

Candlelight Theatre opens their third show of the season with an economical inhouse production of BEST OF CANDLELIGHT, a prudent decision with live theatre the world over attempting to gain financial stasis. This show has no ‘book’, saving licensing money. The show takes us down Broadway; a smorgasbord of solos, duets and production numbers. As previously reported, Candlelight is to be commended for being the first entertainment venue in the state to welcome back grateful guests.

Theater Now New York, one of the nation’s leading producers of original short form musicals, announced the full lineup and cast for the second night of SOUND BITES Extra Bites, which will stream online Friday, May 28th at 7pm. 

Winners have been announced for the 2020 BroadwayWorld [REGION] Awards - which were back bigger than ever, celebrating the best in local theatre of the past decade! 

If you're under the age of 26, and you're writing for musical theatre, New Musicals Inc. would love to hear from you.

Theatre Now New York, a non-profit artists service organization and theatre company dedicated to supporting musical theatre writers, has added four writers to their Musical Writers Lab.

Theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI) announced an agreement with Theatre Now New York, an artist service organization dedicated to the development of new works, to represent and license 25 short musicals from its collection beginning in early 2021.

Theatre Now has annouced the November 1st release of The 10-Minute Musical, an Anthology from the SOUND BITES Festival. The first ever anthology of 10-minute musicals, the book features 25 complete musicals and is a resource for educators, producers, theatre enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the musical theatre form. More information on the book, including a link to purchase, can be found at www.tnny.org/anthology-book.

Theatre Now New York presents a?oeBehind the Lab,a?? a biweekly web series spotlighting the songs and the songwriting process of Theatre Now Writers Lab members. The series, which begins Wednesday August 19th, will feature new music, interviews with the artists, and general discussion on how creativity can continue to flourish in uncertain times.

There is no one in the tri-state region with more live theater experience than Bob Kelly, Artistic Director at Candlelight Dinner Theatre. Founded in 1969 by John and Lena O'Toole and Julian and Annabelle Borris, it quickly became a nexus for hundreds of aspiring actors, where all were inspired to self-invent and where ambition was oxygen.