Uncle Sam News

For the past few weeks I've been enjoying Gotham's slight theatrical lull that began just before Christmas and seems to have ended with the inauguration. Oh, it's not that nothing has been opening, but the relative scarcity of new Broadway shows and high-profile Off-Broadway productions has given me more time than usual to check out the goings-on Off-Off Broadway. While figuring out what could fit into my schedule, a recent column by my friend and esteemed colleague Peter Filichia, singing enthusiastic praise for The Roundtable Ensemble's Equity showcase of Linda Escalera Baggs' tense and heart-ripping drama, Silent Heroes, sent me scrambling through old emails to see who to contact for press tickets. Alas, as I'm writing these words there are only three performances remaining for this excellent production (Friday at 8, Saturday at 3 and 8), but at the recession-friendly price of only $18, this very well acted and conversation-stimulating 90 minutes is well worth squeezing into your weekend.

UC Berkeley's Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) continues its 2008-09 Main Stage season with Georges Feydeau's Sauce for the Goose (Le Dindon), directed by Christopher Herold. The period production features scenic design by Giulio Perrone, costume design by Wendy Sparks, lighting design by David K.H. Elliott, and a cast of student actors from UC Berkeley. Sauce for the Goose will be performed in English (translation by Kenneth McLeish), with weekend performances from Friday, March 6 through Sunday, March 15 at the Zellerbach Playhouse on the UC Berkeley campus.

The Phoenix Theatre of Indianapolis will begin its 2008-2009 season with political plays featuring ripped-from-the-headlines content, and will continue the season with the first Indianapolis production of a work by popular Irish playwright Conor McPherson, a world premiere 'mock operetta' by Jack O'Hara, and a Spanish-language production as well as the regional premieres of a number of plays.

Broadway's cuddliest friends kicked off a new year with the 12th annual BROADWAY BEARS auction on Sunday, February 15, 2009 at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill (237 West 42 St.), in support of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. BroadwayWorld's cameras joined the fun and the caught bidding of the bears!

Today's Broadway Blogs on BroadwayWorld.com from Friday, January 23, 2009.

UC Berkeley's Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) continues its 2008-09 Main Stage season with Georges Feydeau's Sauce for the Goose (Le Dindon), directed by Christopher Herold. The period production features scenic design by Giulio Perrone, costume design by Wendy Sparks, lighting design by David K.H. Elliott, and a cast of student actors from UC Berkeley. Sauce for the Goose will be performed in English (translation by Kenneth McLeish), with weekend performances from Friday, March 6 through Sunday, March 15 at the Zellerbach Playhouse on the UC Berkeley campus.

The 82nd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade took place yesterday in Manhattan, Broadway favorites such as Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth joined in on the fun, BroadwayWorld took a break from the turkey and stuffing and captured all the Thanksgiving action with our cameras!

Fresh on the heels of its 18 Ovation Award nominations (the most by any Southern California theatre company), Cabrillo Music Theatre continues the 2008-2009 season with the West Coast Premiere of the new musical sensation, BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO, featuring a book by Erik Jackson and Ben H. Winters, and lyrics by Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield and Cody Philip.

Ghostlight Records is proud to announce the October 27th release of a Collector's Edition double-CD of 'Reefer Madness', featuring both the Movie Soundtrack, and the original Los Angeles Cast Recording. The double-CD contains new Author Notes, written by By Kevin Murphy & Dan Studney, and also features a 'flipover booklet', which contains artwork and lyrics for both CDs. Murphy & Studney commented: 'This double CD of 'Reefer Madness' marks the culmination of a 10 year journey for us. It began in 1997, during a road trip back from San Francisco, where we got the idea that it might be fun to write a musical about singing, dancing potheads. Being in San Francisco can give you ideas like that.'

The Bay Area's award-winning Rough and Tumble presents Len Jenkin's adaptation of Voltaire's sardonically satiric masterpiece Candide.

VOTE! A New Musical about high school election espionage & the pursuit of a real dream that 'counts' received a private, industry-only reading in Manhattan with Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Seussical, Spelling Bee) and Haviland Stillwell (Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof) starring.

REVIEW: Joan Ackermann's play opened this weekend at Fells Point Corner Theatre.

La Jolla Playhouse's Broadway-bound world premiere musical adaptation of the Universal Pictures John Waters cult classic film Cry-Baby began performances November 6; Opening Night scheduled for November 18, with performances through December 16. Mark Brokaw directs.

Williamstown Theatre Festival announces additional casting and directors for the upcoming season.

Dance Patrelle will present 2 World Premieres with guests artists, March 23-25 at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre

The Williamstown Theatre Festival announces that Austin Lysy will play Romeo in ROMEO AND JULIET, directed by Will Frears.

When I first heard about the musical Miss Saigon in 1989- everyone was referring the helicopter alone. I wanted to know what the show was about but people just kept on referring to the huge gob smacking special effect that appears on stage.

There will be those who will criticize the new musical Yank! claiming that it is a patchwork of moments that have worked in other musicals...