John Leslie News

For years readers have looked forward to the Reading List of Hollis George. Periodically, the celebrated anthologist and editorial director of Absolutely Amazing eBooks and The New Atlantian Library issues a listing of the books he's currently enjoying.

Virginia's Tony-Award winning Signature Theatre presents The Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's cutting and enduring critique of capitalism and corruption. Directed by Signature Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Tender Napalm, Dreamgirls, Really Really), the production stars Mitchell Jarvis (Broadway's Rock of Ages) as the charismatic Macheath, known to popular culture as Mack the Knife. Click below to watch a foreboding promo for the show!

Virginia's Tony-Award winning Signature Theatre announces the cast for The Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's cutting and enduring critique of capitalism and corruption. Directed by Signature Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Tender Napalm, Dreamgirls, Really Really), the production stars Mitchell Jarvis (Broadway's Rock of Ages) as the charismatic Macheath, known to popular culture as Mack the Knife. Scroll down for a first look at the cast!

Broadway stars Heidi Blickenstaff, Pamela Myers, and John Leslie Wolfe performed alongside an 18-piece orchestra as Virginia's Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre honored renowned orchestrator and longtime Stephen Sondheim collaborator, Jonathan Tunick on April 7 - check out a look back below!

Virginia's Tony-Award winning Signature Theatre announces the cast for The Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's cutting and enduring critique of capitalism and corruption. Directed by Signature Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Tender Napalm, Dreamgirls, Really Really), the production stars Mitchell Jarvis (Broadway's Rock of Ages) as the charismatic Macheath, known to popular culture as Mack the Knife.

Longtime mystery fans recognize the byline of John Leslie, whose bullets-on-the-beach novels were a big hit a dozen or so years ago. They featured hardboiled antiheroes facing dangerous foes in Key West and other steamy Caribbean climes.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING plays at 8pm on March 7, 8, 14 and 15, with a 2pm matinee on Saturday, March 15. All tickets are $10 and may be purchased online at www.roxyregionaltheatre.org, by phone at (931)645-7699, or at the theatre during regular box office hours (9am to 2pm, Monday through Friday, and one hour prior to curtain).

Artistic Director Molly Smith tackles a unique, in-the-round staging of Bertolt Brecht's powerhouse anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Iconic stage and screen actress and Academy Award nominee Kathleen Turner returns to Arena Stage following her sold-out run of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins to make her professional singing debut as the tough-as-nails matriarch Mother Courage-a single mother determined to keep her family alive and her business afloat during war. Mother Courage and Her Children runs through March 9, 2014 in the Fichandler Stage. BroadwayWorld has a first look at opening night below!

Artistic Director Molly Smith tackles a unique, in-the-round staging of Bertolt Brecht's powerhouse anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Iconic stage and screen actress and Academy Award nominee Kathleen Turner returns to Arena Stage following her sold-out run of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins to make her professional singing debut as the tough-as-nails matriarch Mother Courage-a single mother determined to keep her family alive and her business afloat during war. Mother Courage and Her Children runs tonight, January 31-March 9, 2014 in the Fichandler Stage. BroadwayWorld has a look at Turner and the cast below!

Artistic Director Molly Smith tackles a unique, in-the-round staging of Bertolt Brecht's powerhouse anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Iconic stage and screen actress and Academy Award nominee Kathleen Turner returns to Arena Stage following her sold-out run of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins to make her professional singing debut as the tough-as-nails matriarch Mother Courage-a single mother determined to keep her family alive and her business afloat during war. Mother Courage and Her Children runs January 31-March 9, 2014 in the Fichandler Stage. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at Turner and the cast below!

Artistic Director Molly Smith tackles a unique, in-the-round staging of Bertolt Brecht's powerhouse anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Iconic stage and screen actress and Academy Award nominee Kathleen Turner returns to Arena Stage following her sold-out run of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins to make her professional singing debut as the tough-as-nails matriarch Mother Courage-a single mother determined to keep her family alive and her business afloat during war. Using the David Hare translation, the show fuses politics and satire to paint an unforgettable and provocative portrait of war, incorporating more than 10 pieces of original music composed in a rollicking, gypsy-punk style and performed by cast members doubling as musicians. Mother Courage and Her Children runs January 31-March 9, 2014 in the Fichandler Stage.

Artistic Director Molly Smith tackles a unique, in-the-round staging of Bertolt Brecht's powerhouse anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Iconic stage and screen actress and Academy Award nominee Kathleen Turner returns to Arena Stage following her sold-out run of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins to make her professional singing debut as the tough-as-nails matriarch Mother Courage-a single mother determined to keep her family alive and her business afloat during war. Using the David Hare translation, the show fuses politics and satire to paint an unforgettable and provocative portrait of war, incorporating more than 10 pieces of original music composed in a rollicking, gypsy-punk style and performed by cast members doubling as musicians. Mother Courage and Her Children runs January 31-March 9, 2014 in the Fichandler Stage.

One of the worst things that can happen to a theatre group is to lose its venue, and that's precisely what happened to The Black Rep. But, it's the season to give thanks, and in that spirit, we celebrate the fact that Harris-Stowe State University has graciously offered up the Emerson Performance Theatre as a place for the Black Rep to stage their current season. The first production in their new digs is the wonderful BLACK NATIVITY: A HOLIDAY CELEBRATION.

The multi-Latin Grammy-nominated MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA conducted by BOBBY SANABRIA will perform Music of the Masters For the Masters on Wednesday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the School's BordenAuditorium. Please see the program below that features music composed for masters including, Dave Brubeck, Jerry Gonzalez, Hermeto Pascoal, Don Ellis, Frank Zappa, Wes Montgomery and Freddie Hubbard. A world premiere and a New York premiere will also be featured - Jeremy Fletcher's "for fathers everywhere" will receive its world premiere and Andrew Neesley's Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite will be heard in New York for the first time.

The Gateway's 2013 season continues with 'Young Frankenstein,' June 12-29 at Bellport's Gateway Playhouse. Based on the movie of the same name, Mel Brooks' Tony nominated 'Young Frankenstein' will be making its Long Island premiere at the region's oldest professional theatre. BroadwayWorld has a first look at highlights of the show below.

According to Deadline, Warner Bros. has acquired the rights to the fantasy game, and has already begun developing the film, making use of a script they picked up last year titled CHAINMAIL, from David Leslie Johnson (WRATH OF TITANS.) Johnson's project was originally based off of another game by Gary Gygax, the original creator of D&D. Deadline reports that the script will be reworked to encompass the grand scale of DUNGEONS.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) will close its 2012-13 season with a dazzling new production of Tom Stoppard's masterwork, Arcadia. Directed by A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff, Arcadia unfolds in a beautiful English country house and moves between the nineteenth century and the present through a series of love stories, as characters from both eras discover connections, unearth mysteries, and unravel hidden truths about the nature of heat and desire.

The Leonard McHardy and John Harvey Award (LMJH Award) was inaugurated in 2008 and recognizes the important work of theatre, dance and opera administrators. Recipients of the LMJH Award have at least 10 years of demonstrated commitment to the performing arts, in addition to having made an impact on the industry in Toronto. The award is named after Leonard McHardy andJohn Harvey, the celebrated owners of Toronto's Theatrebooks, which they co-founded in 1975, and now stands as one of the longest surviving independent bookstores in the country.

IMAX Corporation (NYSE: IMAX; TSX: IMX) and Warner Bros. Pictures today announced that the fantasy action adventure Wrath of the Titans will be released in IMAX® 3D format in 482 IMAX® theatres worldwide beginning Friday, March 30, simultaneous with the film's North American wide release. The film will be released this Friday in 293 IMAX theatres domestically and 176 IMAX theatres internationally, with 13 additional international runs to debut over the coming weeks. Additional playdates will be added as pending bookings are confirmed.

Village Theatre announced today the casting for IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU, the second new musical production in its 2011-2012 Mainstage Season, written by Brian Hargrove and Barbara Anselmi. Actors include Seattle stalwarts including Leslie Law, John Patrick Lowrie, and Jayne Muirhead; John Dewar, member of the original Broadway cast of Les Misérables; and up-and-coming local actors Joshua Carter, Aaron Finley and Diana Huey. The musical previews on Wednesday, March 14; opening night (media night) is Thursday, March 15.