Julian Crouch News

The Joffrey Ballet's critically-acclaimed reimagined classic, The Nutcracker, by Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, returns to open the holiday season at the historic Auditorium Theatre, in downtown Chicago at 50 East Ida B. Wells Drive, in 29 performances only, November 30-December 29, 2019. This season's production marks the last time The Nutcracker will take place at the Auditorium Theatre since its world premiere in 2016. The Company moves to the Lyric Opera House with the start of the 2020-2021 season.

Bucking the current trend of rewriting and reinterpreting older musicals to suit current sensibilities, director Michael Mayer's buoyant and bouncy revival of Little Shop of Horrors, with a story involving a hero who murders and a leading lady who defends the actions of her physically abusive boyfriend, pretty much delivers Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's 1982 smash hit with the same brand of beloved quirkiness that has made it a favorite for high schools, community theatres and regional productions for over three decades.

Producers of the Off-Broadway return of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS have instituted a new daily schedule for the show's in-person ticket lottery. Beginning with the drawing for the Saturday, September 28 evening performance, the new lottery timeline for LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS will be as follows: entries open 90 minutes prior to each scheduled curtain time at the Westside Theatre box office (407 W. 43rd St, NYC), and winners will be drawn 55 minutes prior to the scheduled curtain time. This will be instituted throughout the musical's run.

The Off-Broadway return of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS will offer an in-person ticket lottery for every performance and we've got all the details you need to get tickets.

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS announces that the sold-out production starring Jonathan Groff, Tammy Blanchard and Christian Borle has released eight additional weeks of tickets, now on sale through Sunday, January 19, 2020 at the Westside Theatre (407 W. 43rd St, NYC).

New Victory announces the 2019-20 New Victory LabWorks Artists, a roster of NYC artists pursuing the creation of innovative, adventurous new work for young audiences. With the unique opportunity to hold invited rehearsals for New Victory Member families, New Victory LabWorks Artists garner invaluable responses and feedback from their target audience: kids.

The Off-Broadway return of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS announces the complete cast for the production opening this fall at the Westside Theatre

Tony Award-winning producers Tom Kirdahy, Robert Ahrens, Hunter Arnold, Mickey Liddell, Curt Cronin and John Joseph, have just announced that Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's landmark musical LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS will return to its Off-Broadway…roots…this fall. Two-time Tony Award nominee Jonathan Groff (Hamilton, Spring Awakening, 'Mindhunter') will play Seymour in the long-awaited revival, opposite Emmy Award winner Tammy Blanchard (Life with Judy Garland, Gypsy) as Audrey, and Tony Award winner Christian Borle (Something Rotten!, Falsettos) as Orin Scrivello D.D.S. Directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Idiot), the production begins previews Tuesday, September 17, with an official opening night of Thursday, October 17, at the Westside Theatre (407 W 43rd St). Tickets are available now at Telecharge.com, through November 24 only.

Swapping the Coliseum for the vastness of the unique space at London's Royal Albert Hall, English National Ballet's Summer blockbuster is billed as their 'biggest production to date'. Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella was first created for Dutch National Ballet in 2012 and first seen in the UK in 2015, now a restaged version made especially for the distinctive in-the-round space sees it meet new demands.

Latecomers to director Terry Kinney's finely-acted Signature Theatre revival of Sam Shepard's 1977 dysfunctional family drama, Curse of the Starving Class, will miss the showstopping bit of stagecraft that opens the production, as set designer Julian Crouch's kitchen interior of a worse-for-wear California Valley farmhouse literally becomes a house divided, splitting horizontally with the top half appearing to crumble upwards.

The Tony Awards Administration Committee has been meeting all year to discuss the eligibility of the 2018-19 Broadway productions all leading up to Tuesdays big announcement... the Tony nominations.

A one-week extension has been announced today for the Signature Theatre (Paige Evans, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Executive Director; James Houghton, Founder) production of Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard and directed by Tony Award nominee Terry Kinney. The production will now run April 23 to June 2, 2019 with a Monday, May 13 opening night in The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues).

Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson and San Francisco Ballet today announced programming for the 2020 Repertory Season. Building on a heritage of commissioning groundbreaking dance from today's top choreographers, uncovering new choreographic talent, staging modern classics, and preserving the works that make up the canon of classic ballet, the 2020 Season places SF Ballet at the forefront of innovation and preeminence. Highlights include two new SF Ballet commissions by Cathy Marston and Trey McIntyre, and a co-commission with American Ballet Theatre of a work by Alexei Ratmansky; as well as works by George Balanchine, David Dawson, Harald Lander, Edwaard Liang, Benjamin Millepied, Mark Morris, Liam Scarlett, Helgi Tomasson, and Stanton Welch. The Season's three story ballets include Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Wheeldon's Cinderella, and Tomasson's Romeo & Juliet.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce the 2019 recipients of Discovery Grants from the Opera Grants for Female Composers program, which is made possible through the generosity of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

The cast and creative team have been announced for the Signature Theatre production of Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard and directed by Tony Award nominee Terry Kinney. The production runs April 23 to May 26, 2019 with a Monday, May 13 opening night in The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues).

In just 100 days, The American Theatre Wing will present the 73rd Annual Tony Awards, which are set to air on the CBS Television Network on Sunday, June 9, 2019 (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/delayed PT).

Ashley Wheater, The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, proudly announces an impressive 2019-2020 season featuring a Chicago premiere from Northern Ballet Artistic Director Cathy Marston, along with a Chicago premiere from Tony Award-winning choreographer and New York City Ballet Resident Choreographer Justin Peck, plus the return of an audience favorite by choreographer Yuri Possokhov, and Christopher Wheeldon's holiday classic The Nutcracker. The Joffrey Ballet begins its 64th season with Marston's modern re-telling of Jane Eyre, October 16-27, 2019, followed by Wheeldon's magical holiday classic The Nutcracker, November 30-December 29, 2019. For its winter engagement, the Joffrey presents a mixed repertory program that includes the Chicago premiere of Peck's acclaimed The Times Are Racing, the Chicago premieres of Mono Lisa and The Sofa by Israeli choreographer Itzik Galili, Wheeldon's Commedia, and Bliss!, a new work from Stephanie Martinez, winner of the Joffrey's 2015 Winning Works choreographic competition, February 12-23, 2020. Closing the season is the return of Possokhov's Don Quixote, April 22- May 3, 2020, which received its world premiere in Chicago in 2011.

Go behind the scenes of Broadway's Head Over Heels with one of 2018's breakout stars, Bonnie Milligan, as she takes over the BroadwayWorld Instagram tomorrow, December 29th! Follow along as Milligan takes you behind the scenes of her two-show day as 'Pamela'! Be sure to tune in!

Theatrical rights licensor Broadway Licensing, along with the Broadway producers of Head Over Heels (led by Christine Russell, Louise Gund), today announced the immediate availability of 2019 performance rights for school and youth theatrical programs.

Head Over Heels, the new musical comedy featuring the iconic songs of The Go-Go's - the most successful female rock band of all time - will play its final Broadway performance at Hudson Theatre (141 West 44th Street) on Sunday, January 6, 2019. Head Over Heels, which began preview performances on Saturday, June 23 and officially opened on Thursday, July 26, 2018, will have played 188 regular performances and 37 previews.