Raye Birk News

Theater Latte Da opens its inaugural year of NEXT: New Musicals in the Making with When the Moon Hits Your Eye by Jon Marans.

Theater Latte Da opens its inaugural year of NEXT: New Musicals in the Making with When the Moon Hits Your Eye by Jon Marans.

The Guthrie Theater's production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night moves into the final week of its acclaimed run, with the performance of Helen Carey as Mary Tyrone earning accolades for its complexity and sympathetic power. Carey, an actor with an illustrious career spanning a Tony Award nomination, pivotal roles in Guthrie productions, stage credits in New York and the U.K., as well as numerous film and television credits, was termed "superb" in her latest role by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The Guthrie today announced that actor Peter Michael Goetz will be stepping away from subsequent performances of his acclaimed portrayal of James Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night; Goetz will return to his California home in order to attend to a personal matter that requires his immediate attention. Raye Birk will assume the role of James Tyrone for upcoming performances.

Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company is pleased to introduce their winter weekend production opening on March 2, 2013 with the regional premiere of Compulsion or the House Behind.

Park Square Theatre takes a new approach as it brings King Lear, Shakespeare's tragic tale of the aging king of Britain, to the stage October 19-November 11, 2012.

Overall, the forecast for The Sunshine Boys is clear and breezy. Audiences can expects sunny laughter, clear plotlines and gusts of slapstick. With a chance of a light drizzle (if you're not into hardy-har-type comedy) this show is daffy and fun.

The Guthrie Theater currently presents The Sunshine Boys-acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon's sidesplitting comedy. Directed by Gary Gisselman (Guthrie: A Christmas Carol, Lost in Yonkers), The Sunshine Boys features veteran actors Peter Michael Goetz and Raye Birk as Willie Clark and Al Lewis, respectively, a pair of crabby, retired vaudeville comedians persuaded to reunite after 11 years apart-despite the fact that they hate each other. Hilarity ensues when these seasoned stage partners return to the stage for a CBS television comedy special. Get a first look at Goetz and Birk in The Sunshine Boys in the photos below!

The Guthrie Theater today announced the full cast and creative team for The Sunshine Boys-acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon's sidesplitting comedy. Directed by Gary Gisselman (A Christmas Carol, Lost in Yonkers), The Sunshine Boys will feature Guthrie favorites Raye Birk (Faith Healer, Third) and Peter Michael Goetz (1776, The Government Inspector) as Al Lewis and Willie Clark, respectively, a pair of crabby, retired vaudeville comedians persuaded to reunite after 11 years apart - despite the fact that they hate each other. When these seasoned stage partners are convinced to reunite for a CBS television comedy special, hilarity ensues. The New York Times called The Sunshine Boys "an evening that keeps you laughing and then leaves you surprisingly moved." The production also features a special cameo from renowned improvisational comedian and Brave New Workshop founder Dudley Riggs as Sketch Patient.

Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company will close its 17th season with an area premiere of the comedy The Last Word, April 14 - May 6, 2012. Henry Grunwald is an 80-year old Viennese Jew who fled the Nazis and became a successful New York advertising executive. Now retired and nearly blind, he's determined to fulfill his dream of being a playwright. Len Artz is a student and aspiring playwright who has come to Henry's office to interview for a job as his assistant. This new comedy reveals the challenging world of playwriting as it explores the colliding forces of classicism and modernism and a struggle with fear of failure and the pursuit of dreams.

Park Square Artistic Director Richard Cook and his new team of Artistic Associates announce a season crackling with new scripts from Broadway and beyond. "This team - Brian Balcom, Aditi Kapil, Carson Kreitzerand James A. Williams - has done just what I asked them to do: bring me work I may not have known of or wouldn't normally consider," says Cook.

Guthrie Theater Artistic Director Joe Dowling today announced that longtime Guthrie actor J. C. Cutler will play the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the Theater's 2011 production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, presented by U.S. Bank.

The Muny has just released a preview for the upcoming production LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. A true classic of camp comedy, this is the musical that's sure to grow on you! For information call (314) 361-1900 , or visit our website at www.muny.org. To charge tickets by phone, call (314) 534-1111. Check out production shots below!

The Muny has just released a preview for the upcoming production LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. A true classic of camp comedy, this is the musical that's sure to grow on you! For information call (314) 361-1900 , or visit our website at www.muny.org. To charge tickets by phone, call (314) 534-1111. Click below o check it out!

I'm a big fan of lowbrow horror and science fiction films, especially those made between the 1930's and late 1970's, and I've always enjoyed the work of cult director/producer Roger Corman. The original 1960 film version of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, was supposedly shot in four days, and it downright bristles with a sense of energy and cheap thrills, even though the budget was a mere pittance compared to what's spent on the blockbusters we witness today. Howard Ashman (book and lyrics) and Alan Menken (music) took the basic premise put forward by writer Charles Griffith and crafted a very clever and funny off-Broadway musical which, in turn, spawned a rather lackluster and overblown movie version. So, it was with some trepidation that I looked forward to The Muny's current production. It's simply not a big splashy affair, and it would seem to benefit most from a smaller venue. Happily, they do the show justice, and the expansive stage that allows for larger production numbers doesn't get in the way of the simpleness of the story.

The Muny has just annunced the full cast of upcoming production LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. A true classic of camp comedy, this is the musical that's sure to grow on you! For information call (314) 361-1900 , or visit our website at www.muny.org. To charge tickets by phone, call (314) 534-1111.