Robert Thompson News

Betsey Perlmutter has been appointed as the Vice President of Schirmer Theatrical, a part of Wise Music Group.

The complete cast has been set for the world premiere of Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker. See who is starring and learn how to purchase tickets.

The World Premiere of SUGAR HILL: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker, the jazz-steeped reimagining of The Nutcracker based on the genre-defying collaboration of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, will debut at New York City Center.

Kentucky Shakespeare returns with the free SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKS tour this spring. The 7-actor, 85-minute production of HAMLET will tour to multiple parks in Indiana and Kentucky this April and May.

Broadcast Live From The Bell House in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Variety Ramble (BVR) celebrates the best of Country, Bluegrass, Americana, and American Roots music, hosted by comedian Ali Clayton, featuring top musical guest artists backed by the BVR House Band led by Nashville's Rick Brantley Brooklyn, New York, January 17, 2023 – Brooklyn's new ongoing country music variety show, the Brooklyn Variety Ramble (BVR), is a 90-minute variety show that entertains, enlightens, and unites audiences through the celebration of Country, Bluegrass, Americana and American Roots music, beginning January 29th at The Bell House in Brooklyn, NY.

Schirmer Theatrical (a part of Wise Music Group) is honored to continue their successful Ghostbusters In Concert production this fall.

Schirmer Theatrical (a part of Wise Music Group) is honored to continue their successful Ghostbusters In Concert production this fall. Concerts feature Elmer Bernstein’s iconic score performed live-to-picture with select performances being conducted by Peter Bernstein (son of Elmer Bernstein).

The World Premiere of SUGAR HILL The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker, the reimagining of The Nutcracker based on the collaboration of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, will debut at Pittsburgh’s Benedum Center for the Performing Arts from October 19-30, 2022. The production will follow with a run at New York City Center from November 15-27, 2022.

Full programming for New York City Center’s 2022 – 2023 Season was announced, including Adam Guettel’s Tony Award-winning musical The Light in the Piazza, Jerry Herman’s 1969 musical Dear World and Lionel Bart’s Oliver! See the full schedules and how to get tickets!

Kaufman Music Center has announced the publication of Who is Florence Price?, a children's book written and illustrated by students at KMC's Special Music School, NYC's only K-12 public school that teaches music as a core subject. It will be published by Schirmer Books.

It wasn’t until I started taking a course in puppetry for my college’s January  term, where I began learning about more esoteric methods and philosophies of  puppetry, that I was able to fully appreciate the amount of puppetry that happened  nightly in Ferguson’s studio.

When the theater's 2021 season comes to a close, Artistic Director Greg Vinkler will step down from administrative duties and retire. Linda Fortunato, a dedicated company member of 17 seasons at Peninsula Players, has been appointed associate artistic director and will work alongside Vinkler throughout the 2021 season.

This Fall, The|Griot|Project will be mounting their rendition of  Cheryl L. West's, powerful family drama,  a?oeBefore It Hits Homea??. You are invited to a Preview Show on Friday, November 15th at The Table; 1800 Portland Ave, Louisville, KY 40203. Doors open at 6pm. Please RSVP by emailing louisvillegriot@gmail.com or calling 502-309-9307.

Ghost, a faithful adaptation of the novel by Jason Reynolds, tells the story of Castle 'Ghost' Crenshaw (played by the always-excellent Crystian Wiltshire), an earnest seventh grader who finds himself unexpectedly recruited onto the track team thanks to the encouragement of Coach (Louis Robert Thompson). Ghost is haunted by the memories of an abusive father, and a large part of this play's journey is watching how the discipline of sports and the support of friends and mentors help Ghost keep his life moving in a positive direction.

Theatre always begins as a mystery. Neutral Positions begins with three scenes that seem unrelated; disparate episodes whose relationship to each other eventually becomes evident. But for a tantalizing few minutes, we don't know. Our mind is working. We are thinking actively in hopes of finding the connections. The marketing has clued us in that there is a Theme, and it's a big one: the Death Penalty. So what does a broadly comic scene of a sixth-grade acting class have to do with that? How will the scene of two women, friends since childhood, preparing for a wedding, tie into state execution?

David Clark's gods play wants desperately to be a movie, and it could very well be adapted as such with little difficulty. A heady mash-up of the visceral and intellectual, Clark imagines a playwright so full of himself that he declares that not even God could write a play better than his latest work. But it doesn't pay to challenge the creator.

Americans talk about racial and cultural identity as if walking on eggshells. As with so many hot button issues in the 21stcentury, we have become polarized on these topics because it is easier to lean completely into a position rather than explore the gray territory of nuance and contradiction. In her play Smart People, Lydia R. Diamond is intent on having a conversation that, if it doesn't entirely resist cliche and stereotype, at least uses them as devices to trigger a messier, more complex dialogue.

Artistic Director Tony Prince and Producing Director Richard McGrew are excited to open the third production of the The Liminal Playhouse's fourth season, "Smart People" by Lydia R. Diamond, directed by Tony Prince.

No, it's not the movie. Nor is it the basis of the movie. But if the movie prompts you to check out this play, then everybody wins.

Seventy-seven years after the First American Volunteer Group joined WWII, Flying Tigers Flying Away tells the story of a cross-cultural romance between three young pilots and two Chinese medical volunteers in Kunming, in the Yunnan province of China.