Brian McDonald News

In Richard Bean's hilarious comedy we find ourselves in Brighton, England. 1963. Francis Henshall is in the employ of TWO men: gangster, Roscoe Crabbe and Stanley Stubbersa?"mortal enemies of one another. However, it turns out that a?oeRoscoea?? is already deceased and Roscoe's twin sister, Rachel, has been posing as him. Fighting a mounting sense of confusion and distractions, Francis frantically tries to keep Roscoe and Stubbers apart so they cannot find out he's secretly been working for both of them. How long can he keep this charade up? Be sure to catch this splendidly silly comedy making its way to the Circle stage on January 30th.

The Actors Fund announced today that the music of the Tony Award-winning Ragtime will once again be heard on Broadway in a one-night only benefit concert on Monday, April 27, 2020, at the Minskoff Theatre (200 West 45th St.). This celebratory benefit concert will star original cast members, with six-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald ('Sarah') and two-time Tony Award-winner, Brian Stokes Mitchell ('Coalhouse Walker, Jr.') scheduled to appear. Further casting will be announced and tickets will go on sale at a later date. All proceeds from this one-night only benefit concert will support The Actors Fund.

Director Brian McDonald does a nice job of keeping the actors rotating around the multiple microphones on stage (or having them add and remove costuming items) to distinguish between multiple characters. The staging is dynamic and the sight gags are clever, and the actors give pleasant and efficient performances, bringing out the warmth and hopefulness of this holiday tale. Ensemble's production highlights humor and heart for an agreeable, well-produced night of festive entertainment.

ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY (ETC) presents the second show of its 2019-20 Season, the can't-miss, holiday event of the season, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY, adapted by Joe Landry, from the screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra & Jo Swerling and directed by ETC's Director of Education and Outreach, Brian McDonald. It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play begins previews on Thursday, December 5, opens on Saturday, December 7 at 8:00pm, and runs through Sunday, December 22, 2019 at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street in Santa Barbara.

ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY (ETC) presents the second show of its 2019-20 Season, the can't-miss, holiday event of the season, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY, adapted by Joe Landry, from the screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra & Jo Swerling and directed by ETC's Director of Education and Outreach, Brian McDonald. It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play begins previews on Thursday, December 5, opens on Saturday, December 7 at 8:00pm, and runs through Sunday, December 22, 2019 at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street in Santa Barbara.

ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY (ETC) presents the second show of its 2019-20 Season, the can't-miss, holiday event of the season, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY, adapted by Joe Landry, from the screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra & Jo Swerling and directed by ETC's Director of Education and Outreach, Brian McDonald.

Brigham Young University's Ballroom Dance Company (BDC) is one of the most distinctive and unique university dance companies in the world. Based in Provo, Utah, this company consists of 32 dancers, all of whom are full-time students at BYU.

At its final Board of Trustees meeting of the season, McCarter Theatre Center welcomed Robert J. Caruso as its new President. Mr. Caruso was elected to serve a three year term, succeeding outgoing Interim Board President Reginald Browne.

The California Arts Council announced a grant award of $16,200 to Ensemble Theatre Company's (ETC's) 3rdAnnual Young Playwrights' Festival as part of its Youth Arts Action program.

Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC) announces its 2019-20 Season of plays. ETC's 41st Season is the company's seventh year at The New Vic in downtown Santa Barbara, and features a thrilling selection of extraordinary works, including William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, a radio play version of the beloved holiday story It's a Wonderful Life, a musical adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, the West Coast premiere of the Broadway play American Son, and an inspirational pop and jazz musical about the legendary Rosemary Clooney. ETC's 2019-20 Season will build upon the momentum of its successful and celebratory 40thAnniversary 2018-19 Season.

Twenty years after they first performed the roles, Broadway stars Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell re-united to sing 'Wheels of a Dream' from Ragtime LIVE at the Kennedy Center at the et Freedom Ring! concert in collaboration with Georgetown University on January 21st, 2019. Check out the video below!

On this day in 1998, the original Broadway production starring Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie, and Brian Stokes Mitchell opened at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

Rubicon Theatre Company has announced what is expected to be the biggest and most extraordinary Kids for Kids Benefit Concert in the company's history for Saturday, December 29 at 7:00 p.m. at the theatre, located at 1006 E. Main Street in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District. More than 70 young people will be performing onstage or via video in an entertaining musical variety show that raises funds for scholarships for next summer's education and outreach participants. 

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Georgetown University celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a free, ticketed musical tribute titled Let Freedom Ring!

WaterTower Theatre Artistic Director, Joanie Schultz, today announced casting and creative team details for A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, adapted and directed by Joanie Schultz.

Enrollment is now open for spring acting classes at Rubicon Theatre Company for adults and children ages 5 and older. Classes will be taught by Rubicon Associate Artistic Director Brian McDonald, an award-winning professional actor and director and graduate of Boston Conservatory, whose credits include national tours and work with prestigious regional theatre companies including Denver Center Theatre for the Performing Arts, McCoy-Rigby at La Mirada, Musical Theatre Guild at Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center, and Rubicon.

Rubicon Theatre Company presents the outrageously funny, critically-acclaimed comedy Buyer & Cellar by Jonathan Tolins. The production is directed by Ovation Award-winner Stephanie A. Coltrin and stars award-winning actor and Rubicon's Associate Artistic Director Brian McDonald.

Brian McDonald brilliantly plays multiple roles in the one-man comic fantasy 'Buyer and Cellar,' about serving as shopkeeper in Barbara Streisand's ornate underground personal shopping mall. A tour de force for McDonald and the Rubicon Theater Company.

Rubicon Theatre Company presents the outrageously funny, critically-acclaimed comedy Buyer & Cellar by Jonathan Tolins. The production is directed by Ovation Award-winner Stephanie A. Coltrin and stars award-winning actor and Rubicon's Associate Artistic Director Brian McDonald. Inspired by Barbra Streisand's book My Passion for Design, Tolins' one-man, tour-de-force is described by the N.Y. Times as a seriously funny slice of absurdist whimsy about the price of fame, the cost of things, and the oddest of odd jobs. Winner of the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Best Play, this Off-Broadway sensation follows a struggling actor named Alex who winds up working for an unnamed show-business legend in her Malibu basement mall. An unlikely friendship develops between the two from which Alex learns profound lessons about himself.

A week ago, the artists of Rubicon Theatre of Ventura were in final dress rehearsals for the first show of the company's 20th Anniversary Season - an original adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol by Producing Artistic Director Karyl Lynn Burns. The next day, rehearsals came to a halt when the electricity went out in the building; staff, cast and crew were evacuated, and fires throughout the area came within blocks of the theatre. The Thomas Fire, as it has come to be called, has since engulfed more than 230,000 acres and destroyed more than 500 homes and structures in the area (135 in the City of Ventura). At this time, the fire is 15% contained. Recognizing that the whole community is affected and that local support must go to basic needs in Ventura, Rubicon is reaching out across the nation to ask for support from other theatre communities.