Dennis Castellano News

Jason Graae will direct R&H's It's a Grand Night For Singing at Musical Theatre West beginning this week.

Who can beat the prolific talent and indomitable spirit of Irving Berlin? His music is ageless. On film Holiday Inn in 1942 introduced the world to 'White Christmas' that became a great big movie hit as well but not for another 12 years. Many forget that White Christmas was a hit in 1954. Then White Christmas became a hit onstage in 2000 and Holiday Inn didn't come to Broadway until 2016. We're talking almost a hundred years, and people still crave Irving Berlin.

Musical Theatre West celebrates the holiday season with the classic movie-turned- Broadway musical Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn December 6-15 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.  Tickets are on sale now at www.musical.org, by calling (562) 856-1999, or at the Musical Theatre West Box Office.  Tickets start at $20.

Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, will continue their 24th Anniversary season with THE GOODBYE GIRL, the musical adaptation of Neil Simon's film. The one-night-only concert will take place at Glendale's historic Alex Theatre on Sunday, November 10, 2019 at 7:00 PM.

Musical Theatre West (MTW) opens its 67th season with the West Coast regional theatre premiere of the 10-time Tony nominated musical Something Rotten! at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center October 18 a?" November 3.  From the co-director of The Book of Mormon and the producer of Avenue Q comes a no-holds-a?oeBarda?? deliciously loopy celebration of the greatest English playwright and the greatest American art form.   Music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Wayne Kirkpatrick and Golden Globe and Tony Award nominee Karey Kirkpatrick and book by Tony Award nominees Karey Kirkpatrick and best-selling author John O'Farrell.

The final show in the 2019 season is the Broadway At Music Circus premiere of In The Heights, a multiple Tony Award-winning Best Musical from Lin-Manual Miranda, creator of the smash hit Hamilton, running Tuesday, Aug. 20 through Sunday, Aug. 25 at the Wells Fargo Pavilion in Sacramento.

Today, South Coast Repertory Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Paula Tomei announced the 13 creative dream teams for the 2019-20 season, the first programmed by Ivers. The roughly 100 individuals are among the theatre industry's finest, most creative and versatile talents.

The third show in the 2019 season is the Broadway At Music Circus premiere of the award-winning musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone is now on stage, starring writeractorcomedian Bruce Vilanch and featuring a cast of Broadway veterans. The show runs Tuesday, July 9 through Sunday, July 14 at the Wells Fargo Pavilion in Sacramento. Check out video of the cast in action!

The third show in the 2019 season is the Broadway At Music Circus premiere of the award-winning musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone is now on stage, starring writeractorcomedian Bruce Vilanch and featuring a cast of Broadway veterans. The show runs Tuesday, July 9 through Sunday, July 14 at the Wells Fargo Pavilion in Sacramento. Check out photos of the cast in action!

The third show in the 2019 season is the Broadway At Music Circus premiere of the award-winning musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone, starring writeractorcomedian Bruce Vilanch and featuring a cast of Broadway veterans. The show runs Tuesday, July 9 through Sunday, July 14 at the Wells Fargo Pavilion in Sacramento.

The 2019 season gets underway with the Broadway At Music Circus premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy Shrek the Musical. Sure to delight the entire family, the musical comedy, which Variety calls 'a gently subversive fairytale with a contemporary edge, conjuring genuine enchantment and brimming with heart and irreverent charm,' runs Tuesday, June 11 through Sunday, June 16 at the Wells Fargo Pavilion.

The 2019 season gets underway with the Broadway At Music Circus premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy Shrek the Musical. Sure to delight the entire family, the musical comedy, which Variety calls 'a gently subversive fairytale with a contemporary edge, conjuring genuine enchantment and brimming with heart and irreverent charm,' runs Tuesday, June 11 through Sunday, June 16 at the Wells Fargo Pavilion. Check out photos of the cast in action!

The 2019 season gets underway with the Broadway At Music Circus premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy Shrek the Musical. Sure to delight the entire family, the musical comedy, which Variety calls "a gently subversive fairytale with a contemporary edge, conjuring genuine enchantment and brimming with heart and irreverent charm," runs Tuesday, June 11 through Sunday, June 16 at the Wells Fargo Pavilion.

Casting has been confirmed for the 69th Broadway At Music Circus season, which begins June 11 at the Wells Fargo Pavilion. The season includes four Broadway At Music Circus premieres, Shrek the Musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Wiz, and In the Heights.

Musical Theatre West's entertaining, high-energy new production of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN---which continues performances at the Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts in Long Beach through April 14, 2019---is, for the most part, a sleek, stylish, and abundantly entertaining piece of theater, filled with nostalgic fun and features a plucky anti-hero at its center whose bad behavior can both be seen as terrible and worth cheering for in his sheer audacity and skill. Despite its flaws, the show is a worthy trip back in time, especially with the presence of its two terrific lead actors Jacob Haren and Jeff Skowron as the teenage con artist and the FBI agent chasing him.

Education takes center stage in BroadwayWorld's new Education Spotlight education series. Next up is Teal Wicks, currently gettin' groovy playing one iteration of the incomparable diva Cher in The Cher Show. Find out how her education played its part in bringing her to Broadway!

Musical Theater West (MTW) brings the incredible true story, turned hit film, turned Broadway Tony Award-winning musical Catch Me If You Can to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center March 29 through April 14. Created by the dream team of song writers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray, Smash, Mary Poppins Returns) and librettist Terrence McNally (The Full Monty, Ragtime), Catch Me If You Can delivers a the high-flying musical comedy about chasing your dreams and not getting caught.

Seattle's critics' circle announces Nominees of Excellence in Seattle theatrical productions. Spanning dozens of theater companies and productions, from large and prominent to small and humble, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor the excellence found in the myriad of professional theater productions that we reviewers attend in a year.

Musical Theatre West (MTW) brings everyone's favorite Elf to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in the new holiday classic Elf: The Musical November 30 - December 9.  Tickets are now on sale at www.musical.org, by calling (562) 856-1999, or at the Musical Theatre West box office.  Tickets start at $20.

Steve Martin's and Edie Brickell's Bright Star played Broadway in 2016. The show fared somewhat well, but did not seem to be an overall critics' choice. On the minus side, it is an all too familiar story about a backwoods pregnant girl and parental abuse in the 1920s, with far-fetched resolutions and a sweet, but for many, saccharine ending. In spite of this, I was delighted with the bluegrass music by Martin and Brickell.