Norfolk Theatre + Broadway News

Wolf Trap to Include Demi Lovato, Lyle Lovett, et al. in Summer Season

(5/10/2012) Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announces its entire 2012 Summer season, featuring 92 performances at the majestic Filene Center amphitheater, nine evenings of opera at The Barns at Wolf Trap, and 34 performances in 108 days at Wolf Trap’s Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods.

MetroStage Presents Steven Dietz' LONELY PLANET, Now thru 6/17

(5/10/2012) Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin previously announced the final play of the season, Lonely Planet, by Steven Dietz, in performance from tonight, May 10 through June 17, 2012. (Note that this replaces the play that was originally announced for this time slot, Playing Sinatra). Dietz is one of the most prolific, versatile and widely produced playwrights in the country. Lonely Planet was written in 1994 and is considered a second generation AIDS play although the disease is never named. Dietz uses his obsession with maps and his connection with Ionesco’s The Chairs to write a play about friendship in the dawn of the AIDS crisis. The play won the PEN-USA Award for Drama.

Demi Lovato, Wilco, Broadway Favorites in Concert, Opera and More Headline Wolf Trap's 41st Season

(5/9/2012) Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts has announced its entire 2012 Summer season, featuring 92 live performances and 108 days at the Filene Center amphitheater, nine evenings of opera at The Barns at Wolf Trap, and 34 performances at Wolf Trap's Children's Theatre-in-the-Woods. See below for recent additions to the line-up and schedule.

Firehouse Theatre Project Holds A BRIGHT NEW BOISE Auditions, 5/6-7

(5/6/2012) The Firehouse Theatre Project has announced auditions for A Bright New Boise, by Samuel D. Hunter, running Sept. 20 - Oct. 13, directed by Morrie Piersol. Auditions will take place today May 6 and tomorrow, May 7 from 7-10pm at Firehouse Theatre Project.

Firehouse Theatre Project Presents DESSA ROSE Tonight, 5/4

(5/4/2012) Dessa Rose, featuring Stacey Cabaj as Ruth, by Lynn Ahrens with music by Stephen Flaherty, is presented in a co-production with Firehouse Theatre Project and Richmond CenterStage. The show features music direction by Leilani Giles, choreography by Karen Getz and is directed by Richard M. Parison, Jr. It runs tonight, May 4 through June 3, 2012, Thurs.-Sat. at 8pm, Wed. May 23 at 2pm, and Sun. May 6, 13, 20, and June 3 at 4pm.

Voting Opens for the 2012 BroadwayWorld.com Awards - Vote Now on the Best of the New York Season!

(5/3/2012) The TONY Awards Nominators had their say earlier this week and now it's your turn! We're pleased to announce that voting has now opened for the 10th Annual BroadwayWorld.com Awards!

MetroStage Presents Steven Dietz' LONELY PLANET, 5/10-6/17

(5/2/2012) Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin has announced that the final play of the season, Lonely Planet, by Steven Dietz, will be in performance May 10-June 17, 2012. (Note that this replaces the play that was originally announced for this time slot, Playing Sinatra). Dietz is one of the most prolific, versatile and widely produced playwrights in the country. Lonely Planet was written in 1994 and is considered a second generation AIDS play although the disease is never named. Dietz uses his obsession with maps and his connection with Ionesco’s The Chairs to write a play about friendship in the dawn of the AIDS crisis. The play won the PEN-USA Award for Drama.

SPARC's LIVE ART Tickets Now On Sale

(5/2/2012) SPARC has announced that tickets for LIVE ART have now gone on sale. The tickets can be purchased at www.sparconline.org/liveart. Tickets start at $35, for general admission.

Wolf Trap Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods 2012 Season Announced

(5/1/2012) Wolf Trap Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods 2012 season is now on-sale featuring a diverse array of performance genres including kindie rock, Latin, Afro-Caribbean, country, folk, jazz, bluegrass, and pop-rock, as well as Irish dance, ballet, puppetry, and musical theatre.

Virginia's ShenanArts Holds LEGALLY BLONDE Auditions, 4/28-29

(4/28/2012) ShenanArts at the nTelos Theatre is holding auditions for its production of Legally Blonde, April 29 and 29, 1 to 4 p.m., for ages high school and up.

The Hurrah Players Present ANCHORS AWAY!, 5/18-20 & 6/8-10

(4/27/2012) In honor of OpSail 2012, The Hurrah Players will present Anchors Away! Described as "a musical salute to our military and the most nautical performances from stage and screen, the whole family is welcome aboard our patriotic odyssey of song and dance!"

Theatre IV Presents SEUSSICAL, Now thru 5/20

(4/27/2012) Theatre IV announces the return of Seussical the musical, to the Sara Belle and Neil November Theatre, running tonight, April 27 through Sunday, May 20, 2012. Based on the work of Dr. Seuss with music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, this production offers a new generation of kids the timeless story of friendship and community. Director, Chase Kniffen, calls Seussical, “the perfect family musical that will both touch and entertain all ages, from four to four hundred.” Seussical is one of several Theatre IV offerings in the Minds Wide Open: Virginia Celebrates Children and the Arts initiative.

APASSIONATA Horse Entertainment Show Kicks Off North American Tour Today

(4/27/2012) Now in its ninth year, APASSIONATA Europe’s most successful live entertainment show, featuring more than 40 horses and seen by more than five million fans in over forty cities, will make its North American debut today, April 27, 2012, at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The new show entitled “The Beginning” will kick off an eighteen month, sixty-six city arena North American tour.

Firehouse Theatre Project Presents DESSA ROSE, 5/4; A BRIGHT NEW BOISE Auditions, 5/6-7

(4/25/2012) DESSA ROSE, featuring Stacey Cabaj as Ruth, by Lynn Ahrens with music by Stephen Flaherty, will be presented in a co-production with Firehouse Theatre Project and Richmond CenterStage. The show features music direction by Leilani Giles, choreography by Karen Getz and is directed by Richard M. Parison, Jr. It runs May 4 - June 3, 2012, Thurs.-Sat. at 8pm, Wed. May 23 at 2pm, and Sun. May 6, 13, 20, and June 3 at 4pm.

APASSIONATA Horse Entertainment Show Kicks Off North American Tour, 4/27

(4/20/2012) Now in its ninth year, APASSIONATA Europe’s most successful live entertainment show, featuring more than 40 horses and seen by more than five million fans in over forty cities, will make its North American debut on April 27, 2012, at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The new show entitled “The Beginning” will kick off an eighteen month, sixty-six city arena North American tour.

Richmond CenterStage and the Firehouse Theatre Project Present DESSA ROSE, 5/2-6/3

(4/19/2012) The Firehouse Theatre Project and Richmond CenterStage present the Civil War-Era musical Dessa Rose May 2 – June 3, 2012. Dessa Rose will be performed at the Firehouse Theatre and comes during Virginia’s commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War and Emancipation.

Photo Flash: Shots from VA's Barksdale Theatre World Premiere of SCORCHED EARTH

(4/16/2012) Barksdale Theatre presents the world premiere of Scorched Earth by local author David L. Robbins and directed by Steve Perigard. Scorched Earth is an intriguing courtroom drama that examines what happens when a community must face up to its racial heritage after a tragic event shakes it to its core. Part mystery, part legal thriller, it is a story of crime and punishment set in a small Virginia mill town during one brutal, hot and unforgiving summer that lays bare the potential of the human heart to hate-and ultimately to heal. See photos from the world premiere production below!

Virginia's ShenanArts Holds LEGALLY BLONDE Auditions, 4/28-29

(4/14/2012) ShenanArts at the nTelos Theatre is holding auditions for its production of Legally Blonde, April 29 and 29, 1 to 4 p.m., for ages high school and up.

VSC Presents Its Spring Gala, 4/28

(4/10/2012) Guests will embark on a first-class virtual excursion to the four corners of the globe at Virginia Stage Company’s 2012 Spring Gala “All The World’s A Stage,” on Saturday, April 28, 2012. Benefits from the evening will proceed VSC’s CULTIVATE programs, which bring arts experiences to over 40,000 school children throughout Southeastern Virginia and into North Carolina each year

Sandra Reaves-Phillips to Perform at Rhythm Hall, 4/5-7

(4/7/2012) Richmond CenterStage wraps up its inaugural U.S. Trust Life is a Cabaret! Series: A Celebration of the Great American Song Book by welcoming award-winning Broadway star Sandra Reaves-Phillips to Rhythm Hall as she performs her show entitled Me, Myself, and You.

THEATRE LAB Launches at Firehouse Theatre Project, Richmond

(4/6/2012) Firehouse Theatre Project, voted Richmond’s Best Theatre by Richmond Magazine in 2011, is now the home of a new project: THE THEATRE LAB.

The Firehouse Theatre Project's 2012-13 Season to Include DEATH OF A SALESMAN, TIME STANDS STILL and More

(4/5/2012) The Firehouse Theatre Project today announced the four contemporary American plays being produced for the 2012-13 season, opening in September 2012 and closing in April 2013. The 2012-13 Season will feature A Bright New Boise, by Samuel D. Hunter; Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller; Any Given Monday by Bruce Graham; and Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies.

Sandra Reaves-Phillips to Perform at Rhythm Hall, 4/5-7

(4/5/2012) Richmond CenterStage wraps up its inaugural U.S. Trust Life is a Cabaret! Series: A Celebration of the Great American Song Book by welcoming award-winning Broadway star Sandra Reaves-Phillips to Rhythm Hall as she performs her show entitled Me, Myself, and You.

Jane Krakowski, Harlem Renaissance Orchestra Headline Festival Williamsburg, 5/27

(4/4/2012) On May 25-27, ‘30 Rock’ star and Tony-award winning actress Jane Krakowski will bring Broadway to Colonial Williamsburg. Headlining the annual Festival Williamsburg, Krakowski, whose performance as actress Jenna Maroney on NBC’s ’30 Rock’ earned her an Emmy nomination, will go back to her stage roots with an evening of cabaret in the Virginia Room at The Williamsburg Lodge on Sunday, May 27.

MetroStage Presents BE CAREFUL! THE SHARKS WILL EAT YOU, 4/4/22

(4/4/2012) MetroStage presents Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You!, a one-man show written and performed by Jorge “Jay” Alvarez, who tells a story of bravery, selflessness, and unimaginable courage and survival: the story of his family’s escape from the oppression of Fidel Castro’s Cuba in 1964. Alvarez offers an autobiographical, multigenerational and cross-cultural performance.

(4/4/2012) George Winston, the celebrated “rural folk” pianist, returns to The Barns to perform selections from his latest release, Love Will Come – The Music of Vince Guaraldi, Vol. 2, which features originals by the late jazz pianist. Guaraldi is best known for composing and arranging the music featured in animated adaptations of the Peanuts® comic strips. In addition to Guaraldi, Winston has been hard at work on interpreting some of his favorite artists’ songs for solo piano—including the Doors, Frank Zappa, Randy Newman, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Laura Nyro, Al Kooper, Dr. John, Taj Mahal, and Philip Aaberg—several of which he has prepared for solo concert dates.

Theatre IV Presents SEUSSICAL, 4/27-5/20

(4/2/2012) Theatre IV announces the return of Seussical the musical, to the Sara Belle and Neil November Theatre, running Friday, April 27 through Sunday, May 20, 2012. Based on the work of Dr. Seuss with music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, this production offers a new generation of kids the timeless story of friendship and community. Director, Chase Kniffen, calls Seussical, “the perfect family musical that will both touch and entertain all ages, from four to four hundred.” Seussical is one of several Theatre IV offerings in the Minds Wide Open: Virginia Celebrates Children and the Arts initiative.

The Barns at Wolf Trap April Performances Include Jim Brickman, Jeri Sager

(3/30/2012) Jim Brickman will play from Wednesday, April 18 - Friday, April 20 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35.

MetroStage Presents BE CAREFUL! THE SHARKS WILL EAT YOU, 4/4/22

(3/29/2012) MetroStage presents Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You!, a one-man show written and performed by Jorge “Jay” Alvarez, who tells a story of bravery, selflessness, and unimaginable courage and survival: the story of his family’s escape from the oppression of Fidel Castro’s Cuba in 1964. Alvarez offers an autobiographical, multigenerational and cross-cultural performance.

Barksdale Theatre Presents SCORCHED EARTH, 4/13-5/20

(3/25/2012) Barksdale Theatre announces the World Premiere of Scorched Earth by best-selling Richmond author, David L. Robbins, and featuring Richmond actors. This theatrical adaptation is based on Robbin’s acclaimed 2002 novel of the same name. The play opens at Barksdale Theatre Willow Lawn, 1601 Willow Lawn Drive, on Friday, April 13 and runs through Sunday, May 20, 2012. Scorched Earth director, Steve Perigard, has over fifty directing credits with Barksdale and Theatre IV including Circle Mirror Transformation, A Thousand Clowns, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Lead actor, Adrian Reider, returns to Barksdale after time in New York with Off-Broadway credits including If Memory Serves, Deathtrap, Paper Doll and television credits of Law and Order, Sex and the City, Guiding Light, As the World Turns, and All My Children. Returning to the Barksdale stage are cast members: David Janeski (Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas at Barksdale Hanover Tavern, Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter at Theatre IV), Ronnie Brown (Top Dog/Underdog at Sycamore Rouge, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at Henley Street Theatre), and David Bridgewater (August: Osage County at Cadence Theatre, Becky’s New Car at Barksdale). The production welcomes McLean Jesse to Richmond in her first appearance at Barksdale Theatre. Set design by Ron Keller, resident scenic designer at Theatre VCU, accommodates thirty-three scenes from courtroom to graveside.

Signature Theatre's REALLY REALLY Closes

(3/25/2012) Signature Theatre will present the world premiere of Really Really by Paul Downs Colaizzo.

Richmond Shakespeare and Richmond CenterStage Partner To Host Theater Festival for Area High School Students

(3/22/2012) On Friday, March 23, Richmond Shakespeare will bring together more than 90 high school students from across the region to Richmond CenterStage, for the third annual Bardathon—a unique theater festival featuring the Bard’s work. This year’s event focuses on The Tragedy of Macbeth.

Virginia Stage Company Presents THE FANTASTICKS, Opening 3/27

(3/19/2012) Romance is in bloom when Virginia Stage Company presents the world’s longest-running musical, The Fantasticks, with book & lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt. It will take the Wells Theater stage on March 27-April15 under the direction of Jose Zayas.

Josephine Tonight Closes at MetroStage

(3/18/2012) Carolyn Griffin has announced that MetroStage will be presenting the premiere of a new musical, Josephine Tonight, with book and lyrics by Sherman Yellen, and music by Wally Harper, through Mar. 18, 2012.

(3/15/2012) George Winston, the celebrated “rural folk” pianist, returns to The Barns to perform selections from his latest release, Love Will Come – The Music of Vince Guaraldi, Vol. 2, which features originals by the late jazz pianist. Guaraldi is best known for composing and arranging the music featured in animated adaptations of the Peanuts® comic strips. In addition to Guaraldi, Winston has been hard at work on interpreting some of his favorite artists’ songs for solo piano—including the Doors, Frank Zappa, Randy Newman, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Laura Nyro, Al Kooper, Dr. John, Taj Mahal, and Philip Aaberg—several of which he has prepared for solo concert dates.

Jan Powell named Interim Artistic Director of Richmond Shakespeare

(3/15/2012) Richmond Shakespeare has announced Jan Powell, PhD, as Interim Artistic Director through summer 2012. Powell's official start date is March 15.

ShenanArts Presents WOODY, 2/24-3/4

(3/14/2012) ShenanArts Presents WOODY on February 24th, 25th & March 2nd & 3rd at 7:00 pm and on February 25th & March 4th: 3:00 pm.

VSC & Nauticus Present SWING TIME SALUTE 5/31-7/08

(3/13/2012) For six weeks this summer, SWINGTIME SALUTE, An On-Deck Revue will re-create a touring variety show on deck of the Battleship Wisconsin in an evening of star-lit entertainment. SWINGTIME SALUTE performances will be held Thursday through Sunday evenings at 8:00 pm from May 31 through July 8.

Follow BroadwayWorld on Pinterest!

(3/13/2012) Are you one of the thousands already following BroadwayWorld.com, the biggest theatre site on the net on Twitter and Facebook?

Sandra Reaves-Phillips to Perform at Rhythm Hall, 4/5-7

(3/13/2012) Richmond CenterStage wraps up its inaugural U.S. Trust Life is a Cabaret! Series: A Celebration of the Great American Song Book by welcoming award-winning Broadway star Sandra Reaves-Phillips to Rhythm Hall as she performs her show entitled Me, Myself, and You.