The Baltimore Theatre Collective is Spooking it up with the Creepy-Kooky Cabaret!

TWO NIGHTS ONLY!

Tonight, November 14 and tomorrow, November 15, The Baltimore Theatre Collective (previously known as The Purple Light Theatre Company) opens its season with The Creepy-Kooky Cabaret, featuring local talent performing frightfully fun songs that just give us a little reminder that the spooky season is still upon us!

Creepy-Kooky Cabaret performers. Photo: Rachel Sandler

The Creepy-Kooky Cabaret will feature Caitlin Grant, Lindsey Litka, Heather Moe, Jim Baxter, Zach Husak, & Tommy Malek with music direction by Rachel Sandler and accompanied by a live band. Selections will include numbers from Beetlejuice the Musical, Young Frankenstein, The Toxic Avenger, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Rocky Horror Show… plus many more.

Tickets are available online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4429978.

There are two ticketing options: $18.00 General and $28.00 General + Libations (includes TWO complimentary adult beverages – house red or white wine and beer)

The Creepy-Kooky Cabaret will play at Genesis Arts, LLC, 9194 Red Branch Road, Columbia MD. The show begins at 8:00 PM.

For more information, drop by The Baltimore Theatre Collective’s Facebook page here!

2018 Tony Award Nominations Announced

By Jason Crawford Samios-Uy

Well, folks, it’s that time of year again and the theatre world is buzzing about with predictions, satisfaction, and outrage (of course) about the Tony Award nominations announced yesterday by the lovely duo of Katherine McPhee and Leslie Odem, Jr.

For musicals, Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical lead the running with 12 nominations each while, for plays, Angels in America leads with 11 nominations but Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two follow closely behind with 10 nominations under their belt! So, without further ado, let’s recap the nominees!

 

Best Book of a Musical
The Band’s Visit, Itamar Moses
Frozen, Jennifer Lee
Mean Girls, Tina Fey
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical, Kyle Jarrow

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Angels in America, Music: Adrian Sutton
The Band’s Visit, Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek
Frozen, Music & Lyrics: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
Mean Girls, Music: Jeff Richmond, Lyrics: Nell Benjamin
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical, Music & Lyrics: Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper & Rob Hyman, John Legend, Panic! at the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants, T.I., Domani & Lil’C

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Andrew Garfield, Angels in America
Tom Hollander, Travesties
Jamie Parker, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Mark Rylance, Farinelli and the King
Denzel Washington, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Glenda Jackson, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Condola Rashad, Saint Joan
Lauren Ridloff, Children of a Lesser God
Amy Schumer, Meteor Shower

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Tony Shalhoub, The Band’s Visit
Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady
Hailey Kilgore, Once on This Island
LaChanze, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Katrina Lenk, The Band’s Visit
Taylor Louderman, Mean Girls
Jessie Mueller, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Anthony Boyle, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Michael Cera, Lobby Hero
Brian Tyree Henry, Lobby Hero
Nathan Lane, Angels in America
David Morse, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Susan Brown, Angels in America
Noma Dumezweni, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Deborah Findlay, The Children
Denise Gough, Angels in America
Laurie Metcalf, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Norbert Leo Butz, My Fair Lady
Alexander Gemignani, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Grey Henson, Mean Girls
Gavin Lee, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Ari’el Stachel, The Band’s Visit

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Ariana DeBose, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Renée Fleming, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Lindsay Mendez, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Ashley Park, Mean Girls
Diana Rigg, My Fair Lady

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Miriam Buether, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and the King
Christine Jones, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Santo Loquasto, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Ian MacNeil and Edward Pierce, Angels in America

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Dane Laffrey, Once on This Island
Scott Pask, The Band’s Visit
Scott Pask, Finn Ross & Adam Young, Mean Girls
Michael Yeargan, My Fair Lady
David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical

Best Costume Design of a Play
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and the King
Nicky Gillibrand, Angels in America
Katrina Lindsay, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Ann Roth, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Ann Roth, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Mean Girls
Clint Ramos, Once on This Island
Ann Roth, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Catherine Zuber, My Fair Lady

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Neil Austin, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Paule Constable, Angels in America
Jules Fisher, Peggy Eisenhauer, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Paul Russell, Farinelli and the King
Ben Stanton, Junk

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Jules Fisher, Peggy Eisenhauer, Once on This Island
Donald Holder, My Fair Lady
Brian MacDevitt, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Tyler Micoleau, The Band’s Visit

Best Sound Design of a Play
Adam Cork, Travesties
Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Angels in America
Gareth Fry, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Tom Gibbons, 1984
Dan Moses Schreier, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Kai Harada, The Band’s Visit
Peter Hylenski, Once on This Island
Scott Lehrer, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Brian Ronan, Mean Girls
Walter Trarbach and Mike Dobson, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical

Best Direction of a Play
Marianne Elliott, Angels in America
Joe Mantello, Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Patrick Marber, Travesties
John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
George C. Wolfe, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh

Best Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden, Once on This Island
David Cromer, The Band’s Visit
Tina Landau, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Bartlett Sher, My Fair Lady

Best Choreography
Christopher Gattelli, My Fair Lady
Christopher Gattelli, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
Steven Hoggett, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Justin Peck, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel

Best Orchestrations
John Clancy, Mean Girls
Tom Kitt, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical
AnnMarie Milazzo & Michael Starobin, Once on This Island
Jamshied Sharifi, The Band’s Visit
Jonathan Tunick, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel

Best Play
The Children
Farinelli and the King
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Junk
Latin History for Morons

Best Musical
The Band’s Visit
Frozen
Mean Girls
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical

Best Revival of a Play
Angels in America
Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women
Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh
Lobby Hero
Travesties

Best Revival of a Musical
My Fair Lady
Once on This Island
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel

Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Chita Rivera
Andrew Lloyd Webber

Special Tony Awards
John Leguizamo
Bruce Springsteen

Regional Theatre Tony Award
La MaMa E.T.C., New York City

Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award
Nick Scandalios

Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre
Sara Krulwich
Bessie Nelson
Ernest Winzer Cleaners

So… what are your predictions? Go on our Facebook page to take polls and post your opinions!

The 72nd Annual Tony Awards will be hosted by Sara Bareilles and Josh Groben on Sunday, June 10 at Radio City Music Hall. The live broadcast will air on your local CBS channel from 8:00pm-11:00pm (EST).

WANTED: Reviewers for Upcoming Shows

Do you love theatre? Do you love writing? Do you love writing ABOUT theatre or have you always wanted to try? Then we’re looking for YOU!

Seeking reviewers to cover local community and professional theatrical productions in Baltimore, DC, and the vicinity! Everyone has an opinion, especially when it comes to theatre, so, why not write yours down and get it published all the while helping promote theatre in Baltimore and its vicinity?

The only requirement are you must be able to express your opinion, in writing, clearly with honesty and tact. An ideal reviewer will be able to see the “big picture” of a production, commenting on not only the performance, but the technical aspect of a production pointing out flaws and successes taking each production on a case by case basis.

A thorough review does not only recap the synopsis of a piece, but includes what the reviewer thought of the piece. Published reviews can be viewed at www.backstagebaltimore.com, for ideas on what kind of reviews we like to publish.

This is a volunteer position, currently, BUT… you get complimentary tickets to discover new theatre and experience familiar theatre in new ways. You can review as many shows as you like or only a one or two a month, your review schedule is what can fit into your already busy personal/professional schedule! No pressure!

For more information, please feel free to contact Jason Crawford Samios-Uy, Founder and Editor of Backstage Baltimore, at jason@backstagebaltimore.com, and he’ll be happy to answer any questions and address any concerns! Hope to hear from you soon!

PRESS RELEASE: Just Off Broadway announces Fall 2017 Production of Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, June 9, 2017
Show Notice PGN
Just Off Broadway is proud to announce that Stephen Sondheim’s Company will be our Fall 2017 production! Please keep a look out for an audition notice to be posted shortly!
Company revolves around Bobby, a single man who seems to be unable to commit to a steady relationship, a handful of married couples who happen to be his best friends, and his three “girlfriends.” Bobby is the thread that connects the vignettes as he examines not only his own relationships, but also the marriages of his well-meaning friends. Company is not like most book musicals (musicals with a script) where a plot is laid out in order with an obvious beginning, middle, and end to a story, but is composed of short vignettes in no particular or chronological order.
Company with Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and Book by George Furth, had its Broadway debut in April of 1970 and garnered a record-setting 14 Tony nominations for that year, winning six, including Best Musical, Best Book for a Musical, and Best Score. Company has also had several successful and award winning revivals including a 2007 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
With popular and familiar songs such as “Another Hundred People,” “Marry Me a Little,” “The Ladies Who Lunch,” and “Being Alive” Company is just as entertaining, relevant, and relatable as it was when it debuted in 1970. Relationships are still just as complex and individuals are still searching, resisting, and discovering themselves in big cities and small hamlets all over the world.
SAVE THE DATES! Company will run TWO weekends, October 15-17 & October 20-22 at Just Off Broadway @ Epiphany, 4301 Raspe Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21206. Show times are 8:00 PM on Fridays & Saturdays and 3:00 PM matinees on Sundays.

PRESS RELEASE: A Deeper look at STEREO Akt, the Hungarian Company behind Promenade: Baltimore

Single Carrot Theatre’s World Premiere of Promenade: Baltimore coming on June 2nd!


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
BALTIMORE, MD – The ambitious international collaboration and world premiere, Promenade: Baltimore, opens next week at Single Carrot Theatre. Interviews and outreach to local community members continue to influence the shape of the show, a new element in the model first conceived by the ensemble of STEREO Akt, the Hungarian company whose Budapest-based show, Promenade: Urban Fate Tourism, served as the inspiration for this new endeavor. When Single Carrot’s Artistic Director, Genevieve de Mahy saw the show in 2015, she was inspired by the way the relationship between audience and city was changed and enhanced by the performance and began the process of collaborating across oceans.
STEREO Akt is a theatre production workshop based on the continuous collaboration of director Martin Boross and produce Anikó Rácz. Founded in 2011 and based in Budapest, the company’s work is focused on the – often silent – interaction of performers and viewers; they mount a diverse mix of stage performances, site-specific projects, and social actions with the help of an ever-growing group of artists and volunteers from the local community. Each STEREO Akt performance begins with a simple questions: what will happen to the viewer? This unique emphasis on experience – rather than text – provides the opportunity to move out of traditional theatre spaces allowing the magical and ordinary to blend against a backdrop of everyday life.
Amonst those who have traveled to the United States to collaborate on Promenade: Baltimore are Julia Jakubowska and Martin Boross, both of whom were involved in the original STEREO Akt production. Jakubowska, who is originally from Poland, first performed in Promenade when she was a newcomer to Hungary and spoke virtually no Hungarian. “I felt back then that I was an audience member more than a performer,” she recalls, adding that her original character – a woman contemplating suicide – was drawn from Jakubowska’s own feelings of loneliness and isolation. “Being here in Baltimore is much different… getting to know the city through the eyes of our actors, who are my first guide and teachers in the city. It’s an exciting and rich experience.”
Boross, who serves as director for both versions of Promenade, added that interviews with local community-members have been particularly inspiring: “One of our interviewees said that Baltimore either gives you a hug or punches you in the stomach. The city is full of paradoxes, and it has many faces… by getting in touch with the communities here, it becomes clear that there are an incredible number of citizens who want to act, who can articulate the problems of the neighborhoods, and are able to choose the right tools to move things forward.”
“Working with STEREO Akt on a project about Baltimore has been a process of exchange,” said Single Carrot Artistic Director Genevieve de Mahy. “They see Baltimore with fresh eyes and notice things I had forgotten about. I show them things that you would not see on the surface.”
“We’d like to make something that is entertaining and provocative at the same time,” Boross stated. “To create a plot that avoids the cliches, that is not harmful, but honest, and gives room for dialogue. To create something that makes people feel that they see themselves truly. Even if it’s a fragile state that image reflects, they can still be proud of this image.”
This immense international collaboration opens on June 2nd and runs through June 25th.
Show Synopsis:
Grab your buss pass and get ready to ride! Single Carrot Theatre and STEREO Akt present Promenade: Baltimore, a boundary-breaking production that invites its audience to board a bus and traverse the city, passing through neighborhoods both familiar and unknown. Audience members watch through the windows as actors on the street present poetic expression of everyday life in Baltimore, complimented by a live-mixed soundscape of music, narration, and stories based on and told by neighborhood residents. Promenade: Baltimore celebrates and explores all that is Baltimore: highlighting it’s complexity, struggles, treasures, and, ultimately, its undeniable  beauty. World Premiere.
WHEN:
June 2-June 25, 2017
Thursdays & Fridays at 6:30pm
Saturdays & Sundays at 2pm & 6:30pm
 
WHERE:
Single Carrot Theatre
2600 N. Howard Street Baltimore, MD 21218
Entrance on 26th Street.
Free parking available in adjacent lot and on the street.
 
TICKETS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Tickets: $10-$45
Web: singlecarrot.com
Phone: 443-844-9253
Email: boxoffice@singlecarrot.com
Twitter: @singlecarrot
Instagram: @singlecarrot
“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.” -Paul Cezanne

Press Release: Record-breaking advanced sales for Noises Off; Sardine spiked silliness starts May 17



Get your tickets to Everyman’s #1 pre-opening box office smash!
Everyman Theatre’s Resident Company of actors transforms into a British company of actors during the 1970s in this hotly anticipated revival of Tony Award-Winner Michael Frayn’s side-splitting farce to end all farces, Noises Off, directed by Vincent M. Lancisi. With their opening night on London’s West End just hours away, can the cast pull their act together before lost lines, love triangles and flying sardines upstage the production? A love-letter to the thrilling and unpredictable nature of the stage, Noises Off will leave you rolling in the aisles as everything that could go wrong, does go wrong.
Noises Off runs May 17-June 18. Tickets $10-64.

~~~~~~~~~~ DIG DEEPER ~~~~~~~~~~

The Show Must Go On!

Monday, May 22; Drinks & Music at 6:00 PM, Show at 7:30 PM

Co-presented with Stoop Storytelling, Baltimore theatre makers share hilarious-but-true stories of unexpected pitfalls and pratfalls of live performance.

Inside Look: Chaos in the Wings

Everyman’s own Resident Company Members Dawn Ursula, Beth Hylton, Wil Love, Bruce Randolph Nelson, and Carl Schurr share their best/worst backstage mishaps and personal theatre nightmares…

Last chance to save up to 15% on tickets to the “Mother” of all farces

Use code ROSE17 to save 10% off tickets to weekday performances, Sunday evenings, and Saturday matinees. Use code MUM17 to save 15% off tickets to Friday/Saturday evening performances and Sunday matinees.

Q&A with Noises Off Director Vincent M. Lancisi in DC Metro Theatre Arts

Learn more about the events and partnerships surrounding Noises Off in this DC Metro Theatre Arts interview with Noises Off director, and Everyman Founding Artistic Director, Vincent M. Lancisi.

~~~~~~~~~~ UP NEXT AT EVERYMAN ~~~~~~~~~~

Play a role: The Mousetrap

Saturday, June 3, 6:00 PM

An interactive play-reading event, hosted at the Baltimore County home of Everyman Board Member Corie Codine. Enjoy cocktails on the veranda along with a buffet dinner at this renovated old farmhouse, as you read a perfectly crafted whodunit by Agatha Christie.

Salon Series: Trouble in Mind

Monday, June 5, 6:00 PM

We close out our Salon Series’ season with the Alice Childress play, Trouble in Mind, directed by Dawn Ursula. Both a witty love letter to the theatre and a call for equality, Trouble in Mind reminds us that we all have a part to play in the fight for civil rights.

Codes ROSE17 and MUM17 expire Sunday, May 14 at 11:59 PM. Offers are valid on tickets to all performanes of Noises Off. Offer is valid on adult tickets only and cannot be combined with other offers and codes. Limit 4 tickets per order.

Press Release: Baltimore Center Stage Announces Cast and Artistic Team for JAZZ World Premiere


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Baltimore—May 10, 2017. Baltimore Center Stage is pleased to announce the cast and artistic team for Jazz. This world premiere play is based on the book by Toni Morrison, adapted by Nambi E. Kelley and directed by Baltimore Center Stage Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah.
In Morrison’s exhilarating novel, Joe and Violet move from the Virginia countryside to Harlem at the turn of the century, young and in love. Twenty years later, Joe’s interactions with a young woman set off a series of violent events and unforgivable acts. Peeling back layers and alternating perspectives expose ultimately sympathetic characters, who—like the growing New York neighborhood and the winding woods of their youth—reveal their own rhythms.
“I’m a huge fan of Toni Morrison, and of Jazz in particular. It’s an important chronicle of the human experience, and although it takes place in the 1920s, the story’s themes still resonate today,” said Baltimore Center Stage Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah. “I’m thrilled to direct such a talented group of actors and designers to bring Playwright Nambi Kelley’s vision to life on the stage in Baltimore.”
Kelley has penned plays for Steppenwolf, Goodman Theatre and Court Theatre/American Blues Theater in Chicago, Lincoln Center and the National Black Theatre in New York, and internationally with LATT Children’s Theatre/ Unibooks Publishing Company (South Korea) Teatri Sbagliati (Italy), and The Finger Players (Singapore). The world premiere of her adaptation of Native Son (published by Samuel French) was presented to critical acclaim at Court Theatre/ American Blues Theatre (co-production) and was nominated for five Jeff Awards including best adaptation and production of the year.
The cast includes Jasmine Batchelor* (Dorcas), Jason Bowen* (Henry Lestory), Leon Addison Brown* (Joe Trace), Jasmine Carmichael* (Young Violet/Felice), Shanésia Davis* (Violet), Warner Miller* (Young Joe/Acton), Michele Shay* (Alice Manfred/True Belle), Benja Kay Thomas* (Malvonne), Avery Whitted* (Golden Gray/Parrot), and Greg Boyer* (Trombonist).
The artistic team includes Nambi E. Kelley (Playwright), Kwame Kwei-Armah (Artistic Director/Director), Kathryn Bostic (Music Director and Composer), Tim Mackabee (Scenic Designer), David Burdick (Costume Designer), Michelle Habeck (Lighting Designer), Alex Basco Koch (Projection Designer), Shane Rettig (Sound Designer), Tommy Kurzman (Hair, Wig and Makeup Designer), Paloma McGregor (Choreographer), Arminda Thomas (Dramaturg), Rick Sordelet with Sordelet INK (Fight Choreographer), Pat McCorkle McCorkle Casting, Ltd. (Casting Director), Geoff Boronda* (Stage Manager) and Erin McCoy* (Assistant Stage Manager).
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association.
Jazz opens Friday, May 26, with previews May 19-23, and closes Sunday, June 25. For more information, visit www.centerstage.org or call the box office at 410.332.0033. Press night is Friday, May 26.
Jazz is made possible by a National Endowment for the Arts ArtWorks grant, the Laurents Hatcher Foundation, PNC and the William L. and Victorine Q. Adams Foundation and the Rodgers Family Fund. The Jazz media partner is Maryland Public Television. Baltimore Center Stage is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC), an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. An agency of the Department of Business and Economic Development, the MSAC provides financial support and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations, units of government, colleges and universities for arts activities. Funding for the MSAC is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences. Baltimore Center Stage’s 2016/17 Season is made possible by The Shubert Foundation and the Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences.
 About Baltimore Center Stage
Baltimore Center Stage is a professional, nonprofit institution committed to entertaining, engaging and enriching audiences through bold, innovative and thought-provoking classical and contemporary theater.
Named the State Theater of Maryland in 1978, Baltimore Center Stage has steadily grown as a leader in the national regional theater scene. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE and Managing Director Michael Ross, Baltimore Center Stage is committed to creating and presenting a diverse array of world premieres and exhilarating interpretations of established works.
Baltimore Center Stage believes in access for all—creating a welcoming environment for everyone who enters its theater doors and, at the same time, striving to meet audiences where they are. In addition to its Mainstage, Off Center and Family Series productions in the historic Mount Vernon neighborhood, Baltimore Center Stage ignites conversations among a global audience through digital initiatives, which explore how technology and the arts intersect. The theater also nurtures the next generation of artists and theater-goers through the Young Playwrights Festival, Student Matinee Series and many other educational programs for students, families and professionals.

2017 Tony Awards Announced! The Great Comet, Hello, Dolly!, and Dear Evan Hansen Lead Nominations

A day late, but… here you have it everyone! The 2017 Tony Award Noms! Some interesting noms, but also some very interesting snubs! What are your predictions?
Click on the links for more info on the shows!

Best Play
A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath
Indecent by Paula Vogel
Oslo by J.T. Rogers
Sweat by Lynn Nottage
Best Musical
Come From Away
Dear Evan Hansen
Groundhog Day
Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Best Book
David Hein and Irene Sankoff, Come From Away
Steven Levenson, Dear Evan Hansen
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Danny Rubin, Groundhog Day
Best Score
David Hein and Irene Sankoff, Come From Away
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Tim Minchin, Groundhog Day
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Dear Evan Hansen
Best Revival of a Play
Jitney
The Little Foxes
Present Laughter
Six Degrees of Separation
Best Revival of a Musical
Falsettos
Hello, Dolly!
Miss Saigon
Best Leading Actor in a Play
Denis Arndt, Heisenberg
Chris Cooper, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Corey Hawkins, Six Degrees of Separation
Kevin Kline, Present Laughter
Jefferson Mays, Oslo
Best Leading Actress in a Play
Cate Blanchett, The Present
Jennifer Ehle, Oslo
Sally Field, The Glass Menagerie
Laura Linney, The Little Foxes
Laurie Metcalf, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Best Leading Actor in a Musical
Christian Borle, Falsettos
Josh Groban, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Andy Karl, Groundhog Day
David Hyde Pierce, Hello, Dolly!
Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen
Best Leading Actress in a Musical
Denee Benton, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Christine Ebersole, War Paint
Patti LuPone, War Paint
Bette Midler, Hello, Dolly!
Eva Noblezada, Miss Saigon
Best Featured Actor in a Play
Michael Aranov, Oslo
Danny DeVito, The Price
Nathan Lane, The Front Page
Richard Thomas, The Little Foxes
John Douglas Thompson, Jitney
Best Featured Actress in a Play
Johanna Day, Sweat
Jayne Houdyshell, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Cynthia Nixon, The Little Foxes
Condola Rashad, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Michelle Wilson, Sweat
Best Featured Actor in a Musical
Gavin Creel, Hello, Dolly!
Mike Faist, Dear Evan Hansen
Andrew Rannells, Falsettos
Lucas Steele, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Brandon Uranowitz, Falsettos
Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Kate Baldwin, Hello, Dolly!
Stephanie J. Block, Falsettos
Jenn Colella, Come From Away
Rachel Bay Jones, Dear Evan Hansen
Mary Beth Peil, Anastasia
Best Scenic Design of a Play
David Gallo, Jitney
Nigel Hook, The Play That Goes Wrong
Douglas W. Schmidt, The Front Page
Michael Yeargan, Oslo
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Rob Howell, Groundhog Day
David Korins, War Paint
Mimi Lien, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Santo Loquasto, Hello, Dolly!
Best Costume Design of a Play
Jane Greenwood, The Little Foxes
Susan Hilferty, Present Laughter
Toni-Leslie James, Jitney
David Zinn, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Linda Cho, Anastasia
Santo Loquasto, Hello, Dolly!
Paloma Young, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Catherine Zuber, War Paint
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Christopher Akerlind, Indecent
Jane Cox, Jitney
Donald Holder, Oslo
Jennifer Tipton, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Howell Binkley, Come From Away
Natasha Katz, Hello, Dolly!
Bradley King, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Japhy Weideman, Dear Evan Hansen
Best Direction of a Play
Sam Gold, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Jitney
Barlett Sher, Oslo
Daniel Sullivan, The Little Foxes
Rebecca Taichman, Indecent
Best Direction of a Musical
Christopher Ashley, Come From Away
Rachel Chavkin, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Michael Greif, Dear Evan Hansen
Matthew Warchus, Groundhog Day
Jerry Zaks, Hello, Dolly!
Best Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bandstand
Peter Darling and Ellen Kane, Groundhog Day
Kelly Devine, Come From Away
Denis Jones, Holiday Inn
Sam Pinkleton, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Best Orchestrations
Bill Elliot and Greg Anthony Rassen, Bandstand
Larry Hochman, Hello, Dolly!
Alex Lacamoire, Dear Evan Hansen
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Recipients of Awards and Honors in Non-Competitive Categories:
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
James Earl Jones
Special Tony Award
Gareth Fry
Pete Malkin

Regional Theatre Tony Award
Dallas Theater Center
Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award
Baayork Lee
Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre
Nina Lannan
Alan Wasser

Tony Nominations by Production:
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 – 12
Hello, Dolly! – 10
Dear Evan Hansen – 9
A Doll’s House, Part 2 – 8
Come From Away – 7
Groundhog Day – 7
Oslo – 7
Jitney – 6
The Little Foxes – 6
Falsettos – 5
War Paint – 4
Indecent – 3
Present Laughter – 3
Sweat – 3
Anastasia – 2
Bandstand – 2
The Front Page – 2
Miss Saigon – 2
Six Degrees of Separation – 2
The Price – 1
The Glass Menagerie – 1
Heisenberg – 1
Holiday Inn – 1
The Play That Goes Wrong – 1
The Present – 1

East Coast Premiere of DEAR FRIENDS, Reginald Rose's Obscure but Enlightening Play at Just Off Broadway

Just Off Broadway gives us an East Coast Premiere of a piece that rarely sees the light of day because of the playwright Reginald Rose’s more popular piece, Twelve Angry Men, but this piece, with some, but not much re-imagining, is as relevant and relatable today as it was 50 years ago.

For Immediate Release:
April 26, 2017
The Author of 12 Angry Men Gives Us a Story of What We Present to the Outside World and What Happens Behind Closed Doors
Baltimore, MD – Just Off Broadway presents the East Coast Premiere of Dear Friends, a drama from the Emmy award winning film and television author who gave us 12 Angry Men, Reginald Rose. Dear Friends is currently in rehearsal and runs ONE WEEKEND from April 18-21, 2017.

The Cast of Dear Friends. Credit: Jason Crawford Samios-Uy


Like the more popular 12 Angry Men, a teleplay for CBS Studio One in 1955, Dear Friends began as a 90-minute teleplay for CBS Playhouse aired in 1967 and, aside from a single matinee performance from theatre club at a small college on the banks of Lake Eerie, it hasn’t been seen on stage since. With the popularity of the 12 Angry Men, Dear Friends is a real-life, slice of life drama that has been hidden in the shadows for the last five decades until Jason Crawford Samios-Uy, Co-founder of Just Off Broadway, stumbled upon it while searching for a 2017 spring production. The author’s name was recognizable but the title wasn’t but by reading the first few sentences of the synopsis, it was clear this was an appropriate, near perfect piece for Just Off Broadway.

The Cast of Dear Friends. Credit: Jason Crawford Samios-Uy


Four married couples have been friends for several years and one of the couples, Lois & Michael, decide to call it quits. The other couples, Charlotte & Lenny, Gigi & Vivian, and Douglas & Sal want desperately to help these two see the error of their ways and realize divorce is not what they really want and concoct an intervention, unbeknownst to Lois & Michael. As the evening wears on, problems in all of the marriages and in the friendships themselves start to bubble to the surface. Are these dear friends trying to help Lois & Michael get back together because they truly believe it’s what’s best for them or… are Lois & Michael examples of the raw truth that could shatter the seemingly blissful lives of the others and they want to stop it for their own sakes?
Since it was written and produced 50 years ago, Just Off Broadway Co-Founder and first-time Director Patrick Jay Golden and Jason Crawford Samios-Uy have re-imagined this piece, updating it and bringing it into the 21st century. Diverse and non-traditional casting help to modernize this piece and make it more relatable to today’s audiences. However, the story itself stays in tack as they are timeless issues and situations any married couple through the ages could experience which makes this piece still relevant today.
Dear Friends features Brad Angst, Tracy Dye, Joyanne Gohl, Penny Nichols, Sarah O’Hara, India Palmer, Tom Piccin, Jason Crawford Samios-Uy, and Emmanuel Vickers and is Directed by Patrick Jay Golden. This production will play ONE WEEKEND, May 18-21 at Just Off Broadway @ JELC located at Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church, 4605 Baltimore, MD 21206.
You may purchase tickets online at: www.justoffbroadwaymd.wordpress.com.
Reserve tickets by email: justoffbroadwaymd@gmail.com. Please use Subject Line TICKETS and include the following in the body of the email:

  1. Full Name
  2. Number of Tickets
  3. Date of Performance
  4. Contact phone number

DEAR FRIENDS is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

Famed Farce Noises Off to Receive Resident Company Treatment With Comically Chaotic Revival at Baltimore's Everyman Theatre



If you’re a theatre lover, you don’t want to miss this show wherever and whenever it is playing! This hilarious farce shows the real-world problems that can and inevitably arise during any production and relatable to every actor who has tread the boards! So excited for this production!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2017
 
Theatre’s Season Wraps with Sardines, Silliness and Split-Second Timing
Baltimore, MD – Everyman Theatre’s Resident Company of actors transforms into a British company of actors during the 1970s in this hotly anticipated revival of Tony Award-Winner Michael Frayn’s side-splitting farce to end all farces, Noises Off, directed by Founding Artistic Director Vincent M. Lancisi and running from May 17 through June 18, 2017.
With this love-letter to the thrilling unpredictability of the stage, Everyman Theatre ends its 2016/17 season on a zany note, joined by eight of its Resident Company members portraying a cast of bumbling British thesps (starring in the fictitious play-within-a-play, “Nothing On”) whose backstage buffoonery threatens to steal the show. With their opening night on London’s West End just hours away, can the cast pull their act together before lost lines, love triangles and flying sardines upstage the production?
Punctuated with wall-to-wall wackiness, carefully timed/choreographed hijinks, and spiked with color-popping 1970s pizazz and sight gags galore, Noises Off considers what happens when everything thatcan go wrong, does go wrong, earning laughs-a-minute from its talented cast.
“We’ve all heard the saying that ‘dying is easy, comedy is hard,’ but working within a Resident Company provides a level of family-like comfort for the actors that paves the way for hilarity of the highest caliber to ensue,” said Lancisi. “When audiences recognize our Resident Company members shifting between the characters they play, and the characters that those characters play (in the play within the play), it only adds to the infectious mayhem – literally tripling up on the fun.”
Resident Company members Deborah Hazlett (The Roommate, Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, An Inspector Calls) and Danny Gavigan (A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, Ghosts, Deathtrap) lead the show-within-a-show cast as Dotty Otley, the top-billed star ofNothing On and Garry Lejeune, her leading man. They are joined by fellow Resident Company members Bruce Randolph Nelson (Great Expectations, Wait Until Dark, Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire) as Nothing On co-star Frederick Fellowes, Beth Hylton (A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, Outside Mullingar) as actress Belinda Blair, and Wil Love (Death of a Salesman, Outside Mullingar, Deathtrap) as Selsdon Mowbray, a veteran actor with a weakness for the bottle. The show-within-a-show cast is rounded out by Emily Kester, making her Everyman Theatre debut as the naïve actress Brooke Ashton.
Other featured Resident Company actors in Noises Off include Carl Schurr (Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, Blithe Spirit) as Lloyd Dallas, the director of Nothing On, with Eric Berryman(Red, Topdog/Underdog, A Raisin in the Sun) and Megan Anderson (Dot, Wait Until Dark, Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire), respectively, as stage manager Tim Allgood and assistant stage manager Poppy Norton-Taylor.
The Noises Off design team includes Resident Designer Company members Daniel Ettinger (Set Design), Jay A. Herzog (Lighting), Gary Logan (Dialects), Lewis Shaw (Fight Choreography) and Jillian Mathews (Props Master). Costume Design is provided by Eric Abele and Sound Design by Phillip Owen.
Noises Off first premiered in 1982 in London and opened in 1983 on Broadway where it received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. Performed nearly nonstop ever since, Everyman Theatre’s production follows a recent Broadway revival produced by Roundabout Theatre Company.
Tickets for Noises Off are now on sale online (www.everymantheatre.org), by phone (410.752.2208), or at the Everyman Theatre Box Office (315 W. Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21201).
Event Listings
Pay-What-You-Can Performance
May 16, 2017 at 7:30 PM
Pay-What-You-Can (suggested minimum donation: $5) to see the final dress rehearsal of Noises Off. Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Box Office beginning at 5:30pm. Tickets must be paid for in cash. Seating is general admission.
TNT: Theatre Night for Teens
May 16, 2017 at 6:00 PM
Students in grades 9-12 can enjoy dinner from Noodles & Company, an artist meet-and-greet withNoises Off prop master Jillian Matthews, and the 7:30 PM performance, followed by post-show discussion and dessert. Tickets: $10 each.
The Show Must Go On! A Stoop Storytelling Event
May 22, 2017 (Drinks/music at 6:00 PM; Performance at 7:30 PM)
Everyman and Stoop Storytelling partner to present an entertaining evening of hilarious-but-true stories about the unexpected pitfalls and pratfalls of the stage. Tickets: $20 each.
Taste of Everyman: Wacky Mix-Ups
June 1, 2017 at 6:00 PM
Mix and mingle with other theatre lovers during a pre-show social, this month featuring unique cocktail concoctions combining the most unexpected ingredients, and paired with hors d’oeuvres by The French Kitchen. Tickets: $60 each for show and event.
World of the Play
June 3, 2017 at 5:00 PM
Take part in an in-depth panel discussion on the themes and topics of the show, hosted by Marc Steiner (WEAA’s The Marc Steiner Show). Tickets: $5 each (free for subscribers).
Salon Series: Women’s Voices: Trouble In Mind
June 5, 2017 (Cocktails at 6:00 PM; Performance at 7:00 PM)
A reading of Trouble In Mind by Obie Award-winning African-American playwright Alice Childress, directed by Resident Company member Dawn Ursula. Tickets: $15 each ($5 for students).
Cast Conversations
Jun 8, 2017 at 9:30 PM
Talk about the play with the members of the cast after the show. Free.
About Everyman Theatre
Everyman Theatre is a professional Equity theatre company celebrating the actor, with a Resident Company of artists from the Baltimore/DC area. Founded in 1990 by Vincent M. Lancisi, the theatre is dedicated to engaging the audience through a shared experience between actor and audience seeking connection and emotional truth in performance. Everyman is committed to presenting high quality plays that are affordable and accessible to everyone. The theatre strives to engage, inspire and transform artists, audiences and community through theatre of the highest artistic standards and is committed to embodying the promise of its name, Everyman Theatre.
Noises Off is presented by production sponsor University of Maryland, Baltimore. The 16/17 Season is generously sponsored by LifeBridge Health and Neil & Ellen Meltzer. Everyman Theatre’s Pay-What-You-Can nights are supported by Dr. E. Lee & Bea Robbins. Everyman Theatre is proud to have The Baltimore Sun Media Group and WYPR Season Media Sponsors. MSAC provides financial support and technical assistance to non-profit organizations, units of government, colleges and universities for arts activities. Funding for the Maryland State Arts Council is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Everyman Theatre is a proud member of the Bromo Tower Arts and Entertainment District and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.
Vincent M. Lancisi is the Founding Artistic Director of Everyman Theatre; Jonathan K. Waller is the Managing Director. For information about Everyman Theatre, visit www.everymantheatre.org or call 410.752.2208.