A heavenly production by Chuck Barney

"The fact that it's on television preserves the kind of (stage-like) intimacy," says Kushner.

'Bat Boy' actor stretches his wings in quirky musical by PAT CRAIG

JUSTIN GREER wasn't exactly eager to leave town.
He did, however, want to eat and pay the rent, and as one of the stars of Broadway's ill-fated "Urban Cowboy," the long-term prospects of both of those were remote.
Plus an interview with Lisa Vroman of "Phantom of the Opera."
Thanks to American Theater Web for the link!

'La Boheme': 'La Boheme': Casting breaks opera mode INSIDE

By Georgia Rowe
TIMES CORRESPONDENT

Bodacious 'Boheme'

PUCCINI MASTERPIECE ENDURES IN PRODUCTIONS BOTH LAVISH AND BASIC
By Mike Guersch
Mercury News

Baz shows off flair for the dramatic, but there's no depth

By Karen D'Souza
Mercury News

Schmoozapalooza of musicals by Karen D'Souza

The National Alliance of Musical Theatre's 15th annual Festival of New Musicals.

Avant-garde director inspired by love of language by Karen D'Souza

Joseph Chaikin may be the grand old man of the avant-garde theater movement.
Thanks to American Theater Web for the link!

Ethel Winant, first woman TV network executive, dies

Another website gave this information on her: "Ethel Winant cut her professional teeth backstage on Broadway, where she was production assistant to three legends of the theater: Irene Selznick, on A Streetcar Named Desire; Elia Kazan, on Death of a Salesman; and Tennessee Williams, on Summer and Smoke."

Oohs and Oz by Pat Craig

ROBERT MORSE, dwarfed by the fancifully massive "Wicked" set, sits on the stairs at the side of the stage, waiting for technicians to finish fiddling with the stage lights.

San Jose Mercury News: Shy but tough, she picks the shows by Mark de la Vi�a

Profile of producer Carole Shorenstein Hays.

Blackhurst embraces the sass that was Merman by Pat Craig

Playing around with what is -- or is not -- a preview by PAT CRAIG

"The Producers."

Gifford teams up with TheatreWorks on new musical by Karen D'Souza

TheatreWorks in Mountain View has just inked a deal to develop a new musical version of Barry Gifford's "Wild at Heart," the same novel that David Lynch made into a film in 1990. It will be the first commissioned work in the theater company's 33-year history.
Thanks to American Theater Web for the link.

Parks has a novel mantra: Just duet by Pat Craig

THERE HAD BEEN play scripts and screenplays in between, but Suzan-Lori Parks had spent six years on her novel. Six years -- with a small, self-imposed exclamation point behind it -- six year…

Recasting the musical for the movies by Bruce Newman

Six-time Tony nominee Rob Marshall is credited with helping to reinvent movie musicals following the success of his hit movie "Chicago."

Waters dives into his art by Robert Taylor

Filmmaker cultivates another form of expression

New show based on tunes from O'Neill plays by PAT CRAIG

Thanks to American Theater Web for the link!

'The show goes on' with, without star power by PAT CRAIG

Bernadette Peters and Maureen Moore.
Thanks to American Theater Web for the link!

Actor to play to the home crowd by Karen D'Souza

BAY AREA'S SENECA BURR RETURNS IN `SOUTH PACIFIC' ROAD SHOW

Taking a bite out of the big apple by Karen D'Souza

Three Children's Musical Theater alums leave the South Bay for Manhattan to pursue their dreams of making it on Broadway

Broadway on the big screen is yours for a song by PAT CRAIG

AFTER SAYING for months that the prospects were unlikely at best, Mel Brooks is now seeing some chance of his smash Broadway hit "The Producers" returning to the movies, where it began, as a film musical.
"'Chicago' opened the gates," Brooks said in an interview last week. "The studios are thinking about musicals again."

Laughs and inspiration make theater circuit by Mark Lowry

So it goes on the "Chitlin Circuit," a popular form of African-American theater whose origins go back to the early 20th century, when black artists and musicians presented plays, concerts and minstrel shows in black-friendly venues around the country.
Thanks to SQ on All That Chat for the link!

Mamma mia! by Pat Craig

The idea of the Broadway cast album happening as surely as the opening night cast party is over, due to declining revenues from the albums, changing musical tastes, the expense of recording and the fierce competition for space on record store shelves.
Thanks to American Theater Web for the link!

`Mamma Mia!' star no closet ABBA fan by Karen D'Souza

Monique Lund Likes The Energy Of The Score

Innate love of musicals produced 'Producers' by Pat Craig

Musical's wicked good by Pat Craig

'WICKED" is a smart, sassy and wildly different musical look at the Land of Oz.

'Urinetown' dares to make audience think by Karen D'Souza

Al Hirschfeld's illustrations detailed essential elements with simplicity by Mark de la Vi�a

Thanks to American Theater Web for the link!

'Wicked' trades 'Oz' whimsy for technical wizardry by Karen D'Souza

Dorothy isn't the only one who thinks there's no place like home. About an hour into "Wicked," in its world premiere at San Francisco's Curran Theatre, this reviewer started to yearn for a p…

Shakes director drops his N.Y. state of mind by PAT CRAIG

When Daniel Fish, a New Yorker (except when he's teaching Shakespeare at Yale), a respected theater man and an urbanite by any standard, begins talking about the New York attitude, you are a bit surprised by his take on things.
Thanks to American Theater Web for the link.

Teen's slaying brings message of `The Laramie Project' home to young cast by Dana Hull

High schools throughout the country are mounting productions of ``The Laramie Project,'' the play based on the brutal 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student.
But perhaps nowhere is the play's message of tolerance more poignant than at Newark Memorial High School, where it will premiere tonight, barely a month after a transgender teenager from Newark was killed and buried in a shallow grave near Placerville.