Wicked's Gene Weygandt Is Daddy Warbucks in Annie in Suburban Chicago; Complete Cast Announced by Kenneth Jones

The new resident Chicago-area production of the musical Annie, produced by Paramount Theatre this fall, will star Gene Weygandt (Broadway's Big, Chicago's Wicked) as Daddy Warbucks, …

SOURCE: Playbill at 10:14am on October 31, 2012☆⚑

Murder Ballad, New Musical With Karen Olivo, Will Swenson, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Begins Off-Broadway Oct. 31 by Kenneth Jones

Manhattan Theatre Club's Murder Ballad, a new rock musical that launches the company's new Studio at Stage II Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Series, begins previews Oct. 31 &mdas…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00am on October 31, 2012☆⚑

UPDATED! After Tropical Storm Sandy, and Despite Partial Transit Shutdown, Broadway Prepares to Awaken Wednesday by Kenneth Jones

Hurricane Sandy, downgraded to a tropical storm as it made landfall the evening of Monday, Oct. 29, left a lasting mark on New York City. A blackout south of 38th Street in Manhattan on Mond…

SOURCE: Playbill at 5:57pm on October 30, 2012☆⚑

George Wendt Takes Ill in Illinois, Won't Star in The Odd Couple; Marc Grapey Steps In by Kenneth Jones

Actor George Wendt has left the in-rehearsal company of The Odd Couple at the Chicago-area's Northlight Theatre due to medical reasons, the not-for-profit announced on Oct. 30. Marc Grap…

SOURCE: Playbill at 4:56pm on October 30, 2012☆⚑

How Theatre People Weathered Hurricane Sandy; Wine! Food! Friends! Kids! Pets! by Kenneth Jones

Playbill.com reached out to housebound theatre people in New York City and surrounding states to ask what they were doing Oct. 29-30 as Hurricane Sandy lashed the area. Here's what we le…

SOURCE: Playbill at 4:32pm on October 30, 2012☆⚑

Tropical Storm Sandy Pulls Out of NYC; Transit Shutdown, Blackouts, Flooding Impact Theatregoing by Kenneth Jones

Hurricane Sandy, downgraded to a tropical storm as it made landfall the evening of Monday, Oct. 29, left its mark on New York City, and the effects will be felt for days to come. A blackout …

SOURCE: Playbill at 4:02pm on October 30, 2012☆⚑

Blackout Prompts Vineyard Theatre to Postpone Opening of New Play Checkers by Kenneth Jones

Vineyard Theatre, one of thousands of downtown tenants in the shadow of a blackout following the Oct. 29 landfall of Hurricane Sandy, is suspending performances of its world-premiere product…

SOURCE: Playbill at 1:03pm on October 30, 2012☆⚑

Neil Patrick Harris Has Magic to Do, Directing Nothing to Hide in L.A. by Kenneth Jones

Neil Patrick Harris, a fan of magic since his childhood, will direct Nothing to Hide, a unique theatrical event to feature sleight-of-hand artists Derek DelGaudio (2011 Close-Up Magician of …

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:42pm on October 30, 2012☆⚑

Tropical Storm Sandy Pulls Out of NYC; Transit Shutdown, Blackouts, Flooding Impact Tuesday Theatregoing by Kenneth Jones

Hurricane Sandy, downgraded to a tropical storm as it made landfall the evening of Monday, Oct. 29, left its mark on New York City, and the effects will be felt for days to come. A blackout …

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:31am on October 30, 2012☆⚑

Arf! Hurricane Sandy Howls Into NYC; Mass Transit Dormant, Broadway Closes Doors Monday and Tuesday by Kenneth Jones

Hurricane Sandy's trajectory into the mid-Atlantic coast, lashing New Jersey and New York Oct. 28-30, prompted New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to order a mass transit shutdown that…

SOURCE: Playbill at 5:34pm on October 29, 2012☆⚑

How Theatre People Are Riding Out the Storm; Wine! Food! Friends! Kids! Pets! by Kenneth Jones

Playbill.com reached out to housebound theatre people in New York City and surrounding states to ask what they're doing Oct. 29-30 as Hurricane Sandy lashes the area.

SOURCE: Playbill at 1:35pm on October 29, 2012☆⚑

Bonnie Metzgar Will Exit as Artistic Director of Chicago's About Face by Kenneth Jones

Chicago's major resident theatre devoted to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer and ally (LGBTQA) experience is losing its artistic director. Bonnie Metzgar will …

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00am on October 29, 2012☆⚑

Arf! Hurricane Sandy Begins Howling Into NYC; Mass Transit Shut Down, Some Shows Canceled by Kenneth Jones

Hurricane Sandy's trajectory into the mid-Atlantic coast, eyeing New Jersey and New York Oct. 28-30, has prompted New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to order a masst transit shutdown …

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:44pm on October 28, 2012☆⚑

Arf! Hurricane Sandy Begins Howling Into NYC; Mass Transit Shut Down, City Hunkers Down by Kenneth Jones

Hurricane Sandy's trajectory into the mid-Atlantic coast, eyeing New Jersey and New York Oct. 28-30, has prompted New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to order a masst transit shutdown …

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:44pm on October 28, 2012☆⚑

Arf! Hurricane Sandy Will Howl Into NYC; Mass Transit Shut Down, Some Shows Canceled by Kenneth Jones

Hurricane Sandy's trajectory into the mid-Atlantic coast, eyeing New Jersey and New York Oct. 28-29, has prompted New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to order a shutdown of mass transi…

SOURCE: Playbill at 1:54pm on October 28, 2012☆⚑

Arf! Hurricane Sandy Will Howl Into NYC; Mass Transit Shut Down, Some Shows Cancelled by Kenneth Jones

Hurricane Sandy's trajectory into the mid-Atlantic coast, eyeing New Jersey and New York Oct. 28-29, has prompted New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to order a shutdown of mass transi…

SOURCE: Playbill at 1:52pm on October 28, 2012☆⚑

PLAYBILL BRIEF ENCOUNTER With Jason Danieley, of Chicago's Hit Sunday in the Park With George by Kenneth Jones

Broadway's Jason Danieley, of Curtains, Candide, Next to Normal and The Full Monty, is inking-in the title role(s) in Sunday in the Park With George, for Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00am on October 27, 2012☆⚑

Hugh Panaro Will Haunt Phantom's 25th Anniversary Performance on Broadway; New Troupers Announced for Fall by Kenneth Jones

Cameron Mackintosh/Really Useful Group, Inc., the producers of The Phantom of the Opera, confirmed on Oct. 26 that the man behind the mask for the show's milestone 25th anniversary perfo…

SOURCE: Playbill at 4:24pm on October 26, 2012☆⚑

Checkers, a Look at the Nixons at a Momentous Time, Gets Added Weeks Off-Broadway by Kenneth Jones

Vineyard Theatre is extending its world-premiere run of Oscar nominee Douglas McGrath's play Checkers, about Pat and Dick Nixon, by two weeks, now through Dec. 2. The Terry Kinney-direct…

SOURCE: Playbill at 1:41pm on October 26, 2012☆⚑

Reboot! American Dance Machine Returns With Workshop of Classics By Susan Stroman, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Hermes Pan by Kenneth Jones

American Dance Machine for the 21st Century, an organization committed to preserving the heritage of musical film and theatre choreography, will stage recreations of work by Susan Stroman, J…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:27pm on October 26, 2012☆⚑

DC-Area Dreamgirls to Feature Nova Y. Payton, Cedric Neal, Crystal Joy, Sydney James Harcourt by Kenneth Jones

Nova Y. Payton will play Effie White, the most turbulent of the Dreamgirls in the Signature Theatre's holiday-season revival of the 1981 musical, in Arlington, VA. Associate artistic dir…

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:18am on October 26, 2012☆⚑

Girl Power! Eve Ensler's Emotional Creature, a Pulse-Taking of Girls, Begins Off-Broadway by Kenneth Jones

Emotional Creature, the new play by Eve Ensler that had its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in June, resurfaces Off-Broadway Oct. 26. Ensler, the Tony Award-honored playwright, …

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00am on October 26, 2012☆⚑

Reunion Concert of Broadway's Assassins, With Neil Patrick Harris, Denis O'Hare, Michael Cerveris, Nearly Sold Out by Kenneth Jones

Only a handful of tickets are left for Roundabout Theatre Company's Dec. 3 reunion concert of the 2004 Tony Award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins. Ne…

SOURCE: Playbill at 2:32pm on October 25, 2012☆⚑

Convicted Producer Garth Drabinsky Gets "Day Parole" to a Halfway House by Kenneth Jones

White collar criminal Garth Drabinsky — the theatre impresario who once ran the Broadway producing organization Livent, which collapsed in a $500 million financial scandal — has …

SOURCE: Playbill at 1:22pm on October 25, 2012☆⚑

Ella Minnow Pea Musical Sings in NYC Lab, With Rebecca Luker, Lilli Cooper, Donna Lynne Champlin, Heidi Blickenstaff by Kenneth Jones

Ella Minnow Pea, a new musical fantasy about disintegrating language on an island, by Larson Award-winning writers Scott Burkell and Paul Loesel, gets private performances in Manhattan Oct. …

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00am on October 25, 2012☆⚑