Jack Viertel News

RWS Entertainment Group, Binder Casting in association with the Broadway Podcast Network, have announced .... Jay Binder... A Life In Casting, a 5-episode podcast exploring the life and career of the esteemed casting director.

The Prom must go on! According to a recent interview with Collider, Ryan Murphy thinks that the upcoming Netflix adaptation of The Prom might be released according to schedule.

Leon's True Colors Theatre Company and Jujamcyn Theaters have announced today that the 12th Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition will cancel its in-person ceremony (originally scheduled for Monday, May 4th) and shift to a virtual celebration in light of the ongoing health crisis.

One of my favorite activities is reading books and what better time to do that then right now when we're all stuck at home? Unfortunately, there are many theatre related activities we cannot participate in right now but one of the best ways we can learn more about our crafts and read about others in our fields is by reading about them. There are hundreds of Broadway related books, script writing and acting guides, memoirs by our favorite stars, and more! I thought I would share some of my favorites with you all to hopefully get you all back in the mindsets of creating art and learning about those who you look up to.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, City Center cancelled the remainder of its season due to the current health crisis. One production that was cancelled, was Love Life, which was set to run March 18 - 22, starring Kate Baldwin and Brian Stokes Mitchell. However, Jack Viertel, Encores! Artistic Director, has some promising news.

New York City Center has canceled the remainder of the 2019–2020 season including Encores! Thoroughly Modern Millie.

New York City Center is presenting the #EncoresArchives series! The most recent installment is a clip from their production of Merrily We Roll Along, featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Colin Donnell, and Betsy Wolfe.

New York City Center is presenting the #EncoresArchives series! They will be posting daily highlights from their musical theater vault from Encores!, Encores! Off-Center, and Gala productions. In their first Instagram post about the new series they shared:

Not even Dee Dee Allen could sing her way out of this one. Deadline reports that out of 'an abundance of caution' production on the Netflix film adaptation of the Tony-nominated musical has stopped.

Performances concluded on Sunday for New York City Center Encores! first show of the 2020 season- Mack & Mabel. Led by Broadway's Douglas Sills and Alexandra Socha in the title roles, the production also starred Major Attaway (Fatty Arbuckle), Michael Berresse (William Desmond Taylor), Lilli Cooper (Lottie Ames), Ben Fankhauser (Frank Wyman), Jordan Gelber (Mr. Kessel), Evan Kasprzak (Freddy), Raymond J. Lee (Andy), Kevin Ligon (Eddie), Janet Noh (Ella), and Allen Lewis Rickman (Mr. Bauman).

Center Theatre Group has announced its 54th season at the Ahmanson Theatre, which features Hadestown, Dear Evan Hansen, The Prom, To Kill a Mockingbird, and more!

Broadway musicals are one of America's most beloved art forms and play to millions of people each year. But what do these shows, which are often thought to be just frothy entertainment, really have to say about our country and who we are as a nation?

On January 31, 2020, Theatre Forward presented its 17th Annual Broadway Roundtable at UBS, 1285 Avenue of the Americas, New York City, focused on the question, 'How Does Theatre Mirror Society?' with Broadway luminaries on the panel including Blair Underwood, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jacob G. Padrón, Lois Smith and Jack Viertel and moderated by Theatre Forward Executive Director Bruce E. Whitacre. Panelists shared their personal experiences and perspectives on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Topics covered a wide range of opinions and comments in an open-ended dialogue about opportunity, access, education and social justice. Panelists all shared a passion for the power of storytelling and how it reflects and influences our world. Special thanks to Gregory S. Hurst, UBS and Theatre Forward Board of Directors, for hosting the panel at UBS.

A producer cannot just license any property s/he wants. Yes, MAME is available for licensing on the Concord Theatricals website, but if I wanted to mount it on Broadway it would be a little more complicated than shelling out cash. Hurdles for non-professional productions are not substantial, but many professional productions require levels of permission. Jerry Herman, who passed away on December 26, 2019, was a man unlikely to give permission for professional productions of his shows unless he thought they would be good.

3-D Theatricals continues its 2019-2020 season with Kinky Boots, winner of six 2013 Tony Awards including Best Musical. The production, which will be directed by Tony Award nominee John Tartaglia (Broadway's Avenue Q and Shrek The Musical) and choreographed by Linda Love Simmons (3-D Theatricals' Once The Musical) with musical direction and conducting by Benet Braun (La Mirada Theatre's Grumpy Old Men: The Musical). Kinky Boots will play February 14-March 1 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos, CA). Opening night is Saturday, February 15. 

How Does Theatre Mirror Society? will be explored along with drawing on the panelists' experiences and perspectives on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Topics of the 17th annual Theatre Forward Broadway Roundtable will include an open-ended dialogue about opportunity, access, education and social justice. Panelists all share a passion for the power of storytelling and how it reflects and influences our world.

Kevin Chamberlin is going to the prom! According to an updated cast list on IMDB, the three time Tony nominated actor will portray Sheldon Saperstein in the upcoming film adaptation of the musical, The Prom.

Ghostlight Records has announced that the new cast album of Cole Porter's The New Yorkers - The New York City Center Encores! 2017 Cast Recording is available on CD, digital and streaming formats today, Friday, December 6. The release is the first major cast album of the 1930 musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Herbert Fields, and based on a story by Peter Arno and E. Ray Goetz. The 2017 production from New York City Center (Arlene Shuler, New York City Center President & CEO) Encores! was directed by John Rando, with musical direction by Encores! Music Director Rob Berman and choreography by Chris Bailey.

Jo Ellen Pellman has been cast as the lead in the Netflix feature adaptation of the award-winning stage musical The Prom from Ryan Murphy. Pellman has previously appeared on HBO's The Deuce and Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Broadway audiences last experienced the greatness that is Victoria Clark in the 2015 revival of Gigi, and though it's been almost five years since she last graced the stage, she is keeping plenty busy.