Charles Johnson News

The cast has been announced for this spring's The Blues Brothers, the latest “Broadway at the Drive-In” cinemersive experience at Radial Park as it continues its residency at Halletts Point Play.

Creative Cauldron presents Difficult Conversations: Bridging the Divide, a new series of original plays. The premise is that in this challenging time of division and conflict, Creative Cauldron looks to writers in the DMV for inspiration and healing. 

Chester Theatre Company has announces the election of three new members, Alaina M. T. Macaulay, Nnamdi Pole, and Emily Wojcik, to its board of directors. They join existing members Karen Schader (President), Carol Seltzer (Clerk), David Pascucci (Treasurer), Robert Boulrice, Charles Johnson, and Rhonda Steeg.

Burn All Night, a musical with a book and lyrics by Andy Mientus and music by Van Hughes, Nick LaGrasta, and Brett Moses has released an EP cast recording,

The Actors Fund has teamed with SiriusXM Broadway host Seth Rudetsky and his husband, producer James Wesley, to produce a daily mini-online show, entitled Stars in The House, featuring stars of stage and screen singing and performing live (from home!) on social media to promote support for The Fund's services.

In Lifeline Theatre's MIDDLE PASSAGE, the intimate Rogers Park venue transforms into the scene of a 19th century maritime epic. Artistic Director Ilesa Duncan and David Barr III adapt Charles Johnson's award-winning 1990 novel for the stage, and Duncan directs. The sprawling tale follows a recently freed slave as he journeys from the gambling dens of New Orleans to the heart of the African slave trade and back again.

Audiences can celebrate Valentine's Day, honor Black History Month, and more during Chicago Theatre Week (#CTW20).  With over 120 participating productions, there is something for everyone during Chicago Theatre Week, running February 13-23, 2020. Value-priced tickets, priced at $30, $15, or less, are now available at ChicagoTheatreWeek.com. 

'The team of Jon Hartmere Jr. and Damon Intrabartolo have wrought a magnificent, totally original contemporary musical extravaganza that explores the schism between youthful passion and theological dogma.' - Variety

Music Director Jaap van Zweden will conduct the New York Philharmonic Fall Gala Concert, October 7, 2019, celebrating the Philharmonic's 178th season with an all-Beethoven program featuring pianist Lang Lang as soloist. The program will feature Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Symphony No. 5.

Amid ongoing cover-ups, conspiracies, spin doctors and fake news, how do you pick a side? What inspires people to make the leap from spectator to player or from clicktivist to activist? How much change can you really make (even if you do get off the couch)? 

The strange thing about this lyrical cornucopia: it doesn't stick in the mind much as one departs. There is a deliberate effort to craft just such a song, 'I Feel So Much Spring,' as the closer, and it feels and sounds good, but by the time the song finishes, there have been so many harmonic variations sung by the various characters that the core melody has largely been overwritten mentally. What will not be overwritten is the joyous feeling that the song, and the ending, bring about.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce final casting for the 30th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS along with The Songwriters Showcase and Midday Cabarets. The FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS takes place on Thursday, October 25 and Friday, October 26, 2018 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). Festival events kick off on Monday, October 22 with Thank You, 30! a gala event to celebrate the 30th Annual Festival.

Citadel Theatre will continue its practice of producing classic theatre in bucolic Lake County outdoor settings with this summer's production of SCAPIN, the 17th Century farce by Moliere. SCAPIN will be directed by Frank Farrell, who helmed the company's previous summer productions of Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET, AS YOU LIKE IT, and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM; and SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY, Farrell's musical dramatic adaptation of Edgar Lee Masters' poetry. Farrell, well-known to Citadel audiences for his portrayals of Dickens' Scrooge in both 2011 and in 2017, has written a new adaptation of the comedy for this production.

The Royal Theater and Johnston's Home Center proudly invite you to join us for an evening of mystery, suspense, and laughter, as they present 'The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940;' a hilarious high-society Who-dunnit murder mystery written by John Bishop. Brought to life by Director Tim Huddleston, with an All-Star cast and crew, it's sure to be a truly killer show.

The New York Philharmonic's annual Spring Gala will feature Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning singer and actress Audra McDonald performing songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Bernstein, and Sondheim, as well as works by other composers - both established and emerging - whom she continues to champion. The performance will mark both her first reunion with the New York Philharmonic in more than four years and her first major solo concert in New York City since 2015. Andy Einhorn, a Broadway conductor and Ms. McDonald's long-time music director, will conduct the performance, Tuesday, May 1, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.

KEVIN Ray Johnson's coming of age drama The Unpredictable Times will be premiering with Showcase on Main in Elkton Maryland in 2018. The workshop premiere will be directed by S. Lee Lewis - who serves as The Artistic Director of Showcase on Main.

Joe's Pub presents A.D. 16, a new musical from the writers of Despicable Me and This is Us, live in concert Monday, October 16 at 9:30pm.

The Royal Players and Middlebrooks Electric are excited to announce the upcoming production of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer the Broadway Musical, based on the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer written by Mark Twain. The Royal Players will present this classic story on April 20th-23rd and April 27th-30th at The Royal Theatre at 111 S. Market St. in Benton.

On the next episode of LAW & ORDER: SVU on NBC titled "No Surrender", Fin (Ice T) revisits his military roots when a fellow Army Ranger (guest star Sarah Booth) struggles to recover from a sexual assault.

We're breaking out the Mulled Cider and the Winter Sangria--okay, the full bar is out this week for a very special Holiday Episode recorded live at the Broadwaysted Holiday Party! Kimberly added 'Official Hostess' to her list of job titles this week as she opened her home to us and all of our #FriendsOfTheShow! We have a blast playing games and discussing favorite holiday memories with Lacretta, Max Crumm, Andrew Kober, Haley Podschun, Brendon Stimson, Robbie Rozelle, Squigs, Brian Charles Johnson, Stephany Mora, Emily Marshall, and #EnemyOfTheShow Jay Schmidt (who happens to live where we had the party #FianceOfTheGameMaster.)