M. Grant News

There's just a few weeks left to make your voice heard and submit your votes for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! The people have spoken nominations are set, and now you can vote to make sure your favorite local theatre's achievements and performers are recognized!

It's December! Voting is now underway for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! Now you can vote to make sure your favorite local theatres and performers are recognized. Check out the first set of stats below.

Voting is NOW OPEN and the first votes are in for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! The nominees are set, and now you can vote to make sure your favorite local theatres and performers are recognized!

Porchlight Music Theatre announces the cast and creative team for the Chicago premiere of Disney's Freaky Friday, A New Musical, April 10 - May 24, 2020 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. The musical comedy about a mother and her daughter who switch identities stars Cory Goodrich as 'Katherine,' the mother, and Maya Lou Hlava as Katherine's daughter 'Ellie.'

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & McCoy Rigby Entertainment presents the second show of their 2019-2020 season, Roald Dahl's MATILDA, THE MUSICAL, book by Dennis Kelly, music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, musical direction by Jennifer Lin, choreography by Kate Dunn and directed by Michael Matthews.

a?oeFor nearly forty years this story has given faithful service to the Young in Heart; and Time has been powerless to put its kindly philosophy out of fashiona??..a?? These words from L. Frank Baum dance across the screen during the overture of MSMT's stunning new production of THE WIZARD OF OZ, reminding the audience of the perennial appeal of this beloved story. And as the curtain goes up, the audience is treated to arguably the largest, most lavish production in MSMT history with a cast of fifty (that includes twenty children and a dog), dazzling technical elements, staging and choreography to blow one away, and performances to melt the heart. a?oea??When I saw Marc Robin's production at the Fulton in 2016, I said, a?oeWe have to do this at MSMT. THE WIZARD OF OZ had not been on this stage since 1961, and it was time to give it a new life,a?? says Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark. Clark is one of the large panel, which also includes Marc Robin, Travis M. Grant, Carolyn Anne Miller, Susan Cella, Ian Knauer, and David Girolmo, who have come together in conversation with BWW's Maine Editor Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold in MSMT and BWW's final season collaboration of PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN at the Curtis Memorial Library on August 14th.

a?oeIn the musical they all learn that the thing they believe is missing is already inside of them. We all have within us everything we think we are deficient in a?" everything we need to become the person we are supposed to be.a?? Actor David Girolmo is speaking of the lesson his character, the Cowardly Lion, learns in the stage version of L. Frank Baum's iconic classic THE WIZARD OF OZ, which runs from August 7-24 in a spectacularly fantastical production co-directed by narc Robin and Curt Dale Clark at Maine State Music Theatre.

When actress Carolyn Anne Miller utters that iconic line on the Pickard Stage next week a?" a?oeToto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore,a?? it will have an added resonance for the Midwestern native, who makes her Maine State Music debut in THE WIZARD OF OZ. The Chicago born and educated Miller cut her professional teeth at, among other theatres, Music Theatre Wichita, before moving to New York City and on to star as Dorothy in MSMT's fantastical new production of the stage version of that perennial classic based on L. Frank Baum's stories, directed and choreographed by Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark.

Take an unforgettable 75-minute journey down the Yellow Brick Road to the magical land of Oz, and share the wonder and delight of live theater with the young people in your life this summer.

This summer, Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents the 75-minute musical stage adaptation of the timeless 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz, directed by Brian Hill and choreographed by Kenny Ingram. Based on the landmark novel by L. Frank Baum and featuring music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, The Wizard of Oz promises to be the perfect outing for audiences of all ages at Chicago Shakespeare's home on Navy Pier all summer long, July 6-August 25, 2019 with performances on Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m. and Thursdays-Sundays at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

It's the last week to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just one month left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Maine Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

The Waterville Opera House (WOH) is excited to present the much-beloved classic American musical comedy for all ages Hello, Dolly! - running Today, November 9th through Sunday the 18th in downtown Waterville. A broadway hit based on the play 'The Matchmaker' by Thornton Wilder, audiences will delight in seeing this high-energy musical with all the feathers, the patent leathers, the beads, the buckles, and bows come to life on the historic Waterville Opera House stage!

The Waterville Opera House (WOH) is excited to present the much-beloved classic American musical comedy for all ages Hello, Dolly! - running Friday, November 9th through Sunday the 18th in downtown Waterville. A broadway hit based on the play 'The Matchmaker' by Thornton Wilder, audiences will delight in seeing this high-energy musical with all the feathers, the patent leathers, the beads, the buckles, and bows come to life on the historic Waterville Opera House stage!

As its main stage finale in this Diamond Jubilee season, Maine State Music Theatre chose to present the stage version of one of the most beloved musicals of all time, Singin' in the Rain. With its book by Betty Comden/Adolph Green, and songs by Nacio Herb Brown/Arthur Freed), based on the famed MGM musical, this iconic classic receives a production that recreates the glitter of Hollywood's Golden Age on a dazzlingly grand scale. MSMT's staging, directed/choreographed by Marc Robin, sparkles with the effervescence of fine champagne, bubbles with energy and originality, exudes sunshine and joy, and offers its audiences an exhilarating, entirely magical entertainment experience.

There is a moment in Robin and Clark's musical version of Cinderella when the scullery maid screws up her courage and hurls a self-affirmation back to her abusive stepmother and sisters, saying, "No! I've always done everything you asked and now it is time for me to do something for myself!" The audience young and old erupts into spontaneous applause for this very contemporary heroine. Though Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark's musical is more than twenty-five years old, it speaks with a freshness and an appeal that are as lasting as the fairy tale itself, and Maine State Music Theatre's most recent production captures all the delightfulness and the darkness of the story and serves it up with customary flair.

When Rock n' Roll burst onto the scene in the late 1950s, it brought with it a veritable revolution in American popular music. Seen by some as 'the Devil's music,' by others as a passing fad, this vibrant, electric sound proved itself a lasting phenomenon. So perhaps it is fitting that more than sixty years later a musical celebrating four of the greatest legends of early rock should open Maine State Music Theatre's 60th anniversary season. And what an opening this is! Million Dollar Quartet explodes onto the Pickard stage with the energy of a mega concert and the intensity of a high-stakes drama. It is a tale that is at once about the music itself and the men who made it, about dreams and determination, about stumbling and success. In a dazzling production directed by Hunter Foster, MSMT scores the perfect kickoff to its own milestone season.

Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) will showcase the music of Irving Berlin with two performances of I Love a Piano on Monday, June 18 at 2:00 and 7:30 PM.