Shawna M. Hami News

Tickets for the CAPA and Broadway Across America presentation of Cameron Mackintosh's new 25th anniversary production of Les Miserables are on sale now for the premiere Columbus engagement at the Ohio Theatre.

Tickets for Cameron Mackintosh's new 25th anniversary production of Les Misérables are now on sale for the premiere Fort Lauderdale engagement at Broward Center for the Performing Arts. The all new production of Les Misérables features glorious new staging and spectacular reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. To purchase tickets, visit www.broadwayacrossamerica.com or www.browardcenter.org; call 954-462-0222 or visit Broward Center Box Office Monday through Friday 10AM - 5 PM, Saturday and Sunday 12 Noon - 5 PM and 1 ½ hours prior to show times. Ticket prices start at $25. For more information on the production, and for a video preview, please visit www.LesMis.com.

Tickets for Cameron Mackintosh's new 25th anniversary production of Les Misérables are now on sale for the premiere Fort Lauderdale engagement at Broward Center for the Performing Arts. The all new production of Les Misérables features glorious new staging and spectacular reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. To purchase tickets, visit www.broadwayacrossamerica.com or www.browardcenter.org; call 954-462-0222 or visit Broward Center Box Office Monday through Friday 10AM - 5 PM, Saturday and Sunday 12 Noon - 5 PM and 1 ½ hours prior to show times. Ticket prices start at $25. For more information on the production, and for a video preview, please visit www.LesMis.com.

Cameron Mackintosh presents a brand new 25th anniversary production of Boublil & Schönberg's legendary musical, LES MISÉRABLES, with new staging and reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. This new production has already been acclaimed by critics, fans and new audiences and is breaking box office records wherever it goes.

Cameron Mackintosh's 25th Anniversary production of Les Misérables, presented by The Paper Mill Playhouse, has finally hit the friendly American shores after touring Britain, and perhaps symbolic of its Atlantic crossing is the new opening picture devised by co-directors Laurence Conner and James Powell.  Sure, 24601 (a/k/a Jean Valjean) is still a prisoner in chains for the crime of stealing a loaf of bread for his starving sister and her family, but he and his fellow inmates are now rowing oars on a galley ship.  The music (Claude-Michel Schonberg) and words (Herbert Kretzmer, based on the original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel) of this world-famous adaptation of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, set against the backdrop of Paris' 1832 student revolution, are unchanged, but the new locale not only starts the evening off with a visually striking image, but signals to the musical's two-and-a-half decades worth of fans that this will not be just another variation of the original Trevor Nunn/John Caird production they are accustomed to.  (A production that can still be enjoyed on the West End.)

While there's certainly plenty to enjoy in the new musical version of Pedro Almodóvar's 1988 film, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown - David Yazbek's jaunty Latin-based score, the winning performances of a star-studded cast (three Tony winners and four other nominees) and the kinetic flashiness of Bartlett Sher's kicky production - the show is also a prime example of how the sum of the pieces can add up to more than the whole when the missing ingredient is a strong book.  Not that the talented Jeffrey Lane doesn't make a game try at it.  Sticking closely to the source, his work is frequently clever and he and Yazbek concoct some quirkily fun musical scenes, but the odds are working against him in this one.

The premiere Detroit engagement of Cameron Mackintosh's new 25th anniversary production of Les Miserables will be at the Fisher Theatre, March 22 - April 3.

Reworking a classic story is not a new concept in the theatre world. Just ask the creators of Wicked or West Side Story. Taking something that audiences are already familiar with and turning it on its ear can be quite a task and is not without its challenges. First, there are the constant comparisons to the source material (or previous adaptations). Next, there is the daunting task to "reinvent" the plot and bring audiences on a fresh and new journey. But with the Alliance Theatre's premiere of Twist - an American Musical (a modern, American take on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist) they beat the odds and have created a magical tapestry of music, story and life that, even with a classic tale at its heart, feels like a something completely new.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival announces the three Next Broadway Sensation finalists for their third annual contest, formerly known as Broadway Idol. Moving on to the grand finale will be Shawna M. Hamic, Mike Harrison, and Omar Lopez-Cepero.