Arts and Stage News - Playbill

Oscar and Tony Award winner Mercedes Ruehl and Drama Desk nominee Lily Rabe will head the cast of Richard Greenberg's The American Plan, which will begin previews at Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Jan. 2, 2009.

It's a busy Friday for the Tony Award-honored Denver Center Theatre Company. On the same day, Oct. 10, Michael Frayn's Noises Off opens at The Stage Theatre and David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross begins previews at the Ricketson Theatre, toward an Oct. 16 opening.

WritersBloc Productions presents the world premiere of Alec Gutherz's No Entrance, opening Oct. 16 after previews from Oct. 9.

Gates of Gold, a drama by Tony Award winner Frank McGuinness, will get a Lonny Price-directed Off-Broadway production starting in January 2009, at 59E59 Theaters.

Act II Playhouse in Ambler, PA, has announced casting for the regional premiere of William Donnelly's award-winning new play, Magnetic North, directed by producing artistic director Bud Martin, Oct. 21-Nov. 16.

Film star Maggie Gyllenhaal is among the performers in the Oct. 13 staged reading of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan, adapted by Tony Kushner and directed by Tony Speciale, as part of Classic Stage Company's First Look Festival, a program of one-night only staged readings, performed by notable actors.

The Canadian Stage Company opens its 2008-09 Bluma Appel Theatre season Oct. 13-Nov. 8 with Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon, starring David Storch as David Frost and Len Cariou as Richard Nixon, in a co-production with Vancouver Playhouse, where the drama recently played.

The world premiere of Adam Rapp's Kindness, featuring Annette O'Toole as a Midwestern mother who flees with her son to New York City, opens Oct. 13 after previews from Sept. 25 at Playwrights Horizons' intimate Peter Jay Sharp Theater in Manhattan.

While London critics are currently praising the new Old Vic revival of Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests, Off-Broadway's The Actors Company Theatre (TACT) has revived his Bedroom Farce, not seen in Manhattan in 30 years.

We give a listen to the four-CD set "Stephen Sondheim: The Story So Far" and Jessica Molaskey's newest album, "A Kiss to Build a Dream On."

The Theatre @ Boston Court's 2009 season in Pasadena, CA, will include two world premieres, a West Coast premiere and a classic comedy.

Director Rebecca Bayla Taichman's new production of Twelfth Night will feature Veanne Cox as Olivia and Chris Innvar as Orsino, who will play the roles in Washington, DC, and Princeton, NJ.

Broadway revisited its childhood this week, in two different ways, through two very different Broadway openings.

GrooveLily, the pop trio known for its infectious melodies and story-rich lyrics, will return to New York City this holiday season to perform Striking 12, their pop-rock fable set on New Year's Eve.

The Toxic Avenger, the new musical by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan, opens Oct. 10 after previews from Oct. 1 at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ.

PS Classics, the label dedicated to the heritage of Broadway and American popular song, has announced details of its Nov. 11 release of "Howard Sings Ashman" - and show tune fans will have a lot to smile about.

The Story of My Life, the two-actor Canadian musical about lifelong friendship, begins performances Oct. 10 at Goodspeed Musicals' Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, CT, a first American step on its way to Broadway. Will Chase and Malcolm Gets are the pals.

Irish Repertory Theatre in Manhattan honors the father of modern drama, Henrik Ibsen, with the world premiere of Tony Award-winning playwright Frank McGuinness' adaptation of the 1892 classic, The Master Builder, beginning Oct. 10. Two-time Tony Award winner James Naughton has the title role.

Pittsburgh Public Theater's season-opening production of August Wilson's final play, Radio Golf, opening Oct. 10 after previews from Oct. 2, completes the troupe's effort to produce all ten plays of Wilson's cycle charting the African-American experience in the 20th century.