"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!": 'A Christmas Story, The Musical!' Begins World Premiere Run (Playbill)
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:57:30 GMT)
Playbill - A Christmas Story, The Musical!, conjuring the frosted magic of a classic 1940s holiday, gets its world premiere at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre beginning Nov. 20-Dec. 27.

Producer Whitten Plans to Bring 'Enter Laughing' to Broadway (Playbill)
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:57:30 GMT)
Playbill - Enter Laughing, a recent hit for the York Theatre Company, is aiming for a Broadway bow during the 2010-11 season, according to the New York Times.

Tony Administration Committee to Assemble in December (Playbill)
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:57:30 GMT)
Playbill - The Tony Awards Administration Committee will assemble for the first time during the 2009-2010 season Dec. 10, according to a Tony Awards spokesperson.

PLAYBILL.COM'S THEATRE WEEK IN REVIEW: It's All Good (Playbill)
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:57:30 GMT)
Playbill - Playwrights deceased and long-honored, and young and rising, were praised to the skies this week.

Baayork Lee Will Stage 'Flower Drum Song' Revision in Chicago; DC and Shanghai Visits Planned (Playbill)
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:57:30 GMT)
Playbill - Columbia College Chicago's Center for Asian Arts and Media will produce the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song in summer 2010.

Sidney Howard's 'Late Christopher Bean', a Praised "Find," Extended Off-Broadway (Playbill)
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:57:30 GMT)
Playbill - The rare New York City revival of Sidney Howard's 1932 comedy The Late Christopher Bean, a satire of greedy small-town folk and corrupt art-world personalities, will get six extra performances Off-Broadway.

LaCause Is El Gallo in Arena 'Fantasticks', Set in an Amusement Park (Playbill)
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:57:30 GMT)
Playbill - Arena Stage's new production of The Fantasticks, directed by rising American director Amanda Dehnert, who places the musical in the world of an abandoned amusement park, begins previews Nov. 20 in Washington, DC.

Art investments can add color to a portfolio
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:05:03 GMT)
Reuters - Collecting fine art is more than just a hobby for savvy investors who see the art world as a $50 billion vehicle for generating wealth, storing it and passing on to their heirs.

YSL auction raises almost three times estimate
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:44:54 GMT)
Reuters - A second auction of art and furniture once owned by fashion guru Yves Saint Laurent has raised 8.9 million euros ($13.22 million), up to three times the estimated amount, auctioneers Christie's said on Friday.

Italy collector finds Galileo's lost tooth, fingers
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:17:43 GMT)
Reuters - An art collector has found a tooth, thumb and finger of the renowned Italian scientist Galileo Galilei who died in the 17th century, Florence's History of Science museum announced on Friday.

New York inspired tales win U.S. National Book Awards
(Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:11:39 GMT)
Reuters - A novel about life in New York City in the 1970s and a biography of U.S. tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt were among the winners at the United States 60th annual National Book Awards on Wednesday.

Cleopatra in the wings, ETO takes opera to people
(Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:29:37 GMT)
Reuters - Ken Allcock, 66, had never seen an opera and his wife Eileen hadn't been in about 50 years, but both were enchanted by Handel's "Tolomeo," brought to their hometown of Malvern by English Touring Opera.

Jay-Z, Will Smith back Broadway show "Fela!"
(Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:33:05 GMT)
Reuters - Jay-Z, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have officially signed on as co-producers of "Fela!," a musical about Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti that opens Monday (November 23) on Broadway.

Simon Burke Will Play 'Sound of Music''s Final Four Weeks in Toronto (Playbill)
(Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:46:36 GMT)
Playbill - West End star Simon Burke will replace Burke Moses as Capt. Von Trapp in the final weeks of the Toronto run of The Sound of Music, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian and David Mirvish.

China calls for return of art treasures from abroad
(Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:29:41 GMT)
Reuters - China is ratcheting up pressure for imperial treasures to be repatriated, condemning overseas auctions of its relics and demanding they come home.

Reduced Shakespeare Company's 'Completely Hollywood (abridged)' to Play Kennedy Center in Summer 2010 (Playbill)
(Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:46:36 GMT)
Playbill - The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will present the Reduced Shakespeare Company in Completely Hollywood (abridged) this summer.

Chinese writer Su Tong wins Asia's top literary prize
(Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:37:47 GMT)
Reuters - Chinese writer Su Tong has won Asia's top literary prize with a bleak novel about a disgraced Communist Party official's attempts to rebuild his life, trumping a clutch of Indian writers on the shortlist.

First Three Plays of Foote's 'Orphans' Home Cycle' Open Off-Broadway (Playbill)
(Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:46:36 GMT)
Playbill - The Story of a Childhood - the first three plays in late Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Horton Foote's nine-play epic, The Orphans' Home Cycle - opens Off-Broadway Nov. 19 after previews from Nov. 5.