Because the Tony-winning Billy Elliot the Musical will launch its national tour with an open-ended run in March 2010 at Chicago's Ford Center for the Performing Arts' Oriental Theatre, the national... tour will also now play the Cadillac Palace rather than the Oriental Theatre, according to the Chicago daily.) No casting for the tour has been announced. Additional venues are expected. Source

THE ADDAMS FAMILY To Call Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre 'Home', Previews Begin March 4th, 2010 The new musical THE ADDAMS FAMILY , based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created...nominee Kevin Chamberlin as Uncle Fester, Jackie Hoffman as Grandmama, Zachary James as Lurch, Adam Riegler as Pugsley, Wesley Taylor as Lucas Beineke and Krysta Rodriguez as Wednesday. Source

The 2009 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Billy Elliot — based on the film of the same name — will launch a U.S. national tour in Chicago in spring 2010 before embarking on a multi-city tour. Performances...added, "Chicago has always been one of my favorite cities to play. And it is my distinct pleasure to share this show that I love so much with a city that has always been very kind to me." Source

Fantasia Barrino will bring her performance as Celie in the national tour of The Color Purple to her hometown when the musical plays the War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro, NC. Barrino will continue...of Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf in Atlanta. View production photos here . Source 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Anthony Fedorov and Diana DeGarmo will star in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , part of the 2009 summer season of musicals produced by Lyric Theatre, Oklahoma's premiere regional theatre..., the new reggae-music-infused musical based on the film of the same name, about an obscure Jamaican performer hoping for stardom, begins July 21 in Toronto. Source 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Goodbye to today's closing shows! Blithe Spirit Off-Broadway's Flamingo Court Other Events. West Side Story offers a special performance to benefit the Actors Fund July 19. The 8 PM... Carly Jibson ( Hairspray, Cry Baby ) and Denis Lambert ( A Chorus Line, Finian's Rainbow ). The songs of nearly 30 graduates will be represented. Source 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Nauffts' Next Fall Extends for Third Time, Now Through Aug. 8 Naked Angels has announced a third extension of its sold-out world-premiere production of Geoffrey Nauffts' Next Fall at the Peter Jay...on a 12-month North American tour, commencing in Chicago in May 2010; while a second production will also commence a Far Eastern Tour in New Zealand, kicking off in Aukland in January 2011. Source

Mattie Hawkinson and William Petersen star in the Victory Gardens Theater's Chicago premiere of David Harrower's Blackbird, beginning July 3 and playing until Aug. 9 at the Victory Gardens Biograph...Green, Celisse Henderson, Vicki Noon and Eddy Rioseco join composer and lyricist Scott Alan July 3 for an evening of his songs at the Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko in California. Source 1 2 3 4

Hair's Will Swenson and Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe' s André De Shields join us this month for some highly entertaining Leading Man-chat. WILL THE THRILL Will Swenson was born...De Shields: When I did Impressionism , I had to walk three blocks. Now I'm across the street. I tell my colleagues my next show is going to be in my kitchen because I'm also a good cook! Source

The cast of Rock of Ages will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for Largest Air Guitar Ensemble following the matinee performance on July 1. Cast, including Constantine Marouli s , and crew..., which kicks off the Williamstown Theatre Festival season July 1. Children will play a limited run through July 12 on the mainstage of the Massachusetts summer theatre festival. [SHARON TYLER!