Tips, Tools & Tricks from Three Spamalot Directors

Bay Wellington · 2014-02-21

Getting in the driver’s seat for a production of MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT, the Eric Idle and John Du Prez penned Tony Award®-winning Best Musical, is a true opportunity to give your cast, crew and audiences the theatre experience of a lifetime. Since launching the wide-release of SPAMALOT over a year ago, there have been hundreds of productions around the world by groups from community, high school and university theatres to high profile professional companies to a new West End production, still lighting up the stage in London. SPAMALOT is a ticket sales machine wherever it is produced for the sheer excellence of a show that has become a beloved musical classic, that never existed in the shadow of its wonderful and iconic cinema source material Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Writing From the Heart with Sonia Manzano!

Bay Wellington · 2011-09-27

Sonia Manzano may not have known it, but she has been preparing to write a musical her whole life! Manzano has played the beloved character Maria on Sesame Street for over 30 years. It seems just a few golden years ago that I used to watch her character come to life each day. Her still youthful appearance matches her infectious energy, especially when discussing her new Theatre for Young Audiences musical, NO DOGS ALLOWED! Her experience with the masterful musical theatre monsters of Muppet land may have accidentally prepared her for her career’s latest incarnation: Musical Theatre book writer!

The journey from page to stage has been a rewarding one for Manzano. After winning 15 writing Emmys® at Sesame Street, she penned the brilliant source material for the musical, NO DOGS ALLOWED!

It’s CURTAINS for PCPA TheatreFest!

Bay Wellington · 2010-04-27

The California Central Coast’s pre-eminent professional theatre, PCPA TheatreFest is presenting the smash-hit musical whodunit CURTAINS in a split run, April 15-May 9 in Santa Maria’s Marian Theatre and June 17-July 3rd at the Festival Theatre in Solvang. The company has been presenting for over 45 years and has become a staple of the Central Coast’s vibrant Arts scene. I recently spoke with Craig Shafer, the Media Relations / Communications Manager for PCPA and Erik Stein who has the plum role of Christopher Belling in CURTAINS, about the production. Shafer brought me up to speed on the gargantuan task of creating a production of this beautifully designed musical that can be moved from one theater space to another.

So far, CURTAINS is shaping up to deliver a huge hit for PCPA…

Hillcrest High School CURTAINS

Bay Wellington · 2010-02-23

Hillcrest High School in Midvale, Utah presented the Utah high school premiere of CURTAINS, November 18-21, 2009, with a superb production. TRW’s Broadway blockbuster features a book by Rupert Holmes, based on a concept by Peter Stone, with a classic score from the legendary Kander and Ebb.

CURTAINS played over 500 performances on Broadway, and received eight 2007 Tony® Award nominations including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Actor (A Winner for David Hyde Pierce), Best Actress, Best Featured Actress, Best Direction and Best Choreography. Kander and Ebb’s amazing score is perfectly woven into the fabric of the unfailingly clever book.

CURTAINS is set in the brassy, bright, and promising year of 1959. Boston’s Colonial Theatre is host to the opening night performance of a new musical.