Charles Spencer News

St. Ann's Warehouse, which for 36 years has enlivened New Yorkers with new works by the world's most vital music- and theater-makers, is about to open its first permanent home, a 25,000-sf theater at the breathtaking site of the Tobacco Warehouse, on the waterfront in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The organization will inaugurate its new building by presenting a 2015-16 season that epitomizes St. Ann's indispensable contribution to the global cultural landscape -- a series of international productions in which world-class artists reconfigure flexible, open space to realize their creative visions.

DANIELLE BROOKS, who plays 'Taystee' on the hit TV show, Orange Is the New Black, will make her Broadway debut as 'Sofia' in the upcoming Broadway musical revival of THE COLOR PURPLE. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Ms. Brooks joins the previously announced JENNIFER HUDSON and CYNTHIA ERIVO in the critically acclaimed staging from London's Menier Chocolate Factory.

In an all-new episode of the popular series, 'Oprah: Where Are They Now?,' Oprah sits down with Charles Spencer to talk about what it's like being a real-life Earl and the enduring legacy of his sister, Princess Diana, airing tonight, April 5 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.

CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH CHARLES OSGOOD posted season-to-date gains in viewers and remained the #1 Sunday morning news program with viewers and adults 25-54, according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings for March 15.

OWN: OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK announces APRIL 2015 HIGHLIGHTS

Following rumors earlier today that Jennifer Hudson would be making her Broadway debut in a revival of THE COLOR PURPLE, producers have now confirmed that the Oscar winner will indeed head to the Great White Way. Beginning next fall, John Doyle's critically acclaimed Menier Chocolate Factory production of The Color Purple, the landmark musical will come to Broadway with the Grammy, Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA Award winner in the role of Shug Avery, despite earlier reports that she'd be taking on the role of Celie.

Charles Spencer, the Daily Telegraph's theatre critic, is taking early retirement after 25 years on the paper.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE just opened at the Young Vic and is booking to Friday, September 19, 2014. Gillian Anderson is Blanche DuBois, Ben Foster is Stanley and Vanessa Kirby is Stella in Tennessee Williams' timeless masterpiece. As Blanche's fragile world crumbles, she turns to her sister Stella for solace - but her downward spiral brings her face to face with the brutal, unforgiving Stanley Kowalski. Visionary director Benedict Andrews returns to the Young Vic following his Critics' Circle Award-winning Three Sisters.

Gina McKee (Di & Viv & Rose, King Lear, Ivanov, Our Friends In The North, Notting Hill) plays Queen Elizabeth, alongside the previously announced Martin Freeman (Clybourne Park, The Hobbit, Sherlock, Fargo) as Richard III in Jamie Lloyd's first production of his second season at Trafalgar Transformed, Richard III, which had a press night on 8 July. The production runs through 27 September.

Maureen Lipman and Harry Shearer join Oliver Cotton in the West End transfer of his play, Daytona. Directed by David Grindley, Daytona opened performances at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 30 June and will complete its strictly limited 8 week run on 23 August 2014. Press night was 7 July 2014.

Yael Farber directs a visceral re-imagining of Arthur Miller's modern American masterpiece, The Crucible, at Old Vic, which began previews on June 24. Miller used his play about the Salem witch trials to draw parallels with his experience of McCarthy's anti-communist investigations in the 1950's. The Crucible tells the story of one man's fight to save his identity in a repressive Puritan community where intolerance collides with lust and superstition, fueling widespread hysteria with tragic results.

Donmar Warehouse opened Lyndsey Turner's FATHERS AND SONS by Brian Friel, on 10 June. It stars Anthony Calf, Elaine Cassidy, Caoilfhionn Dunne, Susan Engel, David Fielder, Joshua James, Karl Johnson,Tim McMullan, Jack McMullen, Siobhan McSweeney, Seth Numrich, Phoebe Sparrow, and Lindy Whiteford.

Let's see what the critics had to say below...Kevin Spacey returns to the role of pioneering lawyer Clarence Darrow after the critically acclaimed Old Vic Production of Inherit the Wind and the PBS film Darrow.

The Third Rail Repertory Theatre Presents THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE by Martin McDonagh. The play will run from today, May 30th through June 22nd. The cast includes Damon Kupper*, Maureen Porter*, Jayne Taini, and Rolland Walsh. According to Charles Spencer of The Telegraph, '[McDonagh's writing] is the bastard offspring of JM Synge and Quentin Tarantino, with moments of extreme violence constantly juxtaposed with edgy, laugh-out-loud humour.'

Kathleen Turner and Ian McDiarmid star in new play, Bakersfield Mist by Stephen Sachs, directed by Polly Teale, which just opened at the Duchess Theatre on 27 May. Inspired by true events, this new play by Stephen Sachs asks vital questions about what makes art and people truly authentic.

Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's MISS SAIGON makes its highly anticipated return to London tonight, May 21, 2014 at the Prince Edward Theatre, in the musical's 25th anniversary year. Let's see what the critics had to say...

In 1950s America, love is in the air at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory as handsome new Superintendent Sid Sorokin (Michael Xavier) falls head-over-heels for firebrand Union rep Babe Williams (Joanna Riding). Sparks fly when the employees are refused a seven-and-a-half cents raise, leaving Sid and Babe deliciously at odds as the temperature rises. . . Will love, eventually, conquer all? Let's see what the critics had to say...

The Third Rail Repertory Theatre Presents THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE by Martin McDonagh. The play will run from May 30th through June 22nd. The cast includes Damon Kupper*, Maureen Porter*, Jayne Taini, and Rolland Walsh. According to Charles Spencer of The Telegraph, '[McDonagh's writing] is the bastard offspring of JM Synge and Quentin Tarantino, with moments of extreme violence constantly juxtaposed with edgy, laugh-out-loud humour.'

Let's see what the critics had to say...The great Arthur Miller confronts the American dream in the dark and passionate A View from the Bridge, featuring Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Sherlock Holmes) and Nicola Walker (Last Tango in Halifax, Spooks) at the Young Vic.

John Tiffany's acclaimed production of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN opened at the Apollo for a limited season. A must-see major new production, Let the Right One In is an enchanting, brutal vampire myth and coming-of-age love story