Sammi Cannold: Last News

EXCLUSIVE: The Sundance Institute has named the fellows selected for the 2025 Screenwriters Lab and Screenwriters Intensive programs, which provide emerging artists with a space to develop their first and second indie features.

How to Dance in Ohio, the musical that made Broadway history by featuring a cast of seven autistic actors in its leading roles, will end its run at the Belasco Theatre on Sunday, February 11, producers announced.

Not since the perfect (what other word is there?) Kimberly Akimbo first made us laugh and bent our hearts two years ago has a stageful of youthful characters so inspired our best, heartfelt wishes as those learning how to dance in Ohio in the new musical of that very name. Based on the affecting, same-titled 2015 HBO documentary, the new Broadway musical How To Dance In Ohio, opening tonight at the Belasco Theatre, is chock-full of thoroughly endearing young people – the fictional ones and their portrayers – that have us rooting for them from start to finish.

Evita (★★★☆☆), Shereen Pimentel, in the title role, declaims not from a balcony of the Presidential Palace, but surrounded by risers of flowers stacked to the rafters.A luminous rose among a field of lesser blooms, Eva “Evita” Péron, addresses her nation to the triumphant strains of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.” Indeed it’s a triumphant moment for the Shakespeare Theatre’s production, directed by Sammi Cannold, building on her staged concert presentation of Evita for New York City Center Encores! in 2019, and a subsequent American Repertory Theatre production in Cambridge, Massachusetts this past summer.Finessing the First Lady’s appeal to her people, Pimentel’s voice is at its loveliest on “Don’t Cry,” while Jason Sherwood’s scenic design provides a gorgeous visual representation of Evita’s lofty status amongst the Argentinian masses.The stirring number reinforces the tune’s status as the crown jewel of one of Webber’s best-known scores, with a polished, patient rendition that belies the effort to deliver all an audience might hope for or want from a hit. Other gems in the score don’t gleam with the same care and intention, although the performers, backed by music director Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh’s 16-piece orchestra, have their moments.The warm baritone of Caesar Samayoa, as Presidente Juan Péron, booms confidently through the droll game of musical chairs depicting the military colonel’s rise to power.

UK Agency Insanity Group Restructures Entertainment Team