The Stage

Theater fans and Superman fans have some fun in store for them this week when the Encore production of It's a Bird, It's Plane...It's Superman hits the stage with Edward Watts as Clark/Superman, Jenny Power as Lois Lane and Alli Mauzey as Sydney Carlton. Originally produced in 1966 with music and lyrics by Charles Strause and Lee Adams and book by David Newman and Robert Benton, it's definitely a retro view of Superman -- he's dating Lois for one thing -- but if you like the most iconic view of the Man of Steel, this fits the bill. Plus - show tunes.

About four times a year, noted cartoonist Robert Sikoryak (Masterpiece Comics) hosts Carousel: Cartoon Slide Shows and Other Projected Pictures. This is an event where artists and writers present their comics though a slide show while vocalizing the dialogue and narrative, sometimes incorporating music and sound design. For those in attendance, the resulting experience comes closer to watching a play than a movie or an animation. Sikoryak describes it as “a cross-pollination of theater and comics.”

One of the most colorful ephemera of Superman lore is his stage appearance in the show "It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman!" a musical with book by David Newman and Robert Benton, and music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adam (That's the guys behind Bye Bye Bride and Applause.) The show is being revived for a seven performance run at New York City Center from March 20 through 24. Tickets can be purchased here.

Will the saga of Spider-Man The Musical ever end—or at least break even?? A piece on how a proposed King Kong musical is eyeing...

Fresh press release! Crisp and tender. IDW have announced that writers Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery will return to their acclaimed Kill Shakespeare...

Realizing that getting new stores out there is crucial to growing the comics business. Diamond has announced a couple of new programs to help...

Realizing that getting new stores out there is crucial to growing the comics business. Diamond has announced a couple of new programs to help...

We've written about the BATMAN LIVE stage show here a few times...Since October, it's toured throughout Europe, leaving audiences gasping at the stunts, spectacle and just plain weirdness of a live action show about Batman. The BATMAN LIVE show is the result of a lot of work: four years of concepting and rehearsals. The 42-person cast includes Batman, Robin, Alfred and a rogues gallery including The Joker, Catwoman, The Riddler, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and The Penguin. Based on what we've seen, it's quite the spectacle. Well, now the show is coming to the Western Hemisphere for a two-year tout, with a September 5 premiere in Anaheim. And here's a BRAND NEW video featuring Geoff Johns, Jim Lee and Allan Heinberg (who wrote the book) talking about how the show brings Batman to life and their own thoughts on the production.

Thrill to the "wish" song, "I Want to Kill Your Dog" and the tender romantic ballad "Nik nik nik nik!" as MARS ATTACKS, the gory card set from the '60s, becomes what it always needed to be: a Broadway musical with a book by...John Layman! It's based on the story of the MARS ATTACKS miniseries Layman wrote for IDW, MARS ATTACKS: 21st CENTURY SLAUGHTER, which is coming out this summer. Wow. Can this plucky bunch of kids succeed where Bono, Edge, and Taymor failed? Or is this press release just misdated from Sunday, April 1st?

After months of peaceful performances, this was a rocky week for the Spider-Man musical. On Tuesday original director Julie Taymor sued over royalties and on Wednesday there was yet another injury to the cast. Back-up Spidey Matthew James Thomas, who plays the title role at matinees Wednesday and Saturday, was injured backstage while racing from one scene to another. The injury required a 10-minute pause in the musical, a trip to the hospital, and stitches for Thomas.

Oh yeah, it's on. After being ousted from the directing chair of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the troubled Broadway show about the webslinger, director Julie Taymor kept a tight smile at the opening of the show. However, now the gloves are off and she's suing the producers over her creative rights and unpaid royalties.

Okay its official -- EVERYONE is coming to Comic-Con and putting on a show. If you thought it was already a three-ring circus, you were only half right Now it's a three-ring 3D circus. Cirque du Soliel the internationally renowned brand-name for acrobatics, swinging by your hair, juggling and other wonderment, will be bringing the finale of its Kâ show to Comic-con in a staging at Petco Park on Friday Night, which will be set against a 3D projections.