Analisa Leaming News

It would be impossible to pick a favorite performance from this memorable evening, so BroadwayWorld.com brings you highlights from the concert below! But, evenings such as this one are ALWAYS welcome.

Symphony Space opens its 2013-14 Music season with 'Kurt Weill on Broadway,' tonight, October 7 (8 pm) at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Broadway opening of Weill's One Touch of Venus. Ted Chapin hosts a stellar cast featuring Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Judy Blazer, and Ron Raines, plus winners of the international Lotte Lenya Competition.

Some of Broadway's best will take the stage at New York's Symphony Space on 7 October 2013 to celebrate the American music of Kurt Weill. Hosted by Ted Chapin, the evening will highlight songs from Venus as well as favorites from other Weill shows, including Street Scene, Lady in the Dark, Love Life, Lost in the Stars, Knickerbocker Holiday, The Threepenny Opera, and Happy End. The starry cast features Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Judy Blazer, and Ron Raines alongside Lotte Lenya Competition winners Richard Todd Adams, Douglas Carpenter, Cooper Grodin, Justin Hopkins, Zachary James, Analisa Leaming, Jacob Keith Watson, and Maren Weinberger. Weill specialist James Holmes, who conducted a fully staged production of Venus at England's Opera North in 2004, music directs, and Richard Jay-Alexander directs.

A Proper Place, a new musical based on J.M. Barrie's 1902 play The Admirable Crichton, will be presented in two exclusive performances to a room full of invitation-only theatre enthusiasts and industry professionals in New York City today, September 17, 2013.

The new musical, 'A Proper Place,' was penned by Leslie Becker (Bonnie & Clyde, Anything Goes, Nine) and Curtis Rhodes and concerns 'an upper class British family that gets shipwrecked on an island,' according to press notes. 'With only their butler to help them survive, traditional class systems are questioned and unexpected love blossoms.'

Some of Broadway's best will take the stage at New York's Symphony Space on 7 October 2013 to celebrate the American music of Kurt Weill. Hosted by Ted Chapin, the evening will highlight songs from Venus as well as favorites from other Weill shows, including Street Scene, Lady in the Dark, Love Life, Lost in the Stars,Knickerbocker Holiday, The Threepenny Opera, and Happy End. The starry cast features Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Judy Blazer, and Ron Raines alongside Lotte Lenya Competition winners Richard Todd Adams, Douglas Carpenter, Cooper Grodin, Justin Hopkins, Zachary James, Analisa Leaming, Jacob Keith Watson, and Maren Weinberger. Weill specialist James Holmes, who conducted a fully staged production of Venus at England's Opera North in 2004, music directs, and Richard Jay-Alexander directs.

A Proper Place, a new musical based on J.M. Barrie's 1902 play The Admirable Crichton, will be presented in two exclusive performances to a room full of invitation-only theatre enthusiasts and industry professionals in New York City on Tuesday, September 17, 2013.

Symphony Space will open its 2013-14 Music season with 'Kurt Weill on Broadway,' Monday, October 7 (8 pm) at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. The show takes place on the 70th anniversary of the Broadway opening of Weill's One Touch of Venus. Ted Chapin hosts a stellar cast featuring Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Judy Blazer, and Ron Raines, plus winners of the international Lotte Lenya Competition.

It's the Broadway musical that was, then wasn't. Tonight, December 3, join the intrepid cast of the ill-fated Rebecca when they gather on the 54 Below stage for one night only in Keep the Home Fires Burning: A Very Manderley Holiday.

It's the Broadway musical that was, then wasn't. On December 3, join the intrepid cast of the ill-fated Rebecca when they gather on the 54 Below stage for one night only in Keep the Home Fires Burning: A Very Manderley Holiday. For tickets, visit; http://54below.com/T_keephomefiresburning.html

CAROLS FOR A CURE is the annual two-disc holiday CD compilation of original songs and holiday classics which benefits BC/EFA. These CDs boast the best voices from the worlds of Broadway, Off-Broadway and national tours. A full track list for this year's 14th edition has not yet been announced, but the cast of Broadway-Bound REBECCA was already hard a work recording their track for the album. Check out photos from their recording session below!

The latest extravaganza to grace the stage at The Muny in Forest Park is a hilarious re-working of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of the Penzance (although some of the tunes are lifted from other works by the pair). PIRATES! (or Gilbert and Sullivan Plundr'd) is a spirited romp with a storyline more akin to Seven Brides for Seven Brothers than the original plot, and lyrics (revised book and lyrics by Nell Benjamin) and rearranged musical arrangements (courtesy of John McDaniel) that will amuse even the staunchest purists among us. This is just plain goofy, pirate-laden fare that owes as much to the recent Pirates of the Caribbean film series as to it does to Gilbert and Sullivan. And that's a good thing, at least it is in this case.

The Muny presents the sixth show of its 94th season, Pirates! (or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder'd), through August 5, directed by Gordon Greenberg and choreographed by Denis Jones. Conceived by Gordon Greenburg, Nell Benjamin and John McDaniel, Pirates! (or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder'd) features lyrics by W.S. Gilbert, and music by Arthur Sullivan. Revised book and lyrics are by Nell Benjamin, and music supervision, new arrangements and orchestrations are by John McDaniel. BroadwayWorld brings you highlights from the show below!

The Muny presents the sixth show of its 94th season, Pirates! (or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder'd), through August 5, directed by Gordon Greenberg and choreographed by Denis Jones. Conceived by Gordon Greenburg, Nell Benjamin and John McDaniel, Pirates! (or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder'd) features lyrics by W.S. Gilbert, and music by Arthur Sullivan. Revised book and lyrics are by Nell Benjamin, and music supervision, new arrangements and orchestrations are by John McDaniel. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from opening night below!

The Muny has announced principal casting for the sixth show of its 94th season, Pirates! (or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder'd), July 30 - August 5, directed by Gordon Greenberg and choreographed by Denis Jones. Conceived by Gordon Greenburg, Nell Benjamin and John McDaniel, Pirates! (or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder'd) features lyrics by W.S. Gilbert, and music by Arthur Sullivan. Revised book and lyrics are by Nell Benjamin, and music supervision, new arrangements and orchestrations are by John McDaniel.

North Shore Music Theatre's production of HELLO, DOLLY! plays through June 24, 2012. See below for photos from the production, featuring Jacquelyn Piro Donovan, Gary Beach, Matt Loehr, Eric Mann, Cary Tedder, and Analisa Leaming!

Due to a severe back injury, Ms. Lorna Luft will be unable to play the role of Dolly Levi in the award-winning North Shore Theatre (NSMT) production of HELLO, DOLLY! scheduled to open Tuesday, June 12, and play through Sunday, June 24. Press night is scheduled for June 13 at 7:30pm.

Matthew Grills, tenor, of Rochester, N.Y, won the $15,000 First Prize in the finals of the 2012 Lotte Lenya Competition, held on April 21, 2012, at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. In a close contest, Justin Hopkins, bass-baritone of Philadelphia, and Jacob Keith Watson, tenor of Wynne, Ark., tied for Second Prizes of $10,000, and Megan Marino, mezzo-soprano of Malvern, Penn., was awarded the Third Prize of $7,500.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Pipe Dream, the second Encores! production of the 2011-12 season, began performances last night, running through April 1 at New York City Center. Pipe Dream is being directed by Marc Bruni with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Kelli Barclay. BroadwayWorld was there for opening night, and we bring you photos from the first curtain call below!

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Pipe Dream, the second Encores! production of the 2011-12 season, began performances last night, running through April 1 at New York City Center. Pipe Dream is being directed by Marc Bruni with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Kelli Barclay. BroadwayWorld was there for opening night, and we bring you complete backstage coverage below!