Ars Nova News

Arriva finalmente in Italia Spring Awakening: uno dei piu famosi, acclamati e controversi musical degli ultimi anni, scritto da Steven Sater con musiche di Duncan Sheik e tratto dal celebre Risveglio di primavera di Frank Wedekind. Il debutto nazionale del prestigioso rock drama si terramercoledi 23 ottobre al Teatro Goldoni di Livorno: una prima importantissima per la compagnia livornese TodoModo Music-All, che con grande determinazione ha portato in Italia il musical americano su licenza MTI Music Theatre International. L'opera di Wedekind, pubblicata nel 1891 e per molti anni considerata irrappresentabile, pornografica, anarchica e blasfema, e stata lo spunto per il musical di Sater e Sheik, messo in scena off-Broadway nel 2006 e premiato con ben 8 Tony Awards. Il tour italiano di Spring Awakening si svolgera nei principali teatri nazionali e gia da ora sta facendo parlare di se per l'originalita del progetto e la diffusione grazie ai social network. Ambientato in una grigia e rigida scuola del Ventennio fascista (e non in Germania come nell'originale), Spring Awakening mette in scena un conflitto tra studenti, scuola e famiglie, tra gioventu e autorita: masturbazione, omosessualita, aborto, stupro, suicidio ma anche amore, amicizia, liberta, la scoperta del sesso nelle segrete confidenze di adolescenti confinati in un istituto dove la ribellione diventa uno straordinario e commovente inno alla vita. Un'opera coraggiosa, come ribadisce il direttore artistico Pietro Contorno: 'Una scelta al limite del temerario e dell'incosciente. È vero. Ce lo dicono tutti. Specialmente in un anno cosi difficile per la societa e la cultura italiana in genere. Ma come si dice: se non ora, quando? Il cambiamento deve essere cavalcato 'prima', deve essere anticipato, assecondato, stimolato. E questo noi vorremmo che accadesse'. Niente effetti speciali ne costumi sgargianti, un originale doppio registro prosa/rock show con tanto di band dal vivo ogni sera (quindi niente playback, tutto vero, tutto reale), un fortissimo impatto emozionale sul pubblico grazie ai temi civili, sociali e politici, un impegno costante nella comunicazione, un team creativo che sfrutta le possibilita offerte dai social network (comprese le irresistibili web series presenti su YouTube e 'sponsorizzate' da Paolo Ruffini). Il cast e composto da undici giovanissimi attori, coadiuvati da due esperti come Francesca Gamba e Gianluca Ferrato, diretti magistralmente da Emanuele Gamba, che dell'opera ha colto il significato piu profondo: 'Chiunque sia stato adolescente e lo spettatore ideale di Spring: unica altra condizione e che se ne ricordi e si intenerisca per quella imbarazzante sconvolgente eta dello slancio e del disagio che ci ha fatto sentire tutti sulle montagne russe. Un giorno fra le nuvole e il giorno dopo - o anche 5 minuti dopo - sottoterra'. Testo recitato in italiano, canzoni in inglese, una vis espressiva unica nel suo genere anche per la potenza rock dei brani di Sheik, riletti dalla band diretta da Stefano Brondi: 'Pensateci: i cantanti sanno di avere non basi meccaniche ma persone vive che viaggiano battuta per battuta a fianco a loro, che si emozionano se loro cantano una frase nel pieno delle loro sensazioni, e che sanno stupire con dettagli sonori sempre piu vividi approfondendo la conoscenza dell'opera replica dopo replica. Tutto cio produce un'energia potentissima per la quale mi sono battuto a tutti i livelli'.

Cutting Ball Theater opens its 15th season with the World Premiere of SIDEWINDERS by Basil Kreimendahl. M. Graham Smith makes his main stage directing debut at Cutting Ball with SIDEWINDERS, featuring DavEnd, Sara Moore, Donald Currie, and Norman Muñoz. SIDEWINDERS plays tonight, October 18 through November 17 (Press opening: October 24) at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the star below!

The Kitchen welcomes back Neal Medlyn for the world premiere of King, the seventh and final work in his series of performance pieces built around pop stars. With King, Medlyn turns his attention to the pop star par excellence: Michael Jackson.

Will Eno's new play The Realistic Joneses will come to Broadway in Spring of 2014 starring Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winner; Academy Award and Tony Award-nominee Toni Collette (“Hostages,” “United States of Tara,” The Sixth Sense, The Wild Party), Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award-winner Michael C. Hall (“Dexter,” Chicago), Tony Award-winner Tracy Letts (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; August: Osage County; “Homeland”), and Academy Award-winner and Gold Globe-nominee Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny; The Wrestler; Salome). The production will be directed by Obie Award-winner Sam Gold, who is currently represented by Fun Home at the Public Theater.

Actor and Boston native DAVID HANBURY, returns to A.R.T's OBERON with his original comic persona, MRS. SMITH.

American Lyric Theater presents the first public libretto reading for the 2013-2014 season as part of its popular series, The Living Libretto, at the National Opera Center today, October 16th, 2013. Featuring guest actors from the Broadway and off-Broadway stage, each event is the culminating reading of an extensive libretto workshop conducted for new operas being written by ALT Resident Artists under the auspices of the company's Composer Librettist Development Program.

Partial Comfort Productions (Drama Desk nominee A Bright New Boise) continues its acclaimed World Premiere of AND MILES TO GO by Chad Beckim. Directed by Hal Brooks (Pulitzer Prize finalist Thom Pain), performances run through November 2 at The Wild Project.

The music of composer Will Van Dyke -- currently serving as associate music director of KINKY BOOTS on Broadway -- will take center stage when Tony Award-winner Billy Porter and other Broadway stars perform the one-night-only concert Will Van Dyke AND FRIENDS tonight, Monday, October 14 at 9:30 p.m. at 54 Below (254 W. 54 St.) in Manhattan.

After acclaimed runs in London, Scotland and Australia, writer/performer Peter Michael Marino returns to NYC with his comic autopsy on his $6 million West End musical fiasco Desperately Seeking Susan in DESPERATELY SEEKING THE EXIT. Directed by Obie Award winner John Clancy, it will be performed tonight, October 13 at The Triple Crown Underground.

Colt Coeur's Play Hotel reading series will present staged readings of two plays: a boy put this girl in a cage with a dog and the dog killed the girl by Clare Barron andUmma Lappa Soon by Claire Kiechel on Monday, October 28th at 6pm (Barron play) & 8pm (Kiechel play) in the Bernie B. Jacobs room of the Sardi's building at 234 W. 44th Street, in Times Square.

Writer, actor and comedian Kelly Kinsella is set to bring her hilarious one-woman play WHEN THOUGHTS ATTACK to NYC's the cell: A Twenty First Century Salon (338 West 23rd Street) for a limited 8-week run beginning on Sunday, 11/3 at 7pm. In this honest and funny show about anxiety, Kinsella begs to answer the question 'Is everyone crazy or is it just me?'

The Civilians, the award-winning New York-based theatre company, announces the members of its 2013-14 R & D Group. The group's emerging and established artists were selected from over one hundred applicants. The R & D Group is comprised of artists from multiple theatrical disciplines. Each artist or creative team will develop an original work over the season. The artists and projects were selected to represent a range of different strategies for making new work from creative inquiry and research. This diversity of approach helps feed a culture of innovation in the group, making the R & D Group an effective lab of experimentation for the field of investigative theater.

Manhattan Theatre Club has announced full casting for the American premiere of Taking Care of Baby by Dennis Kelly and directed by Erica Schmidt. Joining previously announced cast members Reed Birney (Blasted, Our Leading Lady), Kristen Bush (Kin, The Common Pursuit), Tony nominee Amelia Campbell (A Streetcar Named Desire, Our Country's Good) and Margaret Colin (The Columnist, 'Gossip Girl'), are Francois Battiste (Magic/ Bird), Michael Crane (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson off-Broadway), Ethan Phillips (Golden Age) and Zach Shaffer ('Smash').

Ars Nova presents the world premiere of the burlesque farce Eager to Lose in a limited Off-Broadway engagement, Wednesday, October 9 through Saturday, November 2 at Ars Nova (511 West 54th Street). Official Opening Night takes place Tuesday, October 22 at 7:00 PM.

Fresh from the success of Night of a Thousand Judys, The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre - the acclaimed comedy/variety show - has moved to 54 BELOW for a six-month run. The next show will be on Wednesday, October 30 at 9:30 PM.

For the first DG Conservatory event of the fall, the Dramatists Guild is thrilled to team up with the writers who created Behind the Music-al, Kyle Ewalt and Michael Ian Walker, today, October 8, 2013, at 6:00 p.m. The event will take place at the Dramatists Guild's New York office, in the Frederick Loewe Room, 1501 Broadway (between 43rd and 44th Streets), Suite 710. This free seminar is opening a limited number of seats to the public and reservations are required.

Amber Martin, Tori Scott, Never Sleep Alone, Nikki M. James, Erin Markey, Bridget Everett, Andrea Marcovicci, Lady Rizo, Julie Klausner, Our Lady J, Tammy Faye Starlite, Jackie Hoffman, Sandra Bernhard and Pam Ann are set for the 'Women of Comedy and Cabaret' series at Joe's Pub at the Public, running October to December 2013. Details below!

Now in its fifth consecutive year, the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre - the coalface of British Theatre - presents Vibrant 2013 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, its annual explosion of new writing, running between today, 6-25 October 2013

American Lyric Theater presents the first public libretto reading for the 2013-2014 season as part of its popular series, The Living Libretto, at the National Opera Center on Wednesday, October 16th, 2013. Featuring guest actors from the Broadway and off-Broadway stage, each event is the culminating reading of an extensive libretto workshop conducted for new operas being written by ALT Resident Artists under the auspices of the company's Composer Librettist Development Program.

CAPS LOCK THEATRE presents THE SEX WITH ROBOTS FESTIVAL, a series of short plays about sex with robots, written by a formidable group of playwrights: Micheline Auger, Danny Bowes, J. Julian Christopher, Richard Lovejoy & Eric Meyer, Mariah McCarthy, Mac Rogers, Leah Nanako Winkler and Natalie Zutter, with a robot sex song cycle by Nat Cassidy. The festival is set for November 5-10 at the Secret Theatre in Long Island City.