Basil Twist News

Bolshoi presents The Winter's Tale, running through April 11, 2021. The production features a libretto by Christopher Wheeldon.

Puppet master Basil Twist – one of the world’s leading puppeteers, directors and designers – will unveil his newest production starting January 19, 2021 when Opera Comique in Paris presents TITON ET L’AURORE, under the musical direction of the renowned conductor William Christie. 

SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE – Basil Twist's now-legendary underwater puppet production set in a 1,000-gallon fish tank   – will be released as a film on VIDEO ON DEMAND December 18, it has been announced by Mr. Twist, who makes his full-length film directorial debut.  Created for the theater by Mr. Twist in 1998, SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE is set to the celebrated classic score of Hector Berlioz's 19th century composition. 

Reaching into its archival treasure trove of rarely seen recordings of past events, The American Dance Guild continues their virtual offering 10 Years Over 10 Weeks, a rich collection of video performances of honorees and guest artists over the last ten years of ADG Performance Festivals.

The show was based on Paul Reubens' 1981 cult classic stage production, The Pee-Wee Herman Show, with elements added from his children's show 'Pee-Wee's Playhouse'.  

Theater for the New City's Village Halloween Costume Ball, a revered Village tradition that frequently welcomes over 1,200 revelers, will be presented virtually this year with most of its key traditions preserved. Notable artists including Everett Quinton, F. Murray Abraham, Austin Pendleton, Phoebe Legere and Penny Arcade.

Theater for the New City has presented its Village Halloween Costume Ball since 1976 and is unwilling to break the tradition during the pandemic. So the organization will present the celebration again this year for the 44th time, but virtually.

The OBIE-winning HERE, has announced HERE THERE EVERYWHERE, a return to live in-person events along with expanded online programming for its summer and fall 2020 season, featuring original relevant works by more than 235 diverse artists. A centerpiece of the season is #stillHERE: IRL, an adventurous new series that reimagines the live experience.

The Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center today announced the appointment of Meiyin Wang as Producing Director, starting this June. Under the executive leadership of Artistic Director Bill Rauch and President Leslie Koch, Wang will manage all artistic programming for the new performing arts organization.

HERE will welcome Bengali theater-maker Shayok Misha Chowdhury, playwright and director Normandy Sherwood, and instrumentalist gamin and sound & visual composer Sachiyo Takahashi as new members of the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP).

In response to the current pandemic, the OBIE-winning HERE has announced additional free online programming designed to uplift audiences during these challenging times.

A group of over 50 other New York City artists-including Tony Award, Pulitzer Prize, MacArthur Fellowship and OBIE Award winners spanning numerous disciplines-have launched The Trickle Up, a subscription video service to help artists hurt from the COVID-19 shutdown.

In response to the recent outbreak of COVID-19, the Obie-winning HERE has announced several free online programming activities designed to uplift audiences during these challenging times.

Ashley Wheater MBE, The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, has announced the Company's 2020-2021 inaugural season at Lyric Opera House, featuring a ballet masterpiece from legendary choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan, a world premiere from choreographer Cathy Marston, a Joffrey debut from George Balanchine, a Chicago premiere from Hamburg Ballet Chief Choreographer John Neumeier, and the fifth anniversary of Christopher Wheeldon's holiday classic The Nutcracker. The Joffrey Ballet begins its 65th season with MacMillan's iconic Manon, October 14-25, 2020, followed by Wheeldon's magical production of The Nutcracker, December 5-27, 2020. For its winter engagement, the Joffrey presents a mixed program that includes the world premiere adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men by Marston and the Joffrey premiere of Serenade by Balanchine, February 17-28, 2021. Closing the season is the Chicago premiere of Neumeier's acclaimed The Little Mermaid, April 21- May 2, 2021.

HERE (Kristin Marting, Founding Artistic Director) continues its 2019a?"2020 season with the New York premiere of Anywhere from Le Théâtre de l'Entrouvert. Freely inspired by the novel Oedipus on the Road by Henry Bauchau, Anywhere evokes the long wandering of Oedipus, who abandons his throne and sets out on a journey, accompanied by his daughter Antigone. The fallen Oedipus appears as an ice puppet that gradually turns into water then into mist and disappears in the Erynian Forest -- the place of clairvoyance. It is an inner evolution represented through the metamorphosis of water.

As the Earth crumbles around us and we continue to kill everything in our path, it is time we face the paradoxic integration of evils within ourselves: sterility and garbage, meaninglessness, sexuality as the sin of origin, the contradictory drives of human things. KOSMOS INVERS is the creation of two inverse planets filled with bizarre otherworldly puppets: one, an Edenic parallel of our green earth; and the other, its tentacled pink opposite. Strange fragments of stories coalesce through the contours of different biomes piecing together a patchwork of utopian armageddon and weird psychological metaphors with a green cosmic bent.

Complete casting has been announced for the St. Louis engagement of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY coming the Fabulous Fox Theatre March 17-29.

For its 2020 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host four free scintillating discussions with nationally and internationally acclaimed puppeteers, scholars, and artists on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. in February through April in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. The forums will illuminate new perspectives on the creation, history, aesthetics, and performance of puppetry today.

Each spring HERE offers a window into the creative process of their nationally recognized HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP). For 21 years, this exploration of new work in development, previously known as the Culturemart Festival, has blurred the boundaries between theatre, music, dance, new media, and visual art. The 2020 edition, which runs February 23-March 1, not only features seven daring workshop presentations but a new name that better captures the essence of the experience: HERE RAW / Resident Artist Works.

On occasion a show comes along that puts a smile on your lips from the opening curtain to the final bows, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is that kind of show. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, presented by The American Theatre Guild, opened on Tuesday night at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. The staged musical is adapted from the children's novel by Roald Dahl with book by David Greig, music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman.