Bertolt Brecht News

Though Julie Wilson was certainly not the first and by all means not the last great singer to have her heart stomped upon by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's 'Surabaya Johnny,' there is no one I can name more deserving to claim it as their signature song.  (Okay, maybe Lotte Lenya, but you know that's a special case.)  Though for many years now the 83-year-old beloved cabaret star has been singing songs less and less and speaking them more and more, there are few who can match her for painting vivid word pictures and bringing complex dramatic subtext to a lyric.  With pianist Christopher Denny doing a marvelous job of softly supporting her many pauses and tempo changes, Wilson's crushing performance of Marc Blitzstein's translation, played to a pin-drop silent crowd on opening night of her new show at The Metropolitan Room, is an emotionally striking portrayal of a woman who can explode with anger at the mistreatment she endures from her faithless lover while moments later barely control a sob at the admission that she still loves him.  Through the years I've seen Julie Wilson sing 'Surabaya Johnny' many times but her performance that night was the best I've ever seen or heard from anyone.  (And as is typical of her modesty, she actually introduced the song by complimenting Donna Murphy's performance of it on Broadway in LoveMusik.)  She follows it with a devilishly humored 'Mack the Knife' (also Blitzstein's translation) that builds so slowly and precisely that she goes through the entire song twice in order to hit the climax.  I heard no complaints.

International City Theatre artistic director Shashin Desai has announced the five plays that will make up ICT's 2009 season.

ZOMBIE JOE'S UNDERGROUND THEATRE GROUP will make it's NYC debut on August 27th with Edgar Allan Poe's 'MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH & THE TELL-TALE HEART & THE BELLS' at St. Luke's Theatre, 308 West 46th Street (west of 8th Avenue).

The New School for Drama has announced that award-winning actor John Turturro will be the distinguished Artist-in-Residence for the 2008-09 academic year. Turturro is the recipient of a multitude of awards and accolades for his extensive acting work in theater, film and television.

The New York Innovative Theatre Awards (IT Awards), the organization dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway, is pleased to announce the 2008 Honorary Award Recipients.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) announced Jean Racine's passionate play Phedre as one of its productions for the 2009-10 season in a first-time coproduction with Canada's prestigious Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

he Wilma Theater opens its 30th Anniversary Season with the Philadelphia Premiere of the 2008 Tony® nominee for Best Play, Rock 'n' Roll, by Academy Award®-winner and four-time Tony Award®-winner Tom Stoppard.

ZOMBIE JOE'S UNDERGROUND THEATRE GROUP will make it's NYC debut on August 27th with Edgar Allan Poe's 'MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH & THE TELL-TALE HEART & THE BELLS' at St. Luke's Theatre, 308 West 46th Street (west of 8th Avenue).

Chicago's 500 Clown Theater Company has received $28,000 from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Ensemble Theatre Collaborations Grant program. The award will support the partnership between 500 Clown and the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at Maryland, which commissioned 500 Clown's newest production, '500 Clown and the Elephant Deal,' to premiere December 11-14, 2008.

When the lease on its Tribeca home expires on July 31, 2008, Collective: Unconscious will close its doors for good. This decision comes on the heels of a massive plumbing problem that has rendered its lower level 'lobby' and backstage storage area unusable and has forced much of its previously announced UNDERGROUNDZERO FESTIVAL to seek new venues.

A combined Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner, two Pulitzer finalists, the team whose musical just about swept the 2007 Tonys, the creator of the iconic Vagina Monologues, and an award-winning comedy writer will all debut new theater works this summer on the Vassar College campus.

When the lease on its Tribeca home expires on July 31, 2008, Collective: Unconscious will close its doors for good. This decision comes on the heels of a massive plumbing problem that has rendered its lower level 'lobby' and backstage storage area unusable and has forced much of its previously announced UNDERGROUNDZERO FESTIVAL to seek new venues.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, has announced details for their upcoming 2008-09 season.

The New York City Gay Men's Chorus launches Gay Pride month in New York with 'Vibrate!' on Wednesday, June 4th and 5th at 8:00PM at F.I.T.'s Haft Auditorium.

Producer Eric Falkenstein has confirmed that John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Patrick Wilson, and Katie Holmes will star in a new Broadway production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons directed by Simon McBurney scheduled to open on Broadway this fall. Theatre and dates to be announced.

The New York City Gay Men's Chorus launches Gay Pride month in New York with 'Vibrate!' on Wednesday, June 4th and 5th at 8:00PM at F.I.T.'s Haft Auditorium.

Roust Theatre Company presents 20th anniversary production of Lee Blessing's TWO ROOMS -- a penetrating political drama about hostage-taking in the Middle East which, despite the twenty intervening years, remains frighteningly relevant -- with previews to begin May 8 prior to its official opening May 11 at The Gene Frankel Theatre (24 Bond Street) in Manhattan.

Ute Lemper sings Kurt Weill's SEVEN DEADLY SINS in concert with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in October. Two performances at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto followed by a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York.

The Hipgnosis Theatre Company presents a revival of Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle at The Theatres at 45 Bleecker in NYC.

Director Joe Dowling today announced that the Guthrie Theater will celebrate the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner in a landmark series set for the spring of 2009. In addition to presenting the previously announced Guthrie commission, tentatively titled The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, Dowling also announced plans for productions of Caroline, or Change on the Wurtele Thrust Stage and a collection of Kushner's short plays in the Dowling Studio as part of the upcoming 2008-09 Season. These three simultaneous productions will join a series of speakers, scholars and other special events designed to fully examine and celebrate Kushner's body of work.