City Center News

Nigel Redden, Director of Lincoln Center Festival, today announced the line-up for the 20th edition of the Festival, which runs from July 6 through August 2, 2015. The Festival will unfold in six venues on and off the Lincoln Center campus. There will be a total of 58 performances by artists and ensembles from Germany, China, England, Ireland, Russia, USA, and Japan.

The Amazing Max, bursting with striking visual magic, comedy and loads of audience participation, will be on-stage at the White Plains Performing Arts Center on Saturday, February 28 at 2:00 pm. Magician Max Darwin makes objects appear out of thin air, defies the laws of physics, and performs miracles inches from spectator's faces. 'An awesome and hilarious live magic show' PBS Kids. 'Max Darwin is indeed amazing' Time Out Kids. This show is the wackiest, most interactive, highest energy magic show for families today. The Amazing Max selects all of his assistants at random from the audience, and each adds a unique element to the show. 'His ability to astound is something to see.' (The Huffington Post).

Broadway and Hollywood star Jonathan Groff will give a benefit concert at EPAC's Sharadin Bigler Theatre on January 31 at 8 pm. Groff will be accompanied on piano by acclaimed music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell.

The Public Theater announced today that George Brant's spellbinding, ripped-from-the-headlines play GROUNDED, with Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway, has been added to the 2014-15 downtown season. Directed by Academy Award nominee and two-time Tony Award winner Julie Taymor, GROUNDED marks the return to the Public Theater stage for Hathaway who played Viola in the 2009 Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night. GROUNDED will begin performances in the Anspacher Theater on Tuesday, April 7 and run through Sunday, May 17, with an official press opening on Thursday, April 23.

Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress and singer Leslie Uggams will share her insights and talents with students of the Wright State University Musical Theatre Program today and tomorrow, January 22-23 in Dayton, Ohio. Uggams will become the first major visiting artist to conduct master classes and perform as a guest of the school's new Musical Theatre Initiative.

New York City Center has announced that due to an overwhelming demand for tickets, the Encores! Off-Center production of Little Shop of Horrors will now play for two performances, on July 1 and 2, 2015.

The Off Broadway Alliance has announced that it will again sponsor 20at20, the bi-annual celebration of Off Broadway. The popular promotion, which begins January 20th and continues through February 8th, makes $20 tickets available for 41 Off Broadway plays and musicals twenty minutes prior to curtain. Now in its 9th year, 20at20 has become one of New York's most eagerly-anticipated promotions for people who want to see exciting shows at amazing prices.

SAN FRANCISCO, January 20 - 2-time Tony and 2-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist Patti LuPone brings her new concert Far Away Places to San Francisco on Monday, February 23 at Davies Symphony Hall. Joined by her five-piece band, LuPone's performance features renditions of songs by an eclectic list of songwriters including Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Willie Nelson, Kurt Weill, Edith Piaf, Frederick Hollander, and the Bee Gees. The original live show of Far Away Places opened the Manhattan music venue 54 Below in 2012, a live recording of which was released in 2013.

Women's Project Theater, under the leadership of newly-appointed Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty, is pleased to present the World Premiere of BRIGHT HALF LIFE - a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Tanya Barfield and directed by Tony Award nominee Leigh Silverman - in a five-week limited engagement at New York City Center Stage II (131 W. 55th Street) from Tuesday, February 17 to March 22, 2015. Opening night is set for Wednesday, February 25.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: John Cameron Mitchell slips into HEDWIG's familiar stilettos, TUCK EVERLASTING starts up in Atlanta, Tom Stoppard's THE HARD PROBLEM begins across the pond and more!

Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress and singer Leslie Uggams will share her insights and talents with students of the Wright State University Musical Theatre Program January 22-23 in Dayton, Ohio. Uggams will become the first major visiting artist to conduct master classes and perform as a guest of the school's new Musical Theatre Initiative.

Start preparing your vocal warm-ups and tears, JTF folks, because Megan Hilty has special plans for her upcoming appearance.

Kate Benson's new play 'A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes' takes place not on a lake, as the title might suggest, but rather in a gymnasium. The high-stakes Thanksgiving dinner at the center of the play unfolds at Wembley Stadium, where two announcers, # in charge of action and @ color commentary (yes, those are truly their names), quite literally call the shots into microphones from a booth above the stage. Directed by Lee Sunday Evans, this production relies on the ensemble to use heightened physicality and emotionality in order to bring this match to life. Fortunately, the actors who portray the Wembley family are fully committed to the challenged of making theatre into a literal game. In this production by New Georges in collaboration with Women's Project Theater, the unconventional 'Beautiful Day' is brought to vibrant, zany life.

Following the news of her forthcoming album Vulnicura, Bjork announces some intimate shows this spring at Carnegie Hall on March 7 and 14 and at City Center March 25 and 28 and April 1 and 4. The series of shows culminates with a performance at the Governors Ball music festival in New York this June.

Today, McClure and O'Malley speak exclusively with BWW about these well-intentioned characters who are thrust into the most extraordinary circumstances, yet still find a way to make true love prevail.

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, the Kennedy Center's own ballet company, will engage in an artistic partnership with Theatre Ballet Moscow in February 2015 to perform George Balanchine's Monumentum Pro Gesualdo. The Suzanne Farrell Ballet will also perform Balanchine's Movements for Piano and Orchestra. Theatre Ballet Moscow will complete the program with pieces by George Aleksidze and Paul Mejia. Through this artistic partnership, Theatre Ballet Moscow will have the opportunity to take classes and learn Balanchine's choreography from Ms. Farrell, one of Balanchine's foremost interpreters, and rehearse with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Performances will take place February 26 and 27 at 7:00pm at the Cultural Centre ZIL in Moscow.

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, the Kennedy Center's own ballet company, will engage in an artistic partnership with Theatre Ballet Moscow in February 2015 to perform George Balanchine'sMonumentum Pro Gesualdo. The Suzanne Farrell Ballet will also perform Balanchine's Movements for Piano and Orchestra. Theatre Ballet Moscow will complete the program with pieces by George Aleksidze and Paul Mejia. Through this artistic partnership, Theatre Ballet Moscow will have the opportunity to take classes and learn Balanchine's choreography from Ms. Farrell, one of Balanchine's foremost interpreters, and rehearse with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Performances will take place February 26 and 27 at 7:00pm at the Cultural Centre ZIL in Moscow.

The Buck Creek Players will continue their 41st season of quality theater, LIFE 101: A Season of Life Lessons, with the Indianapolis premiere comedy, QUARTET, by Ronald Harwood.

The Renaissance Johor Bahru Hotel may only be one-and-a-half years old, but it already has big plans for its community. With its sights set on developing a more sustainable and compassionate society, the property has begun initiatives that involve everything from team-building, to financially supporting charities, to minimizing its own carbon footprint. And as the hotel puts its plans into action, everyone stands to benefit.