David Lee News

San Jose Repertory Theatre received a total of 22 nominations in the large theatre category (venues over 300 seats) from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle (SFBATCC) for outstanding productions during 2011. San Jose Rep Artistic Director Rick Lombardo received three best director nominations for his work on the world premiere of Love in American Times, the theatrical classic The Dresser and the musical Spring Awakening.

The Texas Talent Musicians Association will present the 32nd Annual Tejano Music Awards Fan Fair, March 16, 17, 18, 2012, in downtown San Antonio's Market Square. The free festival continues its tradition as the leading event to promote Tejano music - a unique American genre with rock, soul and pop influences but performed in Spanish.

Opera San Jose continues its 28th season with Gounod's Romantic-era masterpiece, Faust. Inspired by Goethe's legendary story of the old scholar who sells his soul to the devil for eternal youth, Faust is one of the most performed operas of all time. Opera San Jose founding music director, David Rohrbaugh, conducts with stage direction by Brad Dalton, who recently directed Opera San Jose's company premiere of Mozart's Idomeneo. Faust will be sung in French with English supertitles. Eight performances are scheduled from April 21 through May 6 at the California Theatre, 345 South First Street in downtown San Jose. Tickets are on sale at the Opera San Jose Box Office, by phone at (408) 437-4450 or online at www.operasj.org. Faust is made possible, in part, by a Cultural Affairs Grant from the City of San Jose.

Philadelphia Theatre Company will present PTC@Play, a two-week festival of new work on February 2-March 11 at PTC's home at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets).

Van Halen, Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees and one of the most important and influential rock bands of all time, will return to the live stage with a 2012 North American tour. Known around the world for some of the most iconic live performances in music history, the legendary rock band will begin their tour on February 18. Kool & The Gang will join Van Halen for select tour dates.

Quest Theatre Ensemble steps into the center ring with The People's Barnum, directed by Andrew Park and musical directed by Tobi Mattingly. Opening is Friday, February 10 at 8:00 p.m. at The Blue Theatre, (housed in St. Gregory the Great Church) at 1609 West Gregory (Gregory and Ashland). Tickets and information are available at www.questensemble.org or through reservations@questensemble.org or 312-458-0895.

Gary Naylor sees some tortured artists, torturing themselves.

A certain generation (namely, my own) is going to really get a kick out of ROCK OF AGES. Those younger than me will still be amused by its wildly over the top antics, but those that are older may be a bit befuddled by the constant barrage of cultural references from the late 1980's, and probably have no familiarity at all with most of the music that's from that era. I think ROCK OF AGES is a gloriously hilarious and completely ridiculous homage to the big hair, hard rock anthem bands that ruled MTV and the radio at that time. This was cruising music when I was in my late teens and early twenties, so I instantly identified with the attitudes presented, and the music that accompanies each melodramatic moment.

As I watched Yasmina Reza's fine play Art for the fourth time, now in an excellent production at the Pasadena Playhouse directed by David Lee, I realized that seeds for her God of Carnage were firmly planted in Art. The male friends mention the term deconstruction several times, referring to the changes in modern art, but what we witness is a deconstruction of their friendship to the very core, as they leash out at each other in a primal beastly nature as do the two couples in the laterCarnage. Reza was definitely thinking with more civility when she wroteArt, nevertheless, as the trio of friends make a supreme effort to forgive and get back to the comaraderie they once experienced. Forgiveness/togetherness in Art; savage isolation in Carnage. At present, relationships, depending on their urgency, still very much count in our daily lives, so we strive to keep them alive; others we dismiss for lack of importance or maybe because we simply do not like to be in the company of these other people, but, in spite of polite gestures, it cannot be denied that society, sadly, is little by little most assuredly approaching the state of negativity/nihilism expressed inCarnage. Reza's brilliant observations keep coming full speed as the prolific playwright shows every sign of accumulating a body of work that delves right into the depths of the human condition.

Barbara Ligeti and Wishing Well Productions by special arrangement with The Cherry Lane Theatre will present the world premiere production of Frank Strausser's PSYCHO THERAPY - a new play about couples therapy…for three.

Philadelphia Theatre Company will present PTC@Play, a two-week festival of new work on February 2-March 11 at PTC's home at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets).

Executive Producer, Quan Phung, John Carrozza, Velvet Candy Entertainment, LLC, Wait What Productions in Association with Cricket Feet today announced the release of the feature film, THE MIKADO PROJECT, on DVD. The title is available now exclusively on Amazon.

Quest Theatre Ensemble steps into the center ring with The People's Barnum, directed by Andrew Park and musical directed by Tobi Mattingly. Opening is Friday, February 10 at 8:00 p.m. at The Blue Theatre, (housed in St. Gregory the Great Church) at 1609 West Gregory (Gregory and Ashland). Tickets and information are available at www.questensemble.org or through reservations@questensemble.org or 312-458-0895.

Barbara Ligeti and Wishing Well Productions by special arrangement with The Cherry Lane Theatre will present the world premiere production of Frank Strausser's PSYCHO THERAPY - a new play about couples therapy…for three.

Van Halen, Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees and one of the most important and influential rock bands of all time, announced their return to the live stage with an extraordinary 2012 North American tour.

Barbara Ligeti and Wishing Well Productions by special arrangement with The Cherry Lane Theatre will present the world premiere production of Frank Strausser's PSYCHO THERAPY - a new play about couples therapy…for three.

Pride Films and Plays announces that five finalists have been named in the 2012 Great Gay Play and Musical Contest, as PFP continues to explore 'what's new and what's next' in LGBT film and theater.