Francesca Zambello News

School may be out for the summer, but ANN is still in session! As Governor of Texas, Ann Richards was a champion for students and young adults everywhere and now theatergoers ages 14-18 can see any performance of ANN for just $20. Directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein and starring Emmy Award winner, 2013 Outer Critics Circle Award winner, and 2013 Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Drama League Award nominee Holland Taylor, ANN will offer specially-priced $20 loge tickets for patrons ages 14-18 available only at the Vivian Beaumont Theater Box Office (150 W 65th St.). ANN will play its final performance on Sunday, June 30th.

Bob Boyett and Harriet Newman Leve announced today that ANN, written and performed by Emmy and Outer Critics Circle Award winner and Tony nominee Holland Taylor (“Two and a Half Men”), will play its final Broadway performance on Sunday, June 30, 2013, after 19 previews and 132 regular performances. ANN began performances on Monday, February 18, 2013, at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street), and opened on Thursday, March 7, 2013.

Washington National Opera (WNO) will present the world premiere of Approaching Ali tonight and Saturday, June 8-9, 2013 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Approaching Ali features music by composer D.J. Sparr and a libretto by Mark Campbell and Davis Miller, based on Miller's own autobiographical novella. This new work is the first hourlong opera created under the auspices of the American Opera Initiative, WNO's new commissioning program for contemporary American opera, and will be directed by Nicole Watson in her WNO debut.

The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, a unique all-girls school founded to educate young women, sent Tony nominee Holland Taylor an adorable video wishing her luck this weekend at the 2013 awards. Check it out below!

Angela Meade - who earlier this month added Washington National Opera's Artist of the Year honor to her 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award and her 2011 Richard Tucker Award - is looking forward to a starry summer. The soprano portrays Donna Anna in the Cincinnati Opera production of Mozart's Don Giovanni (June 13, 15), with Verdi performances to follow at the Caramoor International Music Festivalin Katonah, NY (June 27, July 6), Bravo! Vail with the Philadelphia Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin (July 13), and the Grand Tetons Music Festival under Donald Runnicles (July 26-27).

Washington National Opera (WNO) celebrates its fifth season of free opera simulcasts at Nationals Park with the M&M'S Opera in the Outfield performance of the American classic Show Boat tonight, May 18.

Washington National Opera (WNO) will present the world premiere of Approaching Ali on Friday and Saturday, June 8-9, 2013 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Approaching Ali features music by composer D.J. Sparr and a libretto by Mark Campbell and Davis Miller, based on Miller's own autobiographical novella. This new work is the first hourlong opera created under the auspices of the American Opera Initiative, WNO's new commissioning program for contemporary American opera, and will be directed by Nicole Watson in her WNO debut.

BroadwayWorld has confirmed that Broadway veteran Heidi Blickenstaff will lead Vermont's award-winning Weston Playhouse Theatre Company production of Next to Normal. Blickenstaff will play 'Diana' in the show, which is set to run July 11-27 and will be directed by Michael Berresse.

Angela Meade has just been named Artist of the Year by the Washington National Opera (WNO). The May 13 announcement comes on the heels of the soprano's triumphant company debut, in which she "thrilled WNO devotees with her nearly mind-blowing mastery of Bellini's most challenging music" (Washington Times) in the title role of Norma. Previous recipients of the Artist of the Year award, which carries a $5,000 cash prize, include mezzo-sopranos Frederica von Stade and Denyce Graves, tenor Jerry Hadley, and conductor John Mauceri.

SHOW BOAT is back in an appealing production by the Washington National Opera. The Kennedy Center Opera House is a fitting berth for Captain Andy's Cotton Blossom and the happy/troubled show folk who make it their home. Boasting a cast and chorus of 100, WNO's SHOW BOAT allows the story to roll along the 40-year time span and the glorious music to enthrall the audience once again.

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2012-2013 season with the company premiere of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's musical masterpiece Show Boat, tonight, May 4 to 26.

The Celebrity Series of Boston announced its 2013-2014, 75th anniversary season today, marking 75 years of bringing the world's greatest performing artists to Boston. Celebrity Series has a deep commitment to presenting vocal recitals by some of the most renowned singers in the genre, and the 2013-2014 season includes recitals by: soprano Deborah Voigt, baritone Gerald Finley, soprano Natalie Dessay, tenor Nicholas Phan and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky.

ANN, the new critically acclaimed play written and performed by Emmy Award-winning actress and 2013 Outer Critics Circle Award Nominee Holland Taylor, is launching the Great American Women Talkback Series, which will feature post-show discussions hosted by Tony and Emmy Award winner Lily Tomlin, Tony award winning playwright and activist Eve Ensler, feminist activist and writer Gloria Steinem, and award winning political humorist Kate Clinton. All talkbacks are complimentary with ticket purchase to ANN at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre (150 West 65th Street). ANN is directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein, and has been extended through Sunday, September 1, 2013.

18,000,000 Texans can't be wrong! Ann Richards was elected Governor of masculine, macho Texas proving that men love Ann. On Wednesday nights you can bring the man in your life for free to see ANN, the new critically acclaimed play written and performed by Emmy Award-winning actress Holland Taylor and directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein, with the purchase of a full priced ticket. Use political man-date code: ANNBYM1 when you purchase your tickets by phone, online or in person, for any 8pm performance on Wednesdays through August 18, 2013.

The Dallas Opera presents Dominick Argento's riveting 1988 opera, THE ASPERN PAPERS, in a brand-new production to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of its TDO world premiere. THE ASPERN PAPERS will open tonight, April 12, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House.

Washington National Opera (WNO) celebrates its fifth season of free opera simulcasts at Nationals Park with the M&M'S Opera in the Outfield performance of the American classic Show Boat on Saturday, May 18.

The Glimmerglass Festival, the Central New York summer opera company, will celebrate its Young Artists and Summer Internship programs at GL!MMERATA, its 2013 Spring Gala, tonight, April 10 at The Metropolitan Club in Manhattan. The 2013 season marks the 25th anniversary of the company's Young Artists Program, the acclaimed apprenticeship for emerging singers.

Washington National Opera presents German soprano Diana Damrau in recital as part of its Celebrity Concert Series tonight, April 8 at 8 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Accompanied by harpist Xavier de Maistre, Damrau will perform selections from Schubert, R. Strauss, Hahn, Chausson, Duparc, and more. Both artists make their WNO debuts with this performance.

Jean Sincere Zambello, also known as Sinny, a theater, TV and film actress, died of natural causes on April 3, 2013 in Los Angeles, after a brief illness, according to an obituary posted on Facebook.

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2012-2013 season with the company premiere of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's musical masterpiece Show Boat, May 4 to 26.