Jerome Robbins News

BalletCollective will present two world premiere ballets that showcase the company's commitment to artistic collaboration tonight and tomorrow, October 29 and 30 at NYU Skirball Center, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square. The program will include the company's The Impulse Wants Company (2013). All pieces will be accompanied by live music and feature lighting design by Brandon Stirling Baker.

Our national ballet treasure, American Ballet Theatre, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. The 2014-2015 season is abundant in new works, classical masterpieces, and signature American Ballet Theatre masterworks.

2Y announces casting for Lyrics & Lyricists 2015, the 45th season of the acclaimed American Songbook series. Cady Huffman, Liz Callaway, Kate Baldwin, Peter Cincotti and Jason Danieley are among the performers interpreting the works of Stephen Sondheim; Irving Berlin; Sheldon Harnick; and such songwriters as Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and Leonard Bernstein, who so eloquently illuminated New York City's essence in song. Mitzi Gaynor makes a special guest appearance for the show on Hollywood's Leading Ladies - only the fourth time the legendary entertainer has performed in New York City.

American Ballet Theatre and the Arts Initiative at Columbia University have formed a new arts partnership that will offer students a unique, in-depth immersion into the process of creating a new ballet. It was announced today by Rachel Moore, ABT CEO and Melissa Smey, Executive Director of the Arts Initiative and Miller Theatre at Columbia University. The partnership was designed as a complement to American Ballet Theatre's Innovation Initiative, a two-week choreographic workshop spearheaded by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie and ABT Principal Dancer David Hallberg.

BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, the longest operating performance venue in lower Manhattan, presents Peter Cincotti, performing tonight, October 25 at 8PM, the first of four major concerts in the 2014-2015 Main Event Series, which also includes the Spanish Harlem Orchestra (November 21 at 8PM, $45 - $35) and The Hit Men (December 13 at 8PM, $45 - $35). Also featured are Alexis P. Suter (January 9 at 8PM, $45 - $35), and Ruthie Foster (May 8 at 8PM, $45 - $35), among others.

Performance Space 122's contemporary performance festival, COIL, returns for its tenth anniversary year. Known for its groundbreaking contemporary performance, this year's COIL 2015 festival spans interdisciplinary art working with new technologies and forms. Through installations, live and virtual practices, PS122 is committed to redefining how, where and when performance is experienced.

The most recent revival of 'On the Town', the 1944 smash hit based on Jerome Robbins' 'Fancy Free' ballet about three sailors on 24-hour shore leave in NYC, is first-rate on all counts. Right from the moment that the booming bass-baritone voice of Phillip Boykin joins the audience singing 'The Star Spangled Banner' as he strolls down an aisle, the show captivates with professionalism and energy that are sustained throughout the evening.

Today we are turning our attention to the rapturously received Broadway revival of Golden Age classic ON THE TOWN.

New York, NY, October 23, 2014– UPDATE: Troy Schumacher, Artistic Director of BalletCollective, will now be performing with the company on October 29 and 30 at NYU Skirball Center. Mr. Schumacher is replacing Harrison Coll, who has sustained a minor injury and is unable to perform.

The Kennedy Center presents a one night only performance with Tony Award winner Faith Prince on Friday, October 31, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. in the Terrace Theater. The evening is part of Barbara Cook's Spotlight, which features theater cabaret performances throughout the 2014-2015 season by Broadway artists chosen by Barbara Cook. Faith Prince's performance Have a Little Faith will feature piano accompaniment by music director Alex Rybeck.

The Shubert Organization has signed a three-year development/production deal with producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, it was announced today by Shubert Chairman, Philip J. Smith, and Shubert President, Robert E. Wankel.

MARENA PEREZ, principal dancer of the Balleteatro Nacional de Puerto Rico and CARLOS MADERA, will appear as guest artists in the Alameda Civic Ballet's production of The Nutcracker on December 20 and 21, 2014 at the Kofman Theater in Alameda, California.

I LIKE YOUR STYLE: A TRIBUTE TO JOE LAYTON, hosted by six-time Emmy Award winner Bruce Vilanch, took place Monday, October 20th, 2014, at 7 pm, St. Luke's Theater, 308 West 46th St., NYC. Featuring performances by Loni Ackerman, Jill O'Hara, Walter Willison, rare video footage of Layton shows, and a gaggle of gypsies to discuss Joe's Life and Legacy.

New York City Ballet announced today that Russell Janzen has been promoted to Soloist, effective immediately. Peter Martins, NYCB's Ballet Master in Chief, made the promotion on Friday, October 17 following a performance of George Balanchine's Chaconne, during which Janzen performed the leading male role alongside NYCB Principal Dancer Sara Mearns. Janzen made his debut in the role, which Balanchine created for Martins in 1976, at the matinee performance on Saturday, October 11.

KARINA GONZALEZ and SIMON BALL, principal dancers of the Houston Ballet, will appear as guest artists in the Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet's production of The Nutcracker on December 6 and 7, 2014 at the Riverview Theatre in Shreveport, Louisiana.

ON THE TOWN has moments of classic dance, comedy and music, but it's the earthy country sailors who make this musical soar.

Tickets for the upcoming revival of THE KING AND I at the Lincoln Center Theater go on sale to the general public today, Oct. 19.

Today we are talking to the gifted composer and lyricist behind the earth-shattering score for Broadway's biggest recent hit, HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH, the versatile and passionate Stephen Trask. Shedding considerable light on the development of the idiosyncratic rock musical, Trask discusses his influences and the organic way in which the outre show developed from humble beginnings at downtown bar Squeezebox in the mid-1990s, to Off-Broadway hit at the turn of the new century all the way to the rapturously received feature film adaptation, and, now, the 2014 Broadway production. Trask also details his affection for Tony Award-winning lead actor Neil Patrick Harris and looks ahead to the new leading man donning the titular wig, Andrew Rannells. Additionally, Trask also shares news on the forthcoming sequel to HEDWIG currently being developed with John Cameron Mitchell and teases some of what we can expect from the hotly anticipated theatrical experience. Furthermore, Trask reflects on his own upbringing and musical influences and how that informed the composition of the score for HEDWIG, as well as his own favorite performers. Plus, Trask reflects on his fruitful career as a movie scorer in Hollywood and comments on his upcoming musical endeavors, including two original stage musicals - JUST THE BLACK KEYS, a real-life inspired original musical potentially involving Peter Askin and Michael Mayer, as well 15 MINUTES, a Studio 54-centric period piece written with Rick Elice - as well as much, much more.