Julie Taymor News

The League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW), a non-profit organization committed to promoting visibility and increasing opportunities for women in the professional theatre, is pleased to recognize the talents of two outstanding women: the LPTW Lucille Lortel Award and accompanying grant will be presented to Jessica Burr, Artistic Director of Blessed Unrest; and the Ruth Morley Design Award will be given to Tony Award-winning scenic designer Christine Jones. These awards will be presented at the League's 2011 Awards Luncheon, to be held from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 9 at Sardi's Restaurant.

New Dramatists, Tony Honor® recipient and the nation's premiere playwright development workshop, honored 14-time Tony Award® winner Roger Berlind with their 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 62nd Annual Spring Luncheon tribute, yesterday, May 17th at the New York Marriott Marquis. Philip J. Smith and Robert E. Wankel of The Shubert Organization served as the Luncheon Chairs. Jim Dale, Emily Mann and Brian Stokes Mitchell were among those paying tribute to Mr Berlind. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the event and brings you phoot coverage below.

Casting has been announced for the Dayton premiere engagement of Disney's THE LION KING.

Music-Theatre Group has announced 'Hey, Mary': An Interview with Mary Rodgers (Griffin and the Minor Canon, Once Upon A Mattress, Hey, Love) moderated by her colleague and friend Thomas Schumacher (Producer and President, Disney Theatrical Group) about her music, her muses, and the fascinating world of musical theatre that she was born into and has helped shape. The not to be missed one-night only talk will take place on Monday, May 16th at 10 Jay Street, 9th Floor in DUMBO at 6:00 p.m.

You know the old saying, usually reserved for Oscar-nominated films whose directors are not likewise honored:  'Did this film direct itself?'

Broadway's landmark musical event THE LION KING is pleased to welcome CLIFTON OLIVER as Simba, tonight, Friday, May 13.

Last night, May 12, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark unveiled the new version of the mega musical. The official opening night of the new SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark is set for Tuesday, June 14th at the Foxwoods Theatre (213 West 42nd Street). Tickets are now on sale through October 2, 2011, with group tickets on sale through January 8, 2012. Click below to hear about the new and improved production from the men who have updated it: writers Glen Berger (who also collaborated with Julie Taymor on the original production) and newcomer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

Music-Theatre Group (Diane Wondisford, Producing Director) has announced "Hey, Mary": An Interview with Mary Rodgers (Griffin and the Minor Canon, Once Upon A Mattress, Hey, Love) moderated by her colleague and friend Thomas Schumacher (Producer and President, Disney Theatrical Group) about her music, her muses, and the fascinating world of musical theatre that she was born into and has helped shape.

Music-Theatre Group has announced 'Hey, Mary': An Interview with Mary Rodgers (Griffin and the Minor Canon, Once Upon A Mattress, Hey, Love) moderated by her colleague and friend Thomas Schumacher (Producer and President, Disney Theatrical Group) about her music, her muses, and the fascinating world of musical theatre that she was born into and has helped shape. The not to be missed one-night only talk will take place on Monday, May 16th at 10 Jay Street, 9th Floor in DUMBO at 6:00 p.m.

The Collegiate Chorale presents its 2011 Spring Concert Something Wonderful: An Evening of Broadway with Deborah Voigt, with featured guest artist Paolo Szot, conducted by Ted Sperling with the American Symphony Orchestra on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 7pm at Carnegie Hall.

This Thursday, after weeks of revisions and rehearsals for what has been dubbed SPIDER-MAN 2.0 - the overhauled version of the $70 million bohemoth SPIDER-MAN, TURN OFF THE DARK - opens once again for previews. Though the original version was marred by injuries, delays, and disastrous reviews, the creative team hopes to start with a clean slate.

Parsons Dance - praised around the world for its virtuosity, exceptional theatricality, athleticism, energy and accessibility - presents the culminating performance of its eleventh annual New York City Summer Intensive Workshop for pre-professional and professional dancers, the Summer Intensive Showcase, on Friday, June 3, 2011 at 6pm.

As previously reported by BroadwayWorld, Law & Order: Criminal Intent will tackle the troubled Broadway musical SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK in an upcoming episode, and Broadway veteran Matthew Cavenaugh will join previously announced Cynthia Nixon to star in it. Cavenaugh will lay understudy, Brice Calder.

Parsons Dance, praised around the world for its virtuosity, exceptional theatricality, athleticism, energy and accessibility, seeks male and female dancers. Auditions will be held on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 12pm at New York City Center, Studio 5, 130 W. 56th Street, NYC. Appointments are required for the audition and dancers must bring headshots and resumes. To reserve an appointment, email info@parsonsdance.org. Questions are welcome by phone at 212-869-9275.

Tony Award winner and Academy Award nominee Julie Taymor rounds out the renowned host of keynote speakers at the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) annual National Conference in Los Angeles, June 16-18, 2011. Speaking to the largest forum for the national theatre community, Taymor will address the central question of the conference and TCG's year-long 50th anniversary celebration: 'What if...?' 'What if...?' is the guiding question behind the imaginative impulse to create, to improve and to ultimately make change.

A Roman general and an Eqyptian queen, Mark Antony and Cleopatra are great leaders of their time who share a passion for each other - but at a price. Power, politics and betrayal overshadow their doomed and legendary affair.

Staging one of the theatre's most unique and unclassifiable pieces, Brecht & Weill's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS for the New York City Ballet, starting May 11 and running through May 16, is just the latest act in a career made up of anomalies, seemingly built upon always attempting to do the impossible - from her Broadway debut, trying to bring balletic bravado to Trevor Nunn's terminally troubled 1988 musical CHESS (a project begun under the guidance of Michael Bennett before his death), up through the trying-but-Tony-winning TITANIC in 1997 and, this century, SWING! starring Ann Hampton Callaway and Laura Benanti and a succession of successful regional ballets and theatre pieces - the gifted and dynamic director/choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett continues to challenge herself, her peers and audiences with each of her audacious new endeavors. THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, starring two-time Tony-winning Broadway legend Patti LuPone as Anna I, is a particularly problematic play - or is it a musical? Or, is it a ballet? A song-spiel? - and in this revealing and engaging discussion, Ms. Taylor-Corbett and I attempt to deduce the themes, analyze the structure and look back at the authors' lives to gain insight into the perplexing America painted by Brecht and Weill in the forty-minute-long theatrical experiment. Also, in this complete conversation, Lynne and I take a look back at her long and varied career and she generously shares her thoughts on where the place of dance is in the twenty-first century, the exhilaration of working with a theatre artist like Patti LuPone, her own inspirations and formative experiences in the theatre, the legacy of Michael Powell and THE RED SHOES, the theatre versus the dance world, her son Shaun's career, and much, much more! Further information on THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS - including tickets - is available here.

As previously reported by BroadwayWorld, Law & Order: Criminal Intent will tackle the troubled Broadway musical SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK in an upcoming episode, and stage and screen star Cynthia Nixon is et to star in it. According to TVline.com, Nixon will play the episode's Julie Taymor equivalent, a 'high-strung and larger-than-life director behind a problem-plagued Broadway version of Icarus.'

In spite of the various troubles that Broadway's SPIDER-MAN director Julie Taymor has recently encountered, on Friday she received the 'Failure is Impossible' award at the George Eastman House Film Festival in Rochester, N.Y.

In a very short time since his Broadway debut roughly ten years ago, Aaron Lazar has crafted a particularly impressive career consisting of a striking series featured and leading roles in everything from LES MISERABLES and A TALE OF TWO CITIES to THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA - and the sensational PBS Live From Lincoln Center telecast of it - to his superb turn as Count Carl Magnus in the recent revival of Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury to, most recently, Lonny Price's rapturously received presentation of Sondheim's COMPANY: IN CONCERT starring Neil Patrick Harris and Patti LuPone at Lincoln Center - which will soon be seen in 500+ movie theaters nationwide starting in June. In this revealing conversation we discuss all of the aforementioned peformances, as well as what we can expect from the forthcoming Clint Eastwood film J. EDGAR starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Josh Lucas, written by Dustin Lance Black, with Lazar in a featured role, as well as his upcoming dates premiering his new show at Feinstein‘s in June. Before all of that, you can catch Aaron live and in person May 2 at the NY Pops Tribute to Bob Hope, which will also feature performances by Kelli O'Hara, Tom Wopat and many more in addition to a special presentation by Angela Lansbury. More information about the event - and tickets - is available here.