Leonard Bernstein News

Music director Manfred Honeck leads the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, guest vocalists and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh in a BNY Mellon Grand Classics program featuring the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra premiere of Bach's St. John Passion oratorio on March 4 and 6 at Heinz Hall.

Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) invites audiences to fall in love this summer with Disney's Beauty and the Beast & West Side Story, running July 6 - August 20, 2016 (performances alternate evenings) at Stanley Park's picturesque Malkin Bowl. A beloved Vancouver tradition since 1940, TUTS' two-show subscription packs go on sale TODAY through May 6 (single tickets on sale May 17).

New York University's Tisch New Theatre is proud to present HAIRSPRAY, with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman, and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan. Set in 1962 Baltimore, the musical tells the story of plump teenager Tracy Turnblad, whose life dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she launches an ambitious campaign to integrate the show. HAIRSPRAY focuses on civil rights, the beauty of diversity and individuality, and acts as a beacon of hope and inclusiveness in the theatre world and beyond.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, February 14, 2016 - Sunday, February 14, 2016.

Ask musical actors/actresses what is their favorite Broadway musical of all time and they most often concur, West Side Story. Why? It has phenomenal music by Leonard Bernstein, with concise poetic lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a tight and gripping book by Arthur Laurents, and brilliant choreography established in 1957 by Jerome Robbins. It is one of the most powerful love stories ever, next to Romeo and Juliet. With all these elements complementing one another, from the first downbeat of the orchestra and the appearance of the Jets creeping in one by one on a half-lit stage, the show pulls you in and doesn't let go of you for its two and a half hours ... and its message and images of love linger long after the curtain falls.

San Diego audience favorite Hershey Felder ("George Gershwin Alone," "Monsieur Chopin," "Beethoven," "Liszt," "An American Story," "Irving Berlin") returns to San Diego Repertory Theatre in a pre-New York engagement of "Hershey Felder as Leonard Bernstein in MAESTRO." Fresh from a sold out run of "Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin" at the La Jolla Playhouse, Felder will now perform this signature work about America's finest conductor and composer, Leonard Bernstein, which had its premiere in 2011 at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre. Directed by Joel Zwick, "MAESTRO" plays a limited engagement from Wednesday, July 6 to Sunday, July 17, 2016. Details for the New York presentation will be announced in April.

Gulfshore Playhouse (www.GulfshorePlayhouse.org) - Southwest Florida's premier professional theatre - presents Ken Ludwig's Moon Over Buffalo, a madcap comedy from the author of The Fox on the Fairway and The Game's Afoot, beginning today, February 13 through March 13 at The Norris Center in Naples.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Musical Theatre West (MTW) presents the beloved tale of star-crossed lovers, WEST SIDE STORY, February 12-28, 2016 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center. Due to overwhelming demand (opening weekend is sold out and second weekend performances only limited availability remains), MTW has added an extra performance on the third weekend, Sunday, February 28, 7pm. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast!

PITTSBURGH – Give your loved one the gift of music at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's BNY Mellon Grand Classics Valentine's Day weekend concert, “Romeo and Juliet and Carmen,” on February 12 and 14 at Heinz Hall.

Grammy-, Golden Globe- Drama Desk- and three-time Tony Award-winning actress and singer Bernadette Peters-known for her raw talent and ability to knock the socks off an audience with her glorious voice-joins Pacific Symphony just in time for Valentine's Day weekend!

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 60th anniversary season with the company premiere of Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's LOST IN THE STARS, February 12-20 in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater.

Today in 1980, the first Broadway revival of WEST SIDE STORY opened at the Minskoff Theatre, where it ran for 333 performances. West Side Story is an American musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and conception and choreography by Jerome Robbins. It was inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. Set in New York City in the mid-1950s, the musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. Bernstein's score for the musical has become extremely popular; it includes 'Something's Coming', 'Maria', 'America', 'Somewhere', 'Tonight', 'Jet Song', 'I Feel Pretty', 'A Boy Like That', 'One Hand, One Heart', 'Gee, Officer Krupke' and 'Cool'.

New York Festival of Song marks its eighth annual residency at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts with AT HOME, to be performed on Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. at Merkin Concert Hall.

Gulfshore Playhouse (www.GulfshorePlayhouse.org) - Southwest Florida's premier professional theatre - presents Ken Ludwig's MOON OVER BUFFALO, a madcap comedy from the author of The Fox on the Fairway and The Game's Afoot, scheduled for February 13 through March 13 at The Norris Center in Naples.

Semyon Bychkov will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct Mahler's Symphony No. 6, tonight, February 11, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 12 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, February 13 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, February 16 at 7:30 p.m.

The Musical Theater Project will produce "Bernstein on Broadway" for two performances on Saturday, March 5 (7pm) and Sunday, March 6 (2pm) in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Two-time Oscar nominee Madeline Kahn is the subject of a panel discussion, From Broadway to Hollywood ~ A Chat with her Friends, at Barnes & Noble at The Grove at Farmers Market tonight, February 10, at 7pm.

WALNUT CREEK, CA (February 9, 2016) - The aerialists, contortionists, dancers, jugglers, strongmen and acrobats of Cirque de la Symphonie join the California Symphony and Music Director Donato Cabrera in the Orchestra's annual fundraising special event, Cirque du Symphonie Presented by Steadauto.com, Saturday, June 18 at 7:30 pm at the historic and beautiful Scottish Rite Center in Oakland. For this performance, the Cirque production team and California Symphony have developed a unique program specifically for the Orchestra and the special characteristics of the Scottish Rite Center. The artists of Cirque de la Symphonie will execute their spectacular feats to music ranging from Bizet's Carmen to John Williams (music from Indiana Jones and Superman), Leonard Bernstein's Candide Overture, Arturo Marquez's Danzon No. 2, Debussy's Clair du lune, Offenbach's Can-Can No. 4, and Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 6, and the orchestra plays music from Aaron Copland (Rodeo from Hoe-Down), Richard Rodgers (Carousel Waltz), and Strauss (Emperor Waltz). All proceeds from the event, presented by steadauto.com, support the California Symphony and its music education programs, including Sound Minds, Music in the Schools, and the organization's respected Young American Composer-in-Residence Program.

So now it's all here again on the big stage at Actors' Playhouse. There's a cast of 27 directed by David Arisco, the king of big musicals, who doesn't let a flat moment slip into the two hour performance.

WALNUT CREEK, CA (February 4, 2016) – Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, and a performance by California Symphony Principal Clarinetist Jerome Simas and Principal Bassoonist Douglas Brown in R. Strauss's rarely-heard double concerto Duett-Concertino, highlight the California Symphony's “Textbook Classics” program on Sunday, March 20. The Orchestra performs the overture from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro to open the concert, led by guest conductor Leif Bjaland. The concert is at 4 pmat the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, with a free pre-concert talk with Bjaland beginning at 3 pm.