Leonard Bernstein News

Misty Copeland never intended to work on Broadway, but now that she's here she's chronicling every graceful step in a video series, MISTY ON THE TOWN.

Beginning tonight, August 25, American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Misty Copeland will make her Broadway debut as 'Ivy Smith' in the Tony Award nominated revival of On The Town, continuing in the role through the end of the musical's run on September 6.

Why Broadway's original Miss Turnstiles' father could not attend her 1944 opening night.

Gang violence erupts at the Arts Asylum in Kansas City and the audience erupts with a thunderous standing ovation for WEST SIDE STORY on opening night Saturday August 22. Michael Grayman and Andrew Parkhurst direct WEST SIDE STORY, which opens the fifth season of Spinning Tree Theatre, recreating the choreography of Jerome Robbins who directed and choreographed the entire original production.

Actors Co-op (Ovation Award-Winner 2015 Best Intimate Theatre Musical for 110 in the Shade) is thrilled to announce the first show in its 2015-2016 season (and 24th year of producing theatrical excellence in Los Angeles!) with THE BAKER'S WIFE, book by Joseph Stein (Fiddler on the Roof, Zorba), music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell), musical direction by Jake Anthony, choreography by Julie Hall, produced by Kimi Walker and directed by Ovation Award-winner Richard Israel (110 in the Shade, Floyd Collins). THE BAKER'S WIFE will preview on Wednesday, September 16 and Thursday, September 17 at 8pm and will open on Friday, September 18 at 8pm and run through Sunday, October 25 at the Actors Co-op David Schall Theatre, 1760 N. Gower St. (on the campus of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood) in Hollywood.

As the topic of guns in society becomes more and more prominent during the upcoming election season, Stephen Sondheim's controversial 1990 Off-Broadway and off-beat musical Assassins has increased in its relevancy. Rarely staged today, Assassins is an event that commands attention, and last week, we traveled to the Pico Playhouse in Los Angeles to see their version of the show, which also featured several performers familiar to Ventura County audiences.

In honor of Gene Kelly's 103rd Birthday, ON THE TOWN cast members Eloise Kropp and Cory Lingner have recreated the song and dance number 'Main Street' from the film version of ON THE TOWN. Check out the performance below!

Beginning August 25, Misty Copeland will make her Broadway debut as 'Ivy Smith' in the Tony Award nominated revival of ON THE TOWN, continuing in the role through the end of the musical's run on September 6. BroadwayWorld has a first look at Copeland performing the Miss Turnstiles ballet sequence - watch her run the gamut of styles (to perfection) in the number below!

Columbia Records is proud to announce the release ofThe Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, a new album from American musical legend Tony Bennett and acclaimed jazz pianist Bill Charlap, arriving Friday, September 25, 2015.

CPH's historic 100th Season will open on an operatic note, with the world premiere of Ken Ludwig's A COMEDY OF TENORS. BroadwayWorld has just confirmed the full cast -- featuring several Broadway vets. Scroll down for the complete list of stars!

?The 2015-16 season marks two milestones for the George London Foundation for Singers, which has been honoring, supporting, and presenting the finest young opera singers in the U.S. and Canada since 1971:  the 45th annual George London Foundation Awards Competition, which gives George London Awards to young singers each year; and the 20th year of its acclaimed recital series, which presents pairs of singers, both established stars and recent George London Award winners, at The Morgan Library & Museum.

This summer, Museum of the Moving Image presents See It Big! 70mm, every weekend through August 30, featuring eight films made between 1961 and 2014 -- all of them shot in 70mm and to be shown in 70mm prints in the majestic Sumner M. Redstone Theater.

George Chakiris, who won an Oscar for his breakout role of 'Bernardo' in Jerome Robbins's WEST SIDE STORY, will be our Guest of Honor at the Free Summer Shakespeare screening of the film on Monday, August 24.

Lyric Unlimited presents the world premiere of Second Nature, a new opera for youth from the acclaimed composer/librettist Matthew Aucoin, at Café Brauer at Lincoln Park Zoo (2021 N. Stockton Dr., Chicago). Four world-premiere performances will take place today, August 19 at 10am and 12pm, and tomorrow, August 20 at 4pm and 6pm.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City General Director and CEO Deborah Sandler today announced the four conductors for the 2015-2016 season in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Gary Thor Wedow (pictured, left, Mozart's Don Giovanni), and David Charles Abell (Bizet's Carmen) will be returning to the Lyric Opera. Alexander Polianichko (Dvorak's Rusalka) and Christopher Allen (Donizetti's The Elixir of Love) will be making their Lyric Opera debut.

Atlanta Lyric Theatre, now in its 36th year as the metro area's only professional musical theatre company, recently announced its 2015-16 season of musicals at the 600-seat Jennie T. Anderson Theatre (548 S. Marietta Pkwy., Marietta).

Inspired by Leonard Bernstein's artistic mandate 'This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before, ' Grace and Peace, the second concert in Tramm's 2015 Peace Trilogy performances underscoring humanity's universal desire for peace and connection through music, will take place Sunday August 23 at 7PM at the Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove.

Over the weekend, WWII Navy veterans Ray and Ellie Williams led the Times Square Alliance's "Kiss-In"  to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. At the special event, hundreds of people re-enacted the legendary lip-lock  between a U.S. sailor and nurse, captured forever on the cover of LIFE Magazine. The famous victory kiss occured on August 14, 1945 on Military Island, at the intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets. Afterwards the couple stopped by the Lyric Theatre to continue in the theme of the day by catching a performance of ON THE TOWN. Check out photos of Ray and Ellie with the cast below!

The musical WEST SIDE STORY runs from tonight, August 14th, through 30th at the historic Fox Theatre in Redwood City (2215 Broadway Street, Redwood City, CA) and September 5th through 13th at the Golden State Theatre in Monterey (417 Alvarado Street, Monterey, CA).