Leonard Bernstein News

Richmond Ballet celebrates its 30th season this year, and with this landmark year comes a spectacular lineup of both contemporary and classic ballets.

Symphony Space will open its 2013-14 Music season with 'Kurt Weill on Broadway,' Monday, October 7 (8 pm) at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. The show takes place on the 70th anniversary of the Broadway opening of Weill's One Touch of Venus. Ted Chapin hosts a stellar cast featuring Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Judy Blazer, and Ron Raines, plus winners of the international Lotte Lenya Competition.

Tune in this WED. Aug. 28th, 2013 at 12:35 PM (est) to join the conversation with...'Mr. Showbusiness' on Jimmy Ferraro's 'Theatre Chat and This 'n That!', broadcasting LIVE on WWJB - regionally and nationally on the world wide web. This week's guest is award-winning Broadway and recording star Ann Morrison.

On September 7, the Houston Symphony will kick off its 100th Season with three-time Grammy award winner and vocal superstar, Renee Fleming.

A star-studded evening is planned at the Lincoln Center - during the concert, the musicians will be led by guest Lithuanian conductor Gintaras Rinkevicius and will be joined by world renowned violinist Alexander Markov and soprano Dominika Zamara.

It's a slippery slope--when an orchestra commemorates the career of a famous singer, featuring other, less well-known artists. That's exactly what the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment did last Thursday at Mostly Mozart in Alice Tully Hall. In an all-Handel concert, the group remembered its long collaboration with the late, celebrated mezzo Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, conducted by Laurence Cummings. Would the concert bring the discovery of exciting talent who had yet to make their mark in New York? Would the soloists--both unknown to me--thrill us while paying homage to the person they were celebrating, in music that she made famous? I kept wondering about this before the concert began, with feelings of expectation and exhilaration.

Growing up, I had three passions, theatre, sports, and pro wrestling; today, in my inaugural “Translating Sports” column, I am going to discuss all three. Now, I can either look at this as the culmination of all of my childhood hopes and dreams, or as if my tastes and maturity level has not progressed since I was 12-years-old. I will let you determine which after reading the column.

On October 27th at 2PM, the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony led by music director David Bernard returns to the Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall for a program of Dvorak, Brahms, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. We sat down with Maestro Bernard to find out more about his work with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony and the upcoming performance at Carnegie Hall.

When Everything Was Possible-A Concert (with Comments) debuted at New York City Center. Broadway stars Kurt Peterson and Victoria Mallory delivered a memorable evening of story and song. On September 7, 2013, they bring their extraordinary production to RiverCenter for one night only!

Infinity Theatre Company (Anna Roberts Ostroff & Alan Ostroff) and Perry Street Theatricals (Martin Platt & David Elliott) have just announced that the first Broadway production of DAMES AT SEA will set sail on Broadway in 2014. With a book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller, music by Jim Wise, and musical direction byRob Berman (The Pajama Game, Finian's Rainbow), DAMES AT SEA will be directed and choreographed by three time Tony Award nominee Randy Skinner (42nd Street, Irving Berlin's White Christmas). Design team, casting, production dates and Broadway theatre to be announced at a later date.

Cygnet Theatre presents a concert reading of Side by Side by Sondheim, a musical revue of Sondheim favorites. Directed by David McBean with Musical Direction by Chris Myers, Side by Side by Sondheim will be presented for TWO NIGHTS ONLY, beginning tonight, August 19, and continuing tomorrow, August 20 at 7:00pm.

Christine Ebersole won her second Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, as well as virtually every Off-Broadway award, for her 'dual role of a lifetime' as Edith Beale and Little Edie Beale in Grey Gardens. The critically acclaimed musical was nominated for a total of ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the CD recording was nominated for a Grammy Award. Tonight and tomorrow, August 17 and 18 she will return to Provincetown and the Broadway @ The Art House series for the first time since her sold-out debut at the theater two years ago. Series host and Sirius/Radio star Seth Rudetsky joins her again at the piano.

The international cast of "WEST SIDE STORY" has arrived in London for the show's run at Sadler's Wells until 22 September, and some of the members of the two rival gangs - The Jets and The Sharks - headed to London's edgy and urban Leake Street, SE1 to re-create some of the show's most iconic dance moves.

The MacDowell Colony will award composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim with its 54th Edward MacDowell Medal today, August 11. The MacDowell Colony, the nation's first artist residency program, has awarded the medal annually since 1960 to an individual artist who has made an outstanding contribution to his or her field. This year marks the first time a luminary has been chosen from the realm of musical theatre and Sondheim's generous offering of his talents to the stage made him a clear choice.

Ten-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin conducts La Scala's philharmonic orchestra in an eclectic MusicEmotion concert today, August 11, 11:30 a.m. at Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Avenue. Tickets are $10 in advance at www.musicboxtheatre.com/collections/musicemotion or in person at the Music Box Theatre box office, subject to availability.

THE PIANIST OF WILLESDEN LANE, starring internationally-acclaimed storyteller and pianist, Mona Golabek, which was recently extended due to popular demand through September 1, will host a special talk back discussion on Sunday, August 18 following with 3 p.m. performance. The talk back will feature a special guest appearance by Kindertransport survivor Ernst Heimann, member of the Speakers' Bureau at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. The production is adapted and directed by Hershey Felder and based on the book The Children of Willesden Lane by Golabek and Lee Cohen. The Chicago premiere has received rave reviews and follows successful productions in Los Angeles and Boston.

Hershey Felder in Abe Lincoln's Piano will have its world premiere in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse as a limited fifteen-performance engagement starting January 3, 2014.

The rest of the world might be in the midst of obsessing over the fierce monsters of the sea, but fans of Broadway celebrate Shark Week in an entirely different way. Check out a hysterical viral photo as featured on the official Jerome Robbins Facebook page below!

Hershey Felder in Abe Lincoln's Piano will have its world premiere in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse as a limited fifteen-performance engagement starting January 3, 2014.

The Laguna Playhouse Executive and Artistic Directors, Karen Wood and Ann E. Wareham will present their second special bonus offering of their 2013 season, the world premiere production of a new musical play, ROCKSTAR, featuring the music of Franz Liszt and others, written and performed by Hershey Felder and directed by Trevor Hay.