Leonard Bernstein News

This fall, Theater League opens another unforgettable season of shows with the 2013-2014 at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. The series will include Tony-nominated MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, the new revival of WEST SIDE STORY, the new musical THE ADDAMS FAMILY and everyone's favorite new classic Mamma Mia! Individual tickets start at $34 and are on sale July 28, 2013.

Pacific Symphony's annual free summer evenings of outdoor music and entertainment will come to Segerstrom Center's Arts Plaza for the first time on Friday, July 26 beginning at 5:30 p.m. The 2013 Target Symphony in the Cities (SITC) concert series on the Center's Arts Plaza will also help to celebrate Costa Mesa's 60th Anniversary. The Symphony, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, will play familiar and well-loved tunes by Shostakovich, Massenet, Strauss (Jr. and Sr.!) and American legends John Williams, Leonard Bernstein and John Philip Sousa. Special guest performers are the doo-wop group The Alley Cats and violinist Kotaro Tsutsumi.

Due to overwhelming sales, the Chicago Premiere of THE PIANIST OF WILLESDEN LANE, starring internationally-acclaimed storyteller and pianist, Mona Golabek, today announced its final extension through Sept. 1 at The Royal George Theatre, 1641 North Halsted Street. 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.

FROM BROADWAY WITH LOVE: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook, which took place on January 28, 2013, at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, will be airing on select public television stations throughout the tri-state area. An hour-long version of the concert will premiere tonight, July 18 at 10 p.m on WLIW21, Friday, July 26 at 10 p.m. on THIRTEEN and CPTV, and Tuesday, July 30 at 10 p.m. on NJTV. 'From Broadway With Love' was a concert of healing for the Newtown community where composers, musicians and more than 100 stars of Broadway came together with over 300 students from several Newtown dance groups, the Sandy Hook Elementary School 3rd and 4th grades and the Newtown High School Chamber Choir.

Ten-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin conducts La Scala's philharmonic orchestra in an eclecticMusicEmotion concert to be shown Sunday, 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 MacDowell Colony will award composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim with its 54th Edward MacDowell Medal on Sunday, 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.

Bringing the legal community together one musical bar at a time! From The New World Symphony to West Side Story, founder-conductor Gary S. Greene, Esq. will lead the Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic and the 100-plus-member Legal Voices aka 'LA's Only Legal Orchestra and Chorus' in its 4th Annual Concert Extraordinaire at Walt Disney Concert Hall (111 S. Grand Avenue, LA 90012) on Saturday, July 20 at 8:00 PM.

Robert Simpson, Founder and Artistic Director of the Houston Chamber Choir announces the Choir's 18th season, Where Class Meets Cool. The 2013-2014 season includes masterpieces by Brahms, Handel, Palestrina, and Durufle, along with works by today's leading composers including a newly commissioned piece by Jocelyn Hagen, recent winner of the McKnight award.

Maine State Music Theatre is thrilled to present a one night only concert starring Suzanne Nance and Friends on Monday, July 29 at 7:30 p.m. This intimate evening of song will showcase a variety of songs from opera including George Gershwin's, 'Summertime' from PORGY AND BESS; Leo Delibe's 'Lakme Duet (Flower Duet)' from LAKME; George Bizet's 'Au fond du temple saint' from THE PEARL FISHERS; Giacomo Puccini's 'O Soave Faciulla' from LA BOHEME; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 'La ci darem la mano' from DON GIOVANNI; and Gioacchino and Rossini's 'The Cat Duet.'

Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Broadway World have partnered for an inaugural filmed Conversations Q&A series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the union actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen. Below, check out a photo preview of the conversation with 2013 Tony Award Recipient Andrea Martin moderated by Broadway World's Richard Ridge. Be sure to check back later to watch highlights from the special interview!

Spectrum presents NYX II: New York Progressive and Experimental Festival celebrating the historical interaction between the genres of classical Experimental Music and Progressive Rock since their beginning and into the 21st century.

Tickets for Bernadette Peters start at $49 and will go on sale Sunday, August 25 at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets will be available online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings for 10 or more, call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746.

Actress/singer Valerie Perri, best known for her role of Eva Peron in Evita, will open as Norma Desmond in MTW's Sunset Boulevard Saturday July 13 in Long Beach. In our chat she discusses the challenges of portraying bigger than life fictional silent movie queen Norma Desmond.

Lee Wilkof and Robert Picardo, directed by John Putch, present a knockout version of the Neil Simon classic

This summer, Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) introduces YouthOrchestra of St. Luke's, or YOSL, taking inspiration from youth orchestra programs around the world— including Venezuela's El Sistema—that emphasize after-school music instruction and ensemble playing as an agent for social change. This marks ashift in direction for OSL's Community & Education programs, which have evolved and expanded since OSL opened The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in 2011.

The National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award-winning Young People's Chorus of New York City (YPC), led by its Artistic Director/Founder Francisco J. Nuñez and accompanied by pianist Jon Holden, will leave for a month-long summer tour of Asia on July 12, its fifth trip to the Asian continent. They will give costumed and choreographed performances in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and five Japanese cities, including Tokyo, where YPC makes its Tokyo Philharmonic debut. In several Japanese cities YPC will sing the first performances in Japan of Samuragochi Mamoru's HIROSHIMA REQUIEM since the work's premiere in Hiroshima in 2007.