Leonard Bernstein News

You don't have to go far to experience the ambience of New York City's iconic Birdland Jazz Club, when Live at Birdland, featuring the Birdland Big Band directed by Tommy Igoe, appears in Jorgensen's award-winning Cabaret on Thursday, January 31, at 7:30 p.m. The audience will be transported back to a time when a number of illustrious jazz musicians, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, and Lester Young, to name just a few, made Birdland their New York home.

Giselle Wolf Journeys: A Celebration has been invited back for a Special Return Engagement at the Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, NYC for the New Year. The additional performances are: tonight, January 17th & Friday, January 18th as well as Sunday, February 3rd and Monday, February 4th, 2013 at 9:30 pm. The musical direction and arrangements for the trio are by Ron Abel, and it is directed and developed with Karen Ludwig.

The Loyola Opera Theatre brings the legacy and genius of American composer Leonard Bernstein to life with its new production of the fast-paced comic operetta, "Candide," Friday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 20 at 3 p.m.

The subject seems to come up at least once a year and it's now made its first 2013 appearance - will Mel Brooks bring BLAZING SADDLES to Broadway? Maybe. Deadline.com reports that at a PBS panel on his American Masters Series, Brooks was asked again about turning the film into a stage show? His answer - he's thinking about.

Presented by Performing Arts Fort Worth, the tour of the smash hit Broadway revival of WEST SIDE STORY is coming to Fort Worth. WEST SIDE STORY will open at Bass Performance Hall tonight, January 15 and run through January 20. Tony Award-winning librettist Arthur Laurents' Broadway direction is recreated for the tour by David Saint, the Associate Director on Broadway. The original Jerome Robbins choreography is reproduced by Tony Award-nominee Joey McKneely (The Boy from Oz, The Life).

The tour of the smash hit Broadway revival of WEST SIDE STORY is coming to Boise. WEST SIDE STORY will open at the Morrison Center on March 25, 2013 for four performances. Tony Award-winning librettist Arthur Laurents' Broadway direction is recreated for the tour by David Saint, the Associate Director on Broadway. The original Jerome Robbins choreography is reproduced by Tony Award-nominee Joey McKneely (The Boy from Oz, The Life).

For one night only, Chita Rivera - a theatrical icon and one of Broadway's greatest triple-threat talents - will offer a star-studded event in honor of her 80th birthday.Chita: A Legendary Celebration, directed by Graciela Daniele, will take place Monday, October 7 and will be produced by and benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was there for the big announcement where he got the full scoop on the show from Rivera herself. Check out what she had to say below!

For one night only, Chita Rivera - a theatrical icon and one of Broadway's greatest triple-threat talents - will offer a star-studded event in honor of her 80th birthday.Chita: A Legendary Celebration, directed by Graciela Daniele, will take place Monday, October 7 and will be produced by and benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Check out photos from the big announcement below!

The Midtown Men featuring Tony Award Winner Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard, and Tony nominee J. Robert Spencer, just performed at the Gramercy Theatre, and you can check out photos from the event below!

For one night only, Chita Rivera - a theatrical icon and one of Broadway's greatest triple-threat talents - will offer a star-studded event in honor of her 80th birthday.Chita: A Legendary Celebration, directed by Graciela Daniele, will take place Monday, October 7 and will be produced by and benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The Midtown Men features Tony Award Winner Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard, and Tony nominee J. Robert Spencer. This jump-to-your-feet show features top hits from a who's who of the ‘60s including The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Temptations, The Jackson 5, and The Four Seasons, whose story they brought to life every night as Stars in the Original Cast of Jersey Boys.

The Encores! 20th Anniversary season opens on January 30, and Encores! alums have been sending in their best wishes. Below, check out a video of Stephen Wallem, Victoria Clark, Mylinda Hull, Chuck Cooper, Elizabeth Stanley, Judy Kaye, Mayor Bloomberg and more riffing on their Encores! experiences!

The concert hall is transformed into the movie theater when the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), lead by Music Director Marin Alsop, with soprano Irina Tchistjakova and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society perform Sergei Prokofiev's music score from Sergei Eisenstein's classic 1938 motion picture Alexander Nevsky. The BSO and guests will perform this majestic score live while the film is projected behind them tonight, January 11, 2013 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 13, 2013 at 3 p.m. at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, and Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore.

An epic format deserves an epic festival. For two weeks in February, Music Box Theatre screens nine movies - more than a half-ton of celluloid - at the Music Box Theatre 70MM Festival. Highlights include a brand new print of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and the return of Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master. Music Box has spent more than 100 man-hours prepping their 70mm equipment to ensure that even audiences who've seen 70mm before have never seen it with this clarity. Music Box Theatre 70MM Festival runs February 15-28, 2012 at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave. www.musicboxtheatre.com/collections/music-box-theatre-70mm-festival

Led by Associate Conductor Robert Franz, the Houston Symphony invites families to a mystical musical experience on Saturday, January 19.

New York City Opera opens its spring 2013 season with a new production of Powder Her Face (1995), composed by Thomas Adès (b.1971) to a libretto by Philip Hensher (b. 1965).

Bloomington Theatre and Art Center (BTAC) will welcome Tony-nominated Broadway actress Melissa Hart for a special 1-day acting workshop for musical theater performers called Voice: The Actor's Instrument. She will visit BTAC for this educational opportunity on Saturday, February 16 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Christoph von Dohnányi will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct an all-Beethoven program that includes the Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus; Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist Radu Lupu; and Symphony No. 5 on Thursday, January 31, 2013, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 1 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, February 2 at 8:00 p.m.