Michael Mayer News

The regular season just ended for the Metropolitan Opera--all that's left is a series of HD rebroadcasts on Lincoln Center Plaza and a couple of low profile concerts in New York City parks--and it's time for a look back at what kind of season it was. With seven new productions and 21 other operas in rep during a season that ran from the end of September to mid-May, the Met was nothing if not far-reaching in its repertoire. And that's the way it should be. But how did its ambitions work out?

American Idiot, Green Day's explosive Broadway hit called 'wonderfully raucous' and 'emotionally charged' by the New York Times, will play the Straz Center in Tampa from tonight, May 17-19, 2013. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.strazcenter.org or call 1.813.229.STAR.

According to the Daily Mail, Michelle Williams is in talks to play 'Nellie Forbush' in a new big-screen adaptation of the musical SOUTH PACIFIC, directed by Michael Mayer with a screenplay by Lynn Grossman based on James Michener's novel Tales of the South Pacific.

Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong, who wrote this rock opera's lyrics, and his punk rock band that created its unstoppably vibrant music weren't going for "comfortable." They were aiming, along with co-creator and director Michael Mayer (who picked up a Tony for his direction of Spring Awakening), to offer a musical production that breaks ground for its in-your-face punk rock approach to storytelling and its entirely unapologetic tale of sex, drugs and (punk) rock n' roll. And while there's lots of all of the above-and all very well done-there's not so much in the way of a plot with any depth.

Direct from Broadway, the smash-hit musical AMERICAN IDIOT tells the story of three lifelong friends, forced to choose between their dreams and the safety of suburbia. Their quest for true meaning in a post 9/11 world leads them on the most exhilarating theatrical journey of the season, running May 28-June 2, 2013. Tickets are on sale now.

New York Stage and Film (Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director; Thomas Pearson, Executive Director; Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer, Leslie Urdang, Producing Directors) and Vassar College (Ed Cheetham, Producing Director) have announced the line-up of their 2013 Powerhouse Theater Season, which includes new works from actor, writer and prolific, Grammy Award-winning musician Steve Martin and Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of Broadway'sIn the Heights, among many others. The 2013 Powerhouse Theater Season runs from June 21st - July 28th at Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, New York), and a full calendar and description of events are below. Casting is underway and will be announced shortly.

A new Theatre Aspen Apprentice Program was announced today. The award-winning Equity theatre will invite ten aspiring theatre professionals to Aspen for an entire summer, to work alongside professionals in all aspects of theatre production. Theatre Aspen supporters and Aspen residents Jessica and John Fullerton will underwrite the program for its first three years. In January, the organization was named "Non Profit of the Year" in the region with hundreds of local not-for-profits.

Casting has been announced for the upcoming national tour of Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT, the explosive Broadway hit called "wonderfully raucous" and "emotionally charged" by The New York Times and "flat-out electrifying" by the Boston Globe, which will make its Jacksonville premiere at the Times-Union Center's Moran Theater on Tuesday-Wednesday, May 14th -15th for two performances only.

According to The New York Times, Vassar's Powerhouse Theater will showcase an impressive lineup for its 2013 season, running June 21 to July 28. A new musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, and two others by writers Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, and Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, will take the stage for Vassar College and New York Stage and Film.

Broadway Idiot, a documentary about the making of Berkeley Rep's acclaimed stage version of Green Day's American Idiot, debuted to stellar reviews at last month's South by Southwest Film Festival. Now it returns to the theatre where it all began as a benefit for Berkeley Rep's education and outreach programs. Broadway Idiot plays for one night only in the Roda Theatre on Saturday, May 4 at 8:00 PM.

You will laugh out loud, even though you know what's coming next.

The Drama League (Executive Director, Gabriel Shanks; Artistic Director, Roger T. Danforth) have announced the exceptional stage directors who have been selected as the 2013 Fellows of The Drama League Directors Project: Georgi Georgiev Antiqua, Elizabeth Carlson, Will Detlefsen, Dimitar Ivanov Dimitrov, Vesselin Dimov, Alexandru Mihail, Raphael Massie, Louisa Proske, Jamila Reddy, Samantha Saltzman, Danny Sharron, Jordan Slaveykov, Nicole A. Watson, and Lian Walden.

Theatres are usually dark on Monday nights, but several times each year Berkeley Repertory Theatre makes them glow with Page to Stage, a series of talks that engage brilliant guests in sparkling conversation. Today, the Tony Award-winning theatre announced that Artistic Director Tony Taccone will moderate a chat with Obie Award-winner MarK Wing-Davey, only days before he brings the Bard back with a bang in Pericles, Prince of Tyre. This free event tonight, April 8 takes place at the new Osher Studio in the Arts Passage at Berkeley Central. The address is 2055 Center Street in downtown Berkeley, only half a block from BART.

Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer's critically acclaimed new production of Verdi'sRigoletto, which moves the opera's tragic events from a decadent 16th-century Italian court to the glitzy, depraved setting of the Las Vegas strip circa 1960, will return to the Met stage on April 13. Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo, who made a much-heralded company debut in 2010, returns to the Met to sing the role of the Duke, presented in this production as an amoral lounge singer. Georgian baritone George Gagnidze sings Rigoletto, the Duke's world-weary jester, and rising American soprano Lisette Oropesa sings her first company performances as the innocent Gilda, Rigoletto's daughter and the Duke's victim. Venezuelan bass Enrico Giuseppe Iori makes his Met debut as the assassin-for-hire Sparafucile, and Spanish mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera sings the role of his seductive sister, Maddalena. Italian conductor Marco Armiliato returns to lead five performances of Verdi's towering drama. Mayer's production also features the work of debuting artists Christine Jones (set design), Susan Hilferty (costume design), Kevin Adams (lighting design), andSteven Hoggett (choreography).

The 2013 Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) proudly announces the documentary BROADWAY IDIOT as its Opening Night film. The red carpet screening of BROADWAY IDIOT will take place in Newport Beach on Thursday, April 25th

Theatres are usually dark on Monday nights, but several times each year Berkeley Repertory Theatre makes them glow with Page to Stage, a series of talks that engage brilliant guests in sparkling conversation. Today, the Tony Award-winning theatre announced that Artistic Director Tony Taccone will moderate a chat with Obie Award-winner Mark Wing-Davey, only days before he brings the Bard back with a bang in Pericles, Prince of Tyre. This free event on April 8 takes place at the new Osher Studio in the Arts Passage at Berkeley Central. The address is 2055 Center Street in downtown Berkeley, only half a block from BART.

Aspen's acclaimed Theater Masters will present its seventh annual 'Take 10,' an evening of nine 10-minute plays from award-winning MFA graduate playwriting students across the country as part of its National MFA Playwrights competition tonight, April 2nd - 6th at Off-Broadway's The Studio Theatre on Theatre Row (410 W 42nd Street).