Philip Glass News

Okay, so New York City Opera has commissioned Philip Glass to write a new opera about Walt Disney. Let's start taking bets. How many clueless parents are going to be taking their toddlers because they assume the Disney name means it's for kids?

Great writers and great works of literature are the thematic thread running through the 2008-09 season of Lincoln Center's Great Performers 'New Visions' series, this year subtitled, 'The Literary Muse.' A work by celebrated English novelist Virginia Woolf is the inspiration for the third presentation of the series. Opening on November 12, The National Theatre of Great Britain's award-winning, multi-media production of Waves will have its U.S. Premiere at The Duke on 42nd StreetSM, a New 42nd Street project.

Next month, Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman returns to Berkeley Repertory Theatre with an alluring adaptation of The Arabian Nights. This is Zimmerman's sixth trip to Berkeley Rep, and for the first time she works her magic on the intimate Thrust Stage. The Arabian Nights runs from November 13 through January 4 with the official press night on November 19.

Flemish director Guy Cassiers makes his American debut with Sunken Red-a multimedia theater work created in collaboration with and performed by one of Europe's leading stage actors, Dirk Roofthooft.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is proud to announce Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick as 'Philip' in a new Broadway production of The Philanthropist by Tony and Academy Award winner Christopher Hampton, directed by David Grindley.

The world premiere of Fela!, a new musical based on the life of groundbreaking African composer, performer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti, will play the final performance of its extended run Sunday, October 5th at 37 Arts (450 West 37th Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues.

For the first time, the Metropolitan Opera will present a work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams: Doctor Atomic, his opera about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb. The piece is set in New Mexico in the summer of 1945, as scientists, led by Oppenheimer, and the military prepare to test the first nuclear bomb, events that will radically change the course and fabric of history. The new production, starring Gerald Finley in the title role, will open at the Met on Monday, October 13, at 8:00 p.m. When the opera premiered in San Francisco in October of 2005, The Guardian said, 'Adams's ecstatically lyrical writing and the music's visionary eloquence make this a modern masterpiece.' The New York Times later wrote that Doctor Atomic was 'the most complex and inventive of Mr. Adams's works, an engrossing operatic drama.'

In a nouveau cirque work poised at the intersection of physical theater, modern dance, and waking dreams, France's Compagnie 111 makes its BAM debut in Les sept planches de la ruse (The Seven Boards of Skill) in a joint production with Scenes de la Terre. Conceived and directed by French director Aurelien Bory, this U.S. premiere is inspired by tangram-an ancient Chinese geometric puzzle composed of seven tiles that can be manipulated in a nearly infinite number of combinations. Developed in the industrial city of Dalian, China, where it premiered in 2007, Les sept planches de la ruse has toured across France and to Portugal. After the BAM engagement, the production will travel to additional cities in France, as well as to the UK and Hungary.

Following a meeting of New York City Opera's Board of Directors, Gerard Mortier, General Manager Designate today announced that City Opera is commissioning Philip Glass to compose a new opera, The Perfect American which imaginatively explores the life and career of Walt Disney

BABALU-CY will now play a special schedule from September 27th thru October 12th it will playSaturday & Sunday @ 3pm. THERE WILL BE NO WEDNESDAY PERFORMANCES IN OBSERVANCE OF ROSH HASHANAH & YOM KIPPUR.

As part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival, BAM welcomes the return of U Theatre, one of Taiwan's most celebrated theater companies, in Meeting with Bodhisattva-a music-theater work that depicts an individual's journey toward becoming a Bodhisattva or 'enlightened being' in Buddhism. This U.S. premiere features a whirlwind of drumming, martial arts, Buddhist chanting, and Chinese operatic dance.

A composer, performer, violinist, and band leader, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) seamlessly blends classical music, funk, rock, and hip-hop into a unique musical vision.

Lincoln Center announced today an exciting series of artistic and educational events and initiatives to celebrate its forthcoming 50th anniversary, officially beginning with a ceremony to commemorate the institution's original groundbreaking in 1959 and ending with a campus-wide open house. The anniversary celebration coincides with the physical transformation of Lincoln Center, designed to make the campus a more open, accessible and vibrant urban destination. Ribbon cuttings will be held throughout the year as redevelopment projects are completed.

Award-winning producers, MICHAEL & BARBARA ROSS, will present the 2008 Back Stage Bistro Award Winning GREG PURNHAGEN in BABALU-CY - the art of Desi Arnaz, Off-Broadway, at the Actors Temple Theatre, beginning August 23rd, with the opening set for Wednesday, September 17th.

Ruth & Stephen Hendel and Roy Gabay announced today that, due to overwhelming popular demand, the world premiere of Fela!, a new musical based on the life of groundbreaking African composer, performer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti, has extended its run through Saturday, October 4 at 37 Arts (450 West 37th Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues

As part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival, BAM presents the U.S. debut of Iceland's Vesturport Theatre in a critically-acclaimed production of Georg Büchner's Woyzeck. With haunting original music by cult rocker Nick Cave and Bad Seeds' Warren Ellis, this U.S. premiere is directed by rising-star Gísli Örn Gardarsson and is a joint production of Vesturport and The Reykjavik City Theatre. Woyzeck premiered at The Reykjavik City Theatre in 2005 and was presented at London's Barbican Theatre in 2005 as part of their Young Genius series where its sold-out run received critical acclaim. The production returned to the Barbican in 2006, traveled to Spain in 2007, and will tour to South Korea in May 2009.

In anticipation of the beginning of Gerard Mortier's tenure as General Manager and Artistic Director in 2009-10, New York City Opera will present Looking Forward, a celebration of twentieth-century music, as part of a unique series of concerts and events planned for 2008-09.

Ruth & Stephen Hendel and Roy Gabay present the world premiere of Fela!, a new musical based on the life of groundbreaking African composer, performer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Flemish director Guy Cassiers makes his American debut with Sunken Red-a multimedia theater work created in collaboration with and performed by one of Europe's leading stage actors, Dirk Roofthooft.

Award-winning producers, Michael & Barbara Ross, will present the 2008 Back Stage Bistro Award Winning GREG PURNHAGEN in BABALU-CY - the art of Desi Arnaz, Off-Broadway, at the Actors Temple Theater, beginning August 23rd.