Placido Domingo News

Broadway's most talked about new musical and the biggest Tony Award-winner in years is coming to Cleveland. Spring Awakening, the 8-time Tony Award? winning Broadway musical, will open at PlayhouseSquare's PalaceTheatre and play for 16 performances, March 3-15. Spring Awakening is part of the KeyBank Broadway Series at PlayhouseSquare. Spring Awakening swept the 2007 Tony Awards? winning eight out of its eleven nominations, including Best Musical, Best Director (Michael Mayer), Best Book (Steven Sater), Best Choreography (Bill T. Jones), Best Orchestrations (Duncan Sheik), Best Lighting Design (Kevin Adams), Best Featured Actor (John Gallagher Jr.).

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced casting for its production of RAGTIME in the Eisenhower Theater April 18 - May 10, 2009. Based on a 1975 novel by E.L. Doctorow, the production features book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and will be directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge. The musical is part of the Kennedy Center's Broadway: The Third Generation, a series celebrating the current generation of Broadway musical composers. The official press night will take place on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.

On Saturday March 14, at 8 PM, the Riverdale Y will present a quartet of internationally known jazz performers. Nicki Parrott, jazz bassist and vocalist is making her second appearance at the Y. She will be joined by Derek Smith, the world's most recorded commercial/jazz pianist; Randy Sandke, noted trumpeter, composer and arranger, whom The Wall Street Journal dubbed 'the greatest trumpeter nobody knows'; and Joe Ascione, who has joined the three in concert on his birthday! Ms. Parrott, who plays regularly with legendary Les Paul at Manhattan's Iridium Club came to New York from her native Australia in 1994 on an Arts Council Grant to study with acclaimed bassist Rufus Reid. She has performed all over the world with jazz greats like Ken Peplowski, Bucky Pizarelli, Skitch Henderson and Warren Vache. She appears at major jazz festivals throughout the US and abroad and is a favorite on the cruise ship circuit. She also plays Klezmer music and appeared at the Riverdale Y last year with noted Klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals as well as touring Europe with David Krakeur. Randy Sandke has also appeared in clubs and festivals worldwide and is known for his virtuosity. He has recorded over 20 albums with musicians ranging from Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway and Dick Hyman to Mel Torme, Rosemary Clooney, Art Garfunkle and Barbara Carroll. His work has been heard on the soundtracks of many well known films including five Woody Allen pictures. As a composer he has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and his works have been featured at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fischer Hall; more than 50 of his compositions have been recorded.

Music arranger Angela Morley, who won Emmys for arranging two of Julie Andrews television specials has died at 84 in Scottsdale, Arizona. She's said to have passed away from complications of a fall and a subsequent heart attack. The three-time Emmy winner, also received Oscar nominations for adaptaing the songs in the musicals 'The Little Prince' and 'The Slipper and the Rose' This prolific woman also wrote her own official bio for her web site, which we reprint below. A very full life! Our thoughts and prayers go out to her partner Christine Parker, along with her son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren during this difficult time.

Stage and screen star Kristin Chenoweth, Tony Award winner for 'You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown,' and Tony Award nominee for originating the role of Glinda the Good Witch in 'Wicked,' will now perform her Benefit Concert at Westport Country Playhouse (Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe, artistic directors, Jodi Schoenbrun Carter, managing director) on March 28th instead of the original date of February 7th, 8 p.m.

In conjunction with the second edition of his hit book How Does the Show Go On?, Broadway producer Thomas Schumacher will give the keynote address at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta. The national festival dedicated togroups working with elementary and middle school aged young people, runs January 16 -18, 2009.Schumacher's presentation (on Sunday, January 18) will, much like his book, enlightenmore than 1,500 theater lovers about what goes into putting on a Broadway show.

Love! Rivalry! Politics! Pacific Lyric Association presents Luisa Fernanda, the last of the great Spanish zarzuelas by Federico Moreno Torroba. Four fully-staged performances of the complete libretto by Federico Romero and Guillermo Fernandez Shaw will take place at the 1000-seat Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood, February 19-21. Traveling from Spain to conduct the orchestra is the son of the composer, Federico Moreno-Torroba Larregla. Performances will be in Spanish with English supertitles. A zarzuela (pronounced zar zway' la) is a Spanish musical that blends the brilliance of Broadway with the passion of opera. The art form had its inception near Madrid in the 1640s. Legend says the name originates from a pavilion overgrown with blackberry bushes (zarzas) in a remote section of the city's El Prado Park, where actors gathered to present plays and entertain King Philip IV. Influenced over the centuries by Italian and French musical styles, but retaining a distinct personality, zarzuelas flourished as a popular entertainment in the 1920s and '30s. 'Unlike opera, zarzuelas are a form of populist entertainment,' explains Pacific Lyric Association artistic director, Madrid-born Carlos Oliva. 'The role of the story and dialogue is equally important to that of the singing and music - it's an early form of musical theater. It is paramount that the performers be strong actors as well as singers.'

Broadway's most talked about new musical and the biggest Tony Award?-winner in years is coming to the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis. Spring Awakening, the 8-time Tony Award? winning Broadway musical, will play a two-week engagement from February 10-22, 2009. Curtain times for the U.S. Bank Broadway Series presentation are Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 & 8 p.m.; Sunday, February 15 at 2 & 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, February 22 at 2 p.m. There is also a weekday matinee on Thursday, February 19 at 1 p.m.

In conjunction with the second edition of his hit book How Does the Show Go On?, Broadway producer Thomas Schumacher will give the keynote address at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta. The national festival dedicated togroups working with elementary and middle school aged young people, runs January 16 -18, 2009.Schumacher's presentation (on Sunday, January 18) will, much like his book, enlightenmore than 1,500 theater lovers about what goes into putting on a Broadway show.

The premiere collaboration of Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra is an historical event not to be missed! Not only does this performance mark the first time Chenoweth has performed solo in St. Louis it is also the first time that the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in its entirety has appeared on stage at the Fox Theatre. Tickets are on sale now and prices are $100, $80, $73, $60, $55, & $45. Presented by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

The 2008-2009 Reprise Theatre Company season continues with the classic international hit 'Man of La Mancha,' starring Brent Spiner as Cervantes/Quixote. Julia Migenes, the renowned opera and theatre performer, will play Aldonza/Dulcinea; Valerie Perri will play the role of Aldonza/Dulcinea at matinee performances; and Tony nominee Lee Wilkof will play Sancho Panza.

The premiere collaboration of Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra is an historical event not to be missed! Not only does this performance mark the first time Chenoweth has performed solo in St. Louis it is also the first time that the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in its entirety has appeared on stage at the Fox Theatre. Tickets are on sale now and prices are $100, $80, $73, $60, $55, & $45. Presented by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Theater veterans Mark Lamos and Michael Ross have been named artistic director and managing director, respectively, of Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Connecticut, as the historic theater enters its 79th season. The new leadership team will assume their positions on February 1, 2009.

Variety reports that Kristin Chenoweth has been picked to star in NBC's David E. Kelley legal drama 'Legally Mad,' which takes place at a Chicago law practice.

Stage and screen star Kristin Chenoweth, Tony Award winner for 'You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown,' and Tony Award nominee for originating the role of Glinda the Good Witch in 'Wicked,' will appear in a Valentine's Benefit Concert at Westport Country Playhouse (Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe, artistic directors, Jodi Schoenbrun Carter, managing director) on Saturday, February 7, 8 p.m. A pre-show champagne welcome will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets for the fundraising event are $100, $150, $250.

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Kristin Chenoweth (whose most recent TV gig, Pushing Daisies, appears to be all but cancelled) has joined the cast of Fox's new animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up, about the staff at a small-town Florida high school.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents ROUGH CROSSING by TOM STOPPARD, from an original play by FERENC MOLNÁR, directed by MARK RUCKER at the University Theatre (222 York Street, New Haven) beginning November 28 through December 20. Opening Night is Thursday, December 4.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents ROUGH CROSSING by TOM STOPPARD, from an original play by FERENC MOLNÁR, directed by MARK RUCKER at the University Theatre (222 York Street, New Haven) beginning November 28 through December 20. Opening Night is Thursday, December 4.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents ROUGH CROSSING by TOM STOPPARD, from an original play by FERENC MOLN?R, directed by MARK RUCKER at the University Theatre (222 York Street, New Haven) beginning November 28 through December 20. Opening Night is Thursday, December 4.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents ROUGH CROSSING by TOM STOPPARD, from an original play by FERENC MOLNÁR, directed by MARK RUCKER at the University Theatre (222 York Street, New Haven) beginning November 28 through December 20. Opening Night is Thursday, December 4.