Symphony Space News

Just Kidding will present the top kindie rock stars during January and February 2013 at Symphony Space. Smart kid tunes are a hallmark of this acclaimed performing arts series aimed at children ages 3 to 9 and their families. Each year, Symphony Space Performing Arts Director Darren Critz searches the nation to bring the top and emerging artists in family music to the Just Kidding stage.

They've performed on Broadway and the Today Show as well as in theaters around the nation. The KamiKaze FireFlies are a Los Angeles based tw0-person vaudeville smack-down featuring Rob Williams (formerly of the renowned comedy troupe The Flaming Idiots) and Casey Martin (formerly of the acrobatic show Barely Balanced).

Symphony Space's long-running public radio program, Selected Shorts, is pleased to be joined by an all-star line-up of guest hosts in 2013. Stephen Colbert, Neil Gaiman, John Lithgow, Cynthia Nixon, David Sedaris, and BD Wong, writers and performers who have all participated in previous Selected Shorts shows, each bring their own unique voice, humor, and insight to the hosting duty and honor the memory of Selected Shorts' creator and long-time host, Isaiah Sheffer, who passed away last month after a brief illness.

Academy Award nominee and Tony Award winner John Lithgow takes the title role in The Magistrate, an uproarious Victorian farce directed by Olivier Award winner Timothy Sheader, also featuring Olivier Award winner Nancy Carroll. In a similar vein to the National Theatre's classic comedies She Stoops to Conquer and London Assurance, The Magistrate is sure to have audiences around the world doubled up with laughter.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Producing Artistic Director, Todd Schmidt-Managing Director) has just announced the cast for its winter comedy, Ken Ludwig's Lend Me a Tenor. This hysterically funny, door-slamming comedy will feature Broadway stars and Paper Mill Playhouse favorites including: Judith Blazer (Maria), John Treacy Egan (Tito), Donna English (Diana), Nancy Johnston (Julia), David Josefsberg (Max), Michael Kostroff (Saunders), Jill Paice (Maggie) and Mark Price (Bellhop). Lend Me a Tenor will be directed by Don Stephenson. Lend Me a Tenor will run at the Millburn, New Jersey, theater from February 13 through March 10, 2013. The official press opening is Sunday, February 17, at 7:00pm.

Saturday, February 2, 2013 marks Symphony Space's fourth annual The Music of Now Marathon. The genre-defying eight-hour concert (4 pm - midnight) is curated by Artistic Director Laura Kaminsky and hosted by WQXR's Terrance McKnight in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater. From electronic experimentation to post-minimalism, spectralist sonorities to Latin jazz, the Music of Now Marathon offers an outstanding opportunity to discover a broad range of new music by emerging and established creators. Six world premieres, two US premieres, and three New York premieres will be heard.

Gotham Chamber Opera continues its 2012-2013 Season with ELIOGABALO (1667) by Francesco Cavalli. The show will run from March 15-29, 2013 at 8pm at The Box, 189 Chrystie Street, NYC. Tickets are $30-$175 and are available on www.ticketcentral.com or by phone at 212-279-4200.

Composer Bill Ryan is known to many as The Force behind The Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, the student group that gained widespread praise for recordings of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians (2007) and Terry Riley's In C with remixes (2009). With Towards Daybreak, the sophomore release from Ryan's ensemble Billband, the focus returns to his own work. Towards Daybreak comes out Tuesday, January 29 on Innova. The music - by turns contemplative, roiling, elegaic, and aggressive - reflects experiences in Ryan's life, from the birth of a child to the loss of his parents.

Whether he's singing an ode to "queer tattoos," telling his potential paramour all the things he won't be doing for her, or lamenting his new vegan lifestyle, Stephen Lynch will always consider himself "a musician trapped in the body of a comedian.' Comix At Foxwoods will give guests the chance to witness his hilarity when he visits Fox Theater at Foxwoods on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013 at 8 p.m. Tickets for the highly-anticipated show will be available for presale through Comix and Ticketmaster on Thursday, Jan. 3 at 10 a.m., and regular tickets will go on sale Friday, Jan. 4 at 10 a.m. Fans can purchase tickets in advance for $30, $42.50 and $55.

America's foremost Gilbert & Sullivan repertory ensemble, the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players, continues its annual tradition of New Year's Eve fun at Peter Norton Symphony Space (2535 Broadway at 95th Street) , tonight, December 31st at 8PM.

New York City's acclaimed Children's Acting Academy (CAA), which made world headlines in September 2010 when four of its student actors were invited to participate as the United States representatives in the first ever international children's theatre exchange in London, England, is proud to announce more major successes by members of its student body.

On Saturday, January 19th, 2013, Rosemary Loar unveils her newest cabaret creation: a show that showcases the genius of songwriting legends, Harold Arlen and Duke Elliington. An inventive force in the cabaret world for over 30 years, last year Rosemary Loar was honored with the 2012 MAC Hanson Award for continuing excellence.

Valentina Kozlova's Dance Conservatory Company returns to Symphony Space for their delightful production of Tchaikovsky's full-length NUTCRACKER today, December 22 at 4 PM at Guild Hall in East Hampton. Guest Daniyar Shmanov, principal with the Kazakh State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, joins the company of professional dancers and students of Kozlova's midtown school (at Symphony Space).

Soprano saxophonist/composer and former NASA artist Jane Ira Bloom brings her trio to the December concert series at The Stone curated by Min Xiao Fen & Scott Amendola. The concert is set for tonight, December 20, 2012, at 8 p.m., featuring Jane Ira Bloom on soprano saxophone, Mark Helias on bass and Bobby Previte on drums.

They've performed on Broadway and the Today Show as well as in theaters around the nation. The KamiKaze FireFlies are a Los Angeles based tw0-person vaudeville smack-down featuring Rob Williams (formerly of the renowned comedy troupe The Flaming Idiots) and Casey Martin (formerly of the acrobatic show Barely Balanced).

America's foremost Gilbert & Sullivan repertory ensemble, the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players, continues its annual tradition of New Year's Eve fun at Peter Norton Symphony Space (2535 Broadway at 95th Street) , on Monday, December 31st at 8PM.

The Hudson River Mummers, led by Henry Chapin (New York Revels at Symphony Space), will take to the June Havoc Stage at Abingdon Theatre Company (312 West 22nd Street) today, December 15 at 2pm. Admission is free. This 25-year old troupe performs all over the tri-state area, celebrating the shortest day of the year at the Winter Solstice and the rebirth of the New Year.