The Show Off Revival 1968 - Articles Page 9

The first words sung in A Bronx Tale, the tonally uneven and musically disappointing touring show that opened at D.C.'s National Theatre on Tuesday, are literally "this is a Bronx tale." The artistic subtleties don't get much better from there, as the musical (based on a movie based on a one-man show) proceeds to tackle issues from morality to racism with all the delicateness of a mobster smashing someone's head in with a baseball bat. Everything about this production is underwhelming from the performances to the design to the direction and choreography. Ultimately, A Bronx Tale is the perfect example of why we should stop adapting movies into musicals.

Life in Trump's America often feels like a deathlike daily march out of a hole eight stories below ground. Jordan Wolfe capitalizes on our collective weariness with his exuberant, campy rock musical version of George Romero's iconic 1968 horror film, Night of the Living Dead. As with all remakes, it helps to know the source material, if only to compare or appreciate the handling of familiar characters and plot-lines. But NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD! THE MUSICAL! stands on its own and makes you laugh even if zombie-eating creatures in 'middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania' don't generally interest you. Mitchell Walker's direction keeps NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: THE MUSICAL! moving at a clip. The choreography is far more more elaborate than in most shows of this scale, as are the sets. Often in off-Broadway musicals, there are three or so strong songs and a lot of filler. And even if more than a handful of songs are solid, they tend to sound the same. Jordan Wolfe's songs range from rock to jazzy-pop to more traditional musical theater fare and his dialogue is crisp and clever. Add first-rate singers and strong musical direction by David Rosenberg and you get a well-executed musical farce (marred only by muddy sound and occasionally drowned out lyrics).

With Belvo and Meyer leading the way, this is as funny an ODD COUPLE as you will likely see.

The Broward Stage Door Theatre is slowly but steadily growing into its new Lauderhill home. The Producers is a show that can challenge any major regional theatre with its performance and technical demands. The Stage Door has taken on said challenge with grace. Throughout the show's month-long run, audiences have laughed at the show's timeless Mel Brooks humor and were moved by some high-quality performances.

A BRONX TALE is a musical adapted from a film that was once a one man show written by Chazz Palminteri. The Broadway Smash premiered with previews on November 3, 2016, and officially opened December 1, 2016 at the Longacre Theatre. Launching its North American Tour in the Fall of 2018 the musical features music written by Alan Menken, with lyrics by Glenn Slater and book written by the original one man show stopper Chazz Palminteri. While on its tour stop in Tampa at the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, we as the opening-night audience were truly thrust into Old City New York full of Mobsters and Italian lessons to boot. 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced the full cast and creative team for Metamorphoses. This co-production with the Guthrie Theater is led by nationally and internationally renowned writer and director Mary Zimmerman.

The world premiere of Little Girl Blue - The Nina Simone Musical-a powerful new show exploring the life of American icon Nina Simone, as told through her own words and groundbreaking music-will kick off 2019 at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ.

Opening on January 18, Hart House Theatre presents the rock musical Hair, an iconic work that celebrates its 50th anniversary at a time of new-found social justice movements and civil unrest. Directed and choreographed by a multi-faceted talent, Julie Tomaino, featuring showcase performances by trained, emergent talent, and supported by a professional production team, Hair is sure to knock your proverbial socks off.

This quote is the opening sentence from the author of the book and the words that inspired, created and catapulted The White Album -- a theatrical representation in full of Didion's autobiographical, literary essays of the same name published in 1979 but focused on the tumultuous period of time between 1966 (though it was officially started in 1968) and 1971, which had an engagement as part of BAM's Next Wave Festival November 28 - December 1, through collaborators between Lars Jan/Early Morning Opera, Mia Barron (who portrayed Didion herself), and multiple commissioners and supporters including Center Theatre Group, arts centers at CalArts, UCLA, Ohio State University and the UCross Foundation, amongst others.

The Dick Cavett Show Coming To DVD from SMORE Entertainment

To celebrate the arrival of the national tour of Hamilton at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts (December 11 - 30), the Broadway music radio program, "On Broadway," will feature an all-Presidential themed show on Sunday, December 9 from 5:30-6:30pm on WRTC-FM, 89.3. The program can also be heard online at www.wrtcfm.com.

Following their successful inaugural tour across Australia and New Zealand in 2017 and their current US Tour, the pedigree of hallowed '60s trio Cream – Ginger Baker's son Kofi Baker, Jack Bruce's son Malcolm Bruce and Eric Clapton's nephew *Will Johns – are coming to the UK for the first time to pay homage to the band's extraordinary legacy with The Music Of Cream – 50th Anniversary World Tour. The tour kicks off in Glasgow on Today 23rd November – the show has been moved from the Glasgow O2 Academy to St Luke's. Tickets are available via www.themjrgroup.com/moc50th/.

Following their successful inaugural tour across Australia and New Zealand in 2017 and their current US Tour, the pedigree of hallowed '60s trio Cream – Ginger Baker's son Kofi Baker, Jack Bruce's son Malcolm Bruce and Eric Clapton's nephew *Will Johns – are coming to the UK for the first time to pay homage to the band's extraordinary legacy with The Music Of Cream – 50th Anniversary World Tour. The tour kicks off in Glasgow on Friday 23rd November – the show has been moved from the Glasgow O2 Academy to St Luke's. Tickets are available via www.themjrgroup.com/moc50th/.

The Academy for the Performing Arts' Music Media Entertainment Technology (MMET) department presents its annual benefit concert with 'The Beatles Story: 1968.' The tribute to the Beatles doubles as a fundraiser for the department, complete with opportunity baskets and silent auctions and takes place at First Christian Church in Huntington Beach (corner of Adams & Main) today and Friday, November 1-2, at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $40 for VIP (reserved and comes with swag) and can be bought online at www.hbapa.org/see.

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with week two of the "Second Annual Celebration of Ron Carter" with the Ron Carter Quartet, Capathia Jenkins & Louis Rosen 'PHENOMENAL WOMAN: The Maya Angelou Songs,' Alex Frondelli Quartet, and more!

The Academy for the Performing Arts' Music Media Entertainment Technology (MMET) department presents its annual benefit concert with 'The Beatles Story: 1968.' The tribute to the Beatles doubles as a fundraiser for the department, complete with opportunity baskets and silent auctions and takes place at First Christian Church in Huntington Beach (corner of Adams & Main) on Thursday and Friday, November 1-2, at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $40 for VIP (reserved and comes with swag) and can be bought online at www.hbapa.org/see.

Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, Artistic Producer) in celebration of its 50thseason, will present The Algonquin Kid, a musical revue about growing up in the Algonquin Hotel, written by Michael Colby.

Looking into the future, you'll find a number of new productions on tap for your entertainment pleasure, thanks to the efforts of theater companies all over Middle Tennessee. Here's our calendar for October 1, 2018, to help you plot your course through the end of the year...

It's the day of the show, y'all: The Nashville premiere of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band is tonight - at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue in The Nations - and six of the actors portraying Crowley's now-iconic characters took time from tech week to answer questions about their processes and to offer their reasons for why you should come see the show.

Nine Nashville area actors have been cast in the upcoming production of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band, which will play six performances at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue, in a production helmed by veteran director Jeffrey Ellis, who is known throughout Tennessee as a leading theater journalist and critic.

What if God turned out to be a Puerto Rican steam bath attendant, assisted by a butler named Gottlieb? Renowned stand up comedian and actor Paul Rodriguez stars in a revival of Steambath, the 1970 off Broadway hit comedy by Bruce Jay Friedman that also became a PBS television special. Odyssey Theatre Ensemble artistic director Ron Sossi directs for an Oct. 20 opening at West L.A.'s Odyssey Theatre, where performances will continue through Dec. 16.

Cleveland Play House (CPH) kicks off its 2018-2019 Season with the spine tingling tale of Susan Hill's The Woman in Black.  Hill's gothic ghost story, adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt, will star Bradley Armacost as Arthur Kipps and Adam Wesley Brown as the Actor in the show that Daily Mail called, "A nerve-shredding experience."  Director Robin Herford will recreate his original staging from the London West End.  The American premiere of the West End Production is produced by PW Productions and Pemberley Productions.  Previews begin on September 15th, with press opening on September 21st at the Allen Theatre in Playhouse Square. 

Nine Nashville area actors have been cast in the upcoming production of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band, which will play six performances at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue, in a production helmed by veteran director Jeffrey Ellis, who is known throughout Tennessee as a leading theater journalist and critic.

Creative Women New York will present the world premiere of 'Spin Off' by Bernard Pomerance, author of 'The Elephant Man,' in a production directed by Ron Canada from September 21 to October 13 at The Riverside Theatre, 91 Claremont Avenue.

In 1967, an enigmatic singer, songwriter and producer named Bobbie Gentry rose out of the Mississippi delta and enchanted audiences around the world with her beautiful, captivating voice and her "Ode To Billie Joe." An unconventional, beguiling song with simple acoustic guitar and sparse production, and notably without a discernible chorus, the song introduced Gentry and her style of storytelling that was very different to the confessional song writing of other emerging female singers. The song caused a lot of commotion as it shot to number one in America and knocked The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" off the top spot. When the album Ode To Billie Joe was released the following month, it topped the charts and was the only record to displace Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band from its 15-week reign. Over the next several years, Gentry, whose birthday was this past Friday, July 27, released seven studio albums and broke ground in numerous ways as one of the first female musicians to write, produce and even publish her own music. She also produced her elaborate stage shows via her own production company and was the first female singer songwriter to be afforded her own BBC TV series in the UK where she was wildly popular. She became one of the most iconic and influential artists of the 1960s and 70s, and then in the early '80s she made her final appearance and disappeared from the public eye completely, never to return.