Sarasota Opera Announces Casting, Schedule for Upcoming Season
by Matt Smith - Jul 21, 2016
Sarasota Opera – Thrilling music, exciting new voices, and compelling theater will launch Sarasota Opera into its 58th Season of presenting grand opera on the south Florida gulf coast, the first season in 28 years to not include any operas by Giuseppe Verdi.
BWW Cabaret Conversation: For BWW Award Nominee RAQUEL CION, Life is All David Bowie, All the Time
by Remy Block - May 13, 2016
Raquel Cion's critically acclaimed cabaret show Me and Mr Jones: My Intimate Relationship with David Bowie, has it's final performance of the current run at The Slipper Room on Sunday (May 15) at 8 pm. Cion has been working throughout NYC as an actor, director, and singer for the past 20 years, and has won accolades for her evocative performances. Since she was a teenager, Cion has had a deep, abiding, reverential love for the musician David Bowie, which she incandescently brings to light in this show, as much a one-woman Off-Broadway presentation with a band as a cabaret show. I recently met with Cion at the Chocolate Room in Brooklyn, and true to form, Cion ordered a vanilla milkshake, laughing at her tendency to swim against the current. We discussed her creative and emotional process for initially creating the Bowie show, and then changing the show on the fly after her beloved Bowie died this past January at 69.
BWW Interview: Juan Carlos, Tatiana, & Sandra Cantu of IN THE HEIGHTS at Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center
by Cary Ginell - May 6, 2016
In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical about community and family in a Dominican-American neighborhood in New York City, has a multi-layered meaning for its talented cast. The production, which is currently being presented at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, features veteran television actor Juan Carlos Cantu, returning to the stage after more than 30 years, to act besides his two daughters, Tatiana and Sandra. All three play major roles in the show, bringing the three together on stage for the first time. (Our review is in this week's Moorpark Acorn. http://www.mpacorn.com/news/2016-05-06/On_The_Town/Cast_takes_musical_to_the_highest_level.html) We visited with the girls and their proud father before a Sunday matinee performance.
BWW Review: Richard Holbrook Sings Richard Rodgers With A Lot Of Heart and Mixed Results at Metropolitan Room
by Alix Cohen - Mar 16, 2016
Veteran cabaret performer Richard Holbrook peppers his show, 'Sings Richard Rodgers With a Lot of Hart' (at the Metropolitan Room this past Monday night) with facts about Rodgers' life and career. It's obvious the performer feels strongly about his subject's work. Unfortunately, the same energy, volume, and mood predominate throughout. Arrangements are highly similar. Holbrook's musical self consciousness overrides lyric content. His show presents spirit and heart, but inadequate direction.
STAGE TUBE: On This Day for 2/11/16- THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG
by Nicole Rosky - Feb 11, 2016
Today in 1979, They're Plaing Our Song opened at the Imperial Theatre, where it ran for 1082 performances. With a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and music by Marvin Hamlisch, the musical is based on the real-life relationship of Hamlisch and Sager- a wisecracking composer finds a new, offbeat lyricist, but initially the match is not one made in heaven. The two undergo a series of trials and overcome a number of hurdles before finding true love by the final curtain. They're Playing Our Song is essentially a two-character show. Vernon and Sonia are the sole characters on stage; each character has a three-person Greek chorus acting as their inner voices, and there are no big production numbers.
Adding Oscar-Nominated Song 'Suddenly' to LES MIS Stage Remains Uncertain
by Oliver Oliveros - Nov 2, 2015
'If you don't have a camera zooming straight into the eyes or catching a close-up of a hand touching another hand, it doesn't work,' said Claude-Michel Schonberg, the French composer of now 30-year-old musical 'Les Miserables' (Les Mis), when asked about the possibility of adding the Oscar-nominated song 'Suddenly,' especially written for the 2012 movie adaptation, to 'Les Mis' onstage.
Woodside Community Theatre Presents CHICAGO
by Sally Henry Fuller - Oct 4, 2015
Woodside Community Theatre (WCT) is proud to present Chicago, composed by John Kander with lyrics by Fredd Ebb and book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse.