They're Playing Our Song Tour 1981 - Articles Page 4

The French Institute Alliance Fran aise (FIAF), New York's premier French cultural and language center, today announced the 2019 Crossing the Line Festival, featuring 11 performances and a gallery exhibition from a geographically, generationally, and artistically diverse group of artists whose work transcends genres and boundaries. All performances are world, US, or New York premieres; they are united by their convention-breaking fearlessness as they confront topics from social injustice to personal demons. Many of the performances pay homage to legendary artists of our time and previous eras, while the theme of migration and its transformational effects on identity informs several others. The festival runs from September 12 to October 12. Ticket are available at crossingtheline.org.

The 29th annual Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival (Inside Out), championing innovative LGBTQ filmmakers from across the globe, revealed its full feature and short film lineup. The announcement was made today by Inside Out's Executive Director Andria Wilson and the festival's Director of Programming Andrew Murphy. Inside Out, which launched the first ever annual LGBTQ Film Finance Forum, has established itself as an international home and incubator for LGBTQ emerging and established filmmakers. This year's festival will take place May 23 to June 2, 2019.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Power through the end of your week by catching up on the latest Broadway news!

Now over 20 million albums into their career, there can be no doubt as to why The B-52s remain one of rock music's most beloved and enduring bands. As The B-52s continue to celebrate their 40th Anniversary, the band announced a world-wide tour today that is expected to cover more than 10 countries and will include a headlining North American summer tour, including a stop at the Majestic Theatre (224 E. Houston St.) in San Antonio, TX on August 21, 2019 at 7PM. Special guests OMD and Berlin will open the show. Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 12 at NOON.

Okay, this week, I only have to throw out two CDs, but it hurts! I'll never forget May 31, 1992--the 46th Annual Tony Awards. I had just turned 16 and was eagerly tuning in to absorb the Broadway of it all. I didn't really know much about any of the shows, other than that friends and family in New York had flipped for Guys And Dolls and that my parents had loved an earlier incarnation of Jelly's Last Jam when it played the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Glenn Close was hosting and Patti LuPone was presenting and I was not moving from my seat on the couch until I had a ranked list of the shows I wanted to see when I got to New York to visit my grandparents for Thanksgiving.

This week's decluttering is only freeing up a tiny bit of space in my collection, but it represents an enormous place in my heart. The only version of The Wiz I have on CD is the AMAZING/IF YOU DON'T KNOW IT, YOU'RE NOT A REAL BROADWAY FAN original cast album starring Stephanie Mills. I do have the movie soundtrack in my iTunes and the soundtrack of 'The Wiz Live!' is on Apple Music, so let's dive in.

A 40th Anniversary reunion benefit concert of the 1979 hit Broadway production of They're Playing Our Song will be held on Monday, February 11th at 7:30 pm at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th St.) and will star the Broadway cast members Lucie Arnaz as 'Sonia Walsk' and Robert Klein as 'Vernon Gersch'.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories: Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel begin in Waitress, and more!

When the Broadway debut of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along closed in 1981 after only 16 performances, few would have thought that the story of Merrily was only just beginning. In the coming decades, Merrily would continue to captivate audiences revival after revival, growing and evolving every step of the way. It is quite the testament to the enduring power of Sondheim that this musical, so many years after an initial failure, not only still captures imaginations, but continues to be shaped by them as well.

Jim Messina's legacy spans five decades and three acclaimed rock super groups: Loggins & Messina, Buffalo Springfield, and Poco. And he's had a vibrant solo career, plus a dizzying array of producing and engineering credits for such luminaries as The Doors, Joni Mitchell, and Herb Alpert. Performing with his band in Folsom, the concert will include songs we all know and love, from across his storied career. Get ready for "…a splendid good-timey sensibility and professionalism" (Los Angeles Times).

Jim Messina's legacy spans five decades and three acclaimed rock super groups: Loggins & Messina, Buffalo Springfield, and Poco. And he's had a vibrant solo career, plus a dizzying array of producing and engineering credits for such luminaries as The Doors, Joni Mitchell, and Herb Alpert. Performing with his band in Folsom, the concert will include songs we all know and love, from across his storied career. Get ready for "…a splendid good-timey sensibility and professionalism" (Los Angeles Times).

The Actors Fund announced today a 40th Anniversary reunion benefit concert of the 1979 hit Broadway production of They're Playing Our Song. The concert will be held on Monday, February 11th at 7:30 pm at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th St.) and will star the Broadway cast members Lucie Arnaz as 'Sonia Walsk' and Robert Klein as 'Vernon Gersch'.

Going strong after more than 45 years, Grammy Award winner The Manhattan Transfer, with tenor vocals from Kean University alumnus Alan Paul '71, will captivate Kean Stage audiences with their distinctive four-part harmonies at Enlow Recital Hall at 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 30.

Presented by a brand new Production group, 4 Leaf Music Productions, in Association with Golden Performing Arts Center, and based on a 1934 Kaufman and Hart play of the same name, this musical tells the story of three friends, Franklin, Charley, and Mary, and the progressive decadence of their bonds and their dreams. The story is told in reverse. When it begins, in 1980, they're in their 40's: Franklin, is a rich, successful, conceited and confused noted songwriter; Charley, the lyricist in the duo, has cut off ties with his partner after a nervous breakdown and Mary is a lonely alcoholic still secretly in love with Franklin from when they first met, years and years ago. As we move forward in the play but backwards in time, we see how their friendships disintegrate, along with their aspirations and Franklin's many whirlwind marriages. Rewinding through the '70s and '60s, we end up in 1957, when the three of them meet for the first time, on a rooftop in the city, all hopeful young talents per-chance gathering to watch Sputnik go by in the pre-dawn sky. The song they sing, 'Our Time' ('We're the movers, we're the shapers/ the names in tomorrow's papers'), is undercut by some very keen irony, since we've already seen how it all turns out, at the beginning.

BroadwayWorld is sad to report that legendary playwright Neil Simon has died at 91. 

As the brand-new Interim Executive Producer of Theatre Arlington I am thrilled to announce our brand-new 2018-2019 season. We had to make some changes in our season due to national tours and licensing restrictions. One show change affects the balance of the season as a whole and gave me the opportunity to make new artistic choices.

Lincoln Center has revealed its calendar of events for July, including the Mostly Mozart Festival lineup. Check out the full listings below:

The producers of Tennessee Whiskey the Musical, are opening up a national talent search to cast the role of the King of Country, George Strait for their upcoming production of Tennessee Whiskey the Musical, the story of Dean Dillon. To kick-off the search, they are launching a virtual audition process where interested performers can post a video singing and playing a George Strait/Dean Dillon song. These videos will be seen by the show's casting team and it could earn them a chance for a callback at one of the show's National auditions taking place in New York, Nashville and Las Vegas in the summer of 2018.*

We're taking you deep into the archives of BroadwayWorld photographer Walter McBride for exclusive flashbacks to Broadway past. Today, check out this shot of Ted Wass from 1981!

As many of you know, Arena Stage's Artistic Director Molly Smith has been very active on a number of national social issues, including LGBT rights and gun control in addition to her exemplary artistic work. In this way, perhaps it's only natural that the headliner at this year's Arena Stage Gala on May 10th is not only a great singer/songwriter, but also an accomplished speaker and humanitarian.

Continuing a long tradition of presenting world-class performances to The University of Texas at Austin and the Central Texas community, Texas Performing Arts unveils the 2018-19 Essential Series season. This is the 10th since the renovation of Bass Concert and changing our name to Texas Performing Arts.

Larry Blank is a prolific composer, conductor and orchestrator. He's worked on shows on Broadway and across the States, including Sugar Babies, Phantom of the Opera, A Chorus Line and A Little Night Music, as well as contributing to orchestrations on films like The Producers and Chicago.

Before his guest starring role on Young Sheldon, last season's off-Broadway production of The Portuguese Kid and of course nearly a decade as George Costanza on Seinfeld, Jason Alexander was a song and dance man on Broadway. He made his Broadway debut in Merrily We Roll Along in 1981, followed by a continual decade of shows: The Rink, Broadway Bound, Jerome Robbins' Broadway (in which he won a Tony Award for his performance) and Accomplice. Highlights of how his Broadway career began will be hilariously re-told next week, as his tour heads back to his home state of New Jersey to perform with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra at NJPAC in Newark and the State Theater in New Brunswick. Newark is actually where Alexander was born before growing up in Maplewood and Livingston.

 The wackiest beach party in town continues! Pasadena Playhouse, the State Theatre of California, announces a one-week extension of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, as reimagined by the Chicago theatre hooligans The Hypocrites, now through February 25, due to high demand.  Tickets are now on sale at pasadenaplayhouse.org or by calling 626-356-7529.