First is Last 1919 - Articles Page 3

The producers of the first new production in 25 years of Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey's iconic musical GREASE, have announced that the show will tour the UK and Ireland in 2021. The musical was due to tour in 2020 but had to be postponed due to COVID-19.

From blockbuster films to star-studded new original series, there's plenty of content to enjoy this August on HBO Max.

What better way to spend a summer evening than in the company of artistic genius in the form of iconic composer Ludwig van Beethoven as interpreted by renowned musical theater artist Hershey Felder? On Sunday July 12th at 5pm PDT, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will present a livestream of the hit show Hershey Felder: Beethoven, an intimate and theatrical portrait of the legendary composer. Tickets to the livestream are available on TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's website (www.theatreworks.org) with proceeds to benefit TheatreWorks while the Tony-winning regional theatre remains dark due to the Covid pandemic. Inspired by an account of a Viennese doctor who spent his boyhood by the Beethoven's side, this enchanting musical features masterful performances of some of the composer's greatest works, from a?oeMoonlight Sonataa?? to the a?oeNinth Symphonya?? and the a?oeEmperor Concerto.a?? The enormously popular show's 2017 World Premiere still holds TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's box office record to date. BroadwayWorld recently had the pleasure of speaking with Felder from his home in Florence, Italy where he will be performing the livestream. As cicadas whirred in the background (really!), we had a wide-ranging discussion about Beethoven, Felder's relationship with TheatreWorks, the pandemic and the wonders of Florence. In conversation, Felder is an engaging amalgam of seemingly contradictory qualities, at once erudite and folksy, brainy and empathetic, quick with an arcane cultural factoid or a self-deprecating remark, equally expressive of joy and sorrow.

Throughout the short beginning of 21st century alone, Broadway has been dealt a number of blows in various ways and has always managed to find a way back. Read about them here!

Vision Productions has announced the limited engagement of the Midwest premiere of The Art of Sisters, adapted and directed by Vision Productions Artistic Director Miriam Canfield, March 4 - 7 in the library at Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 31st St. Opening/press night is Wednesday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m. with additional performances Thursday, March 5 and Friday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 7 at 3 and 7:30 p.m. The running time is 80 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $28 each and on sale at Visionproductions.org

Wrigley's Catalina: A Centennial Celebration marks a significant milestone in the history of Santa Catalina Island, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of William Wrigley Jr.'s purchase of the island. The exhibition revisits 1919 and commemorates Wrigley's execution of his transformational vision for Catalina through a unique collection of photographs, artwork and historic memorabilia. The exhibition first debuted at the Catalina Island Museum in February 2019 and will close January 19, 2020.

Nicholas Phan's January engagements showcase his passion for art song, his love of collaborative work, and his extraordinary gift for musical curation. On January 13-24, with the support of an outstanding roster of fellow singers and instrumentalists, the tenor co-curates and headlines 'Emerging Voices: Art Song & Social Connection' at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.

The solo song recital is a brave step for any singer.

Coldplay have announced the global release of their eighth album, Everyday Life, on Friday, November 22 via Parlophone / Atlantic on CD, vinyl, cassette and digital formats, with two US-only vinyl versions available via Third Man Records on standard black and limited edition gold. The 53-minute double album is divided into two halves, Sunrise and Sunset.

Coldplay have today announced the global release of their eighth album, Everyday Life, on Friday, November 22 via Parlophone / Atlantic on CD, vinyl, cassette and digital formats, with two US-only vinyl versions available via Third Man Records on standard black and limited edition gold. The 53-minute double album is divided into two halves, Sunrise and Sunset. 

Charlotte Symphony continued its skein all-Russian concerts with somewhat diminished returns as they failed to conquer Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain for the third time in the last 10 years, but with Christopher James Lee wielding the baton with more controlled fury, they slayed with Stravinsky's FIREBIRD Suite.

A schedule rich in variety and landmark recording projects is central to Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's 2019-20 season. The French pianist's chosen repertoire spans everything from the concertos of Bartók, Beethoven and Ravel to sonatas by Haydn and rarities by Debussy. Highlights include an extensive UK tour of Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (8-15 February 2020); a complete cycle of Beethoven's piano concertos with the Orchestre National de Lyon (19 & 21 March, 11 & 13 June); Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (14 February) and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (8 June); and Debussy's Fantaisie with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (28 & 29 February).

Debra Whitfield's delightful new play 'Tech Support' is currently running at 59E59th Theater to full houses and ecstatic audiences. See BroadwayWorld's review of Sept 6th. In between performances, BWW sat down with Ms. Whitfield to discuss her play.

The US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music announces the second season of the China Now Music Festival,September 25-October 6. The festival's major concerts take place at Carnegie Hall in New York City and at Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University. The festival is dedicated to promoting an understanding and appreciation of music from contemporary China through an annual series of concerts and academic activities. Last year's inaugural season, titled Facing the Past, Looking to the Future, showcased new orchestral works by contemporary Chinese composers. The theme for 2019 is China and America a?' Unity in Music, in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the normalizing of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China in 1979.

The popular duo KT Sullivan and Jeff Harnar bring a new night of music and a new tribute to Broadway composers to The Laurie Beechman Theatre.

The 2019 San Diego International Organ Festival comes to a grand finale with one of the most popular concerts of the season, the Spreckels Silent Movie Night on Saturday, August 31, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park.

The New York Philharmonic will present the US Stage Premiere of director / set and lighting designer Bengt Gomér's production of Schoenberg's Erwartung and Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, conducted by Jaap van Zweden. Bluebeard's Castle will feature soprano Nina Stemme (New York Philharmonic debut), recipient of the 2018 Birgit Nilsson Prize, as Judith and baritone Johannes Martin Kränzle (debut) as Duke Bluebeard; Erwartung will feature mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus as A Woman (debut). The performances will take place Thursday, September 26, 2019, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, September 27 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, September 28 at 8:00 p.m.

a??a??a??a??a??a??a??The Novato Theater Company first play of its 2019/20 season is The Humans, by Stephen Karam. The play, opening on September 6 and running until September 29, 2019 is directed by the award winning Patrick Nims. The Humans won four Tony Awards in 2016, including best play and was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

REDCAT, CalArts' downtown center for contemporary arts, announces adventurous international and LA performances featured in the Fall of 2019 beginning on September 12, 2019.

For the first time in over a century George Gershwin's very first musical, La La Lucille, will be performed - not on Broadway as it was in 1919 - but in the intimate Studio Theatre at Third Avenue Playhouse (TAP) in Sturgeon Bay. This riotous, fast-paced farce about a married couple who plot to become temporarily divorced in order to claim an inheritance, opens Thursday, July 25 and runs through September 1st. When the scheme goes awry, hilarity, hijinks, and tap dancing ensue in this not-to-be-missed show.

Please join us June 29th for THE DIAMOND REVUE, a time capsule of story and song featuring Hollywood & Broadway's best and brightest stars! The Diamond Revue is a musical journey through the last 100 years - all to honor Assistance League of Los Angeles' 100-year-legacy of uplifting our community, one child at a time. This is an intimate ONE NIGHT ONLY performance, and it will be a very special evening for all ages!

In celebration of Helen Forrester's 100th birthday, a blue plaque is to be erected outside the late author's family home in Hoylake, Wirral. The unveiling takes place next spring and will coincide with the opening of a national theatre tour of By The Waters Of Liverpool, a new period drama based on her multi-million selling autobiography.

100 years ago, in 1919, the first democracy in Germany was established with the Weimar Republic, enabling unprecedented advancements in the fight for queer rights in Europe. 50 years ago, in 1969, a brick was thrown at the Stonewall Uprising, launching the modern queer rights movement in the United States and around the world. How has the LGBTQ+ community and its fight - in Germany and Washington, DC alike - evolved ever since? How has 2019 been shaped by the last fifty years of transatlantic rainbow friendship?

100 years ago, in 1919, the first democracy in Germany was established with the Weimar Republic, enabling unprecedented advancements in the fight for queer rights in Europe. 50 years ago, in 1969, a brick was thrown at the Stonewall Uprising, launching the modern queer rights movement in the United States and around the world. How has the LGBTQ+ community and its fight - in Germany and Washington, DC alike - evolved ever since? How has 2019 been shaped by the last fifty years of transatlantic rainbow friendship?

Theater J, the nation's largest and most prominent Jewish theater, continues its signature Yiddish Theater Lab with readings of two plays in May. The plays are The Rented Bridegroom by Rinne Groff (adapted from a play by Osip Dymov) on May 6 at Foundry Church and Yankl the Blacksmith by David Pinski on May 20 at the Goethe-Institut. These readings follow the first full production of the Yiddish Theater Lab,