Over Here 1918 - Articles Page 3

Recording Academy® President/CEO Deborah Dugan alongside Academy Chair of the Board of Trustees and renowned record producer Harvey Mason Jr., as well as GRAMMY Awards® host Alicia Keys and past two-time GRAMMY® nominee Bebe Rexha, today revealed nominees for the 62nd GRAMMY Awards in select categories. This year's nominees reflect a melting pot of artistic innovation that defined the year in music, showcasing the unparalleled craftsmanship of established artists and the industry-shifting impact of rising music creators. Leading nominees Lizzo (8), Billie Eilish (6) and Lil Nas X (6) not only topped the charts but ignited a cultural conversation around their genre-bending hits. As the only peer-selected music award, the GRAMMY Awards are voted on by the Recoding Academy's membership body of music makers, who represent all genres and creative disciplines, including recording artists, songwriters, producers, mixers and engineers.

The first clue that ANASTASIA was going to be different than what I expected was a note on the title page reading, “Inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Pictures.” Plural? A savvy journalist, I quickly asked Siri to bring up the imdb page for “Anastasia”. Turns out Fox made ANASTASIA twice, the 1997 animated off-brand Disney princess movie and a 1957 film that scored Ingrid Bergman's second Oscar and marked Helen Hayes' transition to the big screen. And it turns out the musical version has more in common with LES MISERABLES and RAGTIME than BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Gone is the hell-wizard Rasputin, his talking fruit bat sidekick, and the singing demon caterpillars. At intermission, I asked my third grade niece, Adalyn, how she was liking it. “It's awesome…it's real people, like no Beast or anything. No animals.” We decide that Disney staged musicals are great but more it's more impressive when you can achieve the magic without a story that departs from reality. ANASTASIA is historical fiction hypothetical. It poses a “what if…?” that a daughter of the last czar of Russia (The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna) escaped when the czar's family was executed in 1918. Rumors persisted for decades that Anastasia did, in fact, escape. In 2007, DNA testing confirmed the remains of all four Grand Duchesses were in the Imperial grave. In this version, Terrence McNalley's book follows Anastasia's rediscovery of her identity after surviving the attack on her family and sustaining some plot enabling amnesia. Renamed “Anya” she grows up and makes a life in post-Revolution Russia. Anastasia's grandmother, the Dowager Empress (in a staggeringly moving performance by Joy Franz) has fled to France and offered a cash reward for anyone escorting the rumored alive Anastasia to Paris. The wily duo Vlad (Edward Staudenmayer) and Dmitry (Jake Levy) pull a My Fair Lady style makeover on Anya to collect the Dowager's prize. They are pursued by Gleb (Jason Michael Evans). A Soviet officer drawn to Anya romantically but tasked with finding and eliminating the last Romanov. Anya's memory becomes somewhat coaxed back, but the Dowager has stopped seeing Anastasia claimants after too much heart-break from countless frauds. It sounds dark, but with high-tech digital scenery and inspired performances across the cast it is delightful. Stephen Flaherty (Music) and Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics), responsible for bringing us RAGTIME, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, LUCKY STIFF, as well as the Oscar nominated songs carried over from the animated film. ANASTASIA is a perfect context for this pair. “Stay, I Pray You” (my favorite song of the evening) is evocative of RAGTIME's “New Music”. The two songs literally race my heart in a strangely specific way. My real test of a National Tour at Gammage is how fast I get the music playing in my car on the way home. At ANASTASIA I was already finding, “Stay, I Pray You” walking through the parking lot. The rest of the score is similarly haunting. Lila Coogan, as Anya/Anastasia, powers through the score with nuance, clarity, and passion. Tari Kelly, as Countess Lily, and Stadenmayer (Vlad) were Adalyn's favorite performances and I have to agree. This incredibly gifted pair take the “triple threat” designation (singer, dancer, actor) and go quadruple with the addition of flawless comic timing. The choreography by Peggy Hickey is masterful. It somehow combines inventive and traditional throughout and the ten-minute slice of “Swan Lake” infused into “Quartet at the Ballet” is the highlight of the second act. It's a fun-size version that gets an under-represented art form onto the plate. This kind of trope often means the plot putting the plot on hold. But here, it is the connective tissue between Anya, Dmitry, the Dowager, and Gleb as they each bring us up to speed heading into the show's climax. Ultimately, the show's success comes from applying a higher artistic standard to the “previously-animated-film-now-theatrically-staged” genre. It cashes in on the name draw of the 1997 film then gives the viewer something much more enriched than what they think they are coming to see.

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced a new five-year extension of Franz Welser-Möst's contract as Music Director, continuing a partnership that began in 2002 to 2027. The announcement was made at Severance Hall in Cleveland at the Gala Concert opening the Orchestra's 2019-20 season.

The persistent legend, mystique and fascination of what may have happened to Anastasia during Russia's revolution finds a new home in the musical ANASTASIA

Today, The Cleveland Orchestra announced free events and programs taking place throughout Northeast Ohio this summer, providing children, families, and community members an opportunity to connect with the Orchestra and with music.

The DC Jazz Festival (DCJF) is pleased to announce the sizzling schedule for Jazz in the 'Hoods Presented by Events DC, an essential component of the DC JazzFest, celebrating its 15th anniversary, June 7-16. Spotlighting the District as a vibrant cultural capital, Jazz in the 'Hoods brings a stunning array of music - from the traditional to the avant garde - in all quadrants of the nation's capital, with performances at more than 20 neighborhood venues. 

What makes a Broadway theatre? Technically any venue with 500 seats or more, located along Broadway in New York City's Theatre District is a Broadway theatre, and the art that is produced in these special places is widely considered the highest form of theatrical entertainment in the world. Today, forty-one theatres are technically Broadway houses, each with their own rich history. Below, we're giving you the scoop on the life of every one of them!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Happy first full day of Spring! Start the season right by checking out some of the top Broadway news!

After a successful run at the Jermyn Street Theatre, Billy Bishop Goes to War transfers to the Southwark Playhouse on 13 March. I spoke to director Jimmy Walters about what made Billy Bishop special, and how he's managed to bring Bishop's story to life.

Some pieces of theater require your undivided attention because of some deep underlying message that the playwright doesn't want you to miss. This is not the case for MetroStage's return holiday engagement of Catherine Flye's Christmas at The Old Bull & Bush and that's totally ok. This British Variety Music Hall Entertainment is full of music, good performances, and some really corny jokes. In other words, it is everything you would expect from a show set in 1918 in Hampstead, London.

The princess might be sleeping on the Belgrade Theatre's Main Stage over Christmas, but there's not much chance of snoozing in its B2 auditorium, with alternative panto Over The Top getting the holiday season off to an explosive start.

The Actors' Gang has announced an extension of 'Johnny Got His Gun' at the Ivy Substation, adding two performances, a matinee performance on November 11th, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and Veteran's Day and an evening performance on November 14th. The stage adaptation of Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's war novel, Johnny Got His Gun, written by Bradley Rand Smith and directed by Tim Robbins, began previews on October 6th and opened October 13th.

The Metropolitan Opera marks the 100th anniversary of the world premiere of Puccini's Il Trittico, which took place at the Met's original opera house in 1918, with performances November 23 to December 15, 2018.  The three one-act operas of Il Trittico include the verismo-inspired Il Tabarro, featuring Amber Wagner as Giorgetta, Marcelo Álvarez as Luigi, George Gagnidze as Michele, MaryAnn McCormick as Frugola, and Maurizio Muraro as Talpa. Suor Angelica, a tale of religious redemption, features Kristine Opolais in the title role, Stephanie Blythe as La Principessa, and Maureen McKay as Suor Genovieffa.

The Actors' Gang has announced an extension of 'Johnny Got His Gun' at the Ivy Substation, adding two performances, a matinee performance on November 11th, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and Veteran's Day and an evening performance on November 14th. The stage adaptation of Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's war novel, Johnny Got His Gun, written by Bradley Rand Smith and directed by Tim Robbins, began previews on October 6th and opened October 13th.

The princess might be sleeping on the Belgrade Theatre's Main Stage over Christmas, but there's not much chance of snoozing in its B2 auditorium, with alternative panto Over The Top getting the holiday season off to an explosive start.

The year was 1918. We were four years into World War 1. Anti-German notions swept across the country and preyed upon German-Americans, calling them spies, traitors, and as President Wilson once said, "hyphenated Americans" because their loyalty was divided.

Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre (MET), now located in the historic Warwick Theater on Main Street in Kansas City adjacent to the Plaza District presents 'The Orphans' Home Cycle' continuing in repertory until November 18.

Bristol Old Vic today went on sale with its Winter/Spring 2019 programme, launching a new season of inspiring, cutting-edge and award-winning theatre, set to take Bristol by storm following its ground-breaking Year of Change.

Cleveland Public Library and The Cleveland Orchestra are pleased to announce the public release of the first wave of digitized materials from The Cleveland Orchestra Archives' News and Reviews Collection during National Archives Month (October), which is available now to the public for free at https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org. The overarching collection contains thousands of articles, reviews, and ephemera documenting the Orchestra's 100-year history, and its digitization represents a successful collaborative partnership between two longstanding Cleveland institutions.

Target Margin Theater (Founding Artistic Director David Herskovits, Associate Artistic Director Moe Yousuf) is proud to present a remount of its acclaimed production, Pay No Attention to the Girl, for a limited three week run (October 25-November 11). The production brings to life interwoven stories about the sexes - their conflicts, their love, their tricks -from various translations / transmissions of The One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Silk Road, MENA (Middle Eastern / North African), and South Asian tales.

In the semi-autobiographical Poet in da Corner, young poet, lyricist, and dancer Debris Stevenson explores how grime helped shape her youth.

The Actors' Gang announced today that the stage adaptation of Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's war novel, Johnny Got His Gun, written by Bradley Rand Smith and directed by Tim Robbins, will kick off The Actors' Gang 2018/19 Season from Saturday, October 6th to Saturday, November 10th, 2018. The press opening is Saturday, October 13.

In the semi-autobiographical Poet in da Corner, young poet, lyricist, and dancer Debris Stevenson explores how grime helped shape her youth.

Flower of Iowa, a bold new World War I drama about an unexpected and forbidden love between two soldiers - one American, one British - has been selected as one of the seven finalists at the 2018 New York New Works Theatre Festival, from a field of nearly 50 productions. Judging was determined by a panel of theatre professionals and by audience votes.

As we approach the centenary of the Armistice of 1918, leading rural touring companies New Perspectives and Pentabus have joined forces for the first time to explore the legacies of conflict and the unexpected stories that emerge from war. Shifting between 1919 and 2019, this subversive piece of new writing by award-winning Irish playwright Deirdre Kinahan looks at solace across the century: those who have found refuge in the English countryside from more recent conflicts in Sarajevo, and those who turned to women's clothing to escape the bravado and brutality of military life in the WW1 trenches.