A legendary cult show, this wacky, intelligent, highly unconventional musical satire points ahead to Stephen Sondheim's groundbreaking work in the 1970s even as it keeps a foot firmly rooted in the musical theatre's "golden age."brbrAn absurdist fantasy by Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim (two of the authors of "West Side Story" and "Gypsy") "Anyone Can Whistle" tells the story of a corrupt mayoress who fakes a miracle to revitalize her bankrupt town (through the resulting pilgrim trade) and the ill-fated romance between the rational nurse out to expose the fraud and the easy-going doctor determined to enjoy the chaos it brings. In the end, the show delivers a poignant message about the importance of the individual in a conformist society-but not before aiming its still-relevant barbs at government, religion, science and anything else that stands in its way!brbrWith its circus-like atmosphere, "Anyone Can Whistle" features plenty of memorable, lovably cartoonish roles of all sizes. The dazzling, melodic Broadway-style score overflows with the youthful energy of experimentation, consisting of one showstopper after another, including two extensive ballets which provide opportunities for some inspired choreography.
Stephen Sondheim and Wynton Marsalis will collaborate on A BED AND A CHAIR: A New York Love Story, a new musical event featuring Sondheim's music arranged and performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, announced Arlene Shuler, President & CEO of New York City Center. This Encores! Special Event, directed by frequent Sondheim collaborator John Doyle, and conceived by Peter Gethers, Jack Viertel and John Doyle, will run for seven performances, November 13 - 17 at City Center. City Center's annual Gala Benefit will take place on Thursday, November 14 and will include a post-performance dinner at the Plaza Hotel.
Tickets go on sale today for New York City Center Encores! Off-Center, a new series featuring seminal Off-Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today's most innovative artists, opening on July 10. In keeping with City Center's founding mission to make the arts accessible to all, the majority of tickets will be $25.
New York City Center goes Off-Broadway this summer with the launch of Encores! Off-Center, a new series featuring seminal Off-Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today's most innovative artists. In keeping with City Center's founding mission to make the arts accessible to all, the majority of tickets will be $25.
The concept of MARRY ME A LITTLE, an easy to take musical revue at New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, is a loosely-themed program of Stephen Sondheim rejects. Seventeen of the maestro's songs that have been cut from well-known shows or drawn from never-produced works are performed by a talented quartet of actor/singers, with direction and choreography by Ilyse Robbins and dual piano accompaniment by Musical Director David McGrory and Todd C. Gordon.
Stephen Hawking and his fellow physicists may not have yet figured out the formula for traveling through the time-space continuum, but apparently the Metropolitan Room discovered the secret. Last Friday night (October 26), I walked through the curtain into the main performance space and entered a time tunnel that took me from the 21st century into the 1960s and '70s. Two lovely, rising young stars of cabaret, Lauren Fox and Jennifer Sheehan (photo left), had obviously hurtled though that same time warp because in two separate shows on the same evening, they performed songs that had been written and recorded 15 to 25 years before they were born. In the process they transported this particular Baby Boomer joyously back to his youth and to the days of cultural upheaval, generation gaps, peace, love, war, and some of the best pop/rock music ever written.
According to a feature about the new UK arena touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar in the Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Lloyd Webber reveals he would like to collaborate with Stephen Sondheim.
The Public Theater announced today that Tony Award winner Denis O'Hare has been cast as The Baker in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's beloved musical INTO THE WOODS, directed by Timothy Sheader with co-direction by Liam Steel. INTO THE WOODS will be O'Hare's Shakespeare in the Park debut. Previews begin on Monday, July 23 at the Delacorte Theater and continue for five weeks through Saturday, August 25, with an official press opening on Thursday, August 9.
A 25th anniversary production of the imaginative, fractured-fairy tale musical "Into the Woods" by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim will be staged at the theater where Sondheim was an apprentice in 1950, Westport Country Playhouse, in Westport, CT, May 1 through May 26. Directed by Mark Lamos, the Playhouse's artistic director, the musical will open the historic theater's 82nd season. It is co-produced with Baltimore's CENTERSTAGE.
The Public Theater has announced additional casting today for the 50th Anniversary season of free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte. David Furr (Orlando) and Stephen Spinella (Jaques) join the previously announced MacIntyre Dixon (Adam), Renee Elise Goldsberry (Celia), Omar Metwally (Oliver), and Lily Rabe (Rosalind) in Shakespeare's comedy AS YOU LIKE IT, directed by Daniel Sullivan.
The Dramatists Guild of America presents its In the Room series, broadcasting archived audio, unheard by the public since their original recording. In the Room features some of the most influential and celebrated playwrights, composers and lyricists in American theatre, sharing their insight to craft, process and personal stories behind creating some of their most celebrated work. Featured this week is a vintage interview with theatre legend Stephen Sondheim as he chats about lyrics back in 1971.
BroadwayWorld.com reported the news exclusively on January 9, 2012 and now the The Public Theater has officially announced the line-up for the 50th Anniversary Shakespeare in the Park season at the Delacorte. Daniel Sullivan, who directed acclaimed productions of All's Well That Ends Well, The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night in the Park, will return to direct AS YOU LIKE IT in June with Lily Rabe as Rosalind.
The second show of the 50th Anniversary summer season will be Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's beloved musical INTO THE WOODS, directed by Timothy Sheader with co-direction by Liam Steel. Based on the Olivier Award-winning Regent's Park Open Air Theatre London production in 2010, The Public Theater's INTO THE WOODS will be an all new production with an American cast and designers and will be staged in one of the most beautiful outdoor venues in the world-the Delacorte Theater. INTO THE WOODS will begin performances at the end of July.
Internationally renowned contemporary pianist Anthony de Mare presents LIAISONS: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano - an intrepid program featuring 36 short solo piano pieces based on the music of the legendary composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim.
Internationally renowned contemporary pianist Anthony de Mare presents LIAISONS: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano - an intrepid program featuring 36 short solo piano pieces based on the music of the legendary composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim.
Sometimes even in disappointment, comes something wonderful, which was certainly the case with the magnificent impromptu showcase that occurred at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa on Saturday, October 29. A mixed blessing if there ever was one, the evening's original agenda--a one-on-one candid conversation between ASCAP's Director of Musical Theatre Michael Kerker and legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim--instead morphed into an enchanting 100-minute expanded tribute concert featuring two veteran Broadway powerhouses in their own right: Tony Award winners Christine Ebersole and Brian Stokes-Mitchell. This ad-hoc concert quickly assembled that afternoon ended up being such a magical night, filled with gorgeous, soul-stirring performances, lots of hearty laughs, and even the occasional tear-jerker.
The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts is proud to present the heavenly musical, Church Basement Ladies on June 23-August 7. Tickets go on sale Monday, May 9 at 10:00 a.m. at the Marcus Center Box Office.
Musical Theatre West is proud to announce a staged reading of ANYONE CAN WHISTLE. ANYONE CAN WHISTLE is the fourth reading offered in the inaugural season of the Reiner Reading Series.
The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts is proud to present the heavenly musical, Church Basement Ladies on June 23-August 7. Tickets go on sale Monday, May 9 at 10:00 a.m. at the Marcus Center Box Office.
Musical Theatre West is proud to announce a staged reading of ANYONE CAN WHISTLE. ANYONE CAN WHISTLE is the fourth reading offered in the inaugural season of the Reiner Reading Series.
Funny Girl, the classic 1964 Broadway musical that helped cement Barbra Streisand's place in theatrical history, will be the first show featured in Keeping Scores, a new series of Broadway musicals in concert, to be presented at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre. Concerts in the series will be directed by Scott Logsdon (writer/director of the recent staged reading of An American Country Christmas Carol at the Boiler Room) with music direction by Jamey Green, a co-founder of BRT, and will be produced by Sondra Morton, director of operations for the professional theater located at The Factory in Franklin.
2010 was a year filled with all sorts of exciting BroadwayWorld interviews - here's some of this year's highlights!
According to a report by Baz Bamigboye for UK Daily Mail, Michael Cerveris is in talks to reprise his role in Sondheim and Weidman's musical Road Show. Cerveris appeared in the Public Theatre production of the show 2 years ago. Road show will make its UK premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre in London next summer.
As BroadwayWorld has reported, The New York Philharmonic's SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert, which took place on March 15-16, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall, will be broadcast on THIRTEEN'S Great Performances on PBS on Wednesday, November 24 (check local listings). WNET, Channel 13 in New York City, will air the concert at 9:30 p.m. that evening. Today, it has been revealed that the Image Entertainment will release the program DVD and Blu-Ray on November 16, 2010.
The concert includes songs and orchestral pieces from Sondheim musical theater favorites such as Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, and Sunday in the Park with George. Today, it has been announced that in addition to the PBS telecast, the concert will be released on DVD in November by Image Entertainment.
First reported by BroadwayWorld back in June when Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre's David Babani told the U.K. Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye that plans are in progress to produce Stephen Sondheim & John Weidman's ROAD SHOW at the venue.
He's now confirmed the news to Variety and included the news that it'll play the theatre next summer.
To celebrate Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday Melbourne Recital Centre and Magnormos are
proud to present 'A Sondheim Triptych' to be performed at Elisabeth Murdoch Hall. Sondheim is widely regarded as the most influential writer in Broadway history, with major works including WEST SIDE STORY, GYPSY, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, COMPANY, SWEENEY TODD, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC and INTO THE WOODS. This is an exclusive opportunity to see three works that are rarely performed, but greatly loved by Sondheim fans across the globe. Come and experience these works, performed live by some of the Australia's top musical theatre talent, in one of Melbourne's most exciting performance venues. These works will be presented in full with concert staging, keeping the focus on Sondheim's brilliant writing and our extraordinary cast.
To celebrate Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday Melbourne Recital Centre and Magnormos are
proud to present 'A Sondheim Triptych' to be performed at Elisabeth Murdoch Hall. Sondheim is widely regarded as the most influential writer in Broadway history, with major works including WEST SIDE STORY, GYPSY, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, COMPANY, SWEENEY TODD, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC and INTO THE WOODS. This is an exclusive opportunity to see three works that are rarely performed, but greatly loved by Sondheim fans across the globe. Come and experience these works, performed live by some of the Australia's top musical theatre talent, in one of Melbourne's most exciting performance venues. These works will be presented in full with concert staging, keeping the focus on Sondheim's brilliant writing and our extraordinary cast.
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