There's no question that A Christmas Story is a beloved classic. The 30 year old film gets plenty of airtime on cable channels during the holiday season, and it's inspired two stage adaptations, one musical and one non-musical. But as much as I love the 1983 film A Christmas Story and have always considered it to be a perfect family film, my opinion of the film lessens ever so slightly with every stage version that I see of it. That's not to say that the stage versions are bad. On the contrary, they're often somehow superior to the film, as is the case with Zach Theatre's hysterical and incredibly enjoyable production.
2014 Winter/Spring Cleveland Theater Offerings
A CHRISTMAS STORY sticks to what works...a flagpole.
Today, October 22, 2013, marks the official 50th anniversary of the National Theatre of Great Britain. The National Theatre first opened its doors in 1963 at the Old Vic, under Laurence Olivier. 800 productions later, they are marking their half-century with a short season celebrating the remarkable people and plays that have made the NT one of the most cherished and creative of great British institutions.
Director Michael Kahn and leading man Brandon Urbanowitz breathe new life into Harvey Fierstein's magnum opus of three one-act plays. Torch Song Trilogy still offers universal truths about love and relationships that go beyond straight or gay points of view. The play continues through October 13 in the Mead Theater.
One of the biggest downers perpetrated by American culture is the characterization of Labor Day weekend as the 'unofficial end of summer.' But given what has passed for cabaret entertainment-at least the shows I was able to attend--since the 'unofficial start of summer' on Memorial Day weekend, the end of summer can't come soon enough. But my dismay over the hours lost watching average shows this season was tempered a bit by the pride and joy I felt watching the June performances of three strikingly attractive and talented 30ish brunettes with powerhouse voices-- Jackie Kristel, Karen Gross and Jodi Beck, who all staged entertaining shows as spring was turning to summer.
Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra perform tonight, August 11, 2013 at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $19-$29 with Premium tickets available for $39. Students with ID's are $12. Tickets are available online at www.harriscenter.net or from Harris Center Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time. Parking is included in the price of the ticket. Harris Center is located on the west side of Folsom Lake College campus in Folsom, CA, facing East Bidwell Street.
The Grammy award-winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO), led by pianist, composer, and director Arturo O'Farrill, brings together the drama of big band jazz, the culture of Latin music, and the virtuosity of eighteen of the world's most accomplished solo musicians. According to The New Yorker 'Arturo O'Farrill's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra is one of the best jazz orchestras in existence, a powerhouse outfit whose precise section work is enhanced by thrilling soloists.'
As BroadwayWorld previously reported, earlier this year, Aaron Sorkin withdrew as librettist of the upcoming Broadway production Houdini, starring Hugh Jackman. Now in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, he revealed that he's deveoping another musical for Broadway. When jokingly asked if he'd ever write dance sequences into his television scripts, Sorkin resopnded: ' Well, I'm going to be doing a Broadway musical, and there will be plenty of extended dance sequences.'
The lush music, the period costumes, and Andrew Samonsky's performance kept me involved. There's some trimming to be done, and some rewriting, and maybe it will work for fans of the movie. But there could be so much more.
A three-day booking event is opening a window of opportunity for U.S. and European travelers planning summer travel to Greece as an exciting luxury hotel in downtown Athens has announced a 72-hour 'Flash Sale.' The sale will run from April 26-28, 2013 for U.S. visitors and from April 26th 03AM Eastern Standard Time and April 26th 09AM European Standard Time for European visitors.
The Broadway revival of Horton Foote's beloved classic, The Trip to Bountiful, opens tonight, April 23, at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre (124 W 43rd St). Directed by Michael Wilson, the cast features Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award-winning actress Cicely Tyson, Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding, Jr, Emmy Award nominee and recording star Vanessa Williams, and Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad. Let's see what the critics had to say...
In celebration of 30 years, country music hitmakers RESTLESS HEART are returning home to their first label to release music, old and new, in commemoration of the three decades. On May 21, 2013, RCA / Legacy will unveil the latest addition to its artist compilations with the release of Playlist: The Very Best of Restless Heart. The 14-track album includes 12 of the group's biggest hits, and two new songs, previously unreleased.
Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) will welcome Flashdance - The Musical, the stage adaptation of the 1983 hit film that defined a generation, to Hobby Center from June 4 to 16.
Many people do not realize, with the exception of us theatre junkies, that Billy Barnes, who regretfully passed from us in September of last year, was without a doubt the keenest composer of the theatre revue. He also created special material for TV's Laugh-In and The Carol Burnett Show, among others. His ingenious theatre revues date back to the 50s with The Billy Barnes Revue of 1959 all the way up to 1983's Movie Star, which had a long run at the Westwood Playhouse, now known as the Geffen. Bruce Kimmel remembers, as he knew the man well and recorded Billy Barnes L.A. Thanks to Kimmel a whole generation of musical theatre fans got a chance to hear up close and personal some of Barnes' greatest, saucy, yet little known achievements at a special Kritzerland show Billy! on Saturday March 2 at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal.
The New School for Drama has announced that BAFTA Award-winning English playwright, director and screenwriter Sir David Hare will serve as distinguished Artist-in-Residence for one week beginning today, November 12, 2012.
The New School for Drama has announced that BAFTA Award-winning English playwright, director and screenwriter Sir David Hare will serve as distinguished Artist-in-Residence for one week beginning Monday, November 12, 2012.
Today we have the honor of talking to an actor equally skilled in comedy and drama who is now a playwright and director in his own right, with his new play, BULLET FOR ADOLF, being a New York stage hit - the one and only Woody Harrelson. A huge Hollywood star who has appeared in countless recognizable and beloved film properties over the last twenty-five years - from Oliver Stone's NATURAL BORN KILLERS, Milos Foreman's THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT, Robert Altman's A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION and many more notables (not to mention his many comedies, ranging from WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP to ZOMBIELAND), all the way up to his most recent screen appearances in THE MESSENGER, RAMPART and the international smash hit franchise-kick-off THE HUNGER GAMES - with a special focus on his new Broadway play which he co-wrote and directed, A BULLET FOR ADOLF - in this chat, Woody and I cover the bases. Covering his career from understudying in Neil Simon's BILOXI BLUES on Broadway and his subsequent big break on CHEERS to his string of iconic film portrayals, Harrelson and I shine a light on his theatrical side while he also elucidates the process that finally brought the story of BULLET FOR ADOLF to the theatrical stage, sharing the true life tale behind its characters, location, plot and themes along the way and opening up about possibilities for the play's future - West End, perhaps? Maybe a film? Plus, Harrelson also looks ahead to the many exciting projects coming up in the next several weeks and months now that A BULLET FOR ADOLF has settled in to an extended run at New World Stages, now on sale through October 21 - such as working with fellow InDepth InterView participant Philip Seymour Hoffman and the rest of the starry assortment of players on the highly anticipated THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE and its subsequent sequels (which begin shooting this week in Atlanta, GA); sharing the small screen with Matthew McConaughey on a new HBO thriller/serial-killer-themed anthology series titled TRUE DETECTIVES; starring in SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS, written and directed by celebrated playwright and filmmaker Martin McDonagh; even sharing his candid impressions and adoration of his favorite state of the union, Hawaii - all of that and much, much more!
Ralphie Parker wants only one thing for Christmas - a Red Ryder BB Gun. Of course that'll come as no surprise to the legion of fans of the beloved 1983 movie A Christmas Story. But this holiday season, devotees of the cherished film are getting another gift. Celebrating the arrival of A Christmas Story: The Musical on Broadway, Masterworks Broadway proudly releases the World Premiere Recording of the delightful family-friendly musical digitally on September 25 and on CD on October 22, 2012.
Fredericksburg's Riverside Dinner Theatre offers haunting and romantic production of the other musical version of Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, featuring Patrick A'Hearn in the title role. PHANTOM continues through October 14, 2012.
Omaha Community Playhouse Artistic Director Carl Beck and Associate Artistic Director Susan Baer Collins have announced they will retire at the end of the 2013-2014 season.
Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein have announced the Actors Theatre's 49th season lineup. The 2012-2013 Brown-Forman Series, Waters' inaugural season at the helm, runs the gamut thematically from forbidden love and sibling rivalry to familial dysfunction and adolescent innocence in an exhilarating program sure to entertain, engage and delight audiences.
Casting is announced for "Morning's at Seven," a Script in Hand play reading of the Tony Award-winning comedy by Paul Osborn, at Westport Country Playhouse, on Monday, February 13, 7 p.m. Tickets to the one-night-only event are $15.
Let's just say, for the moment, that I owned the Venus de Milo. I don't know how it happened. Maybe some ancient Greek stone cuttings were found that led to a Middle Ages parchment that inspired someone to do some research on ancestry.com, but in any case, it has been indisputably determined that I am the sole owner of sculptor Alexandros of Antioch's Venus de Milo.
Casting is announced for "Morning's at Seven," a Script in Hand play reading of the Tony Award-winning comedy by Paul Osborn, at Westport Country Playhouse, on Monday, February 13, 7 p.m. Tickets to the one-night-only event are $15.
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