Just So 1985 - Articles Page 6

The process of writing ‘Blood Orange’ was one of uncertainty. Plans to begin with sessions in Los Angeles were jettisoned by lockdown, those challenging circumstances made all the worse by going through a break-up at the same time. So whereas her previous accomplishments and a fresh new adventure in LA should’ve put Freya on a high.

The Ivoryton Playhouse will open its doors for a stellar new season - a year full of exciting, uplifting and affordable professional theatre. Musicals for families and romantics, stories of challenges overcome and evenings that are just plain fun, our 2023 Season has a little bit of everything and something extra!

Global leader in comedy, Just For Laughs, in collaboration with leading live entertainment company, AEG Presents, and The O2, the world's most popular music, leisure and entertainment venue, have shared details of the first slate of programming to be added to the first-ever edition of Just For Laughs LONDON.

What did our critic think of CLUE at Mercury Theater Chicago? Mercury Theater’s CLUE is a comedic delight of a production. The laughs flow freely and easily in this stage adaptation of the farce-meets-murder-mystery based on the iconic 1985 film. Director L. Walter Stearns’s ensemble lands each and every moment, maximizing the laughs but maintaining the integrity. These actors understand the assignment of both farce and murder mystery: The characters in CLUE take themselves and the outrageous situations of the play deeply seriously, and the ensemble finds the comedy in playing those truths. It’s a near masterclass in how farce should be performed. The fact that the play is only 90 minutes also means the stage adaptation doesn’t overstay its welcome: There’s just enough time to set up the mystery, play the antics, and send audiences home after a delightful, hilarious time.

The National Tour of Tina - the Tina Turner Musical launched in Washington, D.C. Read all of the reviews here!

It's hard to believe that the death of over 1,500 people could provide an amazing night in the theatre, but that's just what Palm Canyon Theatre's production of Titanic the Musical has done.

Just last week, Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning songwriter, performer and activist Cyndi Lauper celebrated the return of her Tony-winning musical Kinky Boots, which is now running off-Broadway at Stage 42. In this video, watch as she chats more about the show's triumphant return to the New York City stage!

Told through revealing interviews with some of those closest to him, including family members as well as opponents, RISE OF THE BOLSONAROS is the story of a family’s remarkable rise from obscurity to the ultimate seat of power. As Bolsonaro faces re-election in October, this story has consequences not just in Brazil but around the world.

The production of The Color Purple, now onstage at the Roxy, is without doubt the most emphatically, beautifully and electrifyingly sung musical I’ve seen at the historic theatre on the corner of First and Franklin in downtown Clarksville over the past three decades. Directed with confidence by Broadway veteran/Belmont University alumnus/Austin Peay State University professor Deonte Warren, with the spirited choreography of Ebone Amos and one of the finest, most talented casts ever to grace the stage, The Color Purple clearly ranks as one of the best shows in the company’s 39-season history (number 40 gets under way next month).

Nunsense premiered off-Broadway in 1985 with music, lyrics, and a book by Dan Goggin. The show ran for 3,672 performances and became the second longest-running off-Broadway show in history. Nunsense was then adapted for television starring everyone’s favorite Golden Girl Rue McClanahan and has since produced six sequels and three spin-off adaptations. Nunsense A-Men, more recently produced at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, a “Straz Produced” production, brings to the stage a group of local bay area performers to tell the story of the Little Sisters of Hoboken. As the leader of the Merry Band of Nuns is none other than the Enigmatic, and truly Exceptional Matthew McGee as Sister Mary Regina, Mother Superior. For the first time in 22 years, Matthew McGee makes his Jaeb stage debut as a performer in the musical. Dubbed a “Life-Long, bucket list opportunity”, Matthew is just downright Heaven-sent in the role. From his first entrance to the final bow Matthew, along with the rest of the cast present a side-splitting, laugh-filled evening that will make your cheeks hurt even the next day.

It's a feel-good retro-musical set in the era of Miami Vice jackets and Flock of Seagulls haircuts, parachute pants and Rubik's Cubes.

Programming has been announced for the 2022/2023 season at the Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum. Find out all of the shows in the season, how to get tickets & more. 

What did our critic think of THE WEDDING SINGER at Town Hall Arts Center? What's better than a '90s romantic comedy set in the mid 80's? Maybe if it's a musical too.

Gettysburg College's Majestic Theater will celebrate 15 years of Summer Classic Movies when the annual series begins June 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the historic 1925 auditorium. Enjoy classic movies in the beautifully restored historic theater Wednesday nights at 7:30 p.m. June through August. Tickets for each film are just $8 and are on sale now. Advanced ticket purchase is strongly recommended.

In January of 1985, 45 of America's top musicians came together to support one of the most successful collaborations of humanitarian aid in history – the singing of “We are the World.” Hearing students singing the song in the halls of the HIM By HER Collegiate School for the Arts, Harry Dunn, founder of the school, was inspired once again by the heartfelt lyrics.

The country music community was rocked today with the tragic news of the sudden passing of country music giant Naomi Judd. Hailing from the Appalachian foothills of Ashland, Ky., mother and daughter duo, The Judds, were first discovered by RCA label head Joe Galante in 1983 after landing a spot on WSM-TV’s 'The Ralph Emery Show.'

Something epic has just set sail at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Years in the making and the company's single largest production in their 70-year history, Titanic the Musical is every inch a spectacular, tremendous achievement.

It’s clear that night three of the City Center Dance Festival will not be a carefree return to our yesteryears, but a step into what comes next in the arts.  There is no better steward for this unknown future than The Paul Taylor Dance Company. 

Titanic the Musical opened on Broadway in April of 1997. The musical tells the story of the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, or what would soon be aptly named “The Unsinkable Ship.” However, as history tells us the ship sank on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912. The 1997 Broadway production won five Tony Awards including Best Musical and was directed by Richard Jones. Following the opening of its Broadway run, Titanic was adapted for film and released the same year in 1997 by James Cameron starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Both of which the musical and film have no correlation to the other. Maury Yeston who was a Broadway composer and lyricist for Nine was inspired by the discovery of the wreckage of the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland in 1985. Yeston said he was inspired by all the ship represented. So Yeston met with Peter Stone who wrote the libretto and Titanic the Musical was born. Of the five Tony’s that Titanic went onto win among them were Best Score, Best Book, Best Orchestrations, Best Scenic Design as well as Best Musical mentioned above. Previews started in 1997 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and received mixed but positive reviews. After 804 performances, Titanic the Musical closed in March of 1999. Boasting a whopping 20 musical numbers in Act One and 12 in Act Two this behemoth of a musical is grand in design, and song. This musical also features a cast of 37 some doubling multiple roles. Proving to be a huge undertaking for amateur productions and professionals alike.

The Gateway has announced its shift to year-round programming for 2022 - 2023! The Gateway’s new season features dazzling Broadway hits that include Head Over Heels Disney’s The Little Mermaid, The Cher Show, A Christmas Carol the Musical, The Wedding Singer, and Clue.

The year 1985, the setting Fair Verona where we lay our scene. Over the years Romeo & Juliet has been translated, interpreted and conceived in many different forms and fashion. Outside of literature none more so than that of film and stage. Diverting back to literature briefly, Romeo & Juliet was first translated into English in 1562 as a poem entitled The Tragic History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke.

Carlos Almaraz (1941-1989) painted murals and giant oils, works that burst with color and images of Echo Park, car crashes, and other aspects of life in LA. Most of these original works are out of reach of the common man now.

“To be an actor is to be.” This quote has set the foundation for everything I do in life. It was one of the first things I heard when I began Atlantic’s Staging Success program my freshman year of high school, where once a week my classmates and I met with acting teachers from Atlantic Acting School. This is a privilege that many children are not able to experience and I am so thankful that I did.

Based on the well-known board game distributed in North America by Parker Brothers (which was later folded into toy and game manufacturer Hasbro) that itself inspired a cult 1985 Paramount Pictures film of the same name written and directed by Jonathan Lynn, CLUE--the stage play--features the same infamous names and, yes, weapons and rooms synonymous with the classic whodunnit game. Writer Sandy Rustin, along with additional writers Hunter Foster and Eric Price, have revived the same colorful characters and personalities of the film and have transposed them into a madcap, 90-minute puzzle that's mostly silly and engagingly fun. The comedy's West Coast Premiere production continues at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through October 17, 2021.

Stockard Channing and Rebecca Night will perform in the Pulitzer Prize-winning 'night, Mother by Marsha Norman.  This astonishing play, which had its UK premiere at Hampstead Theatre in 1985, will be directed by the theatre's Artistic Director, Roxana Silbert.  'night, Mother will run from 22 October until 4 December 2021.