Follies Revival 2011 - Articles Page 15

As a super-special Spring extension of BroadwayWorld's SOUND OFF column, every day until the Tony Awards on June 12 we will be presenting a spectacular new entry in the SPOTLIGHT ON THE 2011 TONY AWARDS series featuring a particularly entertaining, interesting, relevant and exciting Tony Awards-related clip from the last sixty-three years of the ceremonies (and subsequent seasons on Broadway) with a rundown and commentary on the sights, sounds and showmanship on display in each carefully chosen selection - all, of course, coming in anticipation of Broadway's biggest night, which will be broadcast on CBS this year, as always. Once again this year, BroadwayWorld is the official home of the 2011 Tony Awards and we will also be featuring exclusive interviews, articles, photos, video content, interactive features and more in the coming days and weeks leading up to the event so be sure to check back daily for your theatre fix!

For the first time in its 11 year history, Manhattan Theatre Source - called 'one of the top Off-Off Broadway theatres in New York' by New York Magazine - will present an open-ended run of a theatre piece - THE GREENWICH VILLAGE FOLLIES - that has been developed through the company's development process. With music and lyrics by Doug Silver and book and additional lyrics by Andrew Frank, THE GREENWICH VILLAGE FOLLIES' opening night is set for June 28th, 2011.

Producing Artistic Director Michael Stebbins announces the lineup for the 19th season of Rep Stage, the award-winning professional theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), featuring rarely seen plays produced with the creative and quality staging that audiences have come to expect.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to New York. 'Smash,' new CD releases, 'Follies,' 'Trogg!,' 'Earthqueef,' 'Show Boat' at Lyric Opera, Alan Cumming, more....

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee- Producing Artistic Director, Todd Schmidt-Managing Director) is proud to announce that single tickets for all five mainstage productions go on-sale to the public on Monday, June 13th for the 2011-2012 season. Paper Mill Playhouse is offering an exciting lineup of four musicals and one play, including a brand new Disney musical. In September, Paper Mill Playhouse opens their season with the premiere of the new Disney stage musical, Newsies (September 15, 2011 - October 16, 2011), adapted for the stage from the live-action Disney feature film musical. In November, celebrate the holiday season with the New Jersey premiere of White Christmas (November 16, 2011 - December 18, 2011). Brightening the winter in January is the hit comedy Boeing-Boeing (January 18, 2012 - February 12, 2012). Then enjoy the legendary musical comedy Damn Yankees (March 7, 2012 - April 1, 2012) just in time for spring training. To close the 2011-2012 season comes a musical tale of romance, tragedy, redemption and rebirth in Once on This Island (May 30, 2012 - June 24, 2012). Investors Savings Bank is the proud sponsor of the 2011-2012 season.

This holiday season, America's #1 Christmas movie comes to life on stage as a hilarious holiday musical. A Christmas Story, The Musical! features a bright holiday score by composer/lyricist team Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Joseph Robinette based on the writings of radio humorist Jean Shepherd and the 1983 holiday film favorite. Acclaimed director/choreographer Warren Carlyle (Broadway's Finian's Rainbow, Follies at The Kennedy Center, An Evening With Hugh Jackman) will helm the production. Peter Billingsley, who starred as Ralphie in the original 1983 film, serves as a producer for the holiday tour.

As a super-special Spring extension of BroadwayWorld's SOUND OFF column, every day until the Tony Awards on June 12 we will be presenting a spectacular new entry in the SPOTLIGHT ON THE 2011 TONY AWARDS series featuring a particularly entertaining, interesting, relevant and exciting Tony Awards-related clip from the last sixty-three years of the ceremonies (and subsequent seasons on Broadway) with a rundown and commentary on the sights, sounds and showmanship on display in each carefully chosen selection - all, of course, coming in anticipation of Broadway's biggest night, which will be broadcast on CBS this year, as always. Once again this year, BroadwayWorld is the official home of the 2011 Tony Awards and we will also be featuring exclusive interviews, articles, photos, video content, interactive features and more in the coming days and weeks leading up to the event so be sure to check back daily for your theatre fix!

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' production of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's FOLLIES officially opened last night, May 21, 2011 after previews which began May 7. The Kennedy Center has posted behind the scenes videos and we've got them!

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' production of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's FOLLIES officially opened last night, May 21, 2011 after previews which began May 7. The cast features two-time Tony winner Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, four-time Tony nominee Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, two-time Tony nominee Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer, Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone and Olivier Award winner Elaine Paige as Carlotta Campion. New photos have been released by the production and we've got them!

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' production of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's FOLLIES officially opened last night, May 21, 2011 after previews which began May 7. The cast features two-time Tony winner Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, four-time Tony nominee Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, two-time Tony nominee Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer, Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone and Olivier Award winner Elaine Paige as Carlotta Campion.

DPAC, Durham Performing Arts Center and Our State Magazine have partnered together to offer "Broadway Backstage: A Behind the Scenes Tour of Broadway and New York City" May 20-22, 2011

Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director of the Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre, today announced the company's 2010-2011 season of four musicals and three plays, with the innovative company producing three world premieres and one regional premiere.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' production of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's FOLLIES will officially open tonight, May 21, 2011 after previews which began May 7. The cast will feature two-time Tony winner Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, four-time Tony nominee Jan Maxwellas Phyllis Rogers Stone, two-time Tony nominee Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer, Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone and Olivier Award winner Elaine Paige as Carlotta Campion.

For the first time in its 11 year history, Manhattan Theatre Source - called "one of the top Off-Off Broadway theatres in New York" by New York Magazine - will present an open-ended run of a theatre piece - THE GREENWICH VILLAGE FOLLIES - that has been developed through the company's development process.

The Boston Pops really know how to open a new season at Symphony Hall! There's a wonderful cocktail party before the concert with delicious hors d'oeuvre and drinks. Then the actual concert hall is awash with attractive pastel lighting and projections of butterflies all about the auditorium. It's definitely springtime in Boston and once Maestro Keith Lockhart steps up to the podium, the music begins as America's most beloved orchestra plays and delights the sell-out crowd. Starting with Boyer's delightful "Silver Fanfare" and continuing with works by Herold, Rimsky-Korsakov and Gershwin, the audience relished every moment of the concert and joined in during the SOUND OF MUSIC sing-along that closed the first part of the program. The second half was devoted mostly to Broadway's Linda Eder, who wowed the crowd with her Judy Garland tribute and impressed everyone with her powerful and supple vocalizing. It was a remarkable evening. In a phone conversation two days prior to the event, Lockhart sounded slightly fatigued. He'd just returned to Boston from Abu Dhabi from where he conducted the BBC Concert Orchestra, for which he's been appointed Chief Conductor. It was a concert that featured Broadway's Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley who performed songs from KISS ME KATE, FOLLIES, SOUTH PACIFIC and other Broadway classics, while the orchestra excited the place with what is frequently referred to as "The Symphonic Dances" from WEST SIDE STORY. It was a well-received performance but such travels keep Lockhart on-the-go. "It's hard to hit a moving target," he quipped. Looking ahead to the 2011 Pops season, Lockhart becomes extremely excited despite his jet lag: "I think it's a very strong season this year. It's a lot of the things that we normally do but there's a wonderful, wide variety of genres and they cross every American musical boundary that you can think of. We go from bluegrass to R&B to Broadway to Gospel. Everything seems to fall in there and we'll have many great artists performing with us. We'll also have a lot of the Boston Pops Orchestra featured in the concerts this year to show them off a bit." Speaking of Linda Eder, the maestro's admiration for her becomes very evident. "She's been with us a good deal over the years. She'll be doing a tribute to Judy Garland, who was one of the great voices of our time and age. Quite frankly, she was one of the great voices of all time." Eder is also an audience favorite because the Opening Night crowd cheered her first appearance on the stage and was enthusiastic in their applause after every one of her numbers. One person in the crowd was heard to say,"This woman must have six foot lungs!" Allowing for hyperbole, that was an apt description of Eder's vocal skills. "We're also emphasizing the fact that the Pops is and always has been an interactive experience where everybody gets to make music," continued the conductor. "We'll be having sing-alongs in many of our concerts throughout the season. We're kind of getting everyone actively involved in performing with the Pops." It seems to be effective because at the SOUND OF MUSIC segment on Opening Night, several people showed up dressed as their favorite characters. There were girls in dirndl skirts, boys in lederhosen, several nuns (of varying religious orders), a Captain Von Trapp in a smoking jacket, and a would-be Maria--who toted a guitar case with her. The sing-along prompted a great response from the crowd, many of whom were still singing snippets from the Rodgers and Hammerstein score during intermission. One of the most novel segments of the May 11th concert was the video montage of "Over The Rainbow" that was shown above the orchestra as Lockhart led a sweeping rendition of the Harold Arlen tune. Months prior to the event, a message went out over Facebook and other social networking sites for people of various talents--and equally varying musical skills-- to submit videos of themselves singing this beloved tune. "There are certain songs that have crossed all boundaries and everyone knows. We asked Pops fans to give us their best few bars of 'Over the Rainbow' and the video is a pastiche of these different renditions and takes on a classic tune." As edited by Supan Deb, the end result was remarkable; featuring people from various places across the nation singing their own versions of the song-there was even a girl dressed as Dorothy sitting in what appeared to be a wheat field warbling to good advantage. Broadway favorite Michael Feinstein will be performing with the Boston Pops this season. "The interesting thing about Michael is that I just saw him last month. We did a concert in London together. He and I are spending a lot of time together this year" chuckles Lockhart. "He's doing a Sinatra Tribute with us and as you know, Frank Sinatra is the master of the American Songbook." Michael Feinstein performs with the Pops on May 31st and June 1st. The Boston Pops will be welcoming the New York Pops' Steven Reineke as guest conductor. "Steve has been here before," Lockhart remarks. "It's no more crossing the line with the New York Pops than when Erich Kunzel from the Cincinnati Pops would join us. Each guest conductor brings his own repertoire and an interesting take on things." Reineke's concerts with the Boston Pops will take place on June 16th and 17th and will feature guest soloist Julia Murney who will sing "Back to Before" from RAGTIME, "Don't Rain on My Parade" from FUNNY GIRL and "Defying Gravity" from WICKED among other selections. This season also features what is billed as a "Family Concert" "It's a shorter, more compact sort of concert. We're trying to plan it as a concert that will appeal to adults but will also be an interesting first-experience to bring the kids to We'll be joined by the jazz trumpet player Brian Stripling who is, in himself, a walking educational concert because he has spent much of his career performing and talking about the music of some really big pioneering Black jazz musicians including Louie Armstrong , who he does an amazing tribute to," explains the conductor. "I think that's something great to expose the kids coming in to. We're also joined by the Varsity Girls who have a large fan base on Nickelodeon. Additionally, we're featuring a young artist who won the Boston Symphony's Concerto Competitions and it's always great for youngsters to see kids accomplishing a high level of artistry themselves. It'll be a very special sort of event." This Family Concert was scheduled for Saturday, May 14th. The month of August will be taken up on the Pops schedule with their first-ever Minor League Baseball Tour. The famed orchestra will visit ten Minor League Ballparks, a tour stretching from Birmingham, Alabama, to Buffalo, New York, August 16-30. Iconic singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins will join Lockhart and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra for a program that features music inspired by three of this country's favorite pastimes--baseball, movies, and rock 'n' roll. "I think it's a great way to get families interested in the Boston Pops," said the maestro. "Hopefully we'll be getting whole families who wouldn't normally be coming to see us if we performed at their local concert hall. However, the combination of baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and the Boston Pops might appeal to them." The program will be a tribute to America's Favorite Past Times and includes music from Hollywood, the music of the Boston Pops, rock and roll and the music of baseball. Sounds like a winning combination regardless of the box scores. Of course, the Pops will be playing their famous Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular at Boston's Esplanade on July 3rd and 4th, portions of which will be telecast on the CBS Television Network. There will also be Boston Pops appearances at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, MA this summer. This outdoor venue will host "America's Favorite Orchestra" in their incredibly popular Movie Night, where John Williams is on the podium. Lockhart will lead the orchestra there when Broadway's Jason Danieley and Kelli O'Hara are in the spotlight singing some memorable music written by Cole Porter on July 17th. Whether the Boston Pops is enjoyed at a ball park, an outdoor venue like Tanglewood or in the elegance of Boston's Symphony Hall, audiences are guaranteed a memorable time. Under the skilled and sensitive baton of Keith Lockhart, the orchestra is in prime form. However, it seems that musicians aren't the only ones who respond so favorably to Maestro Lockhart. The Opening Night crowd at Symphony Hall was just as enthusiastic about the conductor as they were about the music he was so admirably conducting. Nothing could be more felicitous. To purchase tickets to Boston Pops concerts or to get further information about the orchestra, go to www.bso.org To visit Keith Lockhart's website, go to www.keithlockhart.com

DPAC, Durham Performing Arts Center and Our State Magazine have partnered together to offer "Broadway Backstage: A Behind the Scenes Tour of Broadway and New York City" May 20-22, 2011

Paper Mill Playhouse will open its 2011-2012 season with the premiere of a new Disney stage musical, Newsies. Featuring music by eight time Academy Award®-winning composer Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Sister Act, The Little Mermaid), lyrics by Jack Feldman and a new book by four-time Tony® Award winner Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy), Newsies is adapted for the stage from the live-action Disney feature film musical. The production is being directed at Paper Mill by Tony® nominee Jeff Calhoun (The Will Rogers Follies, Grey Gardens). The show begins performances on Thursday, September 15. The official press opening is scheduled for Sunday, September 25. Recently, BroadwayWorld stopped by the Newsies open call in New York City and went inside the audition room. Click below to watch the men's dance call and hear from Calhoun and the show's choreographer, Christopher Gattelli!

Following thirteen sold out shows, The Laurie Beechman Theatre will continue their hit series, SONDHEIM UNPLUGGED, for a fourteenth installment, Monday, May 23 at 7pm. Included in the cast are an array of Broadway and cabaret alums, including Eric Michael Gillett (The Frogs, Kiss Me, Kate, Sweet Smell of Success), Jana Robbins (Mazeppa in the 1989 revival of Gypsy), and Lucia Spina (B'way's Legally Blonde, South Pacific). We're also pleased to welcome three very special guests, each of whom created roles in Sondheim musicals: Crista Moore (Louise in the 1989 Broadway revival of Gypsy), Teri Ralson (Company's original Jenny and Mrs. Nordstrom in the original A Little Night Music) and Sarah Rice(Sweeney Todd's original Johanna). Recently, Sondheim Unplugged received the 2011 Bistro Award for Outstanding Cabaret Series, and was nominated for the 2011 MAC Award.

Cast members from the Kennedy Center's production of FOLLIES, including:Bernadette Peters, Danny Burstein, Jan Maxwell, Ron Raines, and Elaine Paige, are set to participate in a special insider's look at the show, complete with lively discussion and the opportunity to ask questions. The evnt will be held May 24, 2011 at 5:00 PM at Terrace Theater. Tickets are $12.00, and can be purchased by visiting: http://www.kennedy-center.org

Follies is now in full swing at the John F. Kennedy Center with what feels like half of New York City travelling down to see the revered Sondheim musical. Here, some of our favorite cast members posed for BroadwayWorld.com after a weekend performance. Stay tuned for more coverage of all things Follies!

Follies is now in full swing at the John F. Kennedy Center with what feels like half of New York City travelling down to see the revered Sondheim musical. Now, as part of BroadwayWorld.com's ongoing coverage and to answer one of the most frequently asked questions... What's for Sale? Here's a look at the merchandise currently available at the theatre.

The John F. Kennedy Center's revival production of Follies includes principal casting includes Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer, Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone, and Elaine Paige as Carlotta Campion. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you the first production shots from the show with more to come!

The Broadway world is abuzz with all things FOLLIES so it was perfect timing that this past Monday night, at Judith Ivey's home, the 2001 revival cast of FOLLIES got together 'to glamorize the old days, stumble through a song or two, and lie about ourselves...a little.' Ok, so there was no singing, but practically the entire cast got together to celebrate what was an amazing experience in their lives and the amazing family they considered ourselves back in 2001. Blogging about the experience was Broadway veteran Randy Slovacek, who gave us exclusive permission to run his memories of the night (and production). As an actor, Randy has appeared on Broadway in Follies, Chicago and Hello, Dolly!, as well as the National companies of A Chorus Line, Cats, 42nd Street, Chicago and Hello, Dolly!. In addition, Randy is a published writer with articles in prominent magazines and is the author of his own blog, 'The Randy Report.'

The CAPA Summer Movie Series, the longest-running classic film series in America, celebrates its 41st anniversary in 2011 with an impressive assembly of classics, cult favorites, and much beloved films.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' production of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's FOLLIES will begin previews May 7 at 7:30 PM. The cast will feature two-time Tony winner Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, four-time Tony nominee Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, two-time Tony nominee Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer, Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone and Olivier Award winner Elaine Paige as Carlotta Campion.