Can-Can 1954 - Articles Page 7

BroadwayHD has announced its October roster, featuring popular films and plays, along with anniversary concerts and exciting live theater experiences.

The 65th anniversary of Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California is this month. It is a one for millions of fans worldwide, and an important milestone in the history of American pop culture. With Disney theme parks closed across the globe due to the pandemic, Van Eaton Galleries will celebrate the anniversary of Disneyland with an auction.

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that ballet dancer, actress, and singer Zizi Jeanmaire has died at age 96.

This year's Newport Folk Festival - one of the oldest and longest running music festivals in the world, will not happen in person. Since fans can't be together at the Fort, Newport Folk is bringing the music to you with radio broadcasts from over 60 years of archived sets, webcast concerts, and a very special film to close the weekend.

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that India Adams, whose long career as a singer and actress spanned nearly seven decades, died Saturday, April 25th at Tarzana Medical Center in Los Angeles, after a short illness.

The Beatles! Rihanna! Michael Jackson! Johnny Cash! Kanye West! The Rolling Stones! Aretha Franklin! Bob Dylan! Miles Davis! Nirvana! BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the greatest albums from the rock and rap era (1950-2020); see if your favorites made the grade!

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the best film musicals since the sound era began; see if your favorites made the list!

How do we make a list of the 101 greatest show tunes from the past 100 years? Well, we did the near-impossible task.  Check out our full list here! 

Visit our list of the best musicals & shows you can watch from home! We've got you covered with all the must-sees on streaming sites including Tony-award winners, favorite stars and top performances.

'You can't handle the truth.' One of the most famous lines ever spoken, and it was spoken by the actor once voted Manasquan High School's Class of 1954 'Class Clown' in the Academy Award-nominated film 'A Few Good Men.'

American Theatre Guild's national tour of 'Finding Neverland' is a marvel of imaginative production values, excellent acting, and quirky-jerky choreography, making this 'making of Peter Pan' fantasy a joy from start to finish.

The life of a young man hangs in the balance and rests in the hands of 12 jurors in a seemingly open-and-shut case. However, can they set aside personal prejudices and preconceptions in the name of justice? That is the question for '12 Angry Men,' presented by Forté Dramatic Productions Jan. 17-26 at Mercer County Community College's (MCCC) Kelsey Theatre.

Nostalgic rose-colored glasses so tint few works as The Nutcracker. Its music, its images, its audience of children, either mesmerized or fidgeting in their Sunday best, have become annual staples of the Christmas season. Balanchine's 1954 staging of the ballet is its quintessential manifestation. As with all things Balanchine, it is a feat of harmonious contradictions; instead of his more academic ventures that seek to marry the aristocratic form with the fashionable modern, The Nutcracker is a practice in elegant nostalgia. Perhaps Balanchine felt this nostalgia for a Russia that was long gone; Stalin died the previous year, leaving behind a Russia that held no resemblance to the first act fete. That the choreographer was capable of conjuring these charming visions of a dreamlike childhood, while not sacrificing his pioneering vocabulary, is a testament to his genius

BroadwayHD dives into the new decade with a collection of awe-inspiring and bold productions this month. Leading the roster is the 1954 classic film Brigadoon, starring Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly, which comes to the platform on January 1. Six-time Tony Award-nominated production of Red, starring Tony Nominee Alfred Molina and Harry Potter film star Alfred Enoch, will be available starting January 9. Donmar Warehouse's contemporary and innovative all-female production of Shakespeare's Henry IV makes its way to the platform on January 16, while Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny joins on January 23. Finally, one of the greatest successes of the National Ballet of Norway, the stunning ballet Hedda Gabler, will be available on January 30.

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Broadway production designer Peter Larkin has passed away. He was 93 and died at his home in Bridgehampton, New York, after a brief illness, according to Deadline.

Who can beat the prolific talent and indomitable spirit of Irving Berlin? His music is ageless. On film Holiday Inn in 1942 introduced the world to 'White Christmas' that became a great big movie hit as well but not for another 12 years. Many forget that White Christmas was a hit in 1954. Then White Christmas became a hit onstage in 2000 and Holiday Inn didn't come to Broadway until 2016. We're talking almost a hundred years, and people still crave Irving Berlin.

It seems that the best things really do happen while you're dancing, or at least they do in the touring production of WHITE CHRISTMAS that's currently at DPAC. The musical is at its very best during its high-energy dance numbers. The show is based on the 1954 holiday classic film starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. With music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, the show is a fun Christmas-themed romp with plenty of 1950s nostalgia, beautiful costumes, and great tap dancing. 

Since its launch in 2015, the Film Movement Classics label has been dedicated to seeking out distinctive films of the past from around the globe, and offering these digitally restored classics to cineastes everywhere. Following the recent theatrical releases of FRITZ LANG'S INDIAN EPIC and Bill Forsyth's coming-of-age classic GREGORY'S GIRL and the home entertainment releases of French farce THE MAD ADVENTURES OF RABBI JACOB and King Hu's pioneering wuxia film, THE FATE OF LEE KHAN, Film Movement has acquired a baker's dozen of British classics from the '40s-'60s for Blu-ray and digital release on the Film Movement Classics label beginning this December.

The preview of the magnificent things to come happens when Brian Stokes Mitchell sings the first song of his current show at Feinstein's/54 Below. It's the Irving Berlin classic “There's No Business Like Show Business”. I'm sure if Berlin ever heard the Stokes version he would bow down in tribute to the thrilling performance and unique revisit that the Tony Award Winner and consummate artist has brought to his 1954 tune written for Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun. Stokes navigates the innovative Tedd Firth arrangement and makes you feel excited, awestruck, and comfortable as his rich baritone voice effortlessly glides through the constant time signature and key changes. This current show at 54 is titled Brian Stokes Mitchell Plays With Music-Holiday and Stokes brings his acting, musicianship, and charismatic personality to make every tune on his song list a moving experience. The New York Times has dubbed Brian Stokes Mitchell as Broadway's “Last Leading Man” but Stokes is even much more than that. He's Chairman of the Board of The Actors Fund. He has a unique ability to bring people together and that theme is constant throughout his show. His encore at this performance was “What A Wonderful World” and the SRO audience left feeling that way mainly because Brian Stokes Mitchell is in it.

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey continues its 57th season, entitled Incredible Journeys, with N. Richard Nash's The Rainmaker. Directed by Artistic Director Bonnie J. Monte, this compelling story of love and hope has captivated audiences since it hit the stage in 1954. Patrons can purchase tickets at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre Box Office located at 36 Madison Avenue in Madison, by calling the Box Office at 973-408-5600 or by going online at www.ShakespeareNJ.org. Performances begin on July 31.

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (STNJ) continues its 57th season, entitled Incredible Journeys, with N. Richard Nash's The Rainmaker. Directed by Artistic Director Bonnie J. Monte, this compelling story of love and hope has captivated audiences since it hit the stage in 1954. Patrons can purchase tickets at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre Box Office located at 36 Madison Avenue in Madison, by calling the Box Office at 973-408-5600 or by going online at www.ShakespeareNJ.org. Performances begin on July 31.

New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," has announced casting for its 29th season of adult, alternative musical theatre, which opens with the return of the wild, comic rock musical CRY-BABY,  based on the iconic John Waters film, a show which New Line first produced in 2012 in its American regional premiere, running Sept. 26-Oct. 19, 2019. The season continues with the electrifying new rock musical fresh from Broadway, in its regional premiere, HEAD OVER HEELS, a high-energy, adult romp about gender and sexuality, based on a 16th-century novel and using the songs of the 80s rock band The Go-Go's, running March 5-28, 2020. And the season closes with the return of one of New Line's biggest hits, which the New Liners first presented in 2007, the pitch dark satire URINETOWN, the hilarious, outrageous fable of greed, corruption, love, revolution, and urination, running June 4-27, 2020.

The American Dance Festival (ADF) continues this week with the ADF debut of North Carolina-based Murielle Elizéon & Tommy Noonan/Culture Mill and their presentation of the ADF-commissioned They Are All.

New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," has announced its 29th season of adult, alternative musical theatre, including the return of the wild, comic rock musical CRY-BABY,  which New Line first produced in 2012 in its American regional premiere, based on the John Waters film, running Sept. 26-Oct. 19, 2019; followed by the electrifying new rock musical fresh from Broadway, in its regional premiere, HEAD OVER HEELS, a high-energy, adult romp about gender and sexuality, based on a 16th century novel and using the songs of the pop group The Go-Go's, running March 5-28, 2020; and the season closes with the return of one of New Line's biggest hits, which the New Liners first presented in 2007, the pitch dark satire URINETOWN, the hilarious, outrageous fable of greed, corruption, love, revolution, and urination, running June 4-27, 2020.

'Based on a true incident' seems a phrase best reserved for a hardboiled television detective series, circa 1954 - perhaps followed by a title card reading, 'A Quinn Martin Production' (if you're of a certain vintage, you'll get my meaning) - but in the case of Bright Star, the Tony Award-nominated musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell now onstage at Cumberland County Playhouse through June 6, it's definitely fitting.