Following a critically-acclaimed third season, Stark Naked Theatre Company opens its fourth season on September 5th with the southwest regional premiere of The God Game, written by award-winning playwright Suzanne Bradbeer. Critics praised The God Game in its world premiere earlier this year, calling it "a superb new drama" and "the sort of new work that theatre fans long to see." And just in time for election season, Houston audiences will likewise be enthralled with Stark Naked's production of this exciting political drama. The God Game is a relevant and thought-provoking new play that deftly examines the role of faith on the national political stage. Running through September 20th at Stark Naked Theatre's STUDIO 101, The God Game is directed by Jennifer Dean and features perennial favorites Justin Doran, Philip Lehl, and Kim Tobin-Lehl in the lead roles.
A great, big Broadway season is on its way, with fourteen productions already slated to open in the next few months. With weeks until the craziness begins, there is still plenty of time to catch up on what's been going on at Broadway's already occupied theaters .
BroadwayWorld will be profiling the hits of the Great White Way that continue to draw crowds after months, years, and (in some cases) decades. Meet the current cast of Broadway's MAMMA MIA! below!
Good and evil: weapons that battled on screen to be 'Lord of the Rings' are offered for sale at the Bonhams Turner Classic Movies auction
HERE announces its 2014-2015 producing season, commencing Labor Day Weekend with the premiere of the Artistic Director production, Trade Practices, by Kristin Marting & David Evans Morris; and followed by the HERE Resident Artist productions Send for the Million Men by Joseph Silvosky and Bloowst windku by Rebecca Davis. HERE's upcoming season also includes the third annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/ Now festival and HERE's yearly CULTUREMART festival, which gives audiences a first look at new work in process from artists in the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP). The multidisciplinary productions in HERE's 2014-2015 season represent the culmination of commissions and developmental residencies of up to three years through HARP, and/or the Dream Music Puppetry Program.
The 'Alley Theatre @ UH' season begins with Betty Buckley, Hallie Foote, Annalee Jefferies and Veanne Cox in award-winning Texas playwright Horton Foote's The Old Friends, a Southwestern premiere.
There's only one! The magnificent Tony Bennett, returns to the Ravinia Festival on Saturday evening, August 16, at 8:30 PM. The foremost interpreter of American popular song and one of the Festival's most treasured and highly anticipated artists since his first appearance in 1984, Mr. Bennett headlines his 33rd Ravinia concert with this engagement.
While Bobby Broom's 2012 CD 'Upper West Side Story' ("a spectacular album"-DownBeat) focused exclusively on original material, the guitarist takes a very different track with 'My Shining Hour,' due for August 19
Suzanne Shaw is to join Paul Nicholas to star in the world premiere of BLOCKBUSTER The Musical, featuring the chart- busting hits of the legendary song-writing team Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who dominated the pop world in the 1970's and 1980's.
Principal casting has been announced for the upcoming world premiere production of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. The cast will include Robert Fairchild as Jerry Mulligan, Leanne Cope as Lise Dassin, Veanne Cox as Madame Baurel, Jill Paice as Milo Davenport, Brandon Uranowitz as Adam Hochberg, and Max Von Essen as Henri Baurel.
Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: SHOOT ME, the doc about the legendary Elaine Stritch, is now on Netflix, 'CURIOUS INCIDENT' returns to the West End, Constantine Maroulis and Marilu Henner lead readings of a new musical and more!
Do blondes really have more fun? Audiences will soon find out at Pittsburgh CLO's production of Legally Blonde The Musical, June 13-22 at the Benedum Center. This mega movie hit will be brought to life by a cast of Broadway's best and Pittsburgh CLO veterans. Watch as Elle Woods takes over the stage with her vivacious personality and a score sure to please.
Do blondes really have more fun? Audiences will soon find out at Pittsburgh CLO's production of Legally Blonde The Musical, June 13-22 at the Benedum Center. This mega movie hit will be brought to life by a cast of Broadway's best and Pittsburgh CLO veterans. Watch as Elle Woods takes over the stage with her vivacious personality and a score sure to please.
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces a distinguished list of music headliners to be presented at the 55th annual Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival, a production of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. The 10-day celebration of the arts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is unlike any other in the nation. The world-class, multi-disciplinary festival is free to attend and is open to the public. Attracting over 400,000 visitors annually, the Festival begins on the first Today in June and takes place at the confluence of Pittsburgh's famed three rivers in Point State Park, throughout picturesque Gateway Center, and in the city's world-renowned Cultural District.
The Gateway will open their 65th season with '42nd Street' - led by three-time Tony Award nominee Randy Skinner - now through June 8 at Bellport's Gateway Playhouse. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!
The Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC) has announced that eminent Music Director Grant Gershon will continue his key leadership role at the choir's helm through the 2019-2020 season, which will be his 19th season with the chorus, with the new title of Artistic Director effective July 1, 2014, according to LAMC Chair David Gindler.
I was just a little more than a year into my new side career as a cabaret show reviewer when I first saw a Karen Oberlin show. It was Valentine's Day night 2012 and Oberlin—with guitarist Sean Harkness and guest violinist Aaron Weinstein—would be performing her romance-laced set, Stringing Along With Love, at the Metropolitan Room. At the time, all I knew about Oberlin was that she was considered among New York's best female cabaret singers, and I hadn't researched her performing history pre-show. About a third of the way into her set I leaned over to my wife (it was Valentine's Day after all) and whispered, “You know, she has a real Doris Day quality in her voice and in the way she delivers some lyrics.” This immediately ratcheted up my appreciation for Oberlin since there are four passions I inherited from my Dad—baseball, reading the morning papers, sports writing and Doris Day (well, also Sophia Loren, but that's for another column). Since Dad had grown up during the prime of the Big Band Era of the 1940s, I heard the sultry sounds of a young Doris Day singing songs like “Sentimental Journey” on the family stereo more than a few times. Once I saw Day's strikingly adorable blondness on a record cover and her rocking body in one of her films, I knew what Dad was talking about. As popular, famous, and near iconic as Doris Day became, in my book, as a singer and screen beauty she's always been vastly underrated. Little did I know that Karen Oberlin had been doing a Doris Day tribute show so since 2001 at places like Firebird, Iridium, and the late Danny's Skylight Room, and produced a CD, Secret Love: The Music of Doris Day, in 2002. Karen Oberlin had instantly become my secret love.
The schedule for this summer's Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival, which runs from July 20 to August 10, was announced today by Bill Bragin, Lincoln Center's Director of Public Programming. Nearly 100 free performances will take place across the plazas of Lincoln Center during three weeks. A special Memorial Concert for Pete and Toshi Seeger on July 20 will be followed by the official opening concert on July 23 with Larry Harlow's Hommy: A Latin Opera, the landmark work's first performance in 40 years. Complete festival details and a chronological listing of events follow.
Talent America's 2001 "Performer of the Year" Brian De Lorenzo presents a tribute to two of the greatest singers of the American Songbook, Frank Sinatra & Tony Bennett in "Sinatra, Tony & Me", Sunday, April 27 and Sunday May 4 at 12 noon, at The Metropolitan Room, 24 W. 22nd Street, New York. Taking the stage with the Bill Zeffiro Trio, De Lorenzo appears in this encore performance following his appearance at Boston's top jazz venue, Scullers Jazz Club.
As BroadwayWorld previously reported, the Tony Awards® Administration Committee has announced that Rosie O'Donnell will receive the 2014 Isabelle Stevenson Award. This award will be presented at the 2014 Tony Awardson Sunday, June 8th. The 2014 Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.
The Isabelle Stevenson Award is presented annually to a member of the theatre community who has made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations.
In honor of the big announcement, BroadwayWorld brings you ten reasons that we adore this Broadway-lovin' lady!
The New York Philharmonic will return to Bravo! Vail in Colorado for the Orchestra's 12th- annual summer residency there, performing six concerts July 18-25, 2014. Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct three programs, July 18-20, featuring works by composers for whom he has advocated during his tenure, ranging from Nielsen to The Marie-Jose?e Kravis Composer-in- Residence Christopher Rouse. The other Philharmonic concerts will be conducted by Bramwell Tovey (July 23 and 25) and Ted Sperling (July 24), and will feature works by Copland, Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Loesser, among others.
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces a distinguished list of music headliners to be presented at the 55th annual Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival, a production of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. The 10-day celebration of the arts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is unlike any other in the nation. The world-class, multi-disciplinary festival is free to attend and is open to the public. Attracting over 400,000 visitors annually, the Festival begins on the first Friday in June and takes place at the confluence of Pittsburgh's famed three rivers in Point State Park, throughout picturesque Gateway Center, and in the city's world-renowned Cultural District.
The Old Vic today announced its programme for Summer/Autumn 2014. The CQS Space, The Old Vic in the round, will be home to the whole season of productions, continuing after Other Desert Cities which opens this month. The plays will be performed in the round, a transformation of The Old Vic's auditorium first seen for the award-winning 2008 production of The Norman Conquests. The season of productions is supported for the fourth consecutive year by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
The Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC) continues its epic 50th Anniversary Season with a heartfelt two-part tribute to National Medal of Arts recipient Morten Lauridsen, the choir's Composer In Residence from 1995 to 2001, the composer most closely associated with the renowned chorus and the most frequently performed American choral composer in modern history. The tribute begins with an exclusive screening of the award-winning documentary film 'Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen' and post-screening conversation with Lauridsen, film director Michael Stillwater and LAMC Music Director Grant Gershon tonight, March 14, 2014, 8 pm, at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale.
The Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC) continues its epic 50th Anniversary Season with a heartfelt two-part tribute to National Medal of Arts recipient Morten Lauridsen, the choir's Composer In Residence from 1995 to 2001, the composer most closely associated with the renowned chorus and the most frequently performed American choral composer in modern history. The tribute begins with an exclusive screening of the award-winning documentary film "Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen" and post-screening conversation with Lauridsen, film director Michael Stillwater and LAMC Music Director Grant Gershon on Friday, March 14, 2014, 8 pm, at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale. The tribute concludes with the Chorale's highly anticipated all-Lauridsen concert featuring some of his most well known works conducted by Gershon with one work accompanied by composer himself on piano on Sunday, March 16, 2014, 7 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will host 22 theatrical offerings from 20 different countries during WORLD STAGES: International Theater Festival 2014 that will run for three weeks March 10-30, 2014 throughout the Center. The international festival features contemporary theater works offering 13 fully staged productions, 4 theater-focused installations, 3 readings of new works, and 2 forums. From Olivier and Tony Award-winning puppetry to innovative perspectives on old classics, a diverse showcase of theatrical expression will be represented by countries spanning the globe including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, England, France, Iceland, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Pakistan, Palestine, Scotland, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, and the United States.
Videos