Aftermath 1928

The New York Philharmonic has revealed its 2024–25 season. Learn more about the season!

It’s been a strong year for Toronto theatre. I saw 145 shows this year in Toronto and beyond, and am happy to report that theatre is alive and well. I’ve laughed, sobbed, coughed (discreetly into a mask), and cheered my way through our stages in 2023. Here are some local highlights.

Musical Theatre West (MTW), Long Beach’s premier theater company, will make musical magic with its spring show, An American in Paris. Known for its Broadway-caliber productions, MTW will debut the latest rendition of the 1951 movie musical for the first time on the West Coast.

It is indeed ironic that composer Alberto Hemsi, who spent much of his life rescuing music that faced extinction, should have his own brilliantly original works threatened with a similar fate.

Actor, singer and television personality Danielle de Niese will star as ‘Elle’ in a new film of LA VOIX HUMAINE, Jean Cocteau’s one-woman drama set to music by Francis Poulenc, shot on location in London and Paris. Directed by James Kent (Aftermath, Testament of Youth), with Cinematography from Laurie Rose (High Rise, Rebecca) and designed by Peter Francis (The Father, The Children Act) the film will have its UK premiere on BBC Two in the spring.

East Lynne Theater Company presents a reading of the one-act play 'Aftermath' by Mary P. Burrill for free, due to support from The New Jersey Theatre Alliance's 'Stages Festival.' 

Metropolitan Playhouse presents its next free 'screened' readings, live-streamed at no charge, with talkback to follow: AFTERMATH, Mary P. Burrill, January 16, 2021 at 8 PM Eastern, available at www.metropolitanplayhouse.org.

Quintessence Theatre Group, Philadelphia's classic repertory theatre, announces its Fate vs. Free Will season. This award-winning company is celebrated for its language and actor driven epic classical theatre and will resume live performance in 2020 with a season of theatrical masterpieces.

Ute Lemper talks to BroadwayWorld UK about her role in Rendezvous with Marlene, her 'personal homage to that great lady', at the Arcola Theatre

Just in! Two-time Tony Award and three-time Emmy Award winner Laurie Metcalf and two-time Emmy Award winner Eddie Izzard will star on Broadway next season...

One of the nation's most adventurous opera companies, Odyssey Opera, presents the Boston premiere of Richard Strauss's little-known opera Die agyptische Helena (The Egyptian Helen) with libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. As part of Odyssey Opera's sixth season, this marks the second of three works to be performed in 2019 inspired by one of the most enigmatic figures in ancient history, Helen of Troy. The challenging title role of Helen will be played by soprano Kirsten Chambers (Met Opera). With orchestra and chorus conducted by Gil Rose, this two-act concert performance will be sung in German with English subtitles.

One of the nation's most adventurous opera companies, Odyssey Opera, presents the Boston premiere of Richard Strauss's little-known opera Die agyptische Helena (The Egyptian Helen) with libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. As part of Odyssey Opera's sixth season, this marks the second of three works to be performed in 2019 inspired by one of the most enigmatic figures in ancient history, Helen of Troy. The challenging title role of Helen will be played by soprano Kirsten Chambers (Met Opera). With orchestra and chorus conducted by Gil Rose, this two-act concert performance will be sung in German with English subtitles.

The Syracuse University Department of Drama announced the six plays and musicals that will make up the 2018/2019 season. With an emphasis on contemporary work, the season addresses a variety of current issues and concerns as experienced from intimately personal points of view. The season celebrates stories of consequence, while at the same time investigating and challenging the process, implications and impact of storytelling itself.

The selection of The Threepenny Opera to inaugurate Street's 2018 season is one of the year's most eagerly anticipated theatrical events in Music City - thanks in part to the fact that it may well be the first home-grown staging of Brecht and Weill's parody of operetta that, in turn, skewers capitalistic society while touting socialist, even Troskyite, values in the guise of a rather farcical music hall diversion. Does it succeed? The answer is 'yes,' perhaps even an emphatic 'YES!' although one must pay close attention to the lyrics for the punch of the political set amidst a story that, on the surface, seems somewhat apolitical in tone, style and nature.

Gershwin talent is inimitable; in 1932, Of Thee I Sing was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. George wrote the orchestral piece, An American in Paris, in 1928, inspired by the time he spent in Paris. In 1951, MGM released the musical film An American in Paris. It won Best Picture Oscar. Directed by Vincente Minnelli (Judy Garland's husband), the film featured many tunes of Gershwin, and concluded with an extensive, elaborate dance sequence built around the An American in Paris symphonic poem. The 2015 stage musical, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS won four Tony Awards, three Outer Critics Circle Awards, a Drama League Award, two Theatre World Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, three Fred and Adele Astaire Awards.

Tenor Matthew Polenzani sings the title role of the King of Crete, with mezzo-soprano Alice Coote in the trouser role of his noble son Idamante, soprano Elza van den Heever as Elettra, and soprano Nadine Sierra as Ilia.             

Full casting for Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? is announced today. Joining Damian Lewis and Sophie Okonedo, who play husband and wife Martin and Stevie in Ian Rickson's production, will be Jason Hughes as Martin's oldest friend Ross and Archie Madekwe as their son Billy.

Based on the 1951 Academy Award-Winning Vincente Minnelli film musical of the same name which was inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition by George Gershwin, An American in Paris tells the story of a young American soldier, a mysterious French girl and an indomitable European city, each yearning for a new beginning in the aftermath of World War II.

Berkshire Theatre Group is pleased to announce the full schedule of events for the Made in the Berkshires Festival, which will be held on November 11 through November 13, at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, MA and The Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, MA, celebrating the sixth year of this wonderful festival featuring local art and artists.

Berkshire Theatre Group is pleased to announce the full schedule of events for the Made in the Berkshires Festival, which will be held on November 11 through November 13, at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, MA and The Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, MA, celebrating the sixth year of this wonderful festival featuring local art and artists.

It is announced today that the Tony Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated actor Sophie Okonedo will join Damian Lewis in a new production of Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?  Directed by Ian Rickson, the production will play a strictly limited 12 week season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 24th March to 24th June 2017.

Planet Ant Theatre will kick off its 2016-17 season with Paul Downs Colaizzo's startlingly funny play Really Really September 9 - October 1.

Planet Ant Theatre will kick off its 2016-17 season with Paul Downs Colaizzo's startlingly funny play Really Really September 9 - October 1.

New York City Opera General Director Michael Capasso today announced the 2016-17 season of City Opera, a full season of new productions, concerts, and presentations for the "people's opera." New York City Opera will offer five operas (including a double bill) at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater; two chamber operas, including a Spanish baroque work at Harlem Stage as part of its O?pera en Espan?ol series, and New York City Opera Concerts at The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center. New York City Opera Orchestra will be featured in every opera and concert.

Schimmel Center at Pace University is proud to announce the 2015 | 2016 season at The Schimmel Center at Pace University, located at 3 Spruce Street between Park Row and Gold Street in downtown Manhattan, adjacent to City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge.  Schimmel Center is a world-class performing arts and culture series with an emphasis on showcasing the globe's greatest talents in the areas of theatre, music, cabaret, dance, film and family entertainment.