Andrei Serban News

Tonight, February 7 at 5:30pm at The Players, Elements Theatre Company of Orleans, MA will present an original work, Labyrinth: A Legacy of Language, exploring Shakespeare's influence on playwrights through the past four and a half centuries, from Sheridan to Ibsen to Stoppard. The production will be a springboard for a 7:00pm discussion in the ARTS IN CONVERSATION panel series hosted by Elements Theatre Company, on How Shakespeare Humanizes Our Culture: The Transforming Power of His Work. Panelists include:

On Friday, February 7 at 5:30pm at The Players, Elements Theatre Company of Orleans, MA will present an original work, Labyrinth: A Legacy of Language, exploring Shakespeare's influence on playwrights through the past four and a half centuries, from Sheridan to Ibsen to Stoppard. The production will be a springboard for a 7:00pm discussion in the ARTS IN CONVERSATION panel series hosted by Elements Theatre Company, on How Shakespeare Humanizes Our Culture: The Transforming Power of His Work. Panelists include:

Looking Glass Theatre will bring back a limited run of Frankie Little Hardin's East of the Sun, West of the Moon, a new children's play directed by Julia Sterling Martin. East of the Sun, West of the Moon will perform a limited engagement at The Gallery Players in Park Slope. Performances are scheduled for Saturdays, today, February 1st, March 22nd, May 3rd, May 31st, and June 21st.

Richard Tucker Award-winner Ailyn Pérez – the “lyric soprano who truly seems to have it all” (Opera News) – takes on a trio of starring roles at London's Royal Opera House over the coming months. After launching the new year in the title role of Manon (Jan 31–Feb 4), she makes her role debut as Liù in Turandot (Feb 17–March 10), before giving her first scheduled Covent Garden performances in the title role of La traviata opposite her husband and fellow Tucker Award-winner, tenor Stephen Costello (May 6–20). Dubbed “America's fastest-rising husband-and-wife opera stars” (Associated Press), the couple brought down the house in London two years ago, when the soprano stepped in as a last-minute replacement to partner her husband in Verdi's masterpiece.

French soprano Natalie Dessay makes her highly anticipated New York recital debut onWednesday, March 12 at 8:00 p.m. at Carnegie Hall in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, joined by pianist and frequent collaborator Philippe Cassard. Ms. Dessay and Mr. Cassard recently released an acclaimed recording of Debussy's works in 2012 (Virgin Classics), two of which are featured in this program—“Apparition,” and 'La romance d'Ariel.' The program also features German works by Brahms, Clara Schumann, and Richard Strauss, and French works by Duparc, Poulenc, and Fauré. Full program information is below.

On Friday, February 7 at 5:30pm at The Players (16 Gramercy Park, New York, NY), Elements Theatre Company of Orleans, MA will present an original work, Labyrinth: A Legacy of Language, exploring Shakespeare's influence on playwrights through the past four and a half centuries, from Sheridan to Ibsen to Stoppard. The production will be a springboard for a 7:00pm discussion in the ARTS IN CONVERSATION panel series, on How Shakespeare Humanizes Our Culture: The Transforming Power of His Work. Panelists include George Drance, SJ, Artist in Residence at Fordham University, Louis Colaianni, author of How to Speak Shakespeare and Teacher/Coach, Rob Weinert-Kendt, Associate Editor at American Theatre, and Josh Cabat, Co-founder of the New York City Student Shakespeare Festival. Danielle Dwyer, CJ, Elements Artistic Director, will moderate. Admission is FREE to both the performance and panel discussion. Reservations are recommended; call 508-240-2400.

Looking Glass Theatre is proud to bring back a limited run of Frankie Little Hardin's East of the Sun, West of the Moon, a new children's play directed by Julia Sterling Martin. East of the Sun, West of the Moon will perform a limited engagement at The Gallery Players in Park Slope. Performances are scheduled for Saturdays, February 1st, March 22nd, May 3rd, May 31st, and June 21st. Tickets are $12 kids, $8 adults and are available at www.lookingglasstheatrenyc.com or through TheaterMania.com by calling (866)-411-8111. Running time is approximately 60 minutes with no intermission.

Whitney Morse and Britni Tozzi lead the cast of PFP's The Children's Hour, directed by Derek Bertelsen* and running tonight,, January 9 - February 9, 2014 at Collaboraction.

The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation is thrilled to announce the U.S. premiere of the stage adaptation of Toni Bentley's groundbreaking erotic memoir THE SURRENDER, directed by Zishan Ugurlu and starring Laura Campbell. THE SURRENDER will have its U.S. debut following critically acclaimed productions by the Spanish National Theatre (Centro Dramatico Nacional) in Madrid and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013. Performances begin on Wednesday, January 8 for a limited engagement through Sunday, February 2 at The Clurman Theatre on Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues). Opening Night is Wednesday, January 15 at 8 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday at 7 PM; Wednesday - Friday at 8 PM; Saturday at 2 PM and 8 PM; Sunday at 3 PM. Tickets are $45 ($31.50 for preview performances from January 8-January 14). For tickets, which go one sale on Friday, December 6 at 12:30 PM, please call Telecharge at 212-239-6200 or visit at www.telecharge.com. For more information, visit www.thesurrendertheplay.com.

Director Derek Bertelsen today announced that casting has been completed for the PFP Production of Lillian Hellman's classic story of love and lies, The Children's Hour. Britni Tozzi plays Karen Wright, and Whitney Morse is Martha Dobie. PFP Ensemble Members in the cast are Nelson Rodriguez as Dr. Joseph Cardin, Michelle McKenzie-Voigt as Mrs. Lily Mortar, and Joan McGrath as Mrs. Amelia Tilford.

Whitney Morse and Britni Tozzi lead the cast of PFP's The Children's Hour, directed by Derek Bertelsen* and running January 9 - February 9, 2014 at Collaboraction.

Tonight, November 23, Deborah Warner's new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, which opened the current Met season, will return with a new cast in the central roles.

Since its founding in 1961, La MaMa Experimental Arts Club has been a hub for risk-taking theater artists from around the globe. La MaMa will celebrate their 2013 season of performances with a gala honoring two pillars of arts journalism: former Village Voice critic Michael Feingold, and publisher Patsy Tarr of 2wice. Throughout their long careers, these two individuals have carved out a voice for the arts, championing countless artists working across platforms.

Since its founding in 1961, La MaMa Experimental Arts Club has been a hub for risk-taking theater artists from around the globe. La MaMa will celebrate their 2013 season of performances with a gala honoring two pillars of arts journalism: former Village Voice critic Michael Feingold, and publisher Patsy Tarr of 2wice. Throughout their long careers, these two individuals have carved out a voice for the arts, championing countless artists working across platforms.

On November 23, Deborah Warner's new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, which opened the current Met season, will return with a new cast in the central roles. Peter Mattei, recently seen at the Met as Amfortas in Wagner's Parsifal and in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni, will sing his first Met performances of the brooding title character. Marina Poplavskaya, star of recent Met productions of Verdi's La Traviata and Don Carlo and Gounod's Faust, sings Tatiana, the lovesick girl who evolves into a sophisticated woman over the course of the opera. Rolando Villazón, whose past starring roles at the Met include Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème and the Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto, returns for his first company performances since 2009 as Lenski, the poet whose friendship with Onegin is destroyed by jealousy. Russian conductor Alexander Vedernikov makes his Met debut leading the opera, which will also star Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova in her Met debut as Tatiana's sister Olga and Štefan Kocán as the wealthy Prince Gremin.

In today's New York Post, Billy Crystal speaks to Michael Riedel about making his return to Broadway in his acclaimed show 700 SUNDAYS, coming to the Imperial Theater for a nine-week run beginning on November 5th.

During her 2013-14 season, rising-star soprano Ailyn Perez - winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award and the 15th annual Placido Domingo Award - embodies Verdi's iconic Violetta on both sides of the Atlantic. The Chicago-born singer portrays the composer's tragic heroine in Verdi bicentennial stagings of La traviata at Hamburg State Opera (tonight, Sep 20-27) and Ópera de Oviedo in Spain (Oct 13-19), with 2014 productions at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Dec 31-Jan 6), London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (May 6-20) and San Francisco Opera (July 5-13). Reviewing her 2012 triumph in La traviata at Covent Garden, The Observer of the UK called Perez 'an ideal Violetta... The bewitching young American soprano puts her heart into every twist of the drama. Her performance was glorious, the quiet passages magical.' But it's not only Violetta this season for the soprano, as she returns to New York for the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall (Nov 17) and joins tenor Stephen Costello - her husband - for a duo recital at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia (Dec 17).

Irina Brook continues her father Peter's tradition at La MaMa with Shakespeare's Sister (or La Vie Materielle), which adapts Virginia Woolf's A Room Of One's Own and Marguerite Duras' La Vie Materielle. Adapted and directed by the younger Brook, the work is set at a fantasy dinner party, where five women prepare the cuisine while singing, dancing and discussing their place in the world. La MaMa will present the New York Premiere today, September 20 - October 6 at the Ellen Stewart Theatre (66 East 4th Street).

The Old Globe will open its 2013-14 Season with The Last Goodbye, a new musical that marries Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and the incendiary songs of the legendary singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley. Conceived and adapted by Michael Kimmel, the rock musical is directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers (Peter and the Starcatcher, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson). Choreography is by Sonya Tayeh ('So You Think You Can Dance'), and orchestrations, music direction and arrangements are by Kris Kukul. The complete creative team and casting, as well as the remainder of the Globe's new season, will be announced at a later date. The Last Goodbye will run on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, Sunday, Sept. 22 - Nov. 3, 2013. Preview performances run Sept. 22- Oct. 5. Opening night is Sunday, Oct. 6. Tickets are currently available by subscription only. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.