Andrew Cuomo News

Today, May 3rd, the BRAINSTORM! Creative Conversations continues, featuring Thai Artists Alliance Dancers and moderated by William Penrose, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Casting for the first two weeks of American Ballet Theatre's 2013 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

On May 1, 2013 the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and the Olana State Historic Site will launch the Hudson River School Art Trail contest featuring an artistic hiking trail that follows in the footsteps of America's premier landscape painters, and ends with the chance to win a weekend getaway to the Catskill Mountains.

On Friday, May 3rd, the BRAINSTORM! Creative Conversations continues, featuring Thai Artists Alliance Dancers and moderated by William Penrose, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Retailers and other public places are on high alert in major cities across the U.S. after Monday's bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

The Jewish Museum is presenting Writers and Artists Respond: Stefan Sagmeister on Thursday, May 2 at 6:30 pm. The award-winning designer Stefan Sagmeister will speak about his recent projects, including the current exhibition, Six Things: Sagmeister & Walsh, on view at the Museum through August 4, 2013. This program continues Writers and Artists Respond, a series of thought provoking discussions and performances by artists, musicians and writers in The Jewish Museum's galleries.

For all Roundabout productions, Education at Roundabout creates an issue of UPSTAGE, designed to enhance students' theatre-going experience. Each edition features interviews with the production's creative team members, contextual information about the play and teacher resources and activities.

Erica Mott Productions brings The Victory Project, an interdisciplinary dance, sound and video performance, to the Roulette Composer/Choreographer Series tonight, March 22, 2013 at 8pm.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) announced today complete details for FAR FROM HEAVEN, a new musical with book by Tony Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain, the current Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Assembled Parties both now on Broadway), music by Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, Finding Neverland) and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, The Grapes of Wrath, Finding Neverland). The musical is choreographed by Alex Sanchez (Giant, Fiorello!) and directed by three-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway; Rent, Next to Normal, Giant). The musical is based on the Focus Features/Vulcan Productions motion picture Far From Heaven, written and directed by Todd Haynes. FAR FROM HEAVEN will now begin previews Wednesday evening, May 8 at 8PM with an Opening Night set for Sunday, June 2 at 7PM. The limited engagement subscription run will play through Sunday, June 30 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). Headlining the cast is the previously-announced four-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara (nominated for her acclaimed performances in The Light in the Piazza, The Pajama Game, South Pacific and the current Nice Work If You Can Get It). One of Broadway's leading musical stars, she returns to Playwrights Horizons for the first time since starring in the World Premiere of the new musical My Life with Albertine in 2003. She will reunite with co-star Steven Pasquale (The Spitfire Grill at PH; reasons to be pretty on Broadway; The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide… at The Public; Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle nominations for A Man of No Importance at Lincoln Center; The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall, star of the NBC series 'Do No Harm'). Ms. O'Hara and Mr. Pasquale created their respective roles in FAR FROM HEAVEN for the musical's Preview Production run at Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer. In addition to Ms. O'Hara and Mr. Pasquale, the full cast of FAR FROM HEAVEN will feature J.B. Adams (Parade, Beauty & the Beast, Me & My Girl on Broadway; Annie Warbucks Off-Broadway; the film Far From Heaven), Marinda Anderson (From the Inside, Out at NY Fringe Festival; Freedom Train for TheatreWorks USA), Olivier Award nominee Nancy Anderson (Wonderful Town, A Class Act on Broadway; Kiss Me, Kate in London; Yank! Off-Broadway), Elainey Bass (Radio City Christmas Spectacular), Obie Award winner Quincy Tyler Bernstine (In the Next Room… on Broadway; Ruined at MTC), Justin Scott Brown (Les Miserables, Spring Awakening national tours), Obie Award winner Alma Cuervo (PH's The Heidi Chronicles and Isn't It Romantic?; Titanic, Cabaret, Women on the Verge… on Broadway; Road Show at The Public; Wicked national tour), Korey Jackson (Wild with Happy at The Public; 'Homeland'), Isaiah Johnson (Peter and the Starcatcher; The Merchant of Venice on Broadway), Jake Lucas (Newsies), James Moye (Million Dollar Quartet, Ragtime, White Christmas, on Broadway; Happiness Off-Broadway), Julianna Rigoglioso (Pippi Longstocking Off-Broadway; Mary Poppins national tour, The Smurfs), Sarah Jane Shanks (Wicked, Promises Promises, Shrek, Wonderful Town, The Apple Tree on Broadway), Tess Soltau (The Addams Family on Broadway; Into the Woods for The Public/Shakespeare in the Park), Mary Stout (Cather County at PH; Jane Eyre, Beauty & the Beast, Me & My Girl on Broadway) and Victor Wallace (Mamma Mia! on Broadway, Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera national tours). FAR FROM HEAVEN will feature scenic design by Tony Award nominee Allen Moyer, costume design by five-time Tony Award winner Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Tony Award winner Kenneth Posner, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, projection design by Peter Nigrini and orchestrations by Tony Award winner Bruce Coughlin. Musical Director is Lawrence Yurman and Production Stage Manager is Judith Schoenfeld. Cathy Whitaker (Ms. O'Hara) seems to be the picture-perfect wife and mother in 1957 suburban Connecticut. But roiling beneath the surface, secret longings and forbidden desires cause her world to unravel, with incendiary consequences. With a lush score that is both jazz-inflected and hauntingly lyrical, FAR FROM HEAVEN is a powerful story of romance, betrayal and intolerance, as a woman grapples with her identity in a society on the verge of upheaval. FAR FROM HEAVEN was commissioned, developed, and produced through the Playwrights Horizons Musicals in Partnership Initiative, with leadership support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Through this initiative, the musical had a Preview Production run at the Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer, also featuring Ms. O'Hara, Mr. Pasquale, Mr. Adams, Ms. Bernstine and Ms. Stout. The program allows Playwrights Horizons to develop new works of musical theater, each in partnership with a Regional theater - wholly within the not-for-profit system. This seven-year program aims to commission at least four new works of musical theater and develop and produce three or four full-scale productions. Each of the three musicals will be produced at both one specific Regional partner and at Playwrights Horizons. Generous support for FAR FROM HEAVEN was also provided by The Laurents / Hatcher Foundation, Stacey & Eric Mindich Fund for New Musicals at Playwrights Horizons, Daniel & Joanne Smith, Cathy & Stephen Weinroth, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Tobin Theatre Arts Fund, Thomas & Patricia Barron, Bruce Horten, Rosalee A. & Bruce Lovett, Larry Tatelbaum, Elroy and Terry Krumholz Foundation, and Nancy Roistacher & Wayne P. Merkelson. The original 2002 film, which stars Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert and Patricia Clarkson, earned over 100 awards, honors and nominations. It was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Actress (Ms. Moore), Best Original Screenplay (Todd Haynes), Best Cinematography (Edward Lachman) and Best Original Score (Elmer Bernstein), and was named one of the 10 Best Movies of the Decade by Entertainment Weekly. It was also named Best Film of the Year by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, Independent Spirit Awards and the Village Voice, among many others. Far From Heaven also earned 4 Golden Globe nominations including Best Screenplay, a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a bevy of additional awards for leading actress Julianne Moore, including one from the National Board of Review Award and nominations from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes. With FAR FROM HEAVEN, Playwrights Horizons continues its commitment to developing unique and ground-breaking new musicals, including Grey Gardens, James Joyce's The Dead, Floyd Collins, Assassins, Once on This Island and Sunday in the Park with George. FAR FROM HEAVEN reunites the theater company with Mr. Frankel, Mr. Korie and Mr. Greif, the composer, lyricist and director of Grey Gardens, which was one of Playwrights Horizons' most heralded original musicals. The project also marks the long-awaited return to the theater company of Mr. Greenberg, who was last represented there in 1987 with his play The Maderati. The performance schedule for FAR FROM HEAVEN will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7PM, Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 PM & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 PM & 7:30 PM. Both the Wednesday, May 8 and Tuesday, May 28 evening performances have 8PM curtains and the Sunday, June 2 matinee has an early 2PM curtain. Beginning the week of April 8, single tickets, starting at $80, may be purchased online via www.TicketCentral.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily), via Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PlaywrightsHorizons or in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues). A ticketing initiative created as part of Playwrights Horizons' Arts Access program, LIVEforFIVE makes available $5 tickets for the first preview performance of each Playwrights Horizons production through a lottery via the company's website. The LIVEforFIVE lottery for FAR FROM HEAVEN will be for tickets to the first preview on Wednesday, May 8 at 8PM. Details for the lottery are as follows: beginning Wednesday, May 1 at 12 Noon, theatergoers can enter the lottery by filling out an entry form at www.PlaywrightsHorizons.org. Entries will be accepted until Monday, May 6 at 12 Noon. Winners of the lottery will be notified via email no later than 3PM on Monday, May 6 with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets. Unclaimed tickets will be offered via email to a limited standby list starting at 12 Noon on Tuesday, May 7 on a first-come, first-served basis. One or two tickets may be purchased for $5 each. A limited number of tickets will be available for Mainstage shows via the lottery. Reflecting Playwrights Horizons' ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company will offer HOTtix, $25 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before showtime to patrons aged 30 and under. Proof of age required. One ticket per person, per purchase. Cash only. LIVEforFIVE and HOTtix are two of Playwrights Horizons' popular Arts Access initiatives, which allow the institution to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket. This program is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and The McGraw-Hill Companies. A special open captioned performance of FAR FROM HEAVEN for theatergoers who are deaf and hard of hearing will be held on the Saturday, June 8 matinee at 2:30 PM. Funding for this program is provided, in part, by the Theodore H. Barth Foundation, and TDF and TAP Plus, which is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Erica Mott Productions brings The Victory Project, an interdisciplinary dance, sound and video performance, to the Roulette Composer/Choreographer Series on March 22, 2013 at 8pm.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Chinatown restaurants mobilized and created the Second Annual Chinatown Restaurant Week from March 16 to 31, 2013, which offers $20.13 lunch and dinner specials that include the flavorful highlights of Shanghai, Sichuan, Hanoi, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Peking cuisines some with European, French, Italian, Mexican, and American influences.

Previews for FLIRTATION, the third play in Marvell Rep's 'Desire and Delusion' winter repertory project, begin tonight at TBG Theatre. The romantic drama by Arthur Schnitzler - the same source material that inspired Max Ophuls' film version, LIEBELEI, which screens at Film Forum in early March - is part of Marvell Rep's three-show repertory exploring the themes of 'desire and delusion' in fin de siecle Vienna. FLIRTATION runs in repertory with NIGHT GAMES, a world premiere based on a Schnitzler novella, and SECRETS, a play about the relationship between Jung and Freud, who called Schnitzler his 'psychic twin,' through March 17. The official opening is Monday, February 25, at 8 p.m. Lenny Leibowitz, Marvell Rep's artistic director, directed the production using the translation by Carl R. Mueller.

2013 Season to Feature a Range of Groundbreaking, Genre-Bending, and Immersive Commissions and Presentations

Previews begin tonight, Friday, February 15 at 8PM for the Playwrights Horizons World Premiere of THE FLICK, a new play by Obie Award winner Annie Baker (Circle Mirror Transformation at PH, The Aliens, her recent adaptation of Uncle Vanya). Directed by Obie Award winner Sam Gold (Circle Mirror Transformation, Kin and The Big Meal at PH; Seminar and Picnic on Broadway), the production has an Opening Night set for Tuesday, March 12 at 7PM and will play through Sunday, March 31 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).

The Drama Desk nominated MARVELL REP will present its Winter 2013 Repertory Project, Desire & Delusion: 3 plays in repertory, from February 8 - March 17, at TBG Theatre, 312 West 36th Street. The project will feature the company's first World Premiere, NIGHT GAMES, a new play written & directed by MARVELL REP Artistic Director, Lenny Leibowitz (February 8-March 6), adapted from the novella Spiel im Morgengrauen, by Arthur Schnitzler. NIGHT GAMES will be followed (in repertory) by SECRETS, The Untold Story of Sigmund Freud & Carl Jung, an original play written & directed by Ken Wydro (February 11-March 10) & FLIRTATION written by Arthur Schnitzler& also directed by Lenny Leibowitz (February 19 - March 17, 2013).

Amas Musical Theatre will present three performances of 'Asking For It', an autobiographical play written and performed by Broadway veteran Joanna Rush, directed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett. Three performances will take place tonight, February 11th at 4:00pm, and Tuesday, February 12th at 3:00pm and 6:00pm at The Players Loft, 115 MacDougal Street (Third Floor).

MARVELL REP presents NIGHT GAMES, a new play written & directed by Lenny Leibowitz, February 8 - March 5, at TBG Theatre, 312 West 36th Street. Scenic Design is by Kenichi Takahashi,Costume Design by Jennifer Raskopf & Lighting Design by Nicholas Houfek.

Amas Musical Theatre will present three performances of 'Asking For It', an autobiographical play written and performed by Broadway veteran Joanna Rush, directed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett. Three performances will take place on Monday, February 11th at 4:00pm, and Tuesday, February 12th at 3:00pm and 6:00pm at The Players Loft, 115 MacDougal Street (Third Floor).

Poet, artist and cultural designer Amir Parsa responds to the medieval manuscripts in the current exhibition, Crossing Borders: Manuscripts from the Bodleian Libraries, in a performative reading on Thursday, January 31 at 6:30pm at The Jewish Museum. This program continues Writers and Artists Respond, a series of thought provoking discussions and performances by artists, musicians and writers in The Jewish Museum's galleries.

Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff/Artistic Producer) will present three staged readings of "Casanova", a new musical with music by Martin Sylvestri, book and lyrics by Joel Higgins, directed by Gabriel Barre. The readings will take place on Wednesday, February 6th at 6:00pm, and Thursday, February 7th at 3:00pm and 7:00pm at The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street.