April Leonhard News

?The Metropolitan Room erupted into wild cheers when David Baida was announced as the next MetroStar last night. 

Five exceptional and well-matched singers were chosen to advance as finalists in this year's MetroStar Talent Challenge on Monday.

Write Act Repertory presents the East Coast premiere of PILLARS OF NEW YORK, a new musical with book, lyrics and music by Michael Antin, and directed by Jim Blanchette. The production will preview tonight, July 6, at 7:30 p.m. and open on Tuesday, July 12 at 7:30 p.m. Performances then run Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. from July 13 through September 7 at St. Luke's Theatre, located at 308 West 46th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues). BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Write Act Repertory's Producing Artistic Director John Lant is pleased to present the East Coast premiere of PILLARS OF NEW YORK, a new musical with book, lyrics and music by Michael Antin, and directed by Jim Blanchette. 

Write Act Repertory's Producing Artistic Director John Lant will present the East Coast premiere of PILLARS OF NEW YORK, a new musical with book, lyrics and music by Michael Antin, and directed by Jim Blanchette.

The Cabaret Showdown is a monthly game show produced by Sound Street Productions in association with Frigid New York @ Horse Trade. This unique competition is a mixture of live karaoke and musical improvisation, with a game board. Contestants are asked to choose songs from various categories with no knowledge of what the song will be until 30 seconds before they sing. The winner from each month receives a free one hour showcase performance at the Kraine Theater presented the following month.

 Minda Larsen eeked out a MetroStar win last night, finishing on top of a strong and tightly matched Top Five line-up in a spellbinding contest finale at the Metropolitan Room.  To win the 8th annual MetroStar Talent Challenge Larsen captivated the judges with her confessional and inspirational story of having competed in the contest three other times (unsuccessfully) and dramatically changing her attitude about her work this time around.  The attitude adjustment succeeded as Larsen soared in the finale, beating out the delightful everyman Thomas Dieter (1st runner-up) and gloriously-voiced Josephine Sanges (2nd runner up). The two other Top 5 finalists were Lisa Remick and April Leonhard.

 In nail-bitingly close voting Monday night, the MetroStar Talent Challenge bid farewell to two audience favorites in a hotly contested semi-final round.  Let go by the jury were the contest's popular 9th grader Josephine Bianco and the veteran piano bar performer Sheree Sano.

The Riant Theatre's 28th Season of the Strawberry One-Act Festival will showcase a marathon of 21 one-act plays on Sunday, August 9 from 1:00pm - 11:00pm at the Tato Laviera Theatre, 240 East 123rd Street, between Second and Third Avenues.

The Riant Theatre's 28th Season of the Strawberry One-Act Festival will kick-off with nine eclectic plays covering a gamut of themes ranging from American slavery, Nazi Germany and Muslim women to friendly ghosts, dead artists and an interracial lesbian couple on Wednesday, August 5 at the Tato Laviera Theatre, 240 East 123rd Street, between Second and Third Avenues. These plays will also be performed on August 9. The tickets for the Strawberry One-Act Festival, from August 5 - 23 at the Tato Laviera, are $25.00 - $35.00  

Das Schauspielhaus Zürich wurde mit zwei Inszenierungen aus dem aktuellen Spielplan zu den ersten Berliner Autorentheatertagen eingeladen. Diese finden vom 8. bis 17. April 2010 am Deutschen Theater statt.