Barnes News

The Toronto International Film Festival® announced today a first look at the 2018 TIFF Industry Conference. The six-day event, taking place September 7–12 during the Festival, will inspire and incite discussions for creative and business entrepreneurship, while examining the role independent filmmakers play within an evolving and challenging media landscape.

Tennessee Williams' rewrite of his earlier study of a claustrophobic small town and its gossipy residents, The Eccentricities of a Nightingale comes alive amid a renowned collection of outsider art at The Bethany Mission Gallery in Spring Garden, September 4 - 23, as part of the 2018 Philadelphia Fringe Festival.

PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL, with original music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner Bryan Adams and his longtime songwriting partner Jim Vallance, a book by Garry Marshall and the film's screenwriter J.F. Lawton, and direction and choreography by two-time Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell, opens tonight, Thursday, August 16, 2018, at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street).

Scottish Indie-band SWYM announce single 'I Hate You Because' with B-side, 'Interlude (Goodnight Starlight)' scheduled for release on 17th August via Swym Records. SWYM's debut EP, 'Your Distraction', released back in November 2017, received substantial support by the likes of The Scottish Sun, Clash Mag, The Skinny, Music Week and Paste Mag as well as praise from Amazing Radio's Jim Gellatly. SWYM have worked with prolific producers in the past such as Graeme Young (Snow Patrol, Biffy Clyro, Ded Rabbit, Mogwai) helping SWYM sculpt their raw, yet delicately kaleidoscopic and unique vision.

Queens-based Rude Grooms announced today initial details for the company's inaugural public production: William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, led by actor-manager Laura Piccoli (Unhealthy at Battalion Theatre Co) and produced in partnership with Long Island City Artists at the Plaxall Gallery and the Astoria Park Alliance. The production will play shows in Queens at the Plaxall Gallery, Astoria Park, Queensbridge Park, and Rainey Park as well as in Manhattan at the West End Theatre. Reservations are strongly encouraged and can be made online at rudegrooms.com.

Dear Evan Hansen will soon be turned into a young adult novel as author Val Emmich teams with the musical's creators to create a page-turning work of fiction from the hit musical. In celebration of its release, there will be a national book tour featuring Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul. Songs will be performed alongside the novel's release.

The city's best all-access cultural programming returns this fall when the Canadian Opera Company's Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre kicks off its 13th season on September 25, 2018. Over 400 emerging and established artists, spanning a broad spectrum of artistic and cultural traditions, will perform in 72 concerts from September to May.

La Femme Theatre Productions presents the revival of Tennessee William's A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, directed by Austin Pendleton.

Queens-based Rude Grooms announced today initial details for the company's inaugural public production: William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, led by actor-manager Laura Piccoli (Unhealthy at Battalion Theatre Co) and produced in partnership with Long Island City Artists at the Plaxall Gallery and the Astoria Park Alliance. The production will play shows in Queens at the Plaxall Gallery, Astoria Park, Queensbridge Park, and Rainey Park as well as in Manhattan at the West End Theatre. Reservations are strongly encouraged and can be made online at rudegrooms.com.

Peak Performances Presents the national anthems (New York Area Premiere). The Crossing (Donald Nally, Conductor) With the Strings of International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) Music by David Lang, Caroline Shaw, and Ted Hearne

The production that has had audience members "burning off pounds just laughing," according to the Los Angeles Times, WaistWatchers The Musical! makes its Chicago Premiere at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St., this fall. Produced by Dana Matthow and featuring the queen of disco Martha Wash, known for singing the powerful anthem 'It's Raining Men,' and "Everybody Dance Now," the musical takes a lighthearted and hilarious look at women dealing with their relationship to food, friendship and fitness, while celebrating the transformative power of female friendship on the journey to self-acceptance. Capturing audiences of all ages from start to finish, the Chicago production begins September 13 for an open run with a press opening September 21, 2018.