City Center News

Starting December 13th Elm Street Cultural Arts Village's holiday tradition returns to Downtown Woodstock with the opening night of A Christmas Carol, a joyous and touching musical version of the Charles Dickens classic.  When visited by the ghost of former business partner Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge explores his past, present, and future and learns the true spirit of the season, with the help of three ghosts along the way.

The Emojiland kingdom is now complete! Arborhouse Productions & Visceral Entertainment (Michael Chase Gosselin and Tim Sulka) today announced that Max Crumm (Grease, Disaster) will take on the role of the Man In Business Suit Levitating emoji, along with Jacob Dickey (Aladdin Broadway as Aladdin) as Smiling Face with Sunglasses, (aka a?oeSunnya??), Dwelvan David (Finding Neverland & The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess Tours) as Guardsman, Heather Makalani (Aladdin) as Kissy Face, Tanisha Moore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Tour) as Woman Dancing and Jordan Fife Hunt (A Chorus Line First Revival Tour) as Man Dancing.

Today's top stories: The Prom on Netflix has found its Emma, and more!

Bat Out Of Hell - The Musical, which concluded at run at New York City Center in September,  is heading down under. BroadwayWorld has just learned that the musical will launch an Australian arena tour from Sydney in 2020. Tour stops will include:

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater announces programming for a historic night at Ailey celebrating Associate Artistic Director Masazumi Chaya on Sunday, December 22nd at 7:30pm at New York City Center. Previously, Robert Battle, Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, shared the news that the Company's beloved mainstay for nearly five decades, Mr. Chaya, intends to retire on January 5, 2020, at the conclusion of the Company's New York City Center season. Having joined the Company in 1972 as a dancer, Mr. Chaya performed under Mr. Ailey's direction for 15 years, subsequently assumed responsibility for rehearsing the Company-a role for which Mr. Ailey had cultivated him-and for more than 28 years, as Associate Artistic Director, has maintained the repertoire, handled innumerable creative decisions, and guided generations of the Company's dancers.

The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance proudly presents Los Nutcrackers: A Christmas Carajo, written by Charles Rice-González and directed by Fernando Vieira. This year marks the play's 16th year at BAAD!, and the second time that Vieira helms the work. The play interweaves two holiday classics, The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol, to create a queer, Latino play about a couple who go on a psychedelic trip through their lives one Christmas Eve.

Juilliard Dance, under the direction of Alicia Graf Mack, announces New Dances: Edition 2019 taking place December 11-15, 2019, in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater. The first-year dancers are working with alumna and acclaimed choreographer Amy Hall Garner. The second-year class is working with Jamar Roberts, a dancer and resident choreographer at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Yuka Kawazu's Danse En L'Air brings Alfonsina, an evening of original dance works, to Ballet Arts at New York City Center (130 W 56 Street, Floor 6) on Saturday, November 23 at 7:30pm. The program offers a mix of solos, duets, and ensemble pieces choreographed by Kawazu and enhanced by digital projections of artwork by Meeke Mutter and Andrea Shapiro. The evening of dance also features live music from talented young singers Felipe Beltran, Luis Rojas and Hiroko Yonekura.

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Rona Siddiqui in 'Rona's Turn' on January 9, 2020. Rona Siddiqui, composer of acclaimed musicals Salaam Medina: Tales of a Halfghan, One Good Day, and The Tin, makes her Feinstein's/54 Below debut in Rona. After years of encouraging so many others to find their voices, Rona steps into the spotlight to claim her own. Featuring songs from her musicals as well as tunes featuring her popular boomwhacking crew, Rona and her special guests will hit you with the aplomb of a Bette and the irreverence of a Muppet.

Harry Townsend's Last Stand (www.HarryTownsendsLastStand.com) a new play written by George Eastman (The Snow Job; Bitter Exchange) and directed by Karen Carpenter (Love, Loss and What I Wore; Handle With Care), is currently playing at New York City Center Stage II (131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues) and is produced  by Dennis Grimaldi (A Gentlemen's Guide...; Love Letters, Angels in America, Other People's Money). Starring Three time Tony® Award Nominee and Tony® Award winner, Len Cariou  (title role in Sweeney Todd; A Little Night Music with Glynis Johns and Hermione Gingold; Applause starring Lauren Bacall; 'Blue Bloods') and Craig Bierko (Tony® Award  and Drama Desk Award nominee, Music Man; 'The Long Kiss Goodnight, 'UnREAL,' 'Blue Bloods'), Harry Townsend's Last Stand opens on Wednesday, December 4.

Christmas Rappings is back in a very special 50th Anniversary concert production of this beloved Greenwich Village tradition-a Christmas oratorio unlike any other. When Al Carmines introduced audiences to Rappings on December 14, 1969, they had come to expect the surprising range and inventiveness of this multiple Obie-award winner, but perhaps not an evening that faithfully tells the Christmas story through such a high-spirited, often funny, collision of musical genres, from country to classical to blues to gospel, and even with a rousing tango.

Calling all musical adventurists! The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's new CSO Proof series offers a novel way to experience performances at Music Hall. Imagine artists and audience members sharing the stage in casual, intermission-less concerts with elements of music, theater, lighting and dance. During the 2019/2020 season, three CSO Proof performances will help celebrate the Orchestra's 125th anniversary by presenting artists collaborating with different curators who craft themes connecting orchestral music to listeners in adventurous ways.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Swing Dancing with Caleb Teicher, Chris Celiz, Ben Folds, Conrad Tao and Eyal Vilner Big Band on Monday, December 9 at 6:30pm and 7:30pm.

Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere of Bella Bella, written and performed by Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein (Casa Valentina, Torch Song, Hairspray) and directed by Kimberly Senior (Disgraced, The Niceties), is beginning its final two weeks of performances. The play must close on Sunday, December 1 at MTC at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street).

Laura Osnes will star in the new Hallmark holiday film, A Homecoming For the Holidays, alongside Stephen Huszar.

Asolo Repertory Theatre proudly kicks off its highly anticipated 2019-20 season with Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved classic THE SOUND OF MUSIC.

On November 13, New York City Center kicked off its Gala Presentation of Evita, running through November 24. Directed by Sammi Cannold, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock-opera musical follows the controversial ascent of Argentina's renowned first lady.

RIOULT Dance NY presents Behind The Process on Friday, November 22, 2019 at 7:30pm at Rioult Dance Center, New York City's newest space for dance, 34-01 Steinway Street, Astoria, NY 11101 (entrance on 34th Avenue). For more information, please call 212-398-5901 or email alyssa@rioult.org.

Great comedy is often the byproduct of political scandal and those who humorously comment on the news often overshadow the newsmakers themselves.  You might say that more Americans learned about the controversies of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon from watching The Smothers Brothers and Mort Saul, rather than Walter Cronkite.  For over forty years our perceptions of world leaders have been defined more by the impersonations seen on Saturday Night Live than by actual news clips.  And today there are a multitude of television hosts combining comedy with deep analysis and investigative journalism to editorialize on the goings-on of the current administration.

Inspired by interviews with undocumented immigrants from Latin America living in New York, En Garde Arts (Anne Hamburger, Founder and Artistic Director) is thrilled to present the world premiere of Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes) in all five boroughs of New York City, kicking off on Thursday, February 6 at the historic Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa. The piece will take the form of a fandango, a community celebration where stories are brought to life through live performance, music, and dance.