City Center News

Actress and singer Megan Hilty, who has earned rave reviews for her performances spanning the stage, screen and concert hall, brings her wide-ranging talents to Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 8 p.m., when she and pianist/commentator Seth Rudetsky perform songs from the great musicals.

Gallery Players will begin 2018 with William Finn and James Lapine's A New Brain. It is an autobiographical musical exploring illness and the healing power of art. A New Brain features music and lyrics by William Finn; book by William Finn and James Lapine. The show started as a concert at The Public Theater in 1996, then premiered Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center in 1998, directed by Graciela Daniele and featuring Malcolm Gets. In 2015 City Center presented A New Brain in their Encores! series with the cast headed by Jonathan Groff.

The Sarasota Ballet will perform Taylor's Airs, Graziano's Valsinhas and North's Troy Game at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 26 29 January 2018. Sarasota, FL (January 9, 2018) The Sarasota Ballet's first production of the New Year, Moving Identities, opens January 26 at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, with a triple bill of stimulating, thrilling and entertaining Modern and Neo-Classical works.

Famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater marks its annual Kennedy Center engagement, February 6 11, with seven magnetic performances on the Opera House stage. Led by Artistic Director Robert Battle, the company's performances include two D.C. debuts, three new productions, and a total of 10 works by a range of diverse choreographers. Alvin Ailey's American masterpiece Revelations will be performed as the finale for all seven programs.

KEIGWIN + COMPANY makes their Soraya debut on Saturday, February 3 with an all-Bernstein program, which includes two world premieres with live musical accompaniment: Three Plus One performed to Bernstein's Piano Trio and Sonata to Bernstein's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, both commissioned by The Soraya.

The Boston One-Minute Play Festival (#1MPF) returns for The 7th Annual Boston One-Minute Play Festival!

Vital Theatre Company is pleased to announce its upcoming musical adaptation of OWEN & MZEE: THE TRUE STORY OF A REMARKABLE FRIENDSHIP the #1 New York Times best-selling children's book about the friendship between a tortoise and an orphaned hippopotamus written by father and daughter team Craig and Isabella Hatkoff and Dr. Paula Kahumbu . The musical features book and lyrics by Michelle Elliott and music and lyrics by Danny Larsen. Stanley Mathis is the Director/ Choreographer and Costume Designer.

Fatima NeJame, president and chief executive officer of the world-renowned Palm Beach Photographic Centre (PBPC), is getting ready for the nonprofit organization's 23rd annual FOTOfusion, which will spotlight legendary photographer Howard Schatz, whose iconic advertising images and celebrity portraits have been exhibited in museums and photography galleries internationally and are included in innumerable private collections.

MasterVoices presents Our America a unique program taking audiences on a journey through the contributions immigrants have made to the tapestry of American music on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. at the Great Hall at The Cooper Union. Conceived by MasterVoices Artistic Director Ted Sperling, the program spans multiple genres and centuries, ranging from arrangements of the spirituals Gospel Train, Wayfaring Stranger, I've Been in the Storm So Long, and Ain't That Good News ; Irving Berlin's Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, and Let Me Sing and I'm Happy, ; selections by Victor Herbert, Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, and Gershwin; and new works by Jerusalem native and BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop member Daniel Rein and award-winning Chinese American composer Randall Eng.

Following the show's development at The Orchard Project in 2017, LubDub Theatre presents The Doubtful Guest, an immersive contemporary s ance featuring cocktails and sleight-of-hand and exploring the legacy of American spiritualism. The piece premieres at The Public Hotel (215 Chrystie St., New York, NY) following sold-out developmental performances at The Inn at Saratoga and Guild Greene Gallery.

The Camerata New York orchestra, under the direction of conductor Richard Owen, will kick off its annual dance festival this January 5 at New York's Theatre at St. Jean's at 76th Street off Lexington Avenue.

Tony Award-winner and Ridgefield resident Debbie Gravitte celebrates the releases of her new album and brings Broadway to The Ridgefield Playhouse in her spectacular live show, Big Band Broadway, on Saturday, February 3rd at 7:30pm as part of Ridgefield Magazine's Broadway and Cabaret Series, partially underwritten by Adam Broderick Salon & Spa. Backed by RK Big Band, led by Russ Kassoff, Gravitte will perform songs from her new album, Big Band Broadway!, along with some old favorites. Gravitte is one of Broadway's biggest personalities and won the prestigious Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in Jerome Robbins' Broadway, which also earned her a Drama Desk Award nomination and a New York Showstopper Award. For tickets ($47.50), call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Lauren Worsham (A Gentleman's Guide To Love And Murder Broadway) and Lesli Margherita (Matilda The Musical Broadway; Dames At Sea Broadway) in Session Girls on March 6, 2018, 9:30PM. A raucous and heartfelt evening of original tunes about three working women in the music industry, Session Girls gives us the inside scoop on music-producer-in-training Joli Nye, bawdy backup vocalist Cocoa, classical cellist Mariana, and their trials and tribulations as they navigate the music world, their love lives, and the untenable travail of a big studio merger!

Science Channel has designs on a bigger and badder 2018 with the premiere of two new engineering series today, January 4. BUILDING GIANTS at 9 p.m. ET/PT reveals how the world's most remarkable superstructures are built, from an underwater Sea Wall designed to prevent Venice from flooding, to the new retractable roof stadium in Atlanta, and much more.

The Tony Award winning hit comedy The Play That Goes Wrong continues to go right into the New Year! The producers of the longest running play currently on Broadway have announced that a new block of tickets is now on sale through July 1, 2018 following its best week ever and highest gross yet of $707,315. for the week ending December 31, 2017.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents an encore of choreographer Jodi Melnick's sold-out 2016 commission, NEW BODIES. This Works & Process commissioned work weaves together dance, spoken text, and moderated discussion with live music, featuring New York City Ballet dancers Jared Angle, Sara Mearns, and Taylor Stanley in a role originated by Gretchen Smith, with harpsichord by composer Gy rgy Ligeti, violin by composer Heinrich Biber, and commissioned music by Robert Boston.Also, Melnick, who enjoyed a performance career with Twyla Tharp (among many others), will perform One of Sixty-Five Thousand Gestures, a solo work created in collaboration with the late Trisha Brown.

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training continues its 2017-18 season with Stephen Adly Giurgis' The Motherf***er with the Hat: a dark comedy about addiction, betrayal, and revenge. The Motherf***er with the Hat opens today, January 3 and plays through January 21 in the Cook Theatre in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. A special pay-what-you-can preview will be offered to the public on Tuesday, January 2 at 7:30 p.m. with a $3 minimum.

Atlanta Lyric Theatre presents this fun filled musical comedy February 9-25, 2018. Two con men, three exceptional women, and the elite of the French Riviera collide in this sexy and irreverent farce. DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS performs at the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre (548 South Marietta Pkwy., Marietta). For tickets, reservations and group pricing visit www.AtlantaLyric.com or call 404-377-9948.

The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) is thrilled to present the return of the critically acclaimed Cuban contemporary dance troupe Malpaso Dance Company from January 17 21 on The Joyce Theater stage. Tickets, ranging in price from $10-$56, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street. For more information, please visit www.Joyce.org.

BroadwayWorld has teamed up with Broadway alum Ilana Levine, who makes her entrance onto the podcast stage with her new show Little Known Facts. Ilana's unique brand of celebrity interview, 'Podcast Verite,' is unfiltered, raw, honest and uniquely funny.