David New News

The New York Philharmonic will present two programs of film music in May 2016: a complete screening of Charlie Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS, May 19, 2016 - with the Orchestra performing Chaplin's score live, conducted by Timothy Brock, who restored the score for live performance - and Disney's FANTASIA, May 20-21, 2016 - in which selections from Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 will be screened as the Orchestra performs the music live, led by Assistant Conductor Joshua Gersen, in honor of Fantasia's 75th anniversary.

The New York Philharmonic will present two programs of film music in May 2016: a complete screening of Charlie Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS, May 19, 2016 - with the Orchestra performing Chaplin's score live, conducted by Timothy Brock, who restored the score for live performance - and Disney's FANTASIA, May 20-21, 2016 - in which selections from Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 will be screened as the Orchestra performs the music live, led by Assistant Conductor Joshua Gersen, in honor of Fantasia's 75th anniversary.

On May 11, 2016, dancers from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University will be the first to perform Martha Graham's iconic choreography for APPALACHIAN SPRING with a new version of Aaron Copland's score for full orchestra, completed in collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

David Robertson will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct John Williams's Tuba Concerto, featuring Principal Tuba Alan Baer in his Philharmonic solo debut; Holst's The Planets; and Elgar's Introduction and Allegro.

The New York Philharmonic will present three film music programs in May 2016: a complete screening of Charlie Chaplin's City Lights, May 19, 2016, with the Orchestra performing Chaplin's score live, conducted by Timothy Brock, who restored the score for live performance; Disney Fantasia Live in Concert, May 20-21, 2016, in honor of Fantasia's 75th anniversary, in which scenes from Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 will be screened as the Orchestra performs the music live, led by Assistant Conductor Joshua Gersen; and the Spring Gala, A John Williams Celebration, May 24, 2016, with the Orchestra performing music from the Oscar-winning film composer's iconic scores, led by David Newman, along with clips from select films.

On May 11, 2016, dancers from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University will be the first to perform Martha Graham's iconic choreography for APPALACHIAN SPRING with a new version of Aaron Copland's score for full orchestra, completed in collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

Starting today, March 16th, at Davenport Theatre The Ivy Crest Theatre Co. will present two powerful one act plays by Edward Allan Baker centering around working class families in crisis.

Stephen Sondheim himself is kind of a 'GIANT,' if you think about it. Over the last decades he has been responsible for raising the (musical) bar in musical theater with lyrics and music that can take an audience far beyond Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'bright golden haze on the meadow.' SWEENEY TODD, FOLLIES, PACIFIC OVERTURES, COMPANY -- all of these entertain and even challenge an audience; and even though ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, the composer/lyricist isn't just satisfied with that. His INTO THE WOODS (one of my two or three favorite musicals of all time) is evidence of that. Had he only conceived that first act (with that amazing Book by James Lapine), INTO THE WOODS would have had a show complete unto itself: Familiar characters from children's literature -- Cinderella, the Baker and his Wife, Jack (sans his Beanstalk), Rapunzel, and Red Riding- hood -- come alive, and the story of each overlaps with another, all held together by a cohesive Narrator (performed here by the indispensable Joseph Lackie, himself a former 'Sweeney Todd'). If you walked out during intermission, you would have done so with an entirely pleasant level of satisfaction; however, it's that second act that catapults the musical onto an altogether higher plane. By the time the gorgeous 'No One Is Alone' closes the performance, audience members are moved to be reminded that 'sometimes people leave us / Half way through the woods.'

At one point in Diana Grisanti's sharply written RIVER CITY, in its final weekend at Voices of the South, an older character challenges the 'education' that a fourteen year-old black youth has received at St. Thomas, the Catholic-run orphanage in Louisville: The young man may know history from a white perspective, but does he know anything important about his own black heritage -- and does he know what's happening in 1968, as the black community plans a demonstration to protest the rehiring of a police officer guilty of harassment? (Yes, sadly, the times . . . they aren't always 'a-changin' -- sorry, Mr. Dylan.) I remember an instance when, as a white youngster in a rural town outside Memphis, I first heard the name 'Martin Luther King.' Our school bus had already run, and I was waiting for the bus of my best friend (who happened to be black) to drop him off so that he could rid himself of his books, change clothes, and come out to play. When he descended from the bus, I walked with him down the lane where he lived with his grandparents. I asked him what he had done in school that day, and he replied that he learned who the father of 'his' country was. 'George Washington,' I interrupted. 'No,' he insisted. 'The father of 'his' country was Martin Luther King.' In just a few years, some great strides would be made; however, I am nearing seventy now -- and the ugliness of racism is still omnipresent. Not only does police harassment still dominate the news, but, with the OSCARS being broadcast Sunday evening, there is a planned boycott by a number of black actors and actresses over the lack of racial diversity among the major nominees.

Starting March 16th at Davenport Theatre The Ivy Crest Theatre Co. will present two powerful one act plays by Edward Allan Baker centering around working class families in crisis. Up, Down, Strange, Charmed, Beauty, and Truth directed by Erica Silberman features David Newer*, Lacy Marie Meyer (Inside Amy Shumer) and Kelly Kozakevich. North of Providence directed by David Newer features Lauren Duffy and James McCloskey. *(Member of Actors Equity)

For the first ten minutes of Peter Shaffer's knockabout farce, Black Comedy, the stage is dark, as engaged Londoneers Brindsley Miller and Carol Melkett get ready to receive wealthy German art collector Georg Bamberger, who they hope will purchase Brindlsey's latest modern sculpture. But a blown fuse plunges their home into darkness, and that's when the lights on the stage finally go up. Confused? Well, the story of the anticipated sale of Brindsley's work is merely the MacGuffin in Black Comedy, something only the characters care about. What's important to the audience is the show's topsy-turvy lighting gimmick, one that gives Black Comedy its name: a riotous jumble of mistaken identities, complex blocking, and side-splitting slapstick. If everyone in the cast stays healthy, the show will run through February 14 at the Ojai Art Center Theater.

SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard and SAG Awards® Committee Chair JoBeth Williams will announce the honorees for Outstanding Action Performances by Film and Television Stunt Ensembles

Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company (MJTC) is pleased to announce the opening of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, directed by Warren Bowles and starring Sally Wingert. This production runs from February 13th - March 6th, 2015 at the Highland Park Community Center Theater, 1978 Ford Parkway, St. Paul, MN 55116. Individual tickets go on sale January 8th and range in price from $20 - $32. Student and group discounts are available. To order, call (651) 647-4315 or visit www.mnjewishtheatre.org. Press passes are available for performances on Saturday, February 13th at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, February 14th at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Piedmont Players Theatre (PPT) will host a CABARET DANCE MASTER CLASS with Tod A. Kubo today, December 8, 2015 7pm-8:30pm at the Norvell Theater, 135 E. Fisher St., Salisbury, NC.

The New York Philharmonic will present two programs of film music in May 2016: a complete screening of Charlie Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS, May 19, 2016 - with the Orchestra performing Chaplin's score live, conducted by Timothy Brock, who restored the score for live performance - and Disney's FANTASIA, May 20-21, 2016 - in which selections from Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 will be screened as the Orchestra performs the music live, led by Assistant Conductor Joshua Gersen, in honor of Fantasia's 75th anniversary.

THE LIFE ist eine wertvolle Musical-Raritat. Es ist eines der letzten Werke aus der Feder des preisgekronten Komponisten und -texters Cy Coleman. Die Urauffuhrung des Musicals Off-Broadway fand 1990 in New York statt, knapp sieben Jahre spater feierte THE LIFE Broadway-Premiere im Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Seine Deutschlandpremiere erlebte THE LIFE 2000 am Staatstheater Kassel, jetzt kommt das Stuck erstmalig in Frankfurt zur Auffuhrung, wo es am vergangenen Samstag Premiere feierte.

Piedmont Players Theatre (PPT) will host a CABARET DANCE MASTER CLASS with Tod A. Kubo on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 7pm-8:30pm at the Norvell Theater, 135 E. Fisher St., Salisbury, NC.

Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company (MJTC) is pleased to announce the opening of The Twenty-Seventh Man, a new work by Nathan Englander. This regional premiere runs from tonight, October 17, through November 8 at MJTC's theater home in the Highland Park Community Center, 1978 Ford Parkway, St. Paul, MN 55116.

Actor Christopher Lloyd, who portrayed Emmett 'Doc' Brown, will join fellow cast member James Tolkan (Mr. Strickland), composer Alan Silvestri, writer/producer Bob Gale, and the entire New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for two special 30th anniversary HD screenings of the original BACK TO THE FUTURE at the renowned Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Led by conductor David Newman, the orchestra will perform Silvestri's entire original score live in sync with the film, including 20 minutes of brand new music that Silvestri added for this special live concert production.

The glowing fountains at Josie Robertson Plaza, plumed with a dazzling vibrancy, welcoming a throng of silvery faces. Among them sauntered an impressionable following, the young and economically diverse New Yorkers who only know the now-infamous House Un-American Activities Committee by rote.