David Walton News

A soldier gone to a far off war, absent for years. His wife in anguish, not knowing whether she's a widow. It's a story far older than The Odyssey.

Over 21 artists will make their Union Avenue Opera (UAO) debut this summer as the company celebrates its 25th Anniversary Season. The seven-week summer season will open Friday, July 5 with Bernstein's hilarious, philosophical, and fast-paced take on Voltaire's 1759 biting satire of the same name, Candide and will feature the return of Christine Brewer to the UAO stage. The season continues through August 24th with performances of Puccini's operatic blockbuster La boheme, a tribute to UAO's tradition of presenting operas in original languages, and the St. Louis premiere of Tom Cipullo's Glory Denied, the true saga of Vietnam veteran Colonel Jim Thompson, the longest-held American POW in US history.

America's longest-held prisoner of war dreams of coming home. But home is a place he will not recognize. Follow the gut-wrenching saga of Colonel Jim Thompson as he transitions from the jungles of Southeast Asia to the tree-lined streets of suburban America.

Deadline reports Elizabeth Alderfer (Disjointed) and David Walton (New Girl) will star as series regulars opposite Parker Young, Vanessa Marano and Laura Marano in The Us Project , a CBS hybrid comedy pilot.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (CDT) is decked for the holidays and offers twelve ways to celebrate the season in 2018. On the Main Stage is IRVING BERLIN'S HOLIDAY INN. This Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' 50th anniversary hit is a new staging that was reimagined for the Broadway stage in 2016 and is based on the classic 1942 film of the same title starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. It celebrates seven holidays from Thanksgiving to the Fourth of July and is the quintessential season showstopper. With over 20 Irving Berlin classic tunes and 13 celebratory production numbers, guests will be delighted with this entertainment spectacular for all ages.

Fort Worth Opera (FWOpera) announced today the casts and creative teams for the 2019 Festival season, including the world premiere of composer-librettist Rachel J. Peters's delightfully wicked opera, Companionship. Adapted from the short story by internationally bestselling author Arthur Phillips, this delicious dark comedy about an obsession with dough, mirrors our modern world, where what we consume becomes all-consuming. Selected as a winner of the 2018 FWOpera Frontiers showcase, the work will receive a fully staged production next spring at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, as part of FWOpera's alternative venue series, Opera Unbound.

During their session for Acorn TV Originals Girlfriends and Striking Out, Series 2 at the Television Critics Association Winter Tour, Acorn TV General Manager Matthew Graham announces Acorn TV's first series commission with the return of one of its most popular series, the fun, mystery series AGATHA RAISIN, Series 2 in 2018.

The seventh and final season of the critically acclaimed and award-nominated NEW GIRL will premiere Tuesday, April 10 (9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The eight-episode final season will have a special one-hour finale on Tuesday, May 15 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT).

CBS has given a full season order to new drama series S.W.A.T. and has picked up three additional episodes of new comedy 9JKL for the 2017-2018 broadcast season.

CBS FALL PREVIEW, hosted by new series stars Iain Armitage (YOUNG SHELDON), David Boreanaz (SEAL TEAM), Mark Feuerstein (9JKL), Shemar Moore (S.W.A.T.), Bobby Moynihan (ME, MYSELF & I) and Jeremy Piven (WISDOM OF THE CROWD), is a primetime special highlighting the Network's six new fall series. It will be broadcast Monday, Sept. 4 (8:30-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network

Madison Opera's Opera in the Park celebrates its sixteenth year today, July 22 at 8pm in Garner Park on Madison's West Side.  The annual free concert of opera and Broadway favorites closes the company's 2016/17 season and provides an enticing preview of the 2017/18 season.

Union Avenue Opera mounts a delightful production of 'Albert Herring,' Benjamin Britten's only comic opera.

The Glimmerglass Festival has released the details of its 2018 schedule. For a second year, the Festival's programming will explore themes of home and country.

Madison Opera's Opera in the Park celebrates its sixteenth year on Saturday, July 22 at 8pm in Garner Park on Madison's West Side.  The annual free concert of opera and Broadway favorites closes the company's 2016/17 season and provides an enticing preview of the 2017/18 season.

CBS yesterday unveiled its 2017-2018 primetime lineup, featuring four new comedies, four new dramas and 23 returning series. Today, the network shared first look trailers at all six of its new shows coming this fall.

CBS today unveiled its 2017-2018 primetime lineup, featuring four new comedies, four new dramas and 23 returning series. The new series join a lineup that will finish the current season as America's most watched network in viewers for the 14th time in 15 years, including the last nine years straight.

Filming has begun on STXfilms' A BAD MOM'S CHRISTMAS, reuniting the dynamic team of Bad Moms, writers/directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, producer Suzanne Todd, and executive producers Bill Block and Mark Kamine.

Madison Opera has announced the company's 2017/18 season, which feature a classic opera and two Madison Opera premieres.  The season opens in November with Bizet's Carmen, followed by Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio in February, and Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas in April. 

The Minnesota Orchestra announces plans today for Sommerfest 2017, unveiling a celebratory summer festival in which the Orchestra salutes two of its artistic leaders: Doc Severinsen on his 90th birthday, and Sommerfest Artistic Director Andrew Litton, who has announced that this summer will mark his final season as the head of the festival. Running from July 3 to August 5, Minnesota Orchestra's summer season includes two tribute concerts to Pops Conductor Laureate Severinsen; performances by Litton and his friends André Watts, William Wolfram and New York City Ballet dancers; and culminates with the opera Litton has long wanted to conduct in Minnesota, Strauss' Salome. The summer season also involves the annual Symphony for the Cities concerts, two previously announced regular season programs and the return of the Minnesota Orchestra Fantasy Camp.

What's new in opera? Everything you can imagine--and much that you couldn't conceive of--all in the space of a few days in New York.