Dear Readers, it has been one crazy year with some amazing theater. You know it's true. We've had dead teens riding a roller coaster, demonic puppets, and an ageless guy with a picture of himself in his attic. And, of course, a hip-hop founding father sweeping through town. But let's not talk about the juggernaut when we have such amazing things right here that blew us all away. At least they blew me away. So, let's talk about what blew me away this past year and what I have chosen to give my BWW 2018 Seattle Critic's Choice Awards (Jay's Picks) to (not to mention all those honorable mentions since often I can't limit myself to just one).
It's the last week to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Seattle Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.
Audiences have until next Sunday - December 23, to be precise - to experience what is likely to become a Music City holiday tradition: Peter Pan and Tinker Bell: A Pirate's Christmas at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's James K. Polk Theatre. A somewhat Americanized version of a peculiarly British seasonal entertainment, aka "panto," Peter Pan and Tinker Bell is a winning blend of theater, Christmas pageant, vaudeville and British music hall all rolled into one bright, shiny, kind of weird, but altogether fun and rather unique holiday-themed package that's a welcome addition to yuletide revelry.
There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Seattle Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.
There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Seattle Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.
In Timeline Theatre Company's MASTER CLASS, Chicago favorite Janet Ulrich Brooks schools the audience with her commanding performance as famous opera singer Maria Callas.
TimeLine Theatre Company announces members of the cast and creative team for Master Class, Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning play about the formidable opera star Maria Callas, inspired by a series of classes she taught at Julliard in the 1970s.
TimeLine Theatre Company is pleased to announce the addition of several new artists and community leaders to its ranks. Chicago artists Tyla Abercrumbie, Will Allan, Wardell Julius Clark, Charles Andrew Gardner, and Anish Jethmalani have been named Company Members at the theater, effective immediately. Additionally, the theater is welcoming JoAnne Dobrick, Anne Voshel, Richard G. Weinberg, and Nicholas Yassan to its Board of Directors, and Jared Bellot as a new Associate Artist.
Tune in to your local PBS station tonight, August 10th, at 10 PM ET to catch Great Performances: Chicago Voices, the gala held at Chicago's Lyric Opera in 2017. The evening was hosted by Renee Fleming who will be joined on stage by Carousel co-star Jessie Mueller, Greatest Showman star Michelle Williams and more!
More than 60 Chicagoland students make their Goodman Theatre debut on the mainstage to conclude summer programming-PlayBuild Youth Intensive and Musical Theater Intensive-on August 10 and 11 at 7pm. The free programs were taught over a course of seven-to-eight weeks in the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement.
A star-studded array of vocal talent with deep ties to Chicago gathers on stage at Lyric Opera to pay tribute to the city's wide-reaching influence across blues, jazz, rock, folk, hip-hop, gospel, opera and classical music in Great Performances: Chicago Voices, premiering nationwide Friday, August 10 at 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) and streaming the following day on pbs.org/gperf and PBS apps. Hosted by four-time Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming, the multi-genre concert special features performances by Fleming, Tony-winner Jessie Mueller (Waitress, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Grammy-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco, three-time Grammy-winning folk legend John Prine, Grammy-winning pop and gospel singer Michelle Williams (Destiny's Child), Grammy-winning jazz singer Kurt Elling and many more in a celebration of Chicago's rich and diverse vocal music legacy.
Steppenwolf's LookOut Series is pleased to announce their exciting Summer 2018 lineup, which includes offerings from more than 20 different artists and groups ranging from standup to theatre to live music to a live podcast episode and more! LookOut's Summer 2018 lineup provides audiences with a variety of reasons to step out of the heat, grab a cool drink from Front Bar and head into Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre to experience diverse artists and genres.
The stars shined brightly upon Northwestern's campus the weekend before last, as alums and icons of stage and screen returned to their alma mater for this Starry Night weekend.
Dozens of stars from the entertainment world and as many as 3,000 alumni and friends of the school will gather April 20 and 21, when the School of Communication at Northwestern University hosts CommFest 2018, the school's most ambitious, high-wattage reunion gathering to date.
ACT and The 5th Avenue Theatre's current joint production, 'Ride the Cyclone', now playing at ACT, is one of those quirky little musicals that on the surface should not work. I didn't really know what to expect going in but based on what it is, it's problematic at best. Fortunately for us the brilliant writing team of Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond have done it in such a way that it definitely does work and then some. Allow me to explain.
Ride the Cylcone, this season's dark and hilarious co-production between The 5th Avenue Theatre and ACT - A Contemporary Theatre, is now in preview performances and has its official opening night this Thursday, March 22 at ACT - A Contemporary Theatre. The award-winning director and choreographer Rachel Rockwell has continued to refine and explore the world of Ride the Cyclone with its writers Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond, returning to direct after working on its two previous U.S. productions in Chicago and Off Broadway. This co-production, which is the eighth collaboration between The 5th and ACT, will showcase new developments to the script and score. At least one third of the script has been newly created for this production, which is in addition to countless small but crucial tweaks and refinements. These new developments have continued to define and shape the world that the Saint Cassian High School Chamber Choir inhabits onstage.
TimeLine Theatre Company, acclaimed for presenting plays inspired by history that connect to today's social and political issues, is thrilled to announce its 22nd season and to preview an upcoming partnership with Firebrand Theatre.
Producers John Lant and Tamra Pica with Write Act Repertory are pleased to present the West Coast premiere of Elise Arndt's award-winning one-woman show SING BIBI SING! The Untold Tales of Bibi Osterwald. Opening at Write Act Repertory's home, the Brickhouse Theatre, in North Hollywood on March 30th, at 8 p.m. for seven performances, after a sold out run in New York. The musical is written by and stars Elise Arndt, the granddaughter of the late Bibi Osterwald. The show is directed by Christine O'Grady, (HAIR, tick, tick…BOOM!), with musical direction by Doug Peck and The Doug Peck Trio. (Winner: six Joseph Jefferson Awards for his musical direction, two After Dark Awards, The Guy Adkins Award, and the Sarah Siddons Award). Tickets will go on sale next week with Brown Paper Tickets.
Barbra Streisand plays an intimate club in Palm Springs......in the guise of world renowned impressionist Steven Brinberg as SIMPLY BARBRA on Friday, January 26th at 8:00 pm at the Purple Room, 1900 E, Palm Canyon Drive (inside the Club Trinidad Hotel), Palm, CA; dinner at 6:30 pm. Doug Peck is the Musical Director with a special guest Ronen Bay. Steven's new show recreates 92264some of Miss Streisand's greatest hits, other favorites and Broadway songs... and brief voices of artists ranging from Cher to Bea Arthur....Seen in 40 US cities and 9 countries, the constantly updated SIMPLY BARBRA shows are the next best thing to seeing the legendary singer/actress/director in person. And with this return engagement and you can actually meet this one afterwards!
