Fontana News

Songwriter and Playwright Michael Mitnick (Fly By Night, Animal House) comes to Joe's Pub at The Public for a one-night concert of his songs on September 9th at 9:30 PM. Described as 'his first public concert in 30 years,' Mitnick will be joined by a four-piece band and an ensemble of Broadway performers including Santino Fontana (Billy Elliot, Cinderella), Adam Riegler (Addams Family), Will Connolly (Once), Austin Durant (War Horse), Peter Friedman (Ragtime), Jessica Grove (A Little Night Music) and more. Directed by Daniel Goldstein, Music Directed by Alvin Hough, including some songs written with Will Connolly, Kim Rosenstock, Simon Rich, and Massive Attack.

Tenor Nicholas Phan will kick off his 2013-14 season as one of the prime voices heard in celebrations of the composer's centenary as they culminate this fall. On September 5, Phan helps launch Trinity Wall Street's four-month Celebrating Britten Festival with the orchestral song cycle Nocturne. The tenor also curates the 2013 Collaborative Works Festival as the Artistic Director of Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, performing Britten's Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac and The Heart of the Matter, plus folk-song arrangements by Beethoven (Sept 11-15). Phan and pianist Myra Huang then embark on a U.S. recital tour - starting at Trinity Wall Street on September 21 - with a program juxtaposing Britten and Schubert.

This year's Ars Electronica Festival is set for September 5-9 in Linz. The title is TOTAL RECALL – The Evolution of Memory. The festival program will consist, as always, of a splendid array of symposia, exhibitions, performances, interventions and concerts; the details will be announced online at www.aec.at/totalrecall/en over the coming weeks.

On Monday, September 23, 2013 at 54 Below, 254 West 54th Street, Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana will perform an intimate benefit concert titled Remember When.... The New York Pops Music Director Steven Reineke will host the evening beginning with a champagne reception at 5:30PM followed by dinner and a performance at 6:30PM. The evening is a joint benefit in support of The New York Pops Education Programs at Ronald McDonald House New York, which provide creative outlets to the children and families in residence.

Amas Musical Theatre has announced the first two shows of its 45th Season! The Amas Lab series begins in September with two new musicals: notes to MariAnne and Cookin'! Both shows take place during America's heady post-World War II years, but couldn't be more different.

Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff/Artistic Producer) will present two free staged readings of 'notes to MariAnne', a new musical by David Rossmer and Dan Lipton, directed by Leigh Silverman. The readings will take place on Thursday, September 12th at 1:00pm and 4:30pm, at The Steve and Marie Sgouros Theatre (formerly The Players Loft), 115 MacDougal Street. Tickets are free and reservations are available via email at boxoffice@amasmusical.org or by calling212-563-2565.

The producers of RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA have announced that three-time Tony Award nominee Rebecca Luker will join the cast on Broadway as Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, Marie, starting September 6 through January 19, 2014. Ms. Luker takes over the role from Victoria Clark, who will leave CINDERELLA temporarily for a new project (to be announced), returning to the musical on January 21.

bergenPAC will present Chris MacDonald's MEMORIES OF ELVIS tribute concert, featuring Elvis' original drummer DJ. Fontana, tonight, August 22nd at 8:00 PM.

The Active Theater (Nathaniel Shaw, Artistic Director) announced today the final selections for its 2013/2014 year-long play development series, now in its second official season: LOVELY SEND ANYWHERE, by Douglas J. Cohen, and SAM I AM, by Joshua H. Cohen.

The National High School Musical Theater Awards (NHSMTA) selected 62 finalists from tens of thousands of students to compete for the coveted Jimmy Award for Best Performance by an Actor and Best Performance by an Actress, earlier this summer at the Minskoff Theatre. Hosted by the Tony Award-nominated stars of Rodgers + Hammerstein's CINDERELLA, Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana, the fifth annual performance showcase featured dynamic ensemble and solo performances exclusively from the musical theater cannon. Sarah Lynn Marion, from Fullerton, CA and Taylor Varga, from Newtown, CT took home the big awards for the evening. Check out highlights below!

'Submissions Only,' Broadway's favorite webseries, just hosted an exclusive sneak peek of the first episode of its highly anticipated third season at 54 Below. Co-Creators Kate Wetherhead and Andrew Keenan-Bolger, along with series regulars Colin Hanlon, Donna Vivino, and Santino Fontana, joined friends and fans in watching the never before seen episode and a panel discussion and Q&A with the cast and creative team. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the special event below!

Throughline Artists (J.J. Kandel, Executive Producer; John McCormack, Producing Artistic Director) presents SUMMER SHORTS 2013, their seventh annual festival of new American short plays from established and emerging writers, at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street between Park and Madison Avenues). BroadwayWorld was there for opening night and you can check out full photo coverage from the reception below!

BroadwayWorld collected as many of yesterday's evening Saturday Intermission Pics as we could to bring you Part 2 of our August 3rd SIP round-up. Yesterday's photos include the cast of Ogunquit Playhouse's JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, featuring Clay Aiken as Joseph, LES MISERABLES at Surflight Theatre, MATILDA, CINDERELLA, MARY STUART at Stratford Festival and lots of regional shows!

Dominique Lévy is pleased to announce her gallery's new home in New York City and the inaugural exhibition Audible Presence: Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, Cy Twombly, which will open to the public on September 18, 2013. Installed in the gallery's historic landmark building at 909 Madison Avenue at 73rd Street, Audible Presence explores the relationship between the time-based procedures employed by three of the most influential artists of the 20th century and the auditory experiences of music, sound, and silence.

Laura Osnes, Santino Fontana, Ann Harada, Marla Mindelle, and Harriet Harris recently visited Google's New York headquarters for their At Google Talks, performing 'A Lovely Night' and 'Ten Minutes Ago.' Check out the special appearance below!

For decades, Lands' End has been known for its iconic canvas tote bags. This year, the classic American brand is taking its must-have bag collection one step further with the launch of a line of premium leather accessories. The new line is called the Landmark Collection. 'The launch of this elevated line of handbags is in step with our strategic goal to build a larger accessories business and drive forward Lands' End's continued growth as a global lifestyle brand,' said Edgar Huber, CEO & president, Lands' End. 'As we focus on introducing new innovative products, we will stay true to our heritage of offering high-quality merchandise and exceptional customer service at an honest value.' The collection offers seven styles of handbags and small leather goods, each of which is named after a town in Wisconsin, where Lands' End has its roots.

Throughline Artists (J.J. Kandel, Executive Producer; John McCormack, Producing Artistic Director) presents SUMMER SHORTS 2013, their seventh annual festival of new American short plays from established and emerging writers, at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street between Park and Madison Avenues), opening August 4th.

Under the title ART, TWO POINTS. Barcelona lives contemporary art, the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) and the Obra Social 'la Caixa' (“la Caixa” Welfare Projects) present the first exhibition jointly organised and displayed at the same time in both headquarters. For the first time in Barcelona, the high quality of one of the most important collections of contemporary art in the South of Europe, bringing together more than 6,000 works, is presented. The merging of these collections has made it possible to create a new account that questions our recent past and places us in a better position to understand contemporariness. Art, dos punts is a broad selection of the collections of both institutions that explores the concept of modernity and its relationship with the avant-garde within the context of our history. The exhibition links MACBA's galleries, where the different episodes of the modern era in Barcelona are revisited from the point of view of contemporary art, with those of CaixaForum, where the interests of the post-modern generation are echoed. In a new global context, the visitor experiences the fragility and disenchantment resulting from the loss of the utopias that fought for freedom, as it appears in the art works of the 1980s and 1990s. Art, dos punts gathers 400 works by 125 artists such as Ignasi Aballí, John Bock, Joseph Beuys, Joan Brossa, Eduardo Chillida, Christo, Tony Cragg, Pep Duran, Öyvind Fahlström, Lucio Fontana, Richard Hamilton, Joan Hernández Pijuan, Jenny Holzer, Mike Kelley, Paul Klee, Jannis Kounellis, Muntadas, Juan Muñoz, Gerhard Richter, Martha Rosler, Dieter Roth and Jeff Wall, among others.

Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. (EPE) has announced an exciting lineup of events for Elvis Week 2013 to be held at Graceland in Memphis, Tenn. Taking place August 10-17, Elvis Week is an annual, multi-day gathering of friends and fans from around the world celebrating the life and legacy of the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley. It has become a pop-culture phenomenon and an annual pilgrimage for music lovers from around the world. Tickets for all Elvis Week events are on sale now at ElvisWeek.com.