Fraser News

This year's PEN/Pinter Prize is to be awarded to the playwright, Sir David Hare. The judges this year were Hanif Kureishi, Lady Antonia Fraser, Gillian Slovo, Claire Tomalin and Michael Billington.

Chickenfoot, featuring guitar hero Joe Satriani, frontman Sammy Hagar, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and world renowned drummer Chad Smith, have confirmed multiple UK release dates and formats for their highly anticipated second album Chickenfoot III, the follow-up to 2009's award-winning eponymous debut album.

A dynamic lineup of stars - including a U.S. veteran, an NBA champion, a film and TV star, a TV host and journalist, a Grammy-nominated singer, a supermodel, a reality TV star, a showbiz legacy and activist, and a World Cup star -- will take the stage for the two-hour season premiere of 'Dancing with the Stars,' MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 (8:00-10:01 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

The Birthday Party of Broadway actor, Marty Thomas will be ushered in with a live performace from the cast of Industry Bars DIVA and special guests.

Noted writer-director Gabriel Judet-Weinshel has started his second week of principal photography on his highly-anticipated sci-fi feature film OMPHALOS. Edoardo Ballerini stars in this genre-bending film. Compared to the cult-hit PI by indie master filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, the flick is being touted as a probable "break-through performance" for Ballerini. www.omphalosmovie.com.

The Birthday Party of Broadway actor, Marty Thomas will be ushered in with a live performace from the cast of Industry Bars DIVA and special guests.

Marking his first foray into the world of dance, Paul McCartney has announced the general release of Ocean's Kingdom, commissioned by the New York City Ballet.

PRODUCER SAMUEL JOSEPH proudly presents AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH SONGWRITER JOHN BUCCHINO featuring the renowned composer and lyricist of stage and screen performing some of his most celebrated works joined by some very special guests at London's premier intimate concert venue THE PHEASANTRY.

Following the critical successes of Terence Raittigan's Less Than Kind, Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf and Tennessee Williams' The Two-Character Play, this Autumn Jermyn Street Theatre continues its policy of presenting revivals of little performed European and American classics with a rare staging of Charles Morgan's The River Line.

Samuel Joseph presents AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH SONGWRITER JOHN BUCCHINO featuring the renowned composer and lyricist of stage and screen performing some of his most celebrated works joined by some very special guests at London's premier intimate concert venue THE PHEASANTRY, August 22 and 23 only.

The final day for Spanish Paradise: Gardens of the Alhambra, a special exhibition inspired by the lush gardens and poetic vistas of the Alhambra, in Granada, Spain, is August 21.

Mill 6 Presents The T Plays III, closes August 20th at the Factory Theatre in Boston.

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY in association with Donald Schaffer Management & Entertainment & Ward Morehouse III present ELIZABETH TRYON 'WHERE THE MUSIC TAKES ME' on AUGUST 2 & 16 AT 8:30 PM at Feinstein's, 540 Park Ave. (@ 61st St.)

The first London production for 90 years of St John Ervine's searing Belfast tragedy Mixed Marriage, first seen at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, plays for a four-week season from Tuesday, 4 October 2011 (Press Night: Thursday, 6 October 2011 at 7.30pm) at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre.

Mitch Albom is a high-flying sports journalist who has made a name for himself as they guy who always says yes. That is, until he is stopped short by the sight of his former college professor and mentor featured on Nightline - because he is dying. What starts as a one-time obligatory visit to appease his conscience becomes a weekly pilgrimage for Morrie Schwartz's master class in the meaning of life. From the New York Times best-selling autobiography originally written to help pay Schwartz's medical bills.

The Museum of Modern Art recognizes the achievements of Roman Polanski with a complete retrospective of the filmmaker's works, September 7-30, 2011, in The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters. Over the course of a half century, Polanski has become widely recognized as one of the premier international filmmakers, directing films in Poland, England, the U.S., Italy, and France and working with distinguished actors such as Jack Nicholson, Adrien Brody, Catherine Deneuve, Mia Farrow, Ben Kingsley, and Nastassja Kinski.

Part of the Finborough Theatre's Celebrating British Music Theatre series Blue Shale Theatre in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre by arrangement with Samuel French Limited presents PERCHANCE TO DREAM 'A Musical Romance' Devised, Written and Composed by Ivor Novello. Directed by Max Pappenheim. Musical Direction by Ross Leadbeater. Designed by Gregor Donnelly. Sound by Edward Lewis. Cast: Taube Brahms. Michael Burgen. Clare Louise Connolly. Laura Hanna. Amanda Hootman. Annabel Leventon. James Marchant. Rachael McCormick. Martin Milnes. Kelly Price. Claire Redcliffe. Robert Rees. James Russell. Gemma Sandzer. Katy Treharne. Details of the cast for PERCHANCE TO DREAM are below. Please also note the correct date for the press night of LULLABIES OF BROADMOOR which also plays during September. The press night is Venus At Broadmoor and The Demon Box - FRIDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2011 AT 3.00PM The Murder Club and Wilderness - FRIDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2011 AT 7.30PM and not Friday 1st September as previously stated. The Finborough Theatre's acclaimed 'Celebrating British Music Theatre' series continues with Ivor Novello's most romantic musical, Perchance to Dream, opening at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of eight Sunday and Monday performances on Sunday, 4 September 2011 (Press Night: Monday, 5 September 2011 at 7.30pm). This rediscovery is the first professional London production in more than 25 years, and also commemorates the 60th anniversary of the death of composer Ivor Novello. Spanning the Regency, Victorian and post-war eras, and featuring a score filled with some of Novello's most ravishing songs including Love is My Reason, When I Curtsied to the King, A Woman's Heart and the classic We'll Gather Lilacs, Perchance to Dream is a classic Novello musical - an escapist 'musical romance' whose original 1945 run in the West End played for 1,022 performances. In 1818, Sir Graham Rodney, an impoverished womaniser, is the owner of Huntersmoon, a magnificent old country house, but seeks relief from his life of leisure by masquerading as the dread highwayman "Frenchy". Just at the moment when he finally finds love, the law runs him to ground with tragic results. A generation later, his estate has passed to the wrong side of the family and tragedy strikes a second time. More than a century must go by before the ghosts of Huntersmoon can finally be laid to rest... Welsh-born composer, author and actor Ivor Novello (1893-1951) was one of the most eminent British entertainers of the 20th century. As a composer, he trained in Cardiff, Gloucester (alongside eminent British composers - Ivor Gurney and Herbert Howells) and at Magdalen College School, Oxford. His musicals include Glamorous Night, Careless Rapture, Crest of the Wave, The Dancing Years, Gay's the Word and King's Rhapsody; his more than 250 songs include Keep the Home Fires Burning, I Can Give You the Starlight, Waltz of My Heart, And Her Mother Came Too, The Land of Might-Have-Been, Why Isn't It You and Primrose. His plays include Symphony in Two Flats, I Lived With You and The Truth Game. As an actor, he was one of Britain's first major film stars, appearing in over twenty films including The Call of the Blood and playing the title role in the original silent version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger; while his long stage career included many of his own plays and musicals. Novello's musical legacy is commemorated in the Ivor Novello Awards, established in 1955 to honour excellence in British music writing. This production commemorates the 60th anniversary of his death. Director Max Pappenheim recently assisted on Beating Heart Cadaver and The Goodnight Bird at the Finborough Theatre. Directing includes The Charmed Life (King's Head Theatre), An Evening With Opera (Southwark Cathedral), Arcadia and Sweeney Todd (Rugby School), and, as Musical Director for Open Door Opera, The Enchanted Child (Edinburgh Festival and St John's, Smith Square). The cast includes Taube Brahms Kindertransport, The Way Of The World, Redemption Over Hammersmith Broadway, A Woman Of No Importance (LAMDA); Michael Burgen All Male Iolanthe (Union Theatre and Wilton's Music Hall), Alice in Wonderland (Erasmus International Theatre), Zaide (Sadler's Wells), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (New Vic Theatre), Sweeney Todd (Union Theatre); Clare Louise Connolly Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Next Door's Baby (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), Six Characters In Search Of An Author (Headlong), The Crimson Petal And The White; Laura Hanna A Short History of the Royal Court (Royal Court Theatre), Into the Woods, Hedda Gabler, Romeo and Juliet (LAMDA); Amanda Hootman Epsom Downs, Her Naked Skin (Guildford School of Acting); Annabel Leventon The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night (Royal Shakespeare Company), Pillars Of The Community (National Theatre), Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell (Old Vic and Apollo Theatre), New Tricks; James Marchant The Same...But Different (Pleasance Islington), The Straits (Paines Plough), Waking The Dead (BBC); Rachael McCormick Oliver! (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); Martin Milnes Utopia Limited (Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Festival, Buxton), The Yeoman Of The Guard (Tower of London), Promises And Lies (Birmingham Rep), The Andrew Marr Show (BBC); Kelly Price Zack (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), The Misanthrope (Ambassadors Theatre), A Little Night Music (Menier Chocolate Factory and Garrick Theatre), Chicago (Cambridge Theatre), Guys and Dolls (Donmar Warehouse and Piccadilly Theatre), Desperately Seeking Susan (Novello Theatre), Waterloo Road, Doctors; Claire Redcliffe When We Are Married (Garrick Theatre), Great Expectations, Tom's Midnight Garden (Library Theatre, Manchester), Question Time (Arcola Theatre), EastEnders (BBC); Robert Rees Peter Pan (New Wimbledon Theatre), All the Fun of the Fair (Garrick Theatre), State Fair (Finborough Theatre and Trafalgar Studios), Shakespeare Sonnet Walk (Shakespeare's Globe); James Russell Namaskar, Quality Street, Miss Lily Gets Boned (Finborough Theatre), Lewis (ITV); Gemma Sandzer Les Miserables (Palace Theatre), HMS Pinafore (King's Head Theatre), Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone; Katy Treharne The Phantom Of The Opera (Her Majesty's Theatre). The Celebrating British Music Theatre series at the Finborough Theatre In 2006, the Finborough Theatre began the Celebrating British Music Theatre series with a sell-out production of Leslie Stuart's Florodora. Productions since then have included sell-our rediscoveries of Lionel Monckton's Our Miss Gibbs, Harold Fraser-Simson's operetta The Maid of the Mountains, A 'Gilbert and Sullivan' Double Bill featuring Gilbert's play Sweethearts and Sullivan's opera The Zoo, Dame Ethel Smyth's opera The Boatswain's Mate, Sandy Wilson's The Buccaneer, Oscar Asche's Chu Chin Chow, and Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd.

Mill 6 Presents The T Plays III, opens August 10th at the Factory Theatre in Boston. Seven world premieres - all written on the MBTA! Runs August 10-20, 2011

The Shake Rhythm n' Roll Music and Dance Festival is the premiere year of a five-day festival that aims to recreate and celebrate the early roots of Rock n' Roll with the music and dancing that captures a remarkable time in American creativity and lifestyle.

The final day for Spanish Paradise: Gardens of the Alhambra, a special exhibition inspired by the lush gardens and poetic vistas of the Alhambra, in Granada, Spain, is August 21.