Jeremy Sams News

The Bay Area Children's Theatre (BACT) will create four new works for young audiences and produce two musicals based on beloved stories for its 2015-2016 season.

Producers Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, and Jam Theatricals just announced that five-time Tony Award-nominee and Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle Award winner Danny Burstein (Cabaret, Golden Boy, Follies, South Pacific) will step into the iconic role of Tevye when Fiddler on the Roofbegins performances on Broadway on November 17, 2015. Rehearsals are set to begin September 28, 2015.

Last August, an agreement was reached to resolve a potential labor crisis at the Metropolian Opera, the nation's largest performing arts organization.

MADE IN DAGENHAM's Isla Blair will play 'Lady Caroline Byng' in A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS at the Chichester Festival Theatre, running May 30 - June 27, 2015.

I am taken back to the first Opera I saw as a kid and the pomp and circumstance with wearing a tux and walking to the lavish theatre; this was when I fell in love with classical music. Often times we hear opera and other classical art forms are inaccessible to the people, but Houston Grand Opera's English translation of Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE (Die Zauberflote) proved that opera isn't a stuffy, highbrow art form for the bourgeois. THE MAGIC FLUTE premiered on September 30, 1791 at Emanuel Schikaneder's theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, and Mozart conducted the orchestra. The MAGIC FLUTE often referenced as a singspiel, is an opus with spoken dialogue which lends itself to the elements of classical musical theatre. The heart of this new work was an excerpt from the oriental genie tales collected by poet Christoph Martin Wieland but transitioned to have Masonic elements from the novel Sethos by Abbe Jean Terrasson.

Once upon a time, the Met used to be able to pull off an operetta, like the Rudolf Bing-era FLEDERMAUS, with its Garson Kanin libretto and lyrics by Broadway's Howard Dietz. But for the second year in a row--after last season's dire FLEDERMAUS from writer Douglas Carter Beane and director Jeremy Sams--the company rolled the dice and came up craps. How bad is the new production of Franz Lehar's THE MERRY WIDOW (DIE LUSTIGE WITWE)? Let me count the ways.

Beginning New Year's Eve, Renée Fleming has returned to the stage in her first-ever performances of 'Hanna Glawari', the title role in Lehár's THE MERRY WIDOW, at the Met. Five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman makes her Met debut as director and choreographer of this new production of the comic operetta, which also reunites Nathan Gunn (Danilo) and five-time Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara (Valencienne). Let's see what the critics had to say...

Renee Fleming will add a new role to her extensive repertory when she sings her first-ever performances of Hanna Glawari, the title role in Lehar's The Merry Widow, at the Met this season. Four-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman makes her Met debut as director and choreographer of a new production of the comic operetta, in which a wealthy widow's countrymen launch a romantic plot to keep her -- and her tax dollars -- within their borders.

Renée Fleming will add a new role to her extensive repertory when she sings her first-ever performances of Hanna Glawari, the title role in Lehár's The Merry Widow, at the Met this season. Four-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman makes her Met debut as director and choreographer of a new production of the comic operetta, in which a wealthy widow's countrymen launch a romantic plot to keep her -- and her tax dollars -- within their borders.

Renée Fleming will add a new role to her extensive repertory when she sings her first-ever performances of Hanna Glawari, the title role in Lehár's The Merry Widow, at the Met this season. Four-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman makes her Met debut as director and choreographer of a new production of the comic operetta, in which a wealthy widow's countrymen launch a romantic plot to keep her -- and her tax dollars -- within their borders.

Renée Fleming will add a new role to her extensive repertory when she sings her first-ever performances of Hanna Glawari, the title role in Lehár's The Merry Widow, at the Met this season. Four-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman makes her Met debut as director and choreographer of a new production of the comic operetta, in which a wealthy widow's countrymen launch a romantic plot to keep her -- and her tax dollars -- within their borders.

Producers Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, and Jam Theatricals just announced that five-time Tony Award-nominee and Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle Award winner Danny Burstein (Cabaret, Golden Boy, Follies, South Pacific) will step into the iconic role of Tevye when Fiddler on the Roofbegins performances on Broadway on November 17, 2015. Rehearsals are set to begin September 28, 2015.

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to more than 2,000 movie theaters in 65 countries around the world, will feature ten operas in the 2014-15 season, including all six new productions in the Met season. All ten performances, transmitted live from the Met stage, will feature the world's finest singers, conductors, and theatrical artists.

In der letzten Spielzeit prasentierte das Munchener Prinzregententheater mit großen Erfolg die kontinentale Erstauffuhrung von Tschitti Tschitti Bang Bang. Ab sofort ist der Soundtrack zum Musical-Highlight als CD im Handel erhaltlich. Zur Wiederaufnahme ab 25. September im Prinzregententheater gibt es die CD mit den Hits der Sherman-Bruder am Zentralen Kartenverkauf der Staatstheater am Marstallplatz 5 und an der Kasse im Prinzregententheater zum Preis von 18,- Euro. Im Anschluss an die Vorstellung am Sonntag, 28. September bietet das Gartnerplatztheater eine Signierstunde mit den Hauptdarstellern der Produktion im Gartensaal des Prinzregententheaters.

Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath Autumn has announced casting for there 2014 season, including the three black comedies, including 'Play Strindberg,' 'The Father,' and 'Exit The King.'

Joyce DiDonato sings the title role in Rossini's Cinderella story, La Cenerentola, with bel canto master Juan Diego Florez as her dashing prince.

Spend a summer's eve experiencing the grandeur of opera close to home at The Ridgefield Playhouse Handel's The Enchanted Island is broadcast Live in HD from the Met tonight, July 16, at 6 p.m. Fans of Baroque opera have the world's best singers, glorious music of the Baroque masters, and a story drawn from Shakespeare in The Enchanted Island, which showcases the talents of William Christie, David Daniels, Joyce DiDonato and Pacido Domingo. Behind-the-scenes tours and interviews make this event even more memorable.

THE MET: LIVE IN HD SUMMER ENCORES presents THE ENCHANTED ISLAND, a new baroque fantasy inspired by the pastiches of the 18th Century. Stars Joyce Didonato, David Daniels and Placido Domingo.

Two spectacular operas from the Met are coming to The Ridgefield Playhouse as encore productions this month. Verdi's Shakespearean masterpiece Otello stars Johan Botha in the title role opposite acclaimed soprano Renee Fleming as Desdemona today, July 9. On Wednesday, July 16, Handel's The Enchanted Island showcases the talents of William Christie, David Daniels, Joyce DiDonato and Pacido Domingo. These performances start at 6 p.m. Advantages of the HD broadcasts are the interesting camera angles, behind-the-scenes tours and interviews.

Spend a summer's eve experiencing the grandeur of opera close to home at The Ridgefield Playhouse Handel's The Enchanted Island is broadcast Live in HD from the Met on Wednesday, July 16, at 6 p.m. Fans of Baroque opera have the world's best singers, glorious music of the Baroque masters, and a story drawn from Shakespeare in The Enchanted Island, which showcases the talents of William Christie, David Daniels, Joyce DiDonato and Pacido Domingo. Behind-the-scenes tours and interviews make this event even more memorable. For tickets ($25 adults, $20 seniors/members, $15 students, $18 each for all in the series), call the box office at (203) 438-5795, or order online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. -- Photos courtesy of the Met