John F Kennedy News

Salaam Medina: Tales of a Halfghan, with book, music and lyrics by Rona Siddiqui, will hold an invited industry reading on November 15, 2019. The reading will be directed by Raja Feather Kelly, with Music Direction by Emily Goldman and Dramaturgy by Jessica Kahkoska.

Following performances in Los Angeles, California and Poznań, Poland, Jenni Brandon and Oliver Mayer's '3 Paderewskis' will have its official world premiere on Wednesday, November 20, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Terrace Theater.

Taylor Mac will perform the bedazzling, moving and politically stirring Holiday Sauce-the delightfully irreverent work exploring Christmas as calamity-in various locations across the country in December. Holiday Sauce is produced by Pomegranate Arts (Executive Producer, Linda Brumbach; Associate Producer, Alisa Regas) and Taylor Mac's company Nature's Darlings.

DIRECT CURRENT, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts's two-week celebration of contemporary culture, returns for a third season. With special emphasis on female creators, on works new to the District of Columbia, and on interdisciplinary creations, the 2020 spring immersion showcases some of the most provocative, original and pioneering voices in the arts today.

Spoleto Festival USA announces the return of Scottish Ballet during the 2020 season. Last in Charleston in 2015, the company, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2019, performs one of its newest works on May 22, 23, and 24: The Crucible. Choreographer Helen Pickett's retelling of Arthur Miller's iconic drama can be seen at the Charleston Gaillard Center, accompanied by 18 members of the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra performing a haunting score by Peter Salem.

On Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 8:00pm at Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92nd Street Y presents Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and German violinist Carolin Widmann in her New York debut. Widmann takes the lead in Kurt Weill's showstopping Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Op. 12, which combines the composer's classical European pedigree with hints of the swinging Broadway style he would later adopt in full. Works for winds by Mozart bookend the Weill Concerto: a transcription of the Overture to The Marriage of Figaro and the substantial, operatic Serenade No. 10 in B-flat Major, K. 361 'Gran Partita,' notably used in the popular film Amadeus.

 The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced today that three-time Golden Globe nominee Ellen DeGeneres will receive the Carol Burnett Award. The beloved household name is the second recipient to be honored with the accolade, the first having been its namesake, Carol Burnett. DeGeneres will accept the honor at Hollywood's Party of the Year® on Sunday, January 5, 2020 airing LIVE coast-to-coast from 5:00-8:00 p.m. PT/8:00-11:00 p.m. ET on NBC.

Catalina Jazz Club and Chris Isaacson Presents have announced The Voice star Chris Mann in From Gershwin to Gaga a?" A Holiday Special: Celebrating the Legendary Tony Bennett on Tuesday, December 3, at 8:30pm at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood.

Giuseppe Verdi's penultimate masterpiece is brought to its intense glory in a production filled with magnificent performances and crackling with dramatic fervor.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces the full cast and creative team for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (The Musical!), a Kennedy Center-commissioned world premiere from the Kennedy Center's first-ever Education Artist-in-Residence, Emmy Award®a?'winning writer and New York Times best-selling author and illustrator Mo Willems. This fabulously fun and funny musical, running November 23, 2019a?'January 5, 2020 in the Kennedy Center Family Theater, features a script by Willems and Muppet Babies executive producer Mr. Warburton with music by Deborah Wicks La Puma, direction by Jerry Whiddon, choreography by Jessica Hartman, and dramaturgy by Megan Alrutz.

This tour-de-force one-man show breathes new life into the back-story of the Kennedy family.  RFK creates a very human portrait of a politician and revisits some of the darker moments in U.S. History. Author Jack Holmes expands the well-known facts of a politician's life into a stirring metaphor for the struggle to believe in our government and our leaders.

Variety reports that musical theatre legend Stephen Schwartz will write the music for Disney's upcoming musical film adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol.' Bill Condon was announced as director.

There's a reason the biggest names in laughter all catapulted their careers at The Second City...it's been the funniest place on the planet since '59! Witness the next generation of comedy superstars put their spin on the legendary comedy company's greatest hits, re-booted and re-imagined for today. From sketch comedy to original songs to world-famous improv, The Second City is fresh, fast, and always spectacularly funny

A lineup of leading performers, including yasiin bey, Neal Brennan, Common, Bradley Cooper, Morgan Freeman, Tiffany Haddish, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, Lorne Michaels, Trevor Noah, Q-Tip, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart, Frédéric Yonnet, and others will salute Dave Chappelle at the 22nd annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday, October 27, 2019 at 8 p.m.

Thomas brings to life the conscience and energy of Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey in Robert Schenkkan's latest exploration of the earth-shaking events of the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Anyone who has undertaken a show by Stephen Sondheim knows that the music is seriously difficult, often including dissonant cords, tricky intervals, and overlapping lines. Assassins is no exception. Written by John Weidman and Sondheim, it was first produced at Playwrights Horizons in 1990 and hit Broadway in 2004. It was originally scheduled to play on Broadway in 2001, but was postponed due to the events of September 11, 2001. The story of those who assassinated or attempted to assassinate various Presidents throughout US history, Assassins combines quirky characters such as the Proprietor and Balladeer with historical characters such as Emma Goldman and John Wilkes Booth. It covers complex themes ranging from broken dreams to corruption to classism with dark humor. The show approaches these themes and the overarching theme of disillusionment with the American dream in a way that may make audiences feel uncomfortable as they are confronted with truths that are all too real about our country, our history, and human nature. Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg takes on Assassins now through November 3rd.

There comes a moment quite near the conclusion of Roxy Regional Theatre's production of Assassins that is both brilliant and chilling, perfectly encapsulating what the Stephen Sondheim-John Weidman musical is all about.

Opera Lafayette is proud to announce its 25th anniversary season featuring its most diverse lineup to date. This year's season of three operas to be performed in both New York City and Washington, DC, includes John Blow's Venus and Adonis, Ludwig van Beethoven's Leonore, and an adaptation of François André Danican Philidor's Le Maréchal Ferrant (The Blacksmith). Opera Lafayette is renowned for its performances of both lost masterworks, once popular and culturally significant to the history of the 17th through 19th centuries, and early opera that is already part of the modern canon. In addition to this memorable season, Opera Lafayette will mark its 25th anniversary by unveiling a brand new website along with a celebratory video on October 29. 

BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature Once On This Island, The Light in the Piazza, Sweeney Todd and more!

From executive producer Anthony Bourdain, “WASTED! The Story of Food Waste” aims to change the way people buy, cook, recycle, and eat food. Through the eyes of celebrity chefs like Bourdain, Dan Barber, Mario Batali, Massimo Bottura, and Danny Bowien, audiences will see how the world's most influential chefs make the most of every kind of food, transforming what most people consider scraps into incredible dishes that create a more secure food system. “WASTED! The Story of Food Waste” (Anna Chai & Nari Kye | 2017 | 85 min. | USA) is a documentary examining the issue of food waste, its contribution to climate change, and how we all can make small changes, all of them delicious, to solve one of the greatest problems of the 21st Century.