Jule Styne News

Novato Theater Company opens its new season in its brand-new venue with a smashing historical drama, James Goldman's The Lion in Winter, a play full of plots, counterplots and unforgettable characters. Lion is directed by award-winning director Kris Neely and features Craig Christiansen as King Henry II of England and Maxine Sattizahn as Eleanor of Aquitaine. Assistant Director is Michael Walraven. NTC Executive Producer is Janelle Ponte.

Signaling the start of the social season, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) will hold its annual Gala Concert on Saturday, September 7 at 8:30 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. This year's Gala will be led by BSO Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly. The concert features the band Pink Martini with vocalist Storm Large, who will collaborate with the BSO for an intoxicating mix of cabaret, samba, jazz and Hollywood musicals. National Public Radio's news correspondent Ari Shapiro, a frequent guest vocalist with Pink Martini, will perform.

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra today announced the cast for On Broadway with Kander & Ebb: Celebrating Chicago, Cabaret and All That Jazz, a world premiere pops production of music from legendary and award-winning composers, John Kander (b. 1927) and Fred Ebb (1928-2004). Created by ISO Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly, On Broadway with Kander & Ebb opens the Indianapolis Symphony's Printing Partners Pops Series for the 2013-2014 season on Friday andSaturday, Oct. 4 and 5, at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis.

One of musical theatre's most distinguished achievements, Gypsy, begins a three week run at the Washington Crossing Open Air Theatre on Friday, August 30. Performances are Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 pm and continue through Sunday, September 15.

Infinity Theatre Company (Anna Roberts Ostroff & Alan Ostroff) and Perry Street Theatricals (Martin Platt & David Elliott) have just announced that the first Broadway production of DAMES AT SEA will set sail on Broadway in 2014. With a book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller, music by Jim Wise, and musical direction byRob Berman (The Pajama Game, Finian's Rainbow), DAMES AT SEA will be directed and choreographed by three time Tony Award nominee Randy Skinner (42nd Street, Irving Berlin's White Christmas). Design team, casting, production dates and Broadway theatre to be announced at a later date.

Cygnet Theatre presents a concert reading of Side by Side by Sondheim, a musical revue of Sondheim favorites. Directed by David McBean with Musical Direction by Chris Myers, Side by Side by Sondheim will be presented for TWO NIGHTS ONLY, beginning tonight, August 19, and continuing tomorrow, August 20 at 7:00pm.

Audiences will have eight more opportunities to catch Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre's summer hit. The cabaret of over 30 songs by songwriter Cole Porter, which had already extended for six weeks beyond its initial eight-week run, will now be extended for two final weeks, closing on Sunday, September 15th. Artistic Director Fred Anzevino announced the extension on Monday, August 12.

The Lewiston-Auburn Community Little Theatre, one of Maine's oldest community theatres, is closing its 2012-2013 season with a madcap production of Monty Python's Spamalot. The energetic ensemble directed by John Blanchette and Richard Martin romps through the zany script and songs with elan.

No single word can adequately sum up Kaye Ballard and Liliane Montevecchi's one night appearance at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on August 8th.Their performance was engaging, entertaining, inspiring and uplifting, with a pace that never faltered and an array of talents guaranteed to keep the audience glued to their seats all the way through. In other words, it was a dose of good, old-fashioned entertainment.

Today it is announced that Michael Ball will lead the stellar guest line up to perform and pay tribute at A Life In Song, Lyrics by Don Black at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 3rd October 2013 to the backdrop of the BBC Concert Orchestra. Only Men Aloud, Marti Webb, Mary-Jess Leaverland and Sir Richard Stilgoe will also to take to the stage.

Berkshire Theatre Group presents Peter Pan, Berkshire Theatre Group's 8th Annual Children's Theatre Production, and the 3rd Children's Theatre Production at the Colonial in Pittsfield. The production opens tonight, August 8th at 7pm and closes on August 18.

Tickets for these performances go on sale Saturday, August 10 at 10 am. More shows will be announced.

Wolf Trap announces the first set of performances for the 2013-2014 Season at The Barns. Tickets for these performances go on sale Saturday, August 10 at 10 am. More shows will be announced.

Berkshire Theatre Group presents Peter Pan, Berkshire Theatre Group's 8th Annual Children's Theatre Production, and the 3rd Children's Theatre Production at the Colonial in Pittsfield. The production opens August 8th at 7pm and closes on August 18.

Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond's screenplay for the 1959 cult classic film Some Like It Hot relied on one comedy gimmick, that two men, played by Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, could escape from Chicago mobsters by donning drag and joining a girl band ...and convince everyone around them that they were really women. Could they pull it off? Wilder himself reputedly stated that he never thought the movie would be as successful as it became due to its meager plotline. But... with Marilyn Monroe alongside Lemmon and Curtis as Sugar Kane, the hilarious trio really blended uproariously...and the rest is history. When in 1972 Jule Styne and Bob Merrill collaborated with book writer Peter Stone to create Sugar, their Broadway musical flopped, probably for two reasons. Firstly, Styne's music, with the exception of one or two songs, is not memorable. Secondly, the book, too faithful to the screenplay, has tremendous holes for a stage play and just does not, no offense to composer Styne, come up roses.

Cygnet Theatre has announced a concert reading of Side by Side by Sondheim, a musical revue of Sondheim favorites. Directed by David McBean with Musical Direction by Chris Myers, Side by Side by Sondheim will be presented for TWO NIGHTS ONLY, August 19 & 20 at 7:00pm.

Dubbed 'The greatest white female singer in the world' by none other than Ella Fitzgerald, star vocalist Marilyn Maye took Provincetown audiences by storm in her highly anticipated debut at The Art House two summers ago, and again last year. She returns to The Art House by popular demand this summer on August 8, 9 and 10 at 7:00 PM featuring Billy Stritch on the piano. For tickets please visit www.ptownarthouse.com, or call 1-800-838-3006.

Sugar, a hilarious Tony-nominated musical comedy based on the classic film Some Like It Hot, is the next show in the 2013 Music Circus season, at the Wells Fargo Pavilion from today, July 23 - 28. Like the 1959 film starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, Sugar follows the hysterical antics of two male musicians, disguised as women in an all-female band, as they experience a series of mishaps while fleeing from the mob. The brassy score is by Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics), composers of the hit musical Funny Girl.

'Come hear the music play...' this summer at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University (50 E Congress Pkwy) and the Katten/Landau studio (425 S Wabash, 4th Floor) when both spaces are transformed into an intimate cabaret hosting some of the city's most talented performers. The series kicks off in the Katten/Landau Studio tonight, July 20 with 'Life is a Cabaret - The Music and Words of Kander and Ebb' featuring Scott Gryder, Nick Sula and Phil Martin and continues today, August 10 with 'The Greg Spero Trio,' as Spero treats the audience to both original songs from his new album as well as everyone's favorite jazz tunes. The series culminates today, August 24 when the audience sits on the Auditorium's world-famous landmark stage to hear 'Chicago Music Legends' featuring Frank D'Rone, Judy Roberts and Denise Tomasello.

'Sing out, Louise!!'. This phrase has been part of theatre lexicon for more than 50 years. Almost having become an inside joke, and used by directors, choreographers and actors to coax performers into giving it their all. Throughout GYPSY's storied history, it has been produced numerous times across this country; the 'greatest American musical' is also often referred to as a 'perfect' musical. And Maine State Music Theatre's current production of GYPSY is just that: perfect.