It's another busy weekend in Nashville - but when is Music City not packed with events, festivals, affairs? - and we're back with our Critic's Choice recommendations to have you cut through the theatrical flotsam and jetsam and find a cultural opening that's a good fit for your harried lifestyle. Nashville Opera opens its staging of Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock at Noah Liff Opera Center, Way Off Broadway Productions unveils its version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Music Valley Event Center, Street Theatre Company invites you to the see their staging of Lynn Nottage's Sweat at their new venue on Elm Hill Pike and Nashville Rep continues its celebration of 10 years of The Ingram New Works Festival at Nashville Children's Theatre.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Christopher Hampton's acclaimed 1985 play based on the 1782 novel of the same name by Pierre Cholderlos de Laclos - opens as the latest offering from Nashville's Way Off Broadway Productions, running May 10-June 2 at Music Valley Event Center.
When composer/lyricist Joe Iconis and bookwriter Joe Tracz's hard-rocking, super-charged and very well written science fiction musical comedy Be More Chill ended its month-long premiere engagement at Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey less than four years ago, the thought of a Broadway production may have seemed as far-fetched and phantasmagoric as the plot of its source material, Ned Vizzini's same-named 2004 novel.
I'll admit - I'm addicted to 'Who's Line Is It Anyway.' From my first taste of the British version to discovering the US version on ABC Family to following its revival over to CW Seed, I've loved every crazy minute watching the talented cast make up hysterical performances on the fly. I actually wondered if it was some TV editing trick or did they really make it up as they went along. 'Whose Live Anyway?', a 90-minute concert on January 12 at Ruth Eckerd Hall, proved just how incredibly gifted these performers were. Yes, they actually make up every story and song spontaneously.
Monologist Max Silver is jolted from his mundane existence into a schizophrenic Max Headroom style dystopia. An immediate intersection of his parental resentments, his painful breakup, a deficient understanding of American politics, Russian history, artistic manifestos, and every bit of media he's ever consumed result in a hilariously failed journey of self-discovery.
Ronn David McPhatter, the son of two rhythm and blues greats, Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Ruth Brown and Clyde McPhatter, will perform his new show "The Son of Legends" at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood on Thursday, Dec. 27 at 8:30 PM. McPhatter has toured for several years as lead singer of the Drifters, the group that his famous father led back in the 1950's.
Legendary actor and comedian Freddie Prinze comes to life on stage when Frigid New York, in association with Prinze LLC., presents PRINZE: THE ONE-MAN SHOW.
Emmy-nominated actress Illeana Douglas will receive the 'Pioneer in Comedy Award,' at the first annual Palm Springs International Comedy Festival's awards gala, scheduled for Saturday, November 10, 2018. The award-winning actress/producer/author will be honored for her trailblazing work in the first ever branded celebrity Web series 'Easy to Assemble' that opened doors for all the streaming shows to follow.
MARY POPPINS RETURNS is a sequel to the classic 1964 film, MARY POPPINS, starring Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer and Julie Walters with Colin Firth and Meryl Streep. This highly-anticipated sequel will be the hit of the Christmas box-office, but until then, we thought it would be fun to go back in time to 1964 to see what life was like and what was popular when the original film was released 54 years ago!
Cloud21 International (www.cloud21.com) and Kultura PR International (www.kulturapr.com) will present the 'Production Without Borders' special event during the 2018 American Film Market on November 5, 2018 at 2 p.m. at the Laemmle Film Center in Santa Monica, CA (1332 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90401).
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) today announced more than $123.6 million has been pledged collectively so far in connection with the star-studded Sept. 7 "roadblock" fundraising telecast in the United States and Canada. The funds pledged toward the SU2C scientific model will be directed to collaborative research programs utilizing SU2C's scientific oversight in both the United States and Canada.
Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios, has acquired the domestic rights to DANGER ONE, a dark comedy/action film directed by Tom Oesch and written by Steffen Schlachtenhaufen. DANGER ONE was produced by Mythmaker Productions (which also produced the slasher thriller Reaper and the hit real estate satire Pocket Listing) and Silvatar Media (which also produced the horror thriller The Pyramid and the spine-tingler Removal). Producers include Dwjuan Fox, Naji Jurdi, Mark James, James Jurdi, Bradley A. Jabour, Michael S. Klein, Victor Najjarian, Saud Shawwaf, Chady Eli Mattar, Scott C. Silver, and David Willing. The film, which stars Tom Everett Scott, James Jurdi, Angelica Celaya, Damon Dayoub, and Denis O'Hare, will hit select theaters nationwide on September 143th, 2018.
SAG-AFTRA Foundation and BroadwayWorld have partnered for a filmed Conversations Q&A series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen.
According to Variety, Tony Award winner Alex Sharp is set to star alongside Jenny Slate, Zach Galifianakis, Gillian Anderson, and Jessica Hecht in THE SUNLIT NIGHT. The film is based on the novel by Rebecca Dinerstein. Filming is set to take place in Norway this summer. Read more about it from Variety here!
A One Woman Show by Katt Balsan, directed by the late Gary Austin, Founder and Original Artistic Director of The Groundlings, Produced by E.R. Ruiz, "Balls' ON" will take you on a journey from France to America with a medley of 25 different characters brought to life through Katt's real life adventures!
Byron Lane's meditation on the artifice and projection of fame and celebrity is brilliantly explored through the prism of Tom Lenk's exquisitely crafted performance in TILDA SWINTON ANSWERS AN AD ON CRAIGSLIST, which ran March 16-25 at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. CRAIGSLIST's Tilda is almost better than the real thing, because she is utterly raw in being herself, and Lenk was a treat to behold for all of the show's 80-odd minutes; his performance and Lane's writing were equally superb.
The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training concludes its 2017-18 season with William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing: a classical comedy about two intellectual sparring partners, whose individual pride masks their true love. Much Ado About Nothing opens on Wednesday, April 18 and plays through May 5 at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota. A special pay-what-you-can preview performance will be offered to the public on Tuesday, April 17 at 8:00 p.m. with a $3 minimum. Much Ado About Nothing is made possible with support from the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Sarasota Observer, and WUSF Public Media.
Pasadena Playhouse, the State Theater of California, announces a new Hitchcock-style drama Belleville by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award winner Amy Herzog. Performances run from Wednesday, April 18 to Sunday, May 13; the press opening is April 22.
Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, a member of the cast of the Amazon hit show BOSCH, is helping out SkyPilot Theatre by directing her good friend, Inda Craig-Galvan's play, Tinder…Sucka, as part of the SkyPilot's fundraiser, Return of the Living Fundraiser evening on Friday, Feb 23rd at Theatre Of Arts at 1625 N. Las Palmas in Hollywood. The reception starts at 7PM and the show of 5 ten-minute comedy one acts starts at 8 PM. The evening features silent auctions, drawings and door prizes plus food and drinks. Admission is 15 dollars at the door.
Seattle Opera teams up with both ACT Theatre and Seattle Symphony for the first time to celebrate Shakespeare in a brand-new production of Berlioz's Beatrice and Benedict. The story, based on Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing, delights in the "skirmish of wits" between fiery Beatrice and bombastic Benedict and their failed resolution to avoid falling in love with each other. Their merry-war-turned-love-story has proven catnip to Hollywood-there are two film versions, one directed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer Joss Whedon, and the other directed by Kenneth Branagh and also starring Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, and Michael Keaton. Now the story is ready for the Seattle Opera treatment.
