Kevin Newbury News

Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) and HERE present the fourth annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, running today, January 6, through January 17, 2016, in New York City.

Lyric Opera of Chicago is excited to announce that Thirteen Productions LLC for WNET New York has selected the world-premiere production of Bel Canto – The Opera to be part of the prestigiousGreat Performances series on PBS. The WNET team will be in Chicago to film performances tonight, January 5, and January 8. Bel Canto will air nationally during the 2016/17 television season. 

Ann Patchett's best-selling novel Bel Canto took the literary world by storm. Now, in a new work curated by Lyric's creative consultant, Renée Fleming, this riveting story inspired by a real-life event becomes a powerful opera. Check out a sneak peek below!

Lyric Opera of Chicago is excited to announce that Thirteen Productions LLC for WNET New York has selected the world-premiere production of Bel Canto – The Opera to be part of the prestigiousGreat Performances series on PBS. The WNET team will be in Chicago to film performances January 5 and 8. Bel Canto will air nationally during the 2016/17 television season. 

Seattle Opera has received a $30,000 grant from National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The funds, in support of the February, 2016 production of Donizetti's Mary Stuart, are part of a larger $27.6 million that NEA is awarding to American arts groups in 2016.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Details on the arrivals of 'Hamilton' and 'If/Then,' and Bill Pullinsi's and Michael Flatley's retirements mark the end of two eraa. 'Far From Heaven' and 'Heathers' will premiere locally, and 'Bel Canto' bows at the Lyric Opera. 'Daddy Long Legs' streams, 'Option Up!' debuts new works, and voting for the BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards heats up!

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the eagerly awaited world premiere of Bel Canto. This is Lyric's seventh full-length operatic world premiere.  Check out a first look below!

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the eagerly awaited world premiere of BEL CANTO tonight, December 7. This is Lyric's seventh full-length operatic world premiere. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) and HERE are pleased to announce full casting for the fourth annual PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, running January 6-17, 2016, in New York City. Deemed "suddenly indispensable" (New Yorker), this 'bracingly innovative' Festival, founded, directed, and curated by Kristin Marting (of HERE), Beth Morrison (of BMP), and Kim Whitener (of HERE), has quickly become 'a point of reference" in the field (The New York Times) over three astoundingly successful seasons.

KANSAS CITY CHOIR BOY, with music and lyrics by Todd Almond, featuring Almond and rock icon Courtney Love, began performances with three previews Thursday, October 15, 2015, through Saturday, October 17 at 8 p.m., and opened last night Sunday, October 18 at 6:30 p.m. Check out photos below!

CHICAGO – Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the eagerly awaited world premiere of Bel Canto, which opens on Monday, December 7 for seven performances. This is Lyric's seventh full-length operatic world premiere. Composer Jimmy López (music) and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz(libretto) are the creators of Bel Canto. Lyric's music director Sir Andrew Daviswill conduct the new opera, which was curated by Lyric's creative consultant Renée Fleming. Bel Canto is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Ann Patchett. The production will be directed by Kevin Newbury.

KANSAS CITY CHOIR BOY, with music and lyrics by Todd Almond, featuring Almond and rock icon Courtney Love, begins performances with three previews tonight, October 15, 2015, through Saturday, October 17 at 8 p.m., and opens Sunday, October 18 at 6:30 p.m. The show, which is a special DouglasPlus event, will run through November 8. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the show from this year's PROTOTYPE Festival in NYC!

KANSAS CITY CHOIR BOY, with music and lyrics by Todd Almond, featuring Almond and rock icon Courtney Love, begins performances with three previews Thursday, October 15, 2015, through Saturday, October 17 at 8 p.m., and opens Sunday, October 18 at 6:30 p.m. The show, which is a special DouglasPlus event, will run through November 8. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the show from this year's PROTOTYPE Festival in NYC!

The American Repertory Theater expands its 2015/16 Season programming with the OBERON Presents series, featuring a range of artists, companies, and programs. Up next is KANSAS CITY CHOIR BOY, with music and lyrics by Todd Almond, and featuring Courtney Love and Almond. The production runs tonight, October 1, through October 10, 2015.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present the world premiere of O Columbia, a chamber opera created by an acclaimed team of artists: composer Gregory Spears, librettist Royce Vavrek, stage director Kevin Newbury, and conductor Timothy Myers-tonight and tomorrow, September 23 and 24 at 8:00 p.m. at the Bayou Music Center.

The Public Theater will kick off the 2015-16 season in September with a free Public Works musical adaptation of Homer's THE ODYSSEY, conceived and directed by Public Works Director Lear deBessonet, with music, lyrics and book by Todd Almond. THE ODYSSEY will once again feature over 200 actors and community members alongside five equity actors, including this year Brandon Victor Dixon as Odysseus and Karen Olivo as Penelope.

Houston, August 17, 2015—Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) 2015–16 season showcases the vibrant and diverse artistic mix that marks HGO as a leading 21st-century American opera company: Wagner's Siegfried, the third installment of La Fura dels Baus's imaginative Ring cycle featuring a new generation of Wagnerians; the world premiere of Prince of Players by eminent American composer Carlisle Floyd, the Lynn Wyatt Great Artist for 2015–16; Dvoák's fairy tale rarity Rusalka; a holiday revival of family favorite The Little Prince from the award-winning composer Rachel Portman and librettist Nicholas Wright; a new production of The Marriage of Figaro; a new-to-Houston Eugene Onegin; a beloved core production, Tosca; and the Houston debut of Broadway sensation Rob Ashford's take on the classic musical Carousel. Through its community collaboration program HGOco, the company will present two additional world premieres: O Columbia, a chamber opera by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Royce Vavrek that examines the past, present, and future of the American spirit of exploration; and The Root of the Wind is Water, a chamber opera by composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann about the impact of hurricanes on the Texas Gulf coast.

The Santa Fe Opera announced that they will present an opera based on the life of Steve Jobs called 'The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,' by composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell.  It is set to debut in 2017. 

Houston, July 21, 2015— Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present the world premiere of O Columbia, a chamber opera created by an acclaimed team of artists: composer Gregory Spears, librettist Royce Vavrek, stage director Kevin Newbury, and conductor Timothy Myers—on September 23 and 24 at 8:00 p.m. at the Bayou Music Center. O Columbia examines the past, present, and future of the American spirit of exploration and celebrates the identity of America's frontiersmen and women. O Columbia will be HGO's 57th world premiere.

The American Repertory Theater expands its 2015/16 Season programming with the OBERON Presents series, featuring a range of artists, companies, and programs. As the second stage of the A.R.T., a unique club theater venue, OBERON challenges artists to explore new relationships with space, performance, and audience experience. OBERON hosts a range of experimental work -- these shows invite audiences to listen to new voices and to hear old stories in new ways. This exploration is integral to A.R.T.'s mission to expand the boundaries of theater.