Kevin Newbury News

Scandinavia's rich cultural heritage, and the question of artistic conservatism in the modernist age, will be explored at the eighth annual Bard SummerScape festival, which once again features a sumptuous tapestry of music, opera, theater, dance, film, and cabaret, keyed to the theme of the 22nd annual Bard Music Festival.

Wexford Opera House may only hold 771 seats, but Saturday night's opening performance of the 59th Wexford Festival Opera, the tragic lyric opera, 'Virginia' by Saverio Mercadante was broadcast live by RTÉ Lyric FM to 22 countries around the World via the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) - reaching an estimated 1 million listeners according to Head of Music and Euroradio at the EBU, Pierre-Yves Tribolet.

Wexford Opera House may only hold 771 seats, but Saturday night's opening performance of the 59th Wexford Festival Opera, the tragic lyric opera, 'Virginia' by Saverio Mercadante was broadcast live by RTÉ Lyric FM to 22 countries around the World via the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) - reaching an estimated 1 million listeners according to Head of Music and Euroradio at the EBU, Pierre-Yves Tribolet.

Opera Theatre's 2010 spring season opens on Saturday, May 22 and continues for 28 performances through Sunday, June 27 with all-new productions of Mozart's brilliant comedy THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, Tchaikovsky's romantic masterpiece EUGENE ONEGIN, Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, directed and designed by famed designer Isaac Mizrahi, and the world premiere of Peter Ash and Donald Sturrock's THE GOLDEN TICKET, based on Roald Dahl's beloved classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

While Alexander Pushkin's original verse novel, EUGENE ONEGIN, had its protagonist at the center of attention, composer Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky and writer Konstantin Shilovsky's operatic adaptation (with an English translation by David Lloyd-Jones) instead focuses on Tatiana, the woman whose heart is broken by Onegin when he rejects her. This fundamental change in perspective actually makes for a more tragic and emotional experience, and coming from Tatiana's point of view, works perfectly for the world of opera. The Opera Theatre of St. Louis is presenting a lush and dramatic production of EUGENE ONEGIN as part of their season now playing at the Loretto-Hilton.

Opera Theatre's 2010 spring season opens on Saturday, May 22 and continues for 28 performances through Sunday, June 27 with all-new productions of Mozart's brilliant comedy THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, Tchaikovsky's romantic masterpiece EUGENE ONEGIN, Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, directed and designed by famed designer Isaac Mizrahi, and the world premiere of Peter Ash and Donald Sturrock's THE GOLDEN TICKET, based on Roald Dahl's beloved classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera, will present a panel discussion on Fundraising for Independent Artists, part of its Making Connections series, on Wednesday, March 24 at 6:00 p.m.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera, will present a panel discussion on Fundraising for Independent Artists, part of its Making Connections series, on Wednesday, March 24 at 6:00 p.m.

Glimmerglass Opera's 2009 summer Festival Season features Verdi's La Traviata; Rossini's retelling of the Cinderella story, La Cenerentola; Menotti's The Consul and dramatized concert performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, which will run in repertory in July and August in the company's Alice Busch Opera Theater.

Wendy Kesselman's 'The Black Monk', which ran Off-Broadway from November 30th, 2008 through January 3rd, 2009, featuring Austin Pendleton, Elon Rutberg, Julie Craig, and Scott Robertson - under the direction of Kevin Newbury and musical direction of Chris Berg (with cellist Arthur Cook), will be making an original cast recording on Monday, May 25th, 2009. The album will be produced/engineered by Grammy Award winner John Kilgore. It will be released online in the fall exclusively on iTunes, and a record deal is pending.

Blue Coyote Theater Group is proud to present the NY premiere of David Johnston's CONVERSATIONS ON RUSSIAN LITERATURE PLUS THREE MORE PLAYS, directed by Kyle Ancowitz, Gary Shrader and Stephen Speights. CONVERSATIONS ON RUSSIAN LITERATURE PLUS THREE MORE PLAYS begins previews on Wednesday, February 11 for a limited engagement through Saturday, March 7. Opening Night is Saturday, February 14 at 8 PM. The performance schedule is Wednesday - Saturday at 8:00 PM. Performances are at the Access Theater (380 Broadway, just north of White Street). Tickets are $18 ($10 during previews) and are available by calling SmartTix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com. Playwright David Johnston returns to Blue Coyote with the New York premieres of four short plays: CONVERSATIONS ON RUSSIAN LITERATURE, PLAY RUSSIA, FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVE LIVED IN FRANCE and MOTHRA IS WAITING. Each play examines the romanticism, idealism and absurdism of journeys to other countries (and sometimes other planets) through the prism of David Johnston's 'fertile imagination' and his 'trademark off-kilter sensibility' (New York Times). In PLAY RUSSIA-a must-see for theater nerds-Mr. Johnston upends the most revered Russian playwright, Chekhov, with hilarious results. MOTHRA IS WAITING finds two middle-aged chanteuses waiting for the cult-horror-classic bug Mothra to rescue them from their meaningless lives in Bridgeport to become Goddesses on Infant Island. The Francophile desires of Henry Kissinger, Mary Queen of Scots and modern-day American Lunelle Snead converge in FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVE LIVED IN FRANCE. In CONVERSATIONS ON RUSSIAN LITERATURE, we return to Russia where post-Cold War espionage and intrigue collides with Russia's literary masters.

Blue Coyote Theater Group is proud to present the NY premiere of David Johnston's CONVERSATIONS ON RUSSIAN LITERATURE PLUS THREE MORE PLAYS, directed by Kyle Ancowitz, Gary Shrader and Stephen Speights. CONVERSATIONS ON RUSSIAN LITERATURE PLUS THREE MORE PLAYS begins previews on Wednesday, February 11 for a limited engagement through Saturday, March 7. Opening Night is Saturday, February 14 at 8 PM. The performance schedule is Wednesday - Saturday at 8:00 PM. Performances are at the Access Theater (380 Broadway, just north of White Street). Tickets are $18 ($10 during previews) and are available by calling SmartTix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com. Playwright David Johnston returns to Blue Coyote with the New York premieres of four short plays: CONVERSATIONS ON RUSSIAN LITERATURE, PLAY RUSSIA, FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVE LIVED IN FRANCE and MOTHRA IS WAITING. Each play examines the romanticism, idealism and absurdism of journeys to other countries (and sometimes other planets) through the prism of David Johnston's 'fertile imagination' and his 'trademark off-kilter sensibility' (New York Times). In PLAY RUSSIA-a must-see for theater nerds-Mr. Johnston upends the most revered Russian playwright, Chekhov, with hilarious results. MOTHRA IS WAITING finds two middle-aged chanteuses waiting for the cult-horror-classic bug Mothra to rescue them from their meaningless lives in Bridgeport to become Goddesses on Infant Island. The Francophile desires of Henry Kissinger, Mary Queen of Scots and modern-day American Lunelle Snead converge in FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVE LIVED IN FRANCE. In CONVERSATIONS ON RUSSIAN LITERATURE, we return to Russia where post-Cold War espionage and intrigue collides with Russia's literary masters.

South Ark Stage (Rhoda Herrick, Producing Artistic Director) has announced that it will present the world premiere of the new chamber musical The Black Monk, with book, lyrics and music by Wendy Kesselman. Under the direction of Kevin Newbury, the four-member cast features Austin Pendleton as the Monk, Scott Robertson as Igor, Elon Rutberg as Andrei, and Sarah Ziegler as Tanya.

The new play The Second Tosca opened on June 13th, and an opening night party was held at Zanzibar in celebration.

Producer Sorrel Tomlinson will present a limited engagement of Tom Rowan's The Second Tosca, a new play directed by Kevin Newbury

Producer Sorrel Tomlinson is presenting a limited engagement of Tom Rowan's The Second Tosca, a new play directed by Kevin Newbury