Monday night, April 28, New York Conservatory presents a rare treat. We're used to concerts and benefits on the household names of musical theatre - especially the Golden Age - but here's one dedicated to one of the Great White Way's unsung heroes - Herbert Greene. A shrewd producer, natural conductor and orchestrator, and gifted composer, Greene was behind some of Broadway's classic productions. He worked side-by-side with Meredith Willson on the legendary The Music Man and with Frank Loesser onMost Happy Fella; built the enthralling orchestrations behind Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle, a musical ahead of its time, even influencing the addition of a song which was a veiled 'Love Note" to Lee Remick; and even trained Broadway luminaries likeamong them were Rex Harrison, Rosalind Russell, Angela Lansbury, Barbara Cook, Robert Preston, Don Ameche, and Judy Holliday.
Classic thriller 'Wait Until Dark,' which premiered on Broadway in 1966, will open Repertory Philippines' (Rep) 2014 theater season starting Friday, January 17 at Onstage Theatre, Greenbelt 1 in Makati City. 'Wait Until Dark' is one of the few plays penned by English playwright-screenwriter Frederick Knott, best known for his 1952 television play, 'Dial M for Murder.'
Frederick Knott's psychological thriller Wait Until Dark first premiered on Broadway in 1966 with Lee Remick in the title role and was later turned into a film with Audrey Hepburn. The latest adaptation of the play at the Geffen is by Jeffrey Hatcher, who has moved the action from the 60s to the 40s. The concept has piqued a lot of interest, but upon seeing the finished product, the whole business seems curious.
Every Saturday night in October, beginning at 9 p.m., viewers can catch a Classic hosted by film historian Neal Gabler, followed by an Indie, hosted by Richard Peña. The evening concludes with a Short selected by visitors to Reel13.org who vote for their favorite of three shorts every week.
Conveniently scheduled to occur during the weeks of this year's New York Musical Theatre Festival, The Paley Center For Media is presenting a series of theatrically-related programs and presentations throughout July featuring some particularly rarely-seen entities.
Marni Nixon, who dubbed the singing role for Natalie Wood, along with Bert Michaels (Snowboy), Eddie Verso (Juano) and Harvey Evans (Mouth Piece), will participate in a roundtable discussion about WEST SIDE STORY at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall tonight, June 14 from 7 p.m.to 7:30 p.m. Jonathan Palevsky, program director of WBJC 91.5 FM radio and host of 'Cinema Sundays' at The Charles Theater, will moderate. Please see below for complete program details.
Marni Nixon, who dubbed the singing role for Natalie Wood, along with Bert Michaels (Snowboy), Eddie Verso (Juano) and Harvey Evans (Mouth Piece), will participate in a roundtable discussion about WEST SIDE STORY at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on June 14 from 7 p.m.to 7:30 p.m. Jonathan Palevsky, program director of WBJC 91.5 FM radio and host of "Cinema Sundays" at The Charles Theater, will moderate.
As Spring makes its way to Seattle, ESP goes to Texas for a typically beautifully-made play by the late, great Horton Foote, author of, among many works, The Trip to Bountiful, and the screenplays of Tender Mercies and To Kill a Mockingbird.
Although the first act feels just a bit slow in its development, and one or two of the cast take a few moments to warm into their roles as one watches, it is certainly not unsatisfactory. But it is the second act of WAIT UNTIL DARK that is what the audience is there for, especially for the ending. And the second act does not disappoint.
Co-founder and artistic director of Bay Street Theatre Sybil Christopher passed away on Saturday, March 9, 2013, according to an announcement by the theatre's website. She was 83. Christopher served as artistic director at Bay Street for nearly 22 years until 2012, when she stepped down.
Emmy Award nominee Stefanie Powers will now play the role of legendary actress Tallulah Bankhead on the national tour of LOOPED. She replaces Valerie Harper, who was advised by doctors to take an immediate medical leave after having recently been hospitalized; she has flown back to Los Angeles with her husband Tony Cacciotti where she will receive continuing treatment and medical care.
A menacing band of thieves seeks a mysterious doll. In their way is Suzy, a young blind woman who innocently received the doll. A classic thriller of a young vulnerable woman fighting for her life against evil performs October 26-November 11 in the Wilson Mainstage Auditorium.
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will remember the life and career of actor Andy Griffith on Wednesday, July 18. Griffith passed away this morning at the age of 86.
On Thursday, three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Richard Adler passed away at the ripe old age of 90. Responsible for two of the biggest Broadway smash hits of the 1950s, THE PAJAMA GAME and GAMN YANKEES, Adler never quite managed to equal his career-high double-hitter of that era, yet his earlier work with Tony Bennett ('Rags To Riches'), Doris Day ('Everybody Loves A Lover') and Marilyn Monroe (the iconic 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President') surely shall solidify his place in the firmament of entertainment history along with his two classic musicals from the Golden Age. Winning both Best Score and Best Musical for both THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES, Adler's partnership with lyricist Jerry Ross - which began on Broadway in 1953 with JOHN MURRAY ANDERSON'S ALMANAC - was tragically cut short just months after the DAMN YANKEES premiere when Ross was diagnosed with lung disease and passed away soon thereafter. Yet, thanks to the beloved film versions of THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES and continued interest in the entities as expressed in the revivals and reappraisals of both onstage from Broadway to Biloxi to Bombay year after year, the snappy, snazzy tunes of Adler and Ross live on eight times a week all around the world - even now, more than fifty years after they premiered. Unfortunately, Adler's subsequent shows with other collaborators post-1955 failed to capture the early magic of his previous projects with Ross and his earlier musical and theatrical endeavors in the pop arena, with the racially charged KWAMINA flopping on Broadway in 1961 (though he took home a Best Composer Tony Award for his efforts anyway) and the awkwardly titled MUSIC IS failing to recreate the magic of its source material, Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT, in 1976. A MOTER'S KISSES, starring Bea Arthur and a young Bernadette Peters, died on the road, as well. In the intervening years, Adler attempted musical adaptations taken from a number of intriguing sources - OF HUMAN BONDAGE and others among them - though only his ballet scores seemed to reach an audience; particularly his last, commissioned for a new production of Lorca's THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA in 1998. Of course, THE PAJAMA GAME has had two Broadway revivals - most recently the rapturously received Kathleen Marshall-directed production starring Harry Connick, Jr. and Kelli O'Hara; and DAMN YANKEES famously returned to the Great White Way with much ado in 1994 starring Victor Garber. Now seems particularly ripe for remounting YANKEES, as we approach twenty years in its absence - especially given the musical's seriously smashing showing at Encores! in 2007. Who knows, perhaps some risky producer will even take a chance on a new production of KWAMINA, MUSIC IS, A MOTHER'S KISSES or one of the bottom drawer shows someday soon to see if they possess any of the limitless potential shown by Adler's earlier work. Or maybe a stage treatment of his TV musical GIFT OF THE MAGI (originally composed for then-wife Sally Ann Howes)? Or, better yet, how about a revue? What a stupendous songstack Adler created over the course of his career - 'Whatever Lola Wants' to 'Hey There' to 'Hernando's Hideaway' to 'You Gotta Have Heart' to 'Steam Heat' to the aforementioned Bennett, Day and Monroe standards and so many more chestnuts.
Days of Wine and Roses, a drama by JP Miller made famous by the 1962 film starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick, is coming to The Schoolhouse Theater March 1 through March 25. Days of Wine and Roses is an intense dramatic portrayal of a young couple and their struggles with alcohol addiction.
When Martin Friedman, Artistic Director of The Lakeland Civic Theatre, announced he was staging Stephen Sondheim's ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, there were some raised eyebrows in the theatre community. Friedman is a Sondheimophile. He knows the master's works well. Why would he even adventure into Whistle land, which is fraught with land mines?
Ah, Spring is in the air and The Schoolhouse Theater is planning to present a four-course meal of tantalizing fare. The following is a calendar of Main Stage theater performances and special events planned now through June.
In an interview with the South Bend Tribune, Short confirmed that things are still moving forward, saying that although he's busy providing voices for several upcoming films and working on his concert special, 'I have found, the more eclectic the year, the more you add to this overview of things' and adding that he and Peters are still in talks for the revival.
