Leonard Bernstein News

Orange County, Calif.—Feb. 29, 2016—An outstanding performance by Southern California's most talented young symphonic musicians, grades 9-12, is on tap when Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) rules the stage for a diverse and entertaining spring concert led by Assistant Conductor Roger Kalia. Full of energy and passion, the evening includes an impressive and exciting range of repertoire, all of which began as opera music—from Saint-Saëns' thrilling “Bacchanale” from the opera, “Samson and Delilah,” to Bernstein's “Symphonic Dances” from “West Side Story” and Strauss' luscious Suite from “Der Rosenkavalier.” The concert takes place Sunday, March 20, at 7 p.m., in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Thanks to generous sponsors, PSYO concerts are free to attend this season (but tickets are required). To reserve a general admission seat, call the Symphony's box office at (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.

Encores! Artistic Director Jack Viertel today announced casting for the Encores! production of 1776, the classic Tony Award-winning musical about how the founding fathers drafted the Declaration of Independence and gave birth to a new nation. 1776 will star Terence Archie, John Behlmann, Larry Bull, Nikki Renee Daniels, Andre De Shields, Macintyre Dixon, Santino Fontana, Alexander Gemignani, John Hickok, John Hillner, John Larroquette, Kevin Ligon, John-Michael Lyles, Laird Mackintosh, Michael McCormick, Michael Medeiros, Christiane Noll, Bryce Pinkham, Wayne Pretlow, Tom Alan Robbins, Robert Sella, Ric Stoneback, Jubilant Sykes, Vishal Vaidya, Nicholas Ward, and Jacob Keith Watson. 

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) Artistic Director Vincent J. Cardinal is pleased to announce the lineup for the 2016 Nutmeg Summer Series.  Beginning with How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, Peter and the Starcatcher and West Side Story., the series runs June 2 through July 17. Subscriptions go on sale March 1, 2016. Single tickets will go on sale April 20, 2016.  For tickets and information please visit crt.uconn.edu or call (860)486-2113.

The St. James Studio is delighted to once again be a host venue for the fourth London Festival of Cabaret. Nine events will take place at the St. James over the course of the festival, which will run from Friday 22 April to Sunday 8 May in venues across London including The Pheasantry and the Crazy Coqs. Highlights at the St. James include Sarah Louise Young and Michael Roulston's brand new show Cabaret Whore Presents…La Poule Plombee  and The Jay Rayner Quartet.

Artistic Director Jim Helsinger and Managing Director PJ Albert have announced the 10 productions that will comprise Orlando Shakespeare Theater in Partnership with UCF's upcoming 2016-2017 Season.

The Directors Company, in association with Pascal Productions, will present A BETTER PLACE, a new work by playwright Wendy Beckett (Anais Nin: One Of Her Lives, A Charity Case) and directed by Evan Bergman (Love Therapy), will play a limited six-week engagement this spring at The Duke on 42nd Street, a NEW 42ND STREET project (229 West 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues).

Led by two sons of one of the most famous jazz pianists of all times, The Brubeck Brothers Jazz Quartet puts a fresh spin on traditional jazz. Omaha Performing Arts presents The Brubeck Brothers Jazz Quartet - Tribute to Dave Brubeck today, February 26, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. in the Scott Recital Hall of the Holland Performing Arts Center.

Unquestionably one of musical theater's most beloved, iconic classics, WEST SIDE STORY---the stirring Broadway musical that features a book by theater titan Arthur Laurents, music by the incomparable Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by living legend Stephen Sondheim---remains a still-resonant masterpiece of song, dance and story that explores themes still quite relevant even in modern times. For Musical Theatre West in Long Beach's latest regional revival, the show is presented in a rather nostalgic iteration that closely harkens back to the mood and feel of the original 1957 stage production (plus hints of its Academy Award-winning 1961 film adaptation). Nothing beats going to back to the power and intentions of the Jerome Robbins-helmed original, which this production successfully honors and emulates. In essence, this WEST SIDE STORY is a satisfying trip down memory lane, reaching back far enough to allow the original material to shine and reverberate.

PITTSBURGH – FUSE@PSO, the popular, genre-bending early evening concert series presented by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, returns Wednesday, March 9 to Heinz Hall with “Stravinsky's Firebird: Remix | Response.”  For this concert, series Creative Director Steve Hackman has crafted a modern dramatization and remix of Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird. Weaved into the Stravinsky are 12 original songs, inspired by the myth of the Firebird and the original 1911 score, that implement modern pop/DJ/electronica production techniques and tell the story in an entirely new and contemporary way.  It is at once a live remix, concept album and classical masterpiece. Joining the Pittsburgh Symphony are rapper Jecorey “1200” Arthur, singer Malia Cievtz, drummer Gabriel Globus-Hoenich and a 15-person female choir.

Christoph Eschenbach returns to the New York Philharmonic to conduct a program of works by Eastern European composers with folk influences: Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 2, featuring violinist Baiba Skride in her Philharmonic debut and first New York City orchestral appearance, and Dvorak's Carnival Overture and Symphony No. 8, tonight, February 25, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 26 at 2:00 p.m.; Saturday, February 27 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Lincoln Center's free concert series The History of the World in 100 Performances with Adam Gopnik kicked off on February 17 with Leonard Bernstein's 1943 takeover of the New York Philharmonic. Below, watch Jake Gyllenhaal and Jeanine Tesori perform 'Maria' from WEST SIDE STORY at the event!

Before his retelling of the Witches of Oz in WICKED, composer Stephen Schwartz took on a contemporary retelling of some of the most popular Biblical tales known to Man. CHILDREN OF EDEN uses these stories and characters to strike a universal chord in all of us. Beautiful music, story, humor, and imagery remind us of Spring, filled with new life bursting all around. CHILDREN OF EDEN opens on Friday, April 8th, 2016, playing until Sunday, April 17th, 2016 at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.

Principal Baltimore Symphony Pops Conductor Jack Everly presents top notch entertainment.

Musicals Tonight! announces its 18th season lineup, including BABES IN ARMS, DO RE MI, and WONDERFUL TOWN.

Following its annual season guessing game, Paper Mill Playhouse announced today the lineup for its 2016-2017 season, featuring four musicals, one play and a highly anticipated US premiere. Season subscriptions are on sale now and are available by calling 973-315-3717 or by visiting the theater's website at www.PaperMill.org.

-This summer marks another historic milestone for the annual Bard SummerScape festival. For the first time since its founding, this season's focus is on the music and culture of Italy, with seven weeks of music, opera, theater, dance, film, and cabaret keyed to the theme of the 27th Bard Music Festival, "Puccini and His World." This intensive examination of the life and times of Giacomo Puccini opens a window onto Italy's rich musical heritage from Palestrina to Menotti, by way of the most popular and successful - yet, paradoxically, frequently critically underrated - opera composer of all time. Complementing the music festival, some of the Tuscan master's most compelling compatriots provide other key SummerScape highlights.

This summer marks another historic milestone for the annual Bard SummerScape festival. For the first time since its founding, this season's focus is on the music and culture of Italy, with seven weeks of music, opera,theater, dance, film, and cabaret keyed to the theme of the 27th Bard Music Festival, "Puccini and His World." This intensive examination of the life and times of Giacomo Puccini opens a window onto Italy's rich musical heritage from Palestrina to Menotti, by way of the most popular and successful - yet, paradoxically, frequently critically underrated - opera composer of all time. Complementing the music festival, some of the Tuscan master's most compelling compatriots provide other key SummerScape highlights. These include a rare, fully staged production of Iris, a forerunner of Madama Butterfly by Puccini's close contemporary Pietro Mascagni; the world premiere of Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed, four newly unearthed puppet plays from leading Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero, as reimagined by Dan Hurlin;the world premiere of Fantasque, a new ballet set to the music of Respighi and Rossini by John Heginbotham and Amy Trompetter; a film series on "Puccini and the Operatic Impulse in Cinema"; and the return of Bard's authentic and sensationally popularSpiegeltent,hosted by the inimitable Mx. Justin Vivian Bond. Taking place between July 1 and August 14 in the Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and other venues on Bard College's stunning Hudson River campus, SummerScape's 2016 offerings provide new opportunities to discover that, as Time Out New York puts it, "the experience of entering the Fisher Center and encountering something totally new is unforgettable and enriching." Tickets go on sale on Monday, February 15; click here for more information.

Music director Manfred Honeck leads the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, guest vocalists and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh in a BNY Mellon Grand Classics program featuring the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra premiere of Bach's St. John Passion oratorio on March 4 and 6 at Heinz Hall.

Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) invites audiences to fall in love this summer with Disney's Beauty and the Beast & West Side Story, running July 6 - August 20, 2016 (performances alternate evenings) at Stanley Park's picturesque Malkin Bowl. A beloved Vancouver tradition since 1940, TUTS' two-show subscription packs go on sale TODAY through May 6 (single tickets on sale May 17).

New York University's Tisch New Theatre is proud to present HAIRSPRAY, with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman, and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan. Set in 1962 Baltimore, the musical tells the story of plump teenager Tracy Turnblad, whose life dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she launches an ambitious campaign to integrate the show. HAIRSPRAY focuses on civil rights, the beauty of diversity and individuality, and acts as a beacon of hope and inclusiveness in the theatre world and beyond.