Leonard Bernstein News

James Rocco's BROADWAY SONGBOOK series at The Ordway Center for Performing Arts in Saint Paul, Minn., is a treasure for anyone who has an iPod full of showtunes (me: guilty!) and should earn continuing education credits for audience members who gain a wealth of knowledge in theatre history over the course of the show.

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, today announced details around three new commissions and a brand-new family presentation in 2015: The Property, a klezmer opera by composer Wlad Marhulets and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann; Second Nature, a children's opera from composer Matthew Aucoin; El Pasado Nunca Se Termina, a mariachi opera by composer Jose 'Pepe' Martinez and librettist Leonard Foglia; and The Magic Victrola, a new family presentation.

Auch in diesem Sommer kann man Musicals wieder auf Freilichtbuhnen in ganz Deutschland erleben, von Klassikern wie Anatevka und My Fair Lady, uber Sunset Bouledvard und Kiss Me, Kate, bis hin zu deutschen Eigenproduktionen wie Maria, Ihm Schmeckt's Nicht und Heiße Ecke. Hier nun ein Überblick uber 20 großere Festivals und Produktionen in Deutschland, der Schweiz und Österreich.

For its 2014 Countryside series, Apollo's Fire proudly premieres 'GLORY ON THE MOUNTAIN: An Appalachian Journey.' Created and directed by Jeannette Sorrell and starring singers Amanda Powell and Ross Hauck, the program will be performed in 8 concerts in rustic venues in Hunting Valley, Chardon, Bay Village and Bath, today, June 12-22.

Virginia's Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre closes out its 2013/2014 season with the world premiere musical Cloak and Dagger, directed by Signature Theatre's Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer (Broadway's Follies, Million Dollar Quartet). From Helen Hayes Award Winner Ed Dixon (Signature's Sunset Boulevard) comes this screwball musical comedy send-up of the 1950s film noir.

The New York Philharmonic will conclude its 2013-14 subscription season with The Beethoven Piano Concertos: A Philharmonic Festival, featuring The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in- Residence Yefim Bronfman and conducted by Alan Gilbert, today, June 11-28, 2014.

Westport Country Playhouse announces that due to ticket demand for its current production of the world premiere musical revue, "Sing for Your Shakespeare," extra performances have been added on Thursday through Saturday, June 26 - 28, at 8 p.m.

The Town Hall 2014 Summer Season: Broadway Preludes will launch on Friday, June 27 at 8PM with the American premiere of a lost Cole Porter treasure, The Ambassador Revue.

The Orchestre symphonique de Montreal has announced details of the 2014 edition of its popular three-day Festival, "La Viree Classique" (OSM Classical Spree), which takes place August 14 to 16, 2014. Now in its third season, the Festival will offer thirty, 45-minute concerts in four concert venues in the heart of Montreal's arts and entertainment district, including Maison symphonique de Montreal-the new 2,100-seat home of the OSM in the historic Place des Arts.

Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) will release a new live recording of the first-ever concert performances of Leonard Bernstein's complete score for the musical West Side Story featuring a stellar Broadway cast including Cheyenne Jackson and Alexandra Silber, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, today, June 10, 2014.

Who knew Shakespeare could be so VIRAL?

Andrea Martin is a two-time Emmy Award winner for the critically acclaimed sketch comedy series SCTV, and is also a two-time Tony Award winner. She won her second and most recent Tony Award last June of 2013 for her performance as Berthe in the Broadway revival of "Pippin" directed by Diane Paulus and her first award was for the musical 'My Favorite Year.' She is currently starring on Broadway at Lincoln Center in "Act One" by James Lapine opposite Tony Shalhoub. She is also filming a new television sitcom "Working The Engels" written by Katie Ford ("Miss Congeniality," "Desperate Housewives") which is now filming in Toronto. On June 28 and 29, this comic star of stage and screen returns to Broadway@ The Art House for the first time since its inaugural season in 2011. SiriusXM radio star Seth Rudetsky joins her as pianist and host for an evening of music and hilarity. For tickets please visit www.markcortalepresents.com/the-art-house or call 508-487-9222.

Broadway legend, Barbara Cook, will be honored with The Julie Harris Award for Artistic Achievement at The Actors Fund's 18th Annual Tony Awards Viewing Party on June 8th, 2014.

Due to popular demand, the World Premiere of Chris Lemmon in JACK LEMMON RETURNS, will be extended from June 25 through July 20 at The Royal George Theatre, 1641 North Halsted Street. After a brief hiatus starting June 8, the production that has been called 'A very classy solo tribute!' (Chicago Tribune); 'An honest, loving 'living memoir'!' (Chicago Sun-Times); and "An affectionate and all-together absorbing tribute!" (TimeOut Chicago) will return to Chicago for this strictly limited engagement.

'Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie,' 'Maestro: Leonard Bernstein,' 'The Devil's Music: The Life and Times of Bessie Smith,' 'One Night with Janice Joplin.' What do these all have in common? They are shows that Cleveland Play House has staged in the last several years, and they are productions that showcase the musical talents of a particular artist.

Westport Country Playhouse's world premiere musical revue, 'Sing for Your Shakespeare,' playing now through June 22, features a six-member cast of Broadway talents: Karen Akers, Britney Coleman, Darius de Haas, Stephen DeRosa, Constantine Germanacos, and Laurie Wells. With selections from Cole Porter's 'Kiss Me, Kate,' Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's 'West Side Story,' and Rodgers and Hart's 'The Boys from Syracuse,' as well as numbers by Duke Ellington, Frank Loesser, and others, the production explores how the American Songbook has been inspired for decades by Shakespeare's works. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

This June award-winning actor and musician Hershey Felder returns to Berkeley Rep with his popular and critically acclaimed one-man show, Hershey Felder as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro. Last summer, Felder brought Bay Area audiences to their feet and even got them singing with George Gershwin Alone. Now the master entertainer and virtuoso pianist is back for a limited engagement about America's greatest musical legend. Conductor, composer, pianist, author, teacher, librettist, television star, and composer of West Side Story, Candide, On the Town, and Wonderful Town, Bernstein pushed all boundaries to become the world's first serious musical media superstar. Felder combines first-person narrative with the compositions of Bernstein and others to draw us deeply into the maestro's fascinating life, a life filled with tragedy and triumph and...music. This special presentation plays only 22 performances on the intimate Thrust Stage. The show opens tonight, June 6, and plays through June 22.

It was in a supporting role at Carnegie Hall with Eve Queler and the Opera Orchestra of New York that Stephen Costello first launched his professional career. Now the Tucker Award-winning tenor makes a hero's return, rejoining the same forces at the storied New York venue to headline a concert performance of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux tonight, June 5.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre welcomes award-winning actor and musician Hershey Felder to star as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, about the amazing life of American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein.

West Side Story returned to the storied National Theatre on Tuesday night with an energetic revival that contains all the elements of what made this show a beloved classic.