Leonard Bernstein News

IMG Artists announced today that industry veteran Robert Cole has been named Interim Artistic and Executive Director of California's Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond:

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) presents Ken Ludwig's classic farce LEND ME A TENOR, April 10-27, 2014. This production is a collaboration with the Marquette University Theatre Department with several students, alumni and faculty filling roles both onstage and on the creative team. Ken Ludwig's LEND ME A TENOR performs in the Broadway Theatre Center's Cabot Theatre in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.

Theatre Jacksonville celebrates Stephen Sondheim's birthday with two performances of the musical revue Side by Side by Sondheim today, March 22 at 2pm and 8pm as its annual fundraiser.

The noted composer of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY appears at a master class and concert on March 29 with PRiMA Theatre

Jason Robert Brown, with BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY on Broadway and HONEYMOON IN VEGAS coming, talks about his career and his continuing live performances

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Edo de Waart open the 2014 Beethoven Festival with Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 today, March 21-23, 2014 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.

Continuing in a tradition of storytelling and music, Hershey Felder (George Gershwin Alone, Maestro Bernstein and last season's smash hit Mona Golabek in The Pianist of Willesden Lane) will present the World Premiere of Chris Lemmon in JACK LEMMON RETURNS, a new play with music. The production will preview May 2 and open on Monday, May 12 at 7 p.m. at The Royal George Theatre, 1641 North Halsted Street. The production is written and directed by Hershey Felder and based on the true story of the legendary Jack Lemmon (Mister Roberts, Some Like it Hot, Days of Wine and Roses, The Odd Couple) and his relationship with his son, actor and musician Chris Lemmon (Duet, That's Life, Lena's Holiday, etc.).

The Manhattan School of Music Symphony will be making its Carnegie Hall debut on the stage of Stern Auditorium on Sunday, April 13, at 2:00 p.m. That afternoon, Leonard Slatkin will conduct a program that opens with Roberto Sierra's Fandangos, and also includes Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, orchestrated by Maurice Ravel, and arranged by Maestro Slatkin. A concert highlight will be a performance of Leonard Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's Symposium, featuring violinist Glenn Dicterow. This concert also serves as a tribute to Mr. Dicterow who is in his final season as the New York Philharmonic's Concertmaster.

Westport Country Playhouse announces a world premiere musical revue, 'Sing for Your Shakespeare,' as the second production in its 2014 season, running June 3 - 22. Directed by Mark Lamos, and co-conceived by Lamos, Wayne Barker, and Deborah Grace Winer, the show is based on an original idea and production for 92nd Street Y's Lyrics & Lyricists, New York, NY. Celebrating its 84th season, Westport Country Playhouse was recently named Theater Company of the Year by The Wall Street Journal.

With a pulsing persistence of rhythm, a show about rival juvenile street gangs in 1950s New York changed Broadway musical theatre forever. On March 31, the musical masterpiece 'West Side Story' comes to the Spencer to make history once again.

Before he was an Emmy-winning TV star, Mandy Patinkin was already a Tony-winning Broadway legend. The acclaimed actor, singer and storyteller will appear on the Heinz Hall stage with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, April 5 at 8 p.m. in his most electrifying role - concert performer.

NEW DRAMATISTS,Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premiere playwright development workshop, proudly announces that they will honor five-time Tony Award winning director/choreographer Susan Stroman with their 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 65th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute, to be held Thursday, May 22 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Among the Stroman collaborators offering tributes will be Tony Award winner Boyd Gaines and New York City Ballet's Tiler Peck performing a selection from Little Dancer, Taylor Mac performing a selection from The Last Two People on Earth, Tony nominee Marin Mazzie performing from Bullets Over Broadway; and Contact collaborator John Weidman, and cast members from The Scottsboro Boys.The event co-chairs are Letty Aronson, Roy Furman, and Julian Schlossberg.

Andre Watts performs at Meany Hall Tuesday, April 15, 2014 at 7:30pm. This performance was originally scheduled for November 7, 2013. Patrons holding tickets to the November 7 performance may use their tickets for the April 15 date. Tickets are $50-55. The UW World Series also offers up to two Free Youth Tickets (ages 5-17 only) with the purchase of a Regular Price ticket. Tickets may be purchased by phone at 206-543-4880, online at uwworldseries.org, or in person at the UW Arts Ticket Office. Meany Hall is located on the Seattle campus of the University of Washington.

Overlooking their summer home on the Esplanade, Boston Landmarks Orchestra staff, board, sponsors, and partners gathered yesterday morning (albeit snowy) at the Goethe-Institut where Music Director Christopher Wilkins revealed the 2014 collaborative and inclusive civic celebrations of music and programs in Boston's neighborhood. This summer's free concerts at the DCR's Hatch Shell selections are inspired by a wonderful range of the world's musical traditions. Concerts will be held every Wednesday evening (7pm) beginning July 16 thru August 27, 2014. For more information and schedule visit www.landmarksorchestra.org. Check out the details for each concert below!

New York Festival of Song announces 'Remembering Lenny', A Gala Celebration of Leonard Bernstein (Founding Advisor NYFOS). NYFOS Artistic Directors and pianists STEVEN BLIER and MICHAEL BARRETT host an extraordinary lineup of special guests.

The tour of the smash hit Broadway revival of WEST SIDE STORY is returning to Detroit! WEST SIDE STORY will appear at the Fisher Theatre, May 13- 18, 2014.

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG announces its star-studded 2014 spring gala, Remembering Lenny, celebrating the life of Leonard Bernstein with a performance on Monday, April 28 at 6:30PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, followed by supper at the '21' Club.

The New York Philharmonic will present its 11th season of Summertime Classics, July 2-6, 2014, featuring five themed concerts with Bramwell Tovey, who has been the host and conductor of the series since its founding in 2004. On the first program, July 2-3, 2014, titled "Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and Friends," the New York Philharmonic will perform Shostakovich's Festive Overture; Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1, with pianist Joyce Yang as soloist; Musorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain; Rachmaninoff's arrangement of his own Vocalise; and Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker, and Marche slave. The second program, July 4-6, 2014, titled "Star-Spangled Celebration," will feature the New York Philharmonic and United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps - "The Commandant's Own," which is celebrating its 80th-anniversary year - in a program that includes Copland's Clarinet Concerto, with Associate Principal Clarinet Mark Nuccio as soloist, and Fanfare for the Common Man; Gershwin's "Strike Up the Band" from Strike Up the Band; Sousa marches; and more. In these performances Major Brian Dix, director and commanding officer of "The Commandant's Own," will share conducting duties with Bramwell Tovey.

On Today, March 13, the Houston Symphony will continue its legendary centennial celebration by performing alongside one of the leading figures in the recording industry, Steve Tyrell. Under the leadership of Houston Symphony Associate Conductor Robert Franz, Tyrell and the orchestra will perform American standards like 'You're So Nice to Come Home To,' 'The Way You Look Tonight' and 'I Get a Kick Out of You,' to name just a few. The Grammy Award-winning Tyrell will also invite his friends Diane Schuur, Judith Hill and Lew Soloff to the stage to share the evening with him as he sings the night away to timeless classics in this one-night only special performance.