Leslie Jackson News

Walking into the Music Hall at Fair Park Tuesday night, I was extremely eager to enjoy Ahrens and Flaherty's lavish, Tony Award-winning score in the tour of RAGTIME. Together with Terrence McNally's dynamic script, RAGTIME is celebrated as perhaps one of the greatest book musicals of the past two decades. Unfortunately, in spite of all of its inherent strengths, technical troubles plagued the tour's opening night performance. I left the theatre completely disappointed.

For the first time ever, Keep Memory Alive's 20th annual Power of Love gala will highlight artists from multiple mediums as an extensive array of painters, sculptors, and more join honoree and fellow artist, Tony Bennett, in celebration of his 90th birthday tonight, May 21 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The rich versus the working class. Immigrant crises. Police clashing with rioting African-Americans. Women discovering their independence. Celebrities in your face. Is it 2016 or 1916, and how do you know?

For the first time ever, Keep Memory Alive's 20th annual Power of Love gala will highlight artists from multiple mediums as an extensive array of painters, sculptors, and more join honoree and fellow artist, Tony Bennett, in celebration of his 90th birthday on Saturday, May 21 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Rhode Island audiences, prepare to be dazzled. RAGTIME is - deservedly - one of the most highly acclaimed musicals of the last two decades and the touring production now playing the Providence Performing Arts Center does the show's rich legacy proud.

At the beginning of Act II of Ragtime, Terrence McNally's masterful musical adaptation of E. L. Doctorow's novel, journeyman pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr., decimated by the murder of his beloved Sarah, sings, 'Say goodbye to music / Say goodbye to light.' This sums up my feelings about Theater League's production of Ragtime, which arrived for a brief four-day stay at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on Thursday night. The original 1998 Broadway production won a Tony Award for Best Score, but many patrons who packed the Fred Kavli Theatre on opening night were dismayed to discover that Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's sumptuous, moving songs were being played from pre-recorded synthesized music tracks. Despite superb performances from the entire cast, Theater League's Ragtime suffers greatly from this omission, which was apparently a decision of Phoenix Entertainment, the independent theatrical producing and management enterprise in charge of producing the show.

**Results of the 2015 BroadwayWorld Regional Awards are being audited and posted. Check out the winners that have been announced in New Jersey, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Connecticut, Minneapolis, Wichita, Long Island, Raleigh, Madison, Central PA, West Virginia, Columbus, Chicago, Birmingham, Houston, Delaware, Miami, Portland, Boston, Dallas, Charlotte, Vermont, Seattle, Louisville, Denver, Baltimore, Nashville, Orlando, Boise, Maine, Cleveland, Phoenix, Austin, Philippines, Detroit, and Atlanta.  Don't see your region yet?  Stay tuned... more to come soon!

RAGTIME National Tour at North Carolina Theatre

Director and Choreographer, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, brings a realism to RAGTIME that I have never seen before in musicals.

At the dawn of a new century, everything is changing...and anything is possible. RAGTIME returns to the road in an all-new touring production that Bloomberg News hails as 'explosive, thrilling and nothing short of a masterpiece.' North America will be swept away by this ravishing and relevant production, with performances starting Tuesday, October 27 at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. BroadwayWorld has as first look at the cast in action below!

At the dawn of a new century, everything is changing…and anything is possible.  RAGTIME returns to the road in an all-new touring production that Bloomberg News hails as "explosive, thrilling and nothing short of a masterpiece." North America will be swept away by this ravishing and relevant production, with performances starting Tuesday, October 27 at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas.  BroadwayWorld has as first look at the cast in action below!

The League of American Orchestras' National Conference will offer fresh perspectives from thought leaders on the many ways orchestras are adapting during this era of rapid change. Hosted by the Seattle Symphony, the Conference takes place today, June 4-6, 2014 in Seattle, with pre-Conference seminars on June 2-4 as well as musical performances, events, and sessions presented by industry experts and beyond. Nearly 1,000 professionals and volunteers from across the orchestra field are expected to attend.

The League of American Orchestras' National Conference will offer fresh perspectives from thought leaders on the many ways orchestras are adapting during this era of rapid change. Hosted by the Seattle Symphony, the Conference takes place June 4-6, 2014 in Seattle, with pre-Conference seminars on June 2-4 as well as musical performances, events, and sessions presented by industry experts and beyond. Nearly 1,000 professionals and volunteers from across the orchestra field are expected to attend.

A timeless tale turned Broadway hit, The Secret Garden is the final production of the White Plains Performing Arts Center's 2011-2012 Mainstage season. This award winning family musical is based on the beloved classic novel of the same name, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The Secret Garden runs from tonight, May 11 through May 27. The show stars Salena Qureshi, Lilli Jacobs, Stephen Tewksbury and Kristoffer Lowe. See below for photos from the production!

A timeless tale turned Broadway hit, The Secret Garden is the final production of the White Plains Performing Arts Center's 2011-2012 Mainstage season. This award winning family musical is based on the beloved classic novel of the same name, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The Secret Garden runs from tonight, May 11 through May 27. The show stars Stephen Tewksbury and Kristoffer Lowe.

A timeless tale turned Broadway hit, The Secret Garden is the final production of the White Plains Performing Arts Center's 2011-2012 Mainstage season. This award winning family musical is based on the beloved classic novel of the same name, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The Secret Garden runs from May 11 through May 27. The show will star Stephen Tewksbury and Kristoffer Lowe.