Bay Street Theater and Sag Harbor Center for the Arts has announced the 2020 Summer Mainstage Season. The three productions will be: WINDFALL (May 26 - June 14), a new comedy by Scooter Pietsch, DANCING AT LUGHNASA (June 23 - July 19) by Brian Friel, and the musical RAGTIME (August 4 - September 6), with book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow. The cast and creative teams will be announced soon. Subscriptions are available by calling the Box Office at 631-725-9500 or online at www.baystreet.org.
The Inheritance officially opened tonight on Broadway! BroadwayWorld attended the big night and we're taking you on the red carpet. Stars in attendance included George Takei, Anderson Cooper, Judith Light, Matt Bomer, Glenn Close, Jimmy Fallon, Antoni Porowski, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, and many more!
The York Theatre Company, dedicated to the development of new musicals and preserving musical gems from the past, recently honored Tony Award winner André De Shields (Hadestown) with the 2019 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre and producer Riki Kane Larimer (Cagney) with The York Theatre Company Founders' Award on Monday evening, November 11, 2019 at The Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street).
After the turkey and stuffing are put away on Thanksgiving night, bring your out-of-town guests to Historic Downtown Clarksville for family entertainment sure to get everyone in the holiday spirit!
At first glance, the musical stage adaptation of ANASTASIA looks and feels like an appropriately grand, luxe affaira?"from its gorgeous costumes designed to the lush soundscapes created by the orchestra and the vocal talents that have been assembled for this tour. But the undeniable wow factor of the show is, of course, the stunning visual trifecta of its scenic design working in keen harmony with dazzling projections and stage lighting. The overall technical prowess of this stage musical is just jaw-droppinga?"and, I must say, is quite an adequate enough reason to experience the show. The adaptation's execution of the story itself, however, suffers slightly from its well-meaning intentionsa?"revealing a stage show that feels stilted by its own drama, and with an unsure footing of what it truly wants to be.
a?oeYou have brains in your head, and feet in your shoes! You can steer yourself any direction you choose!a?? These inspirational words of Dr. Seuss invite you to steer yourself to the Missoula Community Theatre (MCT) for the musical Seussical, Dec 5-22 at the MCT Center for the Performing Arts.
Asolo Repertory Theatre announced that it is the recipient of a $70,000 Arts Appreciation Grant from Gulf Coast Community Foundation. The grant will support Asolo Rep's 2019-20 mainstage season, which kicks off November 16 with Rodgers and Hammerstein's Tony Award®-winning masterpiece The Sound of Music.
Last night, the Lincoln Center Fall Gala honored John E. Waldron for his continued support of the arts. The evening raised over $4 million in support of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and featured star-studded appearances and performances on the Adrienne Arsht Stage at Alice Tully Hall: Kelli O'Hara, Jane Lynch, Lynn Ahrens, Harolyn Blackwell, Sierra Boggess, Elli Choi, Amber Iman, Julie Kent, Storm Large, Marilyn Maye, Dianne Reeves, Bria Skonberg, Essential Voices USA, The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, and New York City Ballet principal dancers Sterling Hyltin and Tyler Angle.
Last night the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) hosted its annual DGF Gala to celebrate artists and honor patrons of the American theater community in gratitude of their continued support of emerging writers and creators at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in NYC. Jason Alexander may have said it best: “a world without writers is just mimes and improv.”
The first clue that ANASTASIA was going to be different than what I expected was a note on the title page reading, “Inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Pictures.” Plural? A savvy journalist, I quickly asked Siri to bring up the imdb page for “Anastasia”. Turns out Fox made ANASTASIA twice, the 1997 animated off-brand Disney princess movie and a 1957 film that scored Ingrid Bergman's second Oscar and marked Helen Hayes' transition to the big screen. And it turns out the musical version has more in common with LES MISERABLES and RAGTIME than BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Gone is the hell-wizard Rasputin, his talking fruit bat sidekick, and the singing demon caterpillars. At intermission, I asked my third grade niece, Adalyn, how she was liking it. “It's awesome…it's real people, like no Beast or anything. No animals.” We decide that Disney staged musicals are great but more it's more impressive when you can achieve the magic without a story that departs from reality.
ANASTASIA is historical fiction hypothetical. It poses a “what if…?” that a daughter of the last czar of Russia (The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna) escaped when the czar's family was executed in 1918. Rumors persisted for decades that Anastasia did, in fact, escape. In 2007, DNA testing confirmed the remains of all four Grand Duchesses were in the Imperial grave. In this version, Terrence McNalley's book follows Anastasia's rediscovery of her identity after surviving the attack on her family and sustaining some plot enabling amnesia. Renamed “Anya” she grows up and makes a life in post-Revolution Russia. Anastasia's grandmother, the Dowager Empress (in a staggeringly moving performance by Joy Franz) has fled to France and offered a cash reward for anyone escorting the rumored alive Anastasia to Paris. The wily duo Vlad (Edward Staudenmayer) and Dmitry (Jake Levy) pull a My Fair Lady style makeover on Anya to collect the Dowager's prize. They are pursued by Gleb (Jason Michael Evans). A Soviet officer drawn to Anya romantically but tasked with finding and eliminating the last Romanov. Anya's memory becomes somewhat coaxed back, but the Dowager has stopped seeing Anastasia claimants after too much heart-break from countless frauds.
It sounds dark, but with high-tech digital scenery and inspired performances across the cast it is delightful. Stephen Flaherty (Music) and Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics), responsible for bringing us RAGTIME, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, LUCKY STIFF, as well as the Oscar nominated songs carried over from the animated film. ANASTASIA is a perfect context for this pair. “Stay, I Pray You” (my favorite song of the evening) is evocative of RAGTIME's “New Music”. The two songs literally race my heart in a strangely specific way. My real test of a National Tour at Gammage is how fast I get the music playing in my car on the way home. At ANASTASIA I was already finding, “Stay, I Pray You” walking through the parking lot.
The rest of the score is similarly haunting. Lila Coogan, as Anya/Anastasia, powers through the score with nuance, clarity, and passion. Tari Kelly, as Countess Lily, and Stadenmayer (Vlad) were Adalyn's favorite performances and I have to agree. This incredibly gifted pair take the “triple threat” designation (singer, dancer, actor) and go quadruple with the addition of flawless comic timing.
The choreography by Peggy Hickey is masterful. It somehow combines inventive and traditional throughout and the ten-minute slice of “Swan Lake” infused into “Quartet at the Ballet” is the highlight of the second act. It's a fun-size version that gets an under-represented art form onto the plate. This kind of trope often means the plot putting the plot on hold. But here, it is the connective tissue between Anya, Dmitry, the Dowager, and Gleb as they each bring us up to speed heading into the show's climax.
Ultimately, the show's success comes from applying a higher artistic standard to the “previously-animated-film-now-theatrically-staged” genre. It cashes in on the name draw of the 1997 film then gives the viewer something much more enriched than what they think they are coming to see.
Yellow Sound Label has announced the release of Mark William: Come Croon With Me, the debut recording of Mark William. Featuring the songs in his critically acclaimed nightclub act, Come Croon With Me, it is now available for pre-order and will be released on CD, digital download, and all streaming platforms on November 22.
MAC winner, Ann Kittredge, Makes her West Coast Debut at Feinstein's at Vitello's, November 12th @ 8:00 p.m; with the acclaimed 'Fancy Meeting You Here: An Evening of Arhens and Flaherty.' Special Guests are Andrea Marcovicci and Marcus Lovett.
The National Tour of Anastasia had its official opening night in Schenectady, New York last week! The production stars Lila Coogan as Anya, Stephen Brower as Dmitry, Jason Michael Evans as Gleb, Joy Franz as Dowager Empress, Tari Kelly as Countess Lily, Edward Staudenmayer as Vlad and Victoria Amelia Bingham as Little Anastasia. The ensemble includes Brianna Abruzzo, Ronnie S. Bowman Jr., Alison Ewing, Peter Garza, Jeremiah Ginn, Brett-Marco Glauser, Lucy Horton, Mary Illes, Fred Inkley, Kourtney Keitt, Beth Stafford Laird, Mark Mackillop, Kenneth Michael Murray, Taylor Quick, Claire Rathbun, Michael McCorry Rose, Matt Rosell, Sareen Tchekmedyian, and Addison Mackynzie Valentino.
Today, the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) announced critically acclaimed performers for its annual DGF Gala on Monday, November 4 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in NYC.
Pride Films and Plays' Jeff-recommended production of A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, the Chicago area's first revival in over a decade of the heartwarming musical created by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, and Terrence McNally, has been extended for one additional week due to popular and critical demand. The musical will now close with the 2:30 pm matinee on Sunday, November 17.
Today, the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) announced critically acclaimed performers for its annual DGF Gala on Monday, November 4 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in NYC. Hosted by Emmy and Golden Globe nominee and Tony Award Winner Jason Alexander (Seinfeld, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Merrily We Roll Along), the fundraising evening will feature special performances by Tony Award Winner Betty Buckley (Cats, Sunset Boulevard, Pippin), Tony Award Winner Brian Stokes Mitchell (Kiss Me, Kate, Ragtime, Man of La Mancha), Oscar, Grammy and Tony Award winning songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, The Greatest Showman), Tony nominatee Michael Arden (Once On This Island, Spring Awakening, Big River ), Tony Nominee Liz Callaway (Anastasia, Baby, Miss Saigon), Tony Nominee Christiane Noll (Ragtime; Jekyll & Hyde, Urinetown), Betsy Wolfe (Falsettos, Waitress), and Charlotte Maltby (Les Miserables, The Sound of Music national tour).
Landmark Musicals is presenting is a musical adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens story, A Christmas Carol, at the Rodey Theater on the University of New Mexico campus, November 23 through December 8.
Art Lab (Meg Fofonoff, Executive Producer) just announced the development of a new musical, shAme, written by Mark Governor, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter. Tony Award Winner Kathleen Marshall is set to direct.
Go. Now. Pick up the phone or your computer and get your tickets to see one of the five remaining performances of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND at the Schuster Center.
