Marc Blitzstein News

A.C.T. Young Conservatory (YC) proudly presents Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, directed by W. D. Keith.

A.C.T. Young Conservatory (YC) proudly presents Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, directed by W. D. Keith.

Finally appearing together again after their Tony Award® winning performances in Evita, Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin bring their critically acclaimed theatre concert to The Royal Alexandra Theatre for 6 performances only, from February 9 through 14. Tickets are now on sale.

Though Julie Wilson was certainly not the first and by all means not the last great singer to have her heart stomped upon by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's 'Surabaya Johnny,' there is no one I can name more deserving to claim it as their signature song.  (Okay, maybe Lotte Lenya, but you know that's a special case.)  Though for many years now the 83-year-old beloved cabaret star has been singing songs less and less and speaking them more and more, there are few who can match her for painting vivid word pictures and bringing complex dramatic subtext to a lyric.  With pianist Christopher Denny doing a marvelous job of softly supporting her many pauses and tempo changes, Wilson's crushing performance of Marc Blitzstein's translation, played to a pin-drop silent crowd on opening night of her new show at The Metropolitan Room, is an emotionally striking portrayal of a woman who can explode with anger at the mistreatment she endures from her faithless lover while moments later barely control a sob at the admission that she still loves him.  Through the years I've seen Julie Wilson sing 'Surabaya Johnny' many times but her performance that night was the best I've ever seen or heard from anyone.  (And as is typical of her modesty, she actually introduced the song by complimenting Donna Murphy's performance of it on Broadway in LoveMusik.)  She follows it with a devilishly humored 'Mack the Knife' (also Blitzstein's translation) that builds so slowly and precisely that she goes through the entire song twice in order to hit the climax.  I heard no complaints.

With three different directors placing their marks on the material during its pre-Broadway tryouts and two actors who were not quite up to the vocal demands of the dramatic score playing the leads (Shirley Booth and Melvyn Douglas), Marc Blitzstein (music and lyrics) and Joseph Stein's (book) Juno, based on Sean O'Casey's Juno And The Paycock, limped into the Winter Garden in March of 1959 following high expectations (West Side Story had been ousted from the theatre to make room for it) and quickly closed up shop two weeks later.

The second act of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's 1984 musical, Sunday In The Park With George is centered on a then-contemporary artist/inventor named George who has created a series of machines called chromolumes, which electronically fill rooms with color and light. His latest, 'Chromolume #7' is intended to present a variation on themes inspired from Georges Seurat's revolutionary work of pointillism 'Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' (1884-86), the creation of which is the subject of the musical's first act. When a technical glitch short circuits the machine and causes a temporary delay in the chromolume's premiere presentation, George sheepishly explains to those gathered, 'No electricity, no art.'

The New York premiere of Orpheus X, with original music and text by 2007 Pulitzer Finalist Rinde Eckert, video by Denise Marika and directed by Robert Woodruff, draws from several literary and poetic sources, including the Sixth Century Greek poet Ibyous and the Roman poets Virgil and Ovid. Messrs.

A.C.T. Young Conservatory (YC) proudly presents Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, directed by W. D. Keith.

The American Conservatory Theater Master of Fine Arts Program presents Rebecca Lenkiewicz's new play Her Naked Skin, directed by California Shakespeare Theater Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone.

The Tony Award® nominated hit musical IRVING BERLIN'S WHITE CHRISTMAS, the stage reinvention of the beloved classic film, directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Randy Skinner, with music supervision by Rob Berman, is pleased to announce Broadway principal casting. James Clow, Melissa Errico, Tony Yazbeck and Mara Davi will star in the Broadway return production also starring Ruth Williamson, Peter Reardon, Remy Auberjonois, Cliff Bemis, Madeleine Yen and David Ogden Stiers, who will lead a cast of 33 in the limited holiday engagement at the Marquis Theatre (1535 Broadway).

HOWL! Festival presents HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009: THEATER SERIES September 18-29 at 45 Bleecker

HOWL! Festival presents HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009: THEATER SERIES September 18-29 at 45 Bleecker

HOWL! Festival presents THE COMMON SWALLOW, a new play by David Caudle (THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM) about the locals of a small Midwestern town struggling to maintain a sense of community, as part of its HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009: THEATER SERIES, with performances beginning September 25 at 45 Bleecker. Kirsten Kelly set to direct.

The American Conservatory Theater Master of Fine Arts Program presents Rebecca Lenkiewicz's new play Her Naked Skin, directed by California Shakespeare Theater Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone.

Marc Blitzstein's THE CRADLE WILL ROCK on the Howl Festival Monday-Thursday, September 21-24 at 8 PM 45 Bleecker Street Theater, 45 Bleecker Street

Mimi Stern-Wolfe's Downtown Music Productions repeats its concert production of Marc Blitzstein's historic musical theater piece, 'THE CRADLE WILL ROCK, a Brechtian allegory of corruption and corporate greed that is as relevant today as when the show was premiered in 1937.

HOWL is proud to present Downtown Music Productions in 'The Cradle Will Rock,' the historic musical theater work by Marc Blitzstein, whose allegory of corruption and corporate greed is as timely today as when it was premiered in 1937.

HOWL is proud to present Downtown Music Productions in 'The Cradle Will Rock,' the historic musical theater work by Marc Blitzstein, whose allegory of corruption and corporate greed is as timely today as when it was premiered in 1937.

Director and choreographer Lisa Brailoff's revival of this timely, controversial musical about greed, corruption and the plight of the worker -- presented initially this past February by Downtown Music Productions, East Village Concert Series and St. Mark's Church in the Bowery -- returns for four performances as part of HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009: THEATER SERIES.

Marc Blitzstein's THE CRADLE WILL ROCK on the Howl Festival Monday-Thursday, September 21-24 at 8 PM 45 Bleecker Street Theater, 45 Bleecker Street