Marc Blitzstein News

Lincoln Center Theater, under the direction of André Bishop, has announced it will produce a new musical during its 2019-2020 season. FLYING OVER SUNSET, with a book and direction by James Lapine, music by Tom Kitt, and lyrics by Michael Korie, will feature choreography by Michelle Dorrance, and will begin previews March 12, 2020 and open on Thursday, April 16, 2020 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street). Carmen Cusack, Harry Hadden-Paton and Tony Yazbeck will head the cast with additional casting to be announced at a later date.

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG has announced the lineup for its 2019-20 Season.

The little OPERA theatre of ny will present a FREE concert of scenes from American operas in collaboration with Bronx Opera and operamission on Saturday, June 22, 2019. The concert will showcase the diversity of music and stories written for the opera stage by both native born and immigrant composers and librettists. The concert will take place outdoors on Governors Island in Nolan Park, in front of building 25. The performance is at 5pm and is FREE to the public. (Rain date: Sunday, June 23 at 4pm.)

The little OPERA theatre of ny will present a FREE concert of scenes from American operas in collaboration with Bronx Opera and operamission. The concert will showcase the diversity of music and stories written for the opera stage by both native born and immigrant composers and librettists. The concert will take place outdoors on Governors Island in Nolan Park, in front of building 25. The performance is at 5pm and is FREE to the public. (Rain date: Sunday, June 23 at 4pm.)

Perhaps Leonard Bernstein's most uplifting composition is paired with one of the most significant compositions by musical master Ludwig van Beethoven's in "Bernstein and Beethoven: Part II" on Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore.

Now onstage through Mother's Day (Sunday, May 12) in a much anticipated and gleefully subversive production from Nashville Opera, The Cradle Will Rock remains hard to define: It could be described as a work of art whose meaning, its very raison d'etre, can be bent to suit any conceivable justification. Variously, Blitzstein described his 1937 work as a 'play in music' or an 'opera for actors' and its history clearly paints it as either or even as both.

THEATER 2020, Brooklyn Heights' NY award winning professional theater company is pleased to announce its June 2019 run of the masterwork 'THE CRADLE WILL ROCK,' in a limited run of 16 performances (indoors & out) Friday, June 7th - Sunday, June 30th, 2019.

It's another busy weekend in Nashville - but when is Music City not packed with events, festivals, affairs? - and we're back with our Critic's Choice recommendations to have you cut through the theatrical flotsam and jetsam and find a cultural opening that's a good fit for your harried lifestyle. Nashville Opera opens its staging of Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock at Noah Liff Opera Center, Way Off Broadway Productions unveils its version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Music Valley Event Center, Street Theatre Company invites you to the see their staging of Lynn Nottage's Sweat at their new venue on Elm Hill Pike and Nashville Rep continues its celebration of 10 years of The Ingram New Works Festival at Nashville Children's Theatre.

Classic Stage Company announces two events in conjunction with Tony Award-winner John Doyle's production of Marc Blitzstein's 1937 play in music The Cradle Will Rock. On May 14, legendary former New York Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse, author of the forthcoming Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor (Alfred A. Knopf, August 2019),and Kate Shindle, president of Actors' Equity Association, will discuss the history and current state of labor and union movements in relation to Cradle's timely and timeless themes. 

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Broadway veteran Elizabeth Josephine 'Jo' Sullivan Loesser passed away yesterday, April 28, from heart failure in her New York City Home. She was 91 years old.

Opera Santa Barbara presented a musically dramatic rendition of THE CRUCIBLE. As an opera it struck the emotions with a stronger hammer than the play did with mere words. If you can be in Santa Barbara tomorrow afternoon, don't miss the performance at the Lobero Theatre.

Classic Stage Company announces two exciting and illuminating events in conjunction with Tony Award-winner John Doyle's production of Marc Blitzstein's 1937 play in music The Cradle Will Rock.

One of Leonard Bernstein's most iconic compositions will be paired with the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven's most celebrated work in "Bernstein and Beethoven: Part I" on Saturday, May 11, 2019 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore. As a continued celebration of the Leonard Bernstein Centennial, world-renowned pianist Michael Brown will join Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski and the National Philharmonic in performing Bernstein's Symphony No. 2 ("The Age of Anxiety"), a genre-defying work that combines elements of symphony, concerto, and program music and is inspired by the dramatic poem The Age of Anxiety by W.H. Auden. After an intermission, Gajewski will lead the Philharmonic in Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. This timeless work is one of the most performed, recorded, adapted, and abused of all the works in Beethoven's canonical repertoire. A pre-concert lecture will take place between 6:45-7:15 p.m. From 7-7:30 p.m., families can explore orchestral instruments with Philharmonic musicians. The concert will feature a members-only encore question-and-answer. Ticket prices are $42-$78, and young people 7-17 are free. Strathmore is located at 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit nationalphilharmonic.org or call 301.581.5100.

The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music awarded $71,000 in prizemoney at the finals of 2019 Lotte Lenya Competition, which took place in a packed Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, on April 13. The $20,000 First Prize went to Daniel Berryman, 28 of Seattle, WA. Andrea Wozniak, 28 of Boston, MA, won the $15,000 Second Prize, and Trevor Martin, 30 of Fayetteville, GA, received Third Prize of $10,000.

Classic Stage Company presents Marc Blitzstein's allegorical play in music The Cradle Will Rock, directed by John Doyle, March 21 - May 19, 2019.

In June of 1937, the United States government padlocked New York's Maxine Elliot Theatre and sent security guards to prevent the performance of a new musical, but the unknown leading lady Olive Stanton courageously fought her fears and led an act of defiance that made headlines the morning after opening night.

Classic Stage Company announces their 2019-2020 season. Bookended by two John Doyle-directed productions-William Shakespeare's Macbeth (October-December 2019) and Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins (April-June, 2020)-the lineup also includes two canonical works of gothic horror: Dracula and Frankenstein, presented in repertory, January-March 2020, based on the novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley.

Lawrence Edelson, Artistic and General Director of Opera Saratoga, announced today that the company's critically acclaimed recording of Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rockwill be featured this Friday evening, March 15th, 2019, on the CBS series Hawaii Five-0 (Season 9, Episode 19).

In the spirit of Classic Stage Company's new production of The Cradle Will Rock, Marc Blitzstein's historic pro-labor American play in music (March 21 - May 19), CSC is implementing a policy through which members of any union will receive $25 rush tickets to the show. In order to redeem these tickets, patrons must show their union ID at the box office the day of the performance they would like to attend, pending availability. This will be in addition to CSC's regular and student rush policies.

The Kurt Weill Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Jesse Leong as the recipient of the Julius Rudel/Kurt Weill Conducting Fellowship. Established in 2015 to honor Rudel's extraordinary artistic achievements and dedication to the music of Kurt Weill, this award enables a young conductor in the early stages of a career to assist a master conductor in the preparation and performance of a work by Weill or Marc Blitzstein and expand his or her knowledge of their works. The fellowship carries a stipend of $10,000.