Donna Feore's gritty new take on Billy Elliot the Musical, the Tony Award-winning blockbuster musical from Lee Hall and Elton John, is now on stage at the Stratford Fesitval. The production officially opens on Tuesday, May 28, at the Festival Theatre.
For the past several seasons, Stratford's Festival Theatre stage has been home to classic musical theatre productions with catchy tunes that audiences might find themselves humming long after the company had taken its final bow. This season, the musical living on that stage is a little different. It is not a classic from the golden age of broadway, the music, while moving, is likely not that familiar ear worm that you will wake up singing, and the story is as gritty and high stakes as many of the Shakespearean productions we have seen on that stage in recent years. BILLY ELLIOT officially opened to a raucous standing ovation on Tuesday evening, making it clear that Stratford audiences are more than happy to branch out to something a little different.
The Stratford Festival kicks off its 67th season on Monday with the gala opening of Shakespeare's Othello, followed by five more openings as the week unfolds: Billy Elliot the Musical, Henry VIII, Private Lives, Little Shop of Horrorsand The Merry Wives of Windsor. Artistic
Donna Feore's gritty new take on Billy Elliot the Musical, the Tony Award-winning blockbuster musical from Lee Hall and Elton John, is now on stage at the Stratford Fesitval. The production officially opens on Tuesday, May 28, at the Festival Theatre.
Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino brings Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor close to home with a joyous production set in a small town not unlike Stratford, Ontario, in 1953, the year the Festival began.
Donna Feore's gritty new take on Billy Elliot the Musical, the Tony Award-winning blockbuster musical from Lee Hall and Elton John, kicks off the Festival's 67th season with its first preview today. The production officially opens on Tuesday, May 28, at the Festival Theatre.
Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has announced key casting for the 2019 season, including Michael Blake as Othello and Amelia Sargisson as Desdemona in the season opener, Othello, one of Shakespeare's greatest and best-known tragedies.
The Stratford Festival presents the world premiere of Bronte: The World Without, Jordi Mand's engrossing new play about the famous literary sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte. Directed by Vanessa Porteous, and featuring Beryl Bain, Jessica B. Hill and Andrea Rankin, the production begins previews today at the Studio Theatre.
A delightfully fun and well-cast production of Oscar Wilde's AN IDEAL HUSBAND opened at the Stratford Festival's Avon Theatre on Thursday night. The show is a light-hearted comedy with a bit of an edge, as Wilde's story explores the notion that a woman should forgive a man's imperfections-even if said imperfections involve a serious crime-so long, of course, that the man has not been caught for committing said crime! This conclusion is somewhat unsettling, and the fact that the characters in question are generally likeable has audience members questioning their own morality in the end because, one's knee jerk reaction is indeed to be happy for everyone! Leave it to Oscar Wilde (and director Lezlie Wade) to trick us a fun play that actually becomes a spring board for self analysis and discussion about when it is appropriate to forgive ourselves and others and how we can manage to justify our actions or those of the people we love…when it suits us.
Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino just announced key casting for the 2018 season of the Stratford Festival, including Seana McKenna as Julius Caesar, Andr Sills as Coriolanus, and Daren A. Herbert as Harold Hill, the 'Music Man.'
The very last production to ever open at the current incarnation of the Stratford Festival's Tom Patterson Theatre was David Edney's translation of Jean Giraudoux's THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT. Directed by Donna Feore, this was the world premiere of this translation. It boasts an excellent company and it explores themes and issues that are certainly relevant today.
ROMEO AND JULIET opened at the Stratford Festival on Thursday night. Director, Scott Wentworth's production takes the Festival Theatre stage by storm and is captivating from start to finish. This is the third production of ROMEO AND JULIET that this reviewer has had the privilege of seeing at the Festival, and it is without a doubt, my favourite.
Exit the King is now on stage at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (STNJ) through August 28th. This enthralling show is by Romanian-French writer Eugene Ionesco, translated by Donald Watson with absolutely splendid direction by the theatre's Artistic Director, Bonnie J. Monte.
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (STNJ) continues its 54th season with what is considered to be Eugene Ionesco's crowning masterpiece, Exit the King. Performances began August 10 and continue through August 28 at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Avenue (at Lancaster Road) in Madison. Tickets and subscriptions can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 973-408-5600 or going online at shakespearenj.org.
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (STNJ) continues its 54th season with what is considered to be Eugene Ionesco's crowning masterpiece, Exit the King. Performances begin August 10 and continue through August 28 at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Avenue (at Lancaster Road) in Madison. Tickets and subscriptions can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 973-408-5600or going online at shakespearenj.org.
Stratford Festival HD's 2016 film series comes to a triumphant end with the release of THE ADVENTURES OF PERICLES on Saturday, May 7 at Cineplex theatres across the country, with encore screenings on Thursday, May 12. This live recording on the 2015 Stratford Festival hit is beautifully translated to the big screen in a sweeping production involving 10 cameras and 128 tracks of sounds to create an immersive, high-definition, surround-sound production. The original 2015 production, directed by Scott Wentworth gains eternal life through this screen adaptation directed by Barry Avrich.
Prospect Theater Company presents By The Numbers, a part of the company's new IGNITE Series at The Times Center, featuring today's new voices shaping the future of musical theater. This one-night-only concert event will be tonight, June 27th at 8pm.
Prospect Theater Company has announced the cast of By The Numbers, a part of the company's new IGNITE Series at The Times Center, featuring today's new voices shaping the future of musical theater. This one-night-only concert event will be Saturday, June 27th at 8pm. The evening features the world premiere performance of 12 'micro-musicals' created in Prospect's 2015 Musical Theater Lab. Each of these original, hot-off-the-presses musical theater shorts runs under seven minutes, and has been inspired by a number -- one through twelve -- creating a song cycle collectively written over the lab's month-long time span by participating composers & lyricists.
Prospect Theater Company has announced the Ignite Series: a year-long line-up of concert events at The Times Center, featuring today's new voices shaping the future of musical theater. The Ignite Series will reflect Prospect's dedication to fostering and producing new voices, creating a high-visibility platform for work by emerging artists.
THE ADVENTURES OF PERICLES by William Shakespeare, and directed by Scott Wentworth, opened at Stratford Festival's Tom Patterson Theatre on Saturday night. Starring Evan Buliung as the title character, this production was moving and fun from beginning to end.
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