Marthe Keller News

Olivier Award-winning director Maria Aitken (39 Steps) will direct John Glover (Death of a Salesman), Marthe Keller (Judgment at Nuremberg) and Lisa Banes (Present Laughter) in a staged reading of Noel Coward's A Song at Twilight on Monday, April 16 at 7 pm at the Mainstage Theater (Playwrights Horizons). The performance, sponsored by the Noel Coward Foundation, is presented in conjunction with The Noel Coward-New York Festival 2012. A reception with the cast and director will be held following the performance. Ms. Aitken serves on the Artists Advisory Board of The Acting Company; Ms. Banes is an Alumna of the Company. Tickets @ $35 are available from 212-258-3111.

Actor Richard Easton will make his New York Philharmonic debut reciting the prologue to Bluebeard's Castle, also known as The Bard's Poem, at the start of the New York Philharmonic's performances of Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, March 18-19, 2011, at 8:00 p.m., and Tuesday, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. He replaces Marthe Keller, who has withdrawn due to illness.

Actor Richard Easton will make his New York Philharmonic debut reciting the prologue to Bluebeard's Castle, also known as The Bard's Poem, at the start of the New York Philharmonic's performances of Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, March 18-19, 2011, at 8:00 p.m., and Tuesday, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. He replaces Marthe Keller, who has withdrawn due to illness.

Hungarian Echoes: A Philharmonic Festival conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, will take place March 10-26, 2011. Program III, which will be performed Friday and Saturday, March 18-19, 2011, at 8:00 p.m., and Tuesday, March 22, at 7:30 p.m., will feature Bartok's opera, Bluebeard's Castle, starring mezzo-soprano Michelle De Young, bass Gabor Bretz - making his New York Philharmonic debut - and actress Marthe Keller, who will recite the Bard's Poem at the beginning of the work. The program opens with Ligeti's Concert Romanesc and Haydn's Symphony No. 7, Le Midi.

Classic Stage Company presents the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl's ORLANDO, adapted from the work of Virgina Woolf and directed by Rebecca Taichman. Performances begin September 8, 2010.

Classic Stage Company presents the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl's ORLANDO, adapted from the work of Virgina Woolf and directed by Rebecca Taichman. Performances begin September 8, 2010.

Classic Stage Company presents the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl's ORLANDO, adapted from the work of Virgina Woolf and directed by Rebecca Taichman. Performances begin September 8, 2010.

Classic Stage Company presents the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl's ORLANDO, adapted from the work of Virgina Woolf and directed by Rebecca Taichman. Performances begin September 8, 2010.

Verdi's La Traviata returns to the Met with Angela Gheorghiu reprising her acclaimed interpretation of Violetta, a role the New York Times called a 'supercharged star turn' when she performed it in 2006.

Verdi's La Traviata returns to the Met with Angela Gheorghiu reprising her acclaimed interpretation of Violetta, a role the New York Times called a 'supercharged star turn' when she performed it in 2006.

Franco Vassallo will sing the role of Ezio in Verdi's Attila on March 19, 22, and 27, replacing Carlos Alvarez, who is ill. Vassallo is currently appearing at the Met as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, the role of his 2005 company debut. Last season the Italian baritone was Belcore in L'Elisir d'Amore, and in 2007, audiences around the world saw him as Riccardo in The Met: Live in HD transmission of I Puritani, now available in DVD.

Verdi's Attila will have its Met premiere on February 23, conducted by Riccardo Muti and directed by Pierre Audi in their Met debuts.

Tchaikovsky's romantic masterpiece Eugene Onegin, based on the Pushkin poem, returns to the Met on Friday, January 30, with a superb international cast. American baritone Thomas Hampson returns to the role of Onegin, the haughty aristocrat who acknowledges love too late, opposite the Finnish soprano Karita Mattila making her Met role debut as Tatiana, who grows from a love-struck young girl to an aristocratic woman. Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk is her sister, Olga; Polish tenor Piotr Beczala is Lenski, Onegin's doomed friend; and Russian bass Sergei Aleksashkin is Gremin, the elderly prince who marries Tatiana. Aleksashkin will sing the first two performances and American bass James Morris, taking on the role for the first time at the Met, does the remainder of the run. Czech maestro Jiř? Bĕlohl?vek conducts all performances, through February 21. The production is by Robert Carsen, sets and costumes are by Michael Levine, Jean Kalman is the lighting designer, and the choreographer is Serge Bennathan.

Ren?e Fleming and Thomas Hampson star in the Met's first new production of Jules Massenet's richly melodic Tha?s in thirty years. The rarely performed opera opens at the Met on Monday, December 8, and runs through January 8, with the December 20 matinee transmitted live worldwide as part of The Met: Live in HD series. 'Fleming and Hampson made a heavenly match,' Chicago Sun-Times critic Wynne Delacoma wrote when this production, which comes from the Lyric Opera of Chicago, opened there in 2002.

Ren?e Fleming and Thomas Hampson star in the Met's first new production of Jules Massenet's richly melodic Tha?s in thirty years. The rarely performed opera opens at the Met on Monday, December 8, and runs through January 8, with the December 20 matinee transmitted live worldwide as part of The Met: Live in HD series. 'Fleming and Hampson made a heavenly match,' Chicago Sun-Times critic Wynne Delacoma wrote when this production, which comes from the Lyric Opera of Chicago, opened there in 2002.

Jeffrey Kuhn and Francesca Faridany will join the cast of Alfred Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS on Tuesday, October 28. Kuhn will play the role of Man #1 and Faridany will play the roles of Annabella Schmidt, Margaret and Pamela. Current cast members Jennifer Ferrin and Cliff Saunders will play their final performances on Sunday, October 26. THE 39 STEPS, the winner of two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards and the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, is playing at the Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues).

Jeffrey Kuhn and Francesca Faridany will join the cast of Alfred Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS on Tuesday, October 28. Kuhn will play the role of Man #1 and Faridany will play the roles of Annabella Schmidt, Margaret and Pamela. Current cast members Jennifer Ferrin and Cliff Saunders will play their final performances on Sunday, October 26. THE 39 STEPS, the winner of two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards and the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, is playing at the Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues).

When Erwin Schrott took on the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni last year at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, The New York Times wrote: 'The surprise was the riveting Giovanni: the seductively handsome young Uruguayan bass Erwin Schrott, who boasts a strong, dusky voice and chiseled physique. Exuding charisma, he galvanized the audience with his unabashedly narcissistic portrayal.' Now Schrott, who sang the role when the Met toured Japan in 2006, is bringing his portrayal to the Met stage for the first time beginning Saturday, September 27.

MAGGIE MAES & KIMBERLY VAUGHN will present Four Women & a Waitress, at the ArcLight Theatre, June 10-22, 2008. The two plays, Rosemary with Ginger by Edward Allen Baker & The Stronger by August Strindberg, will be directed by KARL BURY & STEPHEN WADSWORTH, respectively.

MAGGIE MAES & KIMBERLY VAUGHN will present Four Women & a Waitress, at the ArcLight Theatre, June 10-22, 2008. The two plays, Rosemary with Ginger by Edward Allen Baker & The Stronger by August Strindberg, will be directed by KARL BURY & STEPHEN WADSWORTH, respectively.