Matt Smith News

As part of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of 'Star Trek: The Original Series,' Salt Lake Comic Con is transporting one of the top stars of the groundbreaking show, Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, to Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience 2016. Actor, activist and social media star George Takei is a great addition to a long list of celebrity guests scheduled to appear at FanX 2016.

“Into the woods, you have to grope, but that's the way you learn to cope. Into the woods to find there's hope of getting through the journey.”  Yep, Liza certainly put those lyrics to the test this week… as she finds out how “worth it” her journey with Josh really is during a weekend away from the city — and pretty much all luxuries and technology. :-P Meanwhile, Diana and Hugh Shirley hit in a bump in the road just as their relationship begins to take off. Intrigued? Want to read more? Well, who's stopping you? Read on…. 

It is predicted that robots will surpass human intelligence within the next fifty years. The ever increasing speed of advances in technology and neuroscience, coupled with the creation of super computers and enhanced body parts and artificial limbs, is paving the way for a merger of both human and machine.

29 Jan – 17 Apr 2016 Free 5 display cases, Grand Gallery, Level 1 Renowned artist in LEGO® bricks, Warren Elsmore and his team display some of their most beautiful and intricate mini-buildings and models in our Grand Gallery. To add to the set, they will also be on-site, building a special three metre model of our very own museum. But don't let them have all the fun. Join us for some hands-on LEGO® brick activities from February till April. Get creative in the Builders' Yard, help us make a special sculpture of one of our most-loved museum objects, or build your own masterpiece. BUILD IT! is part of the Festival of Architecture 2016, which will celebrate Scotland's fantastic built environment, as a key part of the 2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Designcelebrations. #IAD2016

February 16, 2016 – Richmond, Virginia Music Director Steven Smith and Executive Director David Fisk announced the 2016-17 season of the Richmond Symphony (RSO). The season features great works of music that tell stories about the world in which we live and fantastic guest artists that represent the best in world-class soloists. As a special collaboration with the Carole and Marcus Weinstein Jewish Community Center, the Symphony will open its season with the legendary Itzhak Perlman – an artist that transcends music of all genres and people of all backgrounds.

Lexington, KY—University Press of Kentucky author and economic historian Zhaohui Hong has been honored with the 2015 Academic Excellence Award from the Chinese Historians in the United States (CHUS) for his new book, The Price of China's Economic Development: Power, Capital and the Poverty of Rights. Hong, the director of theCenter for Global Studies at Purdue University Calumet and the co-director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society, published the book as part of the Asia in the New Millennium series which is edited by Shiping Hua, the Calvin and Helen Lang Distinguished Chair in Asian Studies at the University of Louisville.

Opera Philadelphia's 2016-2017 Season serves notice that the company is, as the Washington Post reports, “the very model of a modern opera company.” As General Director & President David B. Devan and Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris announced today, the 2016-2017 Season takes a bold first step towards the company's new “binge-watching” format, packing three productions into an 11-day period in fall 2016 while offering two additional operas in spring 2017. Devan describes the slate as an “exciting warm up” to fall 2017, when the company will begin launching each annual season with a 12-day festival featuring seven operatic happenings across multiple venues.

Sarasota, FL – Sarasota Opera's 2016 Winter Opera Festival season, a landmark in the company's 57 year history, will mark the final year of the Verdi Cycle, a 28-season initiative to perform the complete works of Giuseppe Verdi. The season will culminate in a Verdi Festival Week March 15 – 20 which will include performances of Verdi's Aida and The Battle of Legnano, two concerts of Verdi's music, a retrospective exhibit on the Verdi Cycle, an International Verdi Conference, and many more commemorative events. At the conclusion of the Verdi Cycle, Sarasota Opera will be theonly company in the world to have performed every work of Giuseppe Verdi.   

The Leader by Eugene Ionesco is a satire on mass adulation of political leaders. A group of people are waiting...the announcer, diligently awaits the Leader and excitedly lauds his most mundane actions. The Leader finally arrives and he is not what they expect him to be. Through the use of character The Leader highlights the absurdist and existential themes of non-personalization and loss of identity.

Jenkintown, PA—Metropolitan Ballet Company (MBC) announces that tickets are now on sale for its annual performance, Variations/Collaborations: An Evening of Music and Dance, presented with Settlement Music School at 7:00 pm on Saturday, March 12, 2016 at Kurtz Center of the William Penn Charter School, 3000 West School House Lane, Philadelphia. Tickets are $15 in advance at www.metropolitanballetcompany.org or $20 at the door.

Australia - February 16, 2016 - Cirque du Soleil is delighted to announce the return of its trademark blue-and- yellow big top to Australia with an all-new production, KOOZA. A sparkling, colourful homage to the traditions of circus, KOOZA will open in Sydney on Thursday, August 25 2016 and then tour to Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.

February 2016: Opera Australia's touring program will present the opera version of Hansel and Gretel to NSW schools, launching at Marrickville West Primary School on Friday 19 February, 2016.

Wizard World, Inc. (OTCBB:WIZD) today announced that for the first time, David Tennant and Matt Smith, the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors in the long-running science fiction series “Doctor Who,” will appear at a public event together when they attend Wizard World NYC—The Doctors

Together for the first time and ready to take the roof off! Stand by for the stand-up comedy event of the year as Double Sony Award winner and star of Mock The Week GARY DELANEY, top comedy trickster and star of BBC 1's The Magicians PETE FIRMAN, Chortle Comedy Award winner Kiwi JARRED CHRISTMAS and comedy legend SEAN HUGHES embark on a 36-date UK tour from April 12 to May 21, 2016.

KANSAS CITY, MO (Feb. 15, 2016) — Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director Devon Carney today announced the 2016-2017 season. The 59th season will open with the full length, lighthearted Shakespearian frolic, A Midsummer Night's Dream, choreography by Bruce Wells with music by Felix Mendelssohn.

The Met Opera invites you to Gay Night at La Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci. Opera's indomitable double bill returns in Sir David McVicar's searing production from the 2014–15 season. Tenor Yonghoon Lee and mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana star in Cavalleria Rusticana, the tragedy of ancient codes and illicit love, Sicilian style. In Pagliacci (the second half of the pair of verismo potboilers), tenor Roberto Alagna is the murderous clown Canio and soprano Barbara Frittoli is his philandering wife. Use code MENEVENTCAV and get orchestra balance seats for only $99* (reg $115) plus a Gay Reception during the first intermission at the Grand Tier Bar (near the windows overlooking the fountain). Just bring your ticket to TheMenEvent representative at the party to get your drink ticket valid for a free glass of sparkling wine.

The Vermont Symphony Orchestra continues its season with two concerts and a pair of Ludwigs. The first performance will be held at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington on March 19, 8:00 pm. This concert represents the fourth in a series of five finalizing on April 30. The second, will be held at the Paramount Theatre in Rutland on March 20, 3:00 pm.

song cycle composed and sung by Lemper, set to words by Coelho from his 2012 novel Manuscript Found in Accra, the thematic content of which may be encapsulated in the lines, “After lying undiscovered for over 700 years, a manuscript holding the answers to questions about life and humanity is unearthed. / Simple questions about our lives torn between happiness and sorrow and defined by hope, intelligence and desire to love as much as the capacity to hate and destroy.” Coelho himself is featured on two tracks—see below for track list. In celebration, Lemper will perform the piece in its entirety in a fully staged production at Symphony Space in New York City on May 13, tickets and information here.

The bravery, beauty and passion that made Eva Peron an inspiration throughout Argentina combines with the genius of musical theatre giants, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, resulting in a sublime blockbuster certain to sweep you away. Filled with soaring ballads, seductive paso dobles and elegant melodies, this Tony® Award Winner for Best Musical will draw you into a tale of a woman driven by ambition, love and power while masking a fragility few ever saw. Prepare to have your breath taken away when this iconic and unforgettable story fills the theatre floor to ceiling, front to back.

Defunkt Theatre presents BLASTED by Sarah Kane, directed by Paul Angelo, running February 12-March 19 2016 at The Back Door Theater.