McDonald News

Luke Evans is set to release his debut album 'At Last' featuring covers of Les Misérables, Cher, and more! The album will be released out November 22.

Curiouser and Curiouser...Long Island City Artists (licartists.org) in association with Greg Schaffert will present the site-specific musical PAINTED ALICE: The Musical at The Plaxall Gallery in Long Island City (5-25 46th Ave, LIC). PAINTED ALICE will begin performances on October 6.

The Broadway Artists Connection (BAC) presents the 2019 Cabaret Benefit for the Matsiko World Orphan Choir hosted by Broadway's Bronson Norris Murphy (PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) on Monday, October 28th at 7:00pm (doors open at 6:00pm).

In her recent show at the beautiful Noorda Center for the Performing Arts on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, McDonald was absolutely captivating.

Shakespeare & Company's acclaimed Fall Festival of Shakespeare is back, bringing together over 500 middle and high school students to explore Shakespeare, creativity, and teamwork.

The family of international opera star Jessye Norman announces today through the family spokesperson, Gwendolyn Quinn, the Homegoing Service, and the weeklong services and celebrations. The funeral is set for Saturday, October 12, 2019, at the William B. Bell Auditorium, 712 Telfair Street, Augusta, GA, doors open and seating begins at 12:00 p.m. (there will be a private interment). The four-day, weeklong events start on Thursday, October 10, and runs through Sunday, October 13, 2019, in Augusta, GA. (see full schedule below). In November 2019, there will be a celebration of life event, scheduled in New York City.

Music legend Patti LaBelle comes to the Peace Center on Saturday, April 18, 2020, at 8 p.m.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre announced today that two shows which received their world premiere productions at Spencer Theatre are going on to new life on the East Coast. New York's Second Stage Theater announced this week that Between the Lines, which premiered in 2017 at KCRep in association with Daryl Roth Productions, will be produced Off-Broadway. Performances begin April 21, 2020, and it officially opens in May 2020. Between the Lines is based on The New York Times Best-Seller Book by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer with Book by Timothy Allen McDonald and Music & Lyrics by Elyssa Samsel & Kate Anderson.

Albert Cano Smit, age 22, is a student at Juilliard where he studies with Robert McDonald.  Since winning the Naumburg piano award in 2017 he has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in the U.S., Europe and Asia.  He has been hailed by CBC Music for his 'dazzling technique and emotional dexterity.' 

Atlantic for Kids presents The Big One-Oh!, a world premiere musical

Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) celebrates the holiday season bringing traditional and new holiday music to Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Concerts feature composers Joseph Martin and Heather Sorenson, Grammy Award winner Eric Whitacre, Mark Hayes and Pepper Choplin, and Maestro Jonathan Griffith. Tickets start at $20. For tickets and information, visit DCINY.

Theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI) has acquired the new musical The Big One-Oh! for its Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) and Broadway Junior libraries of titles. Based on the novel of the same name by Oscar-winning screenwriter, songwriter and novelist Dean Pitchford (Fame, Footloose), The Big One-Oh! is a triumphant new musical about a boy who decides to throw himself the a?oebest birthday party in the history of the worlda?? to celebrate the monumental occasion of turning ten.

Emmy Award winner Debbie Allen and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in association with The Annenberg Foundation presents its award-winning family spectacular 'Hot Chocolate Nutcracker' starring Raven Symone (Disney's Raven's Home) at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center December 5 (7:30pm), December 6 (7:30pm), December 7 (1pm and 6pm) and December 8 (2pm).

Steven Dietz's Dracula stars Keith Contreras-McDonald (Dracula) and Sarah Kimberley Becker (Mina). Commissioned for A Contemporary Theatre (ACT), Steven Dietz's Dracula makes its regional premiere at ZACH this October before it premieres at ACT this fall. In Dracula, Dietz gives us a new look at this love story through Mina's perspective, looking at Bram Stoker's work with a female-focused 21st Century lens. Dracula plays The Topfer at ZACH, September 25–November 3, 2019, under the direction of playwright Steven Dietz.

The College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) at George Mason University held its 14th ARTS by George!benefit Saturday, September 28, 2019. The philanthropic event headlined by Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award winner Audra McDonald raised support for student scholarships in visual arts, dance, music, theater, computer game design, film, arts management, as well as for the Mason Community Arts Academy, the Green Machine Ensembles, and the Great Performances at Mason series. Information about the event is available at https://cvpa.gmu.edu/arts-by-george.

Today the New York Comedy Festival (NYCF) announced the addition of more than 100 shows to the 2019 week-long laugh fest. The festival, which runs from November 4th-10th, will be taking place at some of New York City's most iconic venues, including the Beacon Theatre, Carnegie Hall, Carolines on Broadway, Madison Square Garden, Town Hall, and the Tribeca Performing Arts Center among others.

The Educational Theatre Foundation (ETF) will honor award-winning actress Bernadette Peters at the non-profit's annual 'Thespians Go Hollywood' benefit, which raises awareness and funds for theatre programs in underserved schools across the country. 

I'm a complete sucker for a good horror story so I was very excited to review DRACULA. When I learned it was a slightly different take on the original I was concerned that it might be hard to follow or too long/too short, until I saw the name Steven Dietz. An outstanding playwright, Dietz's latest incarnation of the classic Dracula character is, well, outstanding.

Go Comedy! is proud to welcome Kids In The Hall alumnus Kevin McDonald back to the Ferndale theatre for two performances and a sketch comedy writing workshop October 5&6. Details and tickets for all Go Comedy! programs are available online at www.gocomedy.net.  A complete September - October Go Comedy! performance schedule follows this release. 

In 1964, three Black women from Mississippi ran for Congress and turned the American political establishment on its head. That's the story behind Devine Hamer Gray, a powerful new musical premiered in a staged reading by composer/playwright Nolan Williams, Jr., September 25 in Washington, DC, co-presented by NEWorks Productions and the March on Washington Film Festival. The musical tells the story of these heroic women-Annie Devine, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Victoria Jackson Gray-and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party they helped to found.