McDonald News

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.' 

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.

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.

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.

Steele Spring Stage Rights has acquired the theatrical performance rights to the original Off-Broadway musical comedy R.R.R.E.D., with music and lyrics by Katie Thompson and a book by Adam Jackman, Katie Thompson, and Patrick Livingston.

The Warner Theatre will welcome comedian JIM BREUER to the Main Stage on October 12 at 8 pm.

Life In Colour, made by Bristol-based Humble Bee Films and Sydney-based SeaLight Pictures, will explore the many ways animals use colour throughout their lives. Colour plays a vital role in the daily interactions of many species, but the colour we can see tells only part of the story. Using new cameras built specifically for this series, Life In Colour will reveal a world of colour normally invisible to human eyes.

YELLOW SOUND LABEL has announced that Jukebox Saloon Vol. 2, featuring Chicago-based vocalist Colby Beserra and New York keyboard whiz Dan Lipton, is available in digital and streaming formats starting today, Friday, September 27. Beserra and Lipton bring their strong musicality and love of a good song to the Jukebox Saloon. Inspired by the classic Tony Bennett/Bill Evans duo records, a pair of pros strips down and re-engineers their favorite songs with a sense of musical adventure. They create unique, jazzed-out interpretations of songs you know and songs they'd like you to hear. Jukebox Saloon Vol. 2 is available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music and other music services.

Icons of the Los Angeles underground The Growlers drop their dreamy new track 'Pulp of Youth' today, the fourth single from their much-anticipated upcoming LP Natural Affair, due October 25 on the band's very own Beach Goth Records & Tapes. Hot off the European leg of their massive 2019 Tour - which included a stand-out set at the Green Man Festival in the UK - the band's winning new fans worldwide with their 80s-infused take on that all-American sound of raw, rumbling garage rock. Previous singles 'Try Hard Fool,' 'Foghorn Town,' and 'Natural Affair' quickly went into heavy rotation on SiriusXMU, snagging positions on LA's KCRW Top 10 and LA's KCSN Top 5 plus Spotify's New Music Friday and Ultimate Indie playlists, not to mention the band's overall performance across platforms, with 200 million Spotify plays, 1.5 million monthly listeners, and 75 million YouTube streams.

The internationally acclaimed Broadway concert series, hosted and music-directed by Sirius XM Radio star Seth Rudetsky, will return to NOCCA's Lupin Hall for its eighth consecutive year.