McDonald News

Investec Opera Holland Park (OHP) marked one year since the tragic Grenfell fire with the Hope for Grenfell Memorial Gala on Wednesday, 13 June. The concert was given in memory of Debbie Lamprell, a much-loved member of OHP's staff who was lost in the disaster, and all the fire's victims. All proceeds will be donated to the Rugby Portobello Trust (RPT) and the final total is still being calculated, but it is hoped to exceed £100k.

Toronto's Festival of Beer, presented by the Beer Store will kick-off their legendary summer festival on Thursday, July 26 with Broken Social Scene and The Rural Alberta Advantage. Both Toronto based bands will perform to a crowd of music fans and beer lovers on the OLG Bandshell Stage. The festival runs from July 26 to 29 in the heart of downtown Toronto at Bandshell Park, Exhibition Place. INDIE88 is the official media partner of TFOB 2018 opening night. 

The Drama League has announced that film, television, and theater icon Nathan Lane is the Honoree for the organization's 35th Annual Benefit Gala: A Musical Celebration of Broadway.

The Colorado New Play Festival (CNPF) (Artistic Director Andrew Leynse) (formerly the Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival) is proud to announce full casting for all five play readings for the 2018 season. The 21st Annual Festival, to be held on June 10-16, 2018 in Steamboat Springs, CO, will develop five new works in partnership with the Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alley Theatre, Curious Theatre Company, Primary Stages, and Victory Gardens Theater.

Beloved as one of the world's most popular dance companies, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for a seven-performance engagement at the David H. Koch Theater June 13 - 17, 2018.  Led by Artistic Director Robert Battle as it reaches six decades, the Company's repertory for the season features works by eight choreographers - including a world premiere by Jessica Lang - across three programs. Alvin Ailey's must-see masterpiece Revelations is the uplifting finale of each performance.

The Orchestra of St. Luke's, one of America's most versatile and distinguished orchestras, returns to its summer home at Caramoor to perform three diverse programs ranging from Baroque to Broadway show tunes.

Producer Mark Cortale has announced that his internationally acclaimed concert series will bring two of Broadway's leading ladies to Nantucket, Massachusetts' Dreamland Theater this summer with Broadway @ Dreamland. Christine Ebersole, a two-time Tony Award winner for "Grey Gardens" and "42nd Street" and star of Oscar-winning films such as "Amadeus" and "Tootsie," will perform on Monday, July 23 at 7:30 PM. Megan Hilty, breakout star of NBC TV's "Smash" and Broadway's "Wicked" and a Tony nominee for the recent Broadway production of "Noises Off", will join the series on Wednesday, August 8 at 7:30 PM. Seth Rudetsky, the Sirius XM radio star who the New York Times called "The Mayor of Broadway," joins both performances as pianist and host. The format of the concert will be a seamless mix of intimate behind-the-scenes stories prompted by Rudetsky's insightful, funny and revealing questions - and the music from the stars' stellar Broadway careers

Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter and five-time Grammy Award winner Michael McDonald is on tour throughout North America this summer. Confirmed dates include two nights at Los Angeles' Hollywood Bowl with Kenny Loggins and Christopher Cross as well as performances at New York's South Street Seaport, Washington, DC's Filene Center at Wolf Trap with Peter Cetera, St. Louis' Loufest, the Cityfolk Festival inOttawa and more. See below for a list of dates.

Tanglewood's season-long Bernstein centennial celebration-one of the most comprehensive looks at Bernstein's amazing impact on the worlds of music and theater taking place in the anniversary year-will culminate in a gala concert on Bernstein's actual 100th birthday, August 25. Reflecting the season-long theme, The Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood concert will spotlight Bernstein's wide-ranging talents as a composer, his many gifts as a great interpreter and champion of other composers, his role as an inspirer of a new generation of musicians and music lovers across the country and around the globe, and his presence as a driving musical force at Tanglewood, 1940-1990.

A celebrated comedian is hitting the road once again as he prepares to entertain fans with a compendium of hilarious tales and musical jokes.

If you can't get enough of operas, symphonic concerts and a few musical theatre pieces thrown in for good measure, have I got a summer for you! Start in New York City and head north--almost around the corner, or a weekend (or more) away--and you'll find more than enough to keep you happy during the sultry weather ahead. (Even if it doesn't turn out quite so sultry…) It covers the gamut from Handel to Puccini, from serial podcasts to light opera, from dramma serio to musical comedy, with an added emphasis on Leonard Bernstein as the music world celebrates his 100th birthday.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed you if you would have told me that on a Thursday night I would be sitting in a theatre watching twenty-one years' worth of rugby league games on stage and that I'd be enjoying it. And I loved every bit of it. The show rendered me speechless; my eyes were glued to the action on stage. Eighty-five minutes went by in a minute and I was left wanting more. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me reflect on the world around me, on humanity, on my family, on my dreams. Did I mention that it was only eighty-five minutes?

Can Mark Schand prove his innocence? TV One's EVIDENCE OF INNOCENCE spotlights the unbelievable true stories of four people who experienced the life-altering nightmare of being sentenced to prison for something they didn't do. On Monday, June 11 at 10/9c, Mark Schand shares his terrifying journey of receiving a life sentence for a murder he didn't commit with Attorney Benjamin Crump.

Culture Warrington is going out of this world this weekend as it celebrates the town's cultural offering with two fantastic events.

According to Variety, Lee Daniels is in talks to direct the Billie Holiday biopic “Billie.” Sources also add that R&B singer Andra Day is the top choice for the title role and Lakeith Stanfield for the male role, though nothing is yet finalized.

Just last night, The Women of Achievement Awards Gala celebrated truly outstanding women who have taken risks, pushed limits, and broken ground in a wide variety of fields. This year honored leaders committed to advancing women's narratives and to sharing women's voices on stage, in film and on television: eleven-time Tony Award winning producer Daryl Roth (Kinky Boots, Indecent) and Goldman Sachs Treasurer Beth Hammack.

The Battle of the Bulge - the struggle to be that perfect weight - a topic women around the world know only too well - comes to toe-tapping, hysterical life in this 90-minute musical tale, set in Cook's Women's Gym. 

There is another fantastic month ahead with the finest selection of music and entertainment on offer at St Helens Theatre Royal this June.

New Adventures has announced the tour dates for the much-anticipated return of Matthew Bourne's 'CINDERELLA'. The tour opened on Saturday 9 December 2017 at Sadler's Wells, with dates at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh, Today 5 June Saturday 9 June 2018. Press night is set for Today 5 June 2018.