Michael Blake News

The Stratford Festival kicks off its 67th season on Monday with the gala opening of Shakespeare's Othello, followed by five more openings as the week unfolds: Billy Elliot the Musical, Henry VIII, Private Lives, Little Shop of Horrorsand The Merry Wives of Windsor. Artistic

Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino brings Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor close to home with a joyous production set in a small town not unlike Stratford, Ontario, in 1953, the year the Festival began.

Director Nigel Shawn Williams brings Shakespeare's Othello firmly into the here and now with a gripping contemporary production that will officially open the Stratford Festival's 2019 season on Monday, May 27. Previews begin today at the Festival Theatre.

New York Live Arts (Live Arts) to present the New York premiere of Netta Yerushalmy's Paramodernities, March 14-17, 2019, having commissioned the work as part of the Live Feed Residency Program. The complete six-part encyclopedic series is a multidisciplinary work that weaves theory and performance into a four-hour-long hybrid event. Yerushalmy and a cast of 20 dancers and scholars, ranging in age from 20 to 68, perform deconstructed installments of Nijinsky's “Sacre” (1913), Graham's “Night Journey” (1947), Ailey's “Revelations” (1960), a mix of Cunningham works “Rainforest,” “Sounddance”, “Points in Space”, “Beach Birds”,  and “Ocean” (1968-1990), dance numbers from the 1969 Fosse's film “Sweet Charity”, and a response to Balanchine's “Agon” (1957) that includes none of the original choreography.

New York Live Arts (Live Arts) to present the New York premiere of Netta Yerushalmy's Paramodernities, March 14-17, 2019, having commissioned the work as part of the Live Feed Residency Program. The complete six-part encyclopedic series is a multidisciplinary work that weaves theory and performance into a four-hour-long hybrid event.

Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has announced key casting for the 2019 season, including Michael Blake as Othello and Amelia Sargisson as Desdemona in the season opener, Othello, one of Shakespeare's greatest and best-known tragedies.

It is rare these days that I take my seat in a theatre to watch a play that I know almost nothing about. I was almost embarrassed to admit that fact about Eduardo De Filippo's NAPOLI MILIONARIA! Which is currently being performed in repertory at the Stratford Festival's Avon Theatre. Granted, the original was in Italian and this production, directed by the Festival's Artistic Director, Antoni Cimolino, is the world premiere of the new translation by John Murrell (from a literal translation by Donato Santeramo). It was still not until I was reading the program liner notes that I knew more about this production than the brief synopsis offered on the Stratford Festival website. To my delight, I think this only enriched my experience as an audience member. The universality in a story that was written about a very specific time and place is nothing short of beautiful, and the performances have left me thinking about the play long after the final curtain.

Napoli Milionaria!, Eduardo De Filippo's comic masterpiece, begins previews today, marking its first Stratford presentation. Directed by Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino, the production opens on August 17 at the Avon Theatre.

Over the years, I have had a variety of different thoughts as I walked out of a theatre at the Stratford Festival having just watched a Shakespearean production. I often reflect on how the show made me feel, or the incredible performances I just witnessed, or the creative ways the director made the production his or her own. All of those thoughts certainly crept into my mind in the hours following the opening performance of CORIOLANUS, but Friday night was the first time that I exited the theatre after seeing one of Shakespeare's works where the very first thought that crossed my mind was 'That. Was. Cool.' The second thought that crossed my mind was 'Had the Tom Patterson Theatre been available, would this production have been at the Avon?' If the answer is 'no', then thank goodness for construction because the Avon Theatre is exactly where this production needed to be and Robert Lepage is exactly the person who needed to direct it. Again…That. Was. Cool.

As the house lights went down in Stratford's Festival Theatre on June 10th and it became clear that director Antoni Cimolino's production of THE TEMPEST was about to begin, there were loud cheers of excitement and, quite frankly, relief from the audience-many of whom had been at the theatre for what was supposed to be Opening Night of the Festival just weeks earlier. All eyes were on the 44-season Festival veteran Martha Henry, who was already on stage. The anticipation among audience members was palpable. Everyone seemed excited that she finally had this moment that had been rudely taken away from her by a bomb threat on May 28th. And then, as is the case with all good theatre…those thoughts and emotions were swept away, as the audience became immersed in the story happening before the

Robert Lepage makes a thrilling Stratford Festival debut with Shakespeare's Coriolanus, featuring Andre Sills in the title role. Created in collaboration with Ex Machina, the production begins previews this Saturday, June 9, at the Avon Theatre, and runs until October 20, marking its official opening on June 22.

TEDxAsburyPark "Passion," one of the largest and highest-rated TEDx conferences on the east coast, is set to take the stage at the legendary Paramount Theatre on Saturday, May 19th.

Martha Henry stars as Prospero in Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino's production of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Previews are now underway at the Festival Theatre and the production opens the 2018 season on Monday, May 28.

Robert Lepage will make his Stratford debut directing Coriolanus, featuring Andre Sills in the title role. A veteran of the Birmingham Conservatory and four seasons at Stratford, Mr. Sills has been at the Shaw Festival most recently, with leading roles in 'Master Harold'... and the Boys and An Octoroon. The production will also feature Graham Abbey as Tullus Aufidius, Michael Blake as Cominuis, Tom McCamus as Menenius Agrippa, Stephen Ouimette as Junius Brutus, Lucy Peacock as Volumnia and Tom Rooney as Sicinius Velutus.

Celebrate Shakespeare with an engaging evening of conversation and live dramatic presentations with ROM and the Stratford Festival. 

TEDxAsburyPark, one of the largest and highest-rated TEDx conference on the East Coast, today announced the first dozen speakers who will speak at the Saturday, May 19th "Passion" event held at the Paramount Theatre on the Asbury Park Boardwalk. Speakers, who will perform for an audience of 1500, will include a supermodel-turned-feminist advocate, leading dancers and choreographers, explorers, business leaders, an LGBTQ pioneer, a "comic book man," and more.

It's a busy weekend coming up here at In The Lights, ! Check out what's happening on the west side this weekend, from the stage of Aaron Davis Hall with the new EMD, now under the direction of Tiffany Rea-Fisher, to an informative evening with the Actors Fund at Steps On Broadway.

One of the freshest sounding bands to emerge on the jazz scene in this or any decade, Spin Cycle follows up its critically acclaimed eponymous debut from 2016 with the release on April 6 of 'Assorted Colors' (Sound Footing Records). The new recording, coming after two years of intensive touring that further refined their distinctive take on jazz, sustains the praise bestowed by DownBeat's Ed Enright in his rave review of their first album that hailed the band as 'a cohesive unit that commands an exceptional stylistic range and exhibits a go-for-broke attitude.'

Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino just announced key casting for the 2018 season of the Stratford Festival, including Seana McKenna as Julius Caesar, Andr Sills as Coriolanus, and Daren A. Herbert as Harold Hill, the 'Music Man.'