Today, May 18, legendary American opera soprano Lauren Flanigan, known for creating memorable contemporary opera roles, stars in 'Lauren Flanigan's 4th Annual 50th Birthday Bash,' presented by American Opera Projects and Music and Mentoring House. The evening is a marathon concert of fifty-four (54) rarely-heard songs performed by Flanigan and friends. Harlem's historic Italian bistro Ristorante Settepani, 196 Lenox Ave. at 120th St., will serve a special menu of Lauren's favorite appetizers and entrees. Tickets are $54 ($39 tax-deductible) and must be purchased in advance at http://flaniganis50again.eventbrite.com or at www.operaprojects.org. Proceeds go towards American Opera Projects' Composers & the Voice program that commissions, develops, and presents contemporary opera.
New York City Opera News
Varla Jean Merman aka Jeffery Roberson plays the title role in Menotti's THE MEDIUM at The Art House directed by Donna Drake. Produced by Provincetown Counter Productions in association with Mark Cortale this production runs from tonight, May 18th - June 3rd. Elizabeth Hastings who has conducted for both New York City Opera and College Light Opera on Cape Cod will music direct. The cast also includes Stefanie Izzo as Monica, Edmund Bagnell as Toby, Shannon Carson as Mrs. Gobineau, Peter Kendall Clark as Mr. Gobineau and Maria Elena Armijo as Mrs. Nolan. This production is slated to transfer to the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre in NY for a limited engagement in the fall. For Art House tickets please visit www.ptownarthouse.com or call 508-487-9222.
As previously reported, Julian Ovenden will star in a new musical version of the film Finding Neverland, which starred Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet and followed the the story of J.M. Barrie's inspiration for his famous children's book, Peter Pan.
New York City Opera celebrates the company's 2011-12 season with New York's civic leaders tonight, May 16, with its Spring Gala: An Evening with Deborah Voigt. The event takes place at the historic Loeb Central Park Boathouse in Manhattan and feature cocktails and gondola rides on the lake, as well as a formal dinner and dancing to the Jazz Age sounds of the Grammy Award-winning Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks.
For its seventh season Boston Midsummer Opera (BMO) presents the comic piece, Donizetti's Don Pasquale, playing at the Tsai Performance Center at Boston University for three performances only, July 25, 27, and 29. Obie Award winner/Tony Award nominee Austin Pendleton directs the fully staged and costumed production. Music director and nationally acclaimed conductor Susan Davenny Wyner leads the performances, which will be performed with orchestra and sung in English. Metropolitan Opera bass Ricardo Lugo will sing the role of Don Pasquale.
Tony Award nominee and Broadway veteran, Barbara Walsh, will bring Terrence McNally's Master Class back to its birthplace when she portrays legendary opera diva, Maria Callas, in a production of the play at Alpine Theatre Project (ATP) in Whitefish, Montana June 15 -24. The Tony Award winning play was originally developed at "The Gathering" playwriting conference in nearby Bigfork, MT in the early 1990's. ATP's production will be the first professional production of the play in the area. It will be directed by David Ackroyd.
Following her current run in Sondheim's 'Follies' in Los Angeles Elaine Paige will return to the UK and prepare for a tour 'down under' which kicks off in Hamilton, New Zealand on 14th October, Christchurch on 16th and then travels across to Australia for Perth on 20th, ending in Brisbane on 30th.
Actress/singer Elaine Paige, having originated Evita, Chess, Piaf and Anything Goes in London, is unquestionably the queen of the West End, and with a Drama Desk nomination securely in place for her Broadway performance in the new Kennedy Center production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, which opened at the Ahmanson May 9, Paige is fast becoming a theatrical sensation in the US as well. In our chat, she says what she thinks about Stephen Sondheim, Follies, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Barbara Cook, her favorite career highlights including her leading men, as well as her popular radio talk show for the BBC entitled Elaine Paige on Sunday.
Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd previously announced the cast and creative team for the Alley Theatre's new production of Theresa Rebeck's WHAT WE'RE UP AGAINST, part of the Alley Theatre's New Play Initiative. WHAT WE'RE UP AGAINST runs on the Alley Theatre's Neuhaus Stage tonight, May 11 through June 12, 2012.
Boston Baroque, America's first period-instrument orchestra, has announced its 2012-2013 concert season, running from October 19, 2012 to April 20, 2013. Music Director Martin Pearlman will conduct five programs of two performances each, taking place at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston or at Sanders Theatre at Harvard University in Cambridge. Highlights of the season will include a rarely-performed Handel comic opera, Partenope; Haydn's "Lord Nelson" Mass, which is slated to be recorded for later release on CD; Handel's Messiah at the holidays; and concerts that feature members of the orchestra and chorus in small ensemble and solo roles.
Polaris Productions, a non-profit children's theatre group will present the classic 1960 Tony Award winning musical Bye Bye Birdie starting tonight, May 10th at Hudson Guild Theatre. LeCee Galmiche Johnson directs a talented cast of young actors ages 4 through 20. Christopher Cooley is Musical Director. See photos of the cast below!
The Broadway at Birdland concert series presents "Here Goes Nothing," an evening of songs by Drama Desk-nominated lyricist Jack Lechner, on Monday, June 25 at 7pm. Guest performers will include Jill Abramovitz, Desmond Dutcher, Jeannine Frumess, Jose Llana, Lucas Steele, and Karen Ziemba. The music director will be Boko Suzuki.
Paola Prestini's multimedia opera Oceanic Verses is described as :the most ambitious undertaking of her career to date, and the one that best reveals her sensibility. With her collaborators-including the film artist Ali Hossaini, the librettist Donna Di Novelli and the directorKevin Newbury-Prestini has expanded the work from a 35-minute oratorio to an evening-length opera commissioned by VisionIntoArt and produced by her frequent cohort, Beth Morrison Projects in association with Washington Chorus and Trinity Wall Street.'
Peter Dinklage (GAME OF THRONES) emceed a sold-out benefit for The Play Company on Monday, April 30 at the American Airlines Theatre in Manhattan. Among those who attended CABARET GOURMET 2012 were Dinklage's wife Erica Schmidt, who directed Play Co's Obie Award-winning production of Jonas Khemiri's play INVASION!, along with producer Ruth Hendel (FELA!), The Play Company's Founding Producer Kate Loewald and Executive Producer Lauren Weigel. Lauren Worsham (CANDIDE, WHERE'S CHARLEY?) performed. See photos of Dinklage, Schmidt, Lauren Worsham, Ruth Hendel and Andrew Gerle at the event below!
Two-time Golden Globe® winner, Academy Award® & Tony Award® nominee Kathleen Turner returns to Toronto in the National Tour of Matthew Lombardo's play HIGH, tonight, May 8 through May 13, 2012, at The Royal Alexandra Theatre. Directed by Rob Ruggiero, HIGH also features Evan Jonigkeit as "Cody Randall" and Timothy Altmeyer as "Father Michael Delpapp".
On Friday, May 18, legendary American opera soprano Lauren Flanigan, known for creating memorable contemporary opera roles, stars in 'Lauren Flanigan's 4th Annual 50th Birthday Bash,' presented by American Opera Projects and Music and Mentoring House. The evening is a marathon concert of fifty-four (54) rarely-heard songs performed by Flanigan and friends. Harlem's historic Italian bistro Ristorante Settepani, 196 Lenox Ave. at 120th St., will serve a special menu of Lauren's favorite appetizers and entrees. Tickets are $54 ($39 tax-deductible) and must be purchased in advance at http://flaniganis50again.eventbrite.com or at www.operaprojects.org. Proceeds go towards American Opera Projects' Composers & the Voice program that commissions, develops, and presents contemporary opera.
Christopher Feigum will sing the role of Jaroslav Prus in tomorrow's (May 5) matinee performance of Jananek's The Makropulos Case, replacing Johan Reuter, who is ill.
For the first time on the West Coast, audiences will have the opportunity to see Ainadamar fully staged in its acclaimed revised version. Long Beach Opera (LBO) presents Argentine composer Oswaldo Golijov and librettist David Henry Hwang's powerful Grammy Award-winning opera on May 20 and May 26, 2012 at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, CA. Based on the life of famous writer Federico Garcia Lorca and his murder by Fascists during the Spanish Civil War, Ainadamar celebrates Lorca's fight for artistic, political and personal freedom.
The Metropolitan Opera's Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi conducts tonight's May 2 performance of Verdi's LA TRAVIATA.
Christopher Feigum will make his Met debut as Jaroslav Prus in this evening's performance of Janacek's The Makropulos Case, replacing Johan Reuter, who is ill.
