New York City Opera News

Cinematic Opera/Operatic Cinema: Reflections on the Merging of Media, a collaboration between New York City Opera and the Film Society of Lincoln Center that is part of City Opera's Opera Matters program, will be concluded on January 25th with screening of Moses and Aaron.

Parsons Dance presents the World Premiere of REMEMBER ME, a collaboration with the lead vocalists of East Village Opera Company (EVOC), featuring the music of the acclaimed rock opera band. Program A premieres the new evening-length work with EVOC's two lead vocalists live onstage with Parsons Dance. Program B will feature Parsons Dance favorites: the jazzy Fill the Woods with Light, Swing Shift, Ebben, My Sweet Lord, Shining Star, and the stroboscopic Caught.

Theater veterans Mark Lamos and Michael Ross have been named artistic director and managing director, respectively, of Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Connecticut, as the historic theater enters its 79th season. The new leadership team will assume their positions on February 1, 2009.

PARSONS DANCE presents a World Premiere collaboration with the lead vocalists and music of the Grammy Award-nominated EAST VILLAGE OPERA COMPANY The Joyce Theater, January 6 - 18, 2009. Tuesday, January 6th at 7:30pm (Program B) Wednesday, January 7th at 7:30pm (Program B) Thursday, January 8th at 8pm (Program A) Friday, January 9th at 8pm (Program A)

Parsons Dance presents the World Premiere of an all-new, as-yet-untitled collaboration with the lead vocalists of East Village Opera Company (EVOC), featuring the music of the acclaimed rock opera band. Program A premieres the new evening-length work with EVOC's two lead vocalists live onstage with Parsons Dance. Program B will feature Parsons Dance favorites, including Caught and Nascimento.

The YORK THEATRE COMPANY (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) and Melanie Herman, who produced The Musical Of Musicals (The Musical!), announce the final performances of the Off-Broadway Premiere of My Vaudeville Man!, a new musical based on the life of legendary eccentric tap star Jack Donahue. My Vaudeville Man! had its world premiere at last year's NY Musical Theatre Festival under the title Mud Donahue and Son.

PARSONS DANCE presents a World Premiere collaboration with the lead vocalists and music of the Grammy Award-nominated EAST VILLAGE OPERA COMPANY The Joyce Theater, January 6 - 18, 2009. Tuesday, January 6th at 7:30pm (Program B) Wednesday, January 7th at 7:30pm (Program B) Thursday, January 8th at 8pm (Program A) Friday, January 9th at 8pm (Program A)

The YORK THEATRE COMPANY (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) and Melanie Herman, who produced The Musical Of Musicals (The Musical!), are proud to announce that the Off-Broadway Premiere of My Vaudeville Man!, a new musical based on The Life of legendary eccentric tap star Jack Donahue, will be recorded on January 2nd for release this Spring.

The producers of Garden of Earthly Delights have announced that the show has extended its run through Sunday, March 1 at the Minetta Lane Theatre (18 Minetta Lane).

Richard Kind ('The Tale of the Allergist's Wife' on Broadway) and Michelle Pawk (Tony winner, 'Hollywood Arms') will head the cast of Jeffrey Sweet's play Flyovers, set to receive its New York premiere Off-Broadway beginning previews January 29, 2009 prior to its official press opening night February 2 at the 78th Street Theatre Lab (236 West 78th Street) in Manhattan. Directed by Sandy Shinner, Flyovers is presented in New York by Artistic New Directions, Jeff Landsman and 78th Street Theatre Lab, where Mr. Sweet's acclaimed play Bluff was produced in 2006.

Visionary director Martha Clarke brings Hieronymus Bosch's provocative painting to life in Garden of Earthly Delights, exploring heaven, hell, and the beauty and sins amid, began performances Saturday, November 8 at Off-Broadway's Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane.

In honor of Black History Month, City Opera co-presents a three-part series, Black History at New York City Opera, with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The first program, 'I'm on My Way': Black History at City Opera on Wednesday, January 28, 2009, commemorates the rich African-American contributions to City Opera's heritage and the great African-American works and artists who have graced City Opera's stage. Continuing with 'One Fine Day': A Tribute to Camilla Williams on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 and 'Troubled Island': 60th Anniversary Celebration on Tuesday, March 31, 2009, the programs feature discussion, live performance, special guests, historic slides and audio and video clips. All three events take place at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, located at 15 Malcolm X Boulevard in New York City.

Bristol Riverside Theatre concludes its Bridges Informance Series with Donald Byrd's renowned Spectrum Dance Theatre on Friday, January 9. Byrd recently choreographed Broadway's Tony-nominated hit The Color Purple, and he is the collaborator and co-director for BRT's upcoming World Premiere of What You Will.

In February of 2009, in honor of the bicentennial of Joseph Haydn's death, Gotham Chamber Opera will present the New York City stage premiere of L'isola disabitata (Desert Island) in a new production staged by Mark Morris at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College.

Bass-Baritone David Pittsinger has assumed the role of Emile de Becque in Lincoln Center Theater's Tony Award winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater for a limited time. He has stepped in for the production's current Emile de Becque, Tony Winning baritone Paulo Szot, who had to leave the musical to honor two previously scheduled opera commitments.

Producer Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group and co-producers Tulchin/Bartner/Jenkins, Bill Kenwright, Northwater Entertainment, Darren Bagert, and Tom Gregory announced the complete cast and design team for the new Broadway production of the greatest musical comedy GUYS AND DOLLS. The first joint Broadway project by two-time Tony Award winning director Des McAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo since their collaboration on the Tony Award winning musical Jersey Boys, GUYS AND DOLLS will begin previews on February 3, 2009 at Broadway's newly refurbished Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street). Opening Night is March 1, 2009.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is proud to announce John Goodman (Pozzo) and David Strathairn (Lucky) will join Bill Irwin (Vladimir) and Nathan Lane (Estragon) in a new Broadway production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett and directed by Tony? award winner Anthony Page.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning Six Degrees of Separation, by John Guare (The House of Blue Leaves, Landscape of the Body), directed by Trip Cullman, to run in the Old Globe Theatre January 10 - February 15 (press opening: Thursday, January 15 at 8pm). Broadway veteran Karen Ziemba, who will play 'Ouisa,' won the Tony for the musical Contact and was nominated for her work in Steel Pier, Never Gonna Dance and Curtains!.

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) will honor Tony? Award-winner George S. Irving with the 17th Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre Monday, December 8th.

The Zipper Factory (336 West 37th Street) is pleased to present trailblazing diva Lea DeLaria in concert on Monday, December 8, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. In a very special Christmas show, DeLaria fronts with her swinging quintet under the musical direction of the eminent pianist and composer Janette Mason, performing a scintillating repertoire of witty festive favorites, classic torch songs, up-tempo jazz standards and soulful ballads. Her special guest for the evening is Sandra Bernhard.