Actor-Singer-Director, Eric Michael Gillett, has joined the cast of Michael Colby and Paul Katz's Slay It With Music In Concert a?" to benefit International Rescue Committee. The original musical, acclaimed in both London and off-Broadway, is an ode to Grande Dame Guignol, the genre of 1960s horror movies in which stars like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford made screen comebacks, in the tradition of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Sunset Boulevard, and Psycho. It's a perfect way to cap off Halloween weekend, promising laughs, thrills and chills. The show is Saturday, November 2nd at 7 pm at The Green Room 42, on the 4th Floor of YOTEL at 42nd Street and 10th Avenue. The concert version features an all-star cast, directed by Charles Repole with musical direction by Phil Reno. Tickets range between $22.50 and $62.50, and are available now online at: https://tinyurl.com/yyyo4vhn. There is no minimum required at GR42.
Acclaimed lighting designer Clifton Taylor has won a prestigious Knight of Illumination Award in the United Kingdom (KOI-UK). Taylor, whose work has been commissioned on Broadway, off-Broadway, regionally, and in 17 countries outside the United States, won for his design of 'Four Quartets,' based on the poem by T.S. Eliot, which was remounted at the Barbican Theatre in London.
If you can imagine Rossini's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA with all its comedy but without any of its great arias, you can begin to imagine why Sergei Prokofiev's LOVE FOR THREE ORANGES isn't only anyone's top-ten list of favorite operas. Yet Alessandro Talevi's wild-eyed production at Opera Philadelphia's O19 Festival somehow manages to make the audience laugh itself silly and tap its foot with glee at the famous march that was such a big hit in the composer's time, that he grew sick of it.
Come experience Verdi's heartbreaking masterpiece, a?oeLa traviata,a?? the opera that moved Julia Roberts' character to tears in a?oePretty Woman.a?? Utah Opera's newly refurbished and ever-popular production features scenic elements designed by Peter Dean Beck and costumes by Susan Memmott Allred. Garnett Bruce will direct the production, and Steven White will conduct the cast, Utah Opera Chorus, and Utah Symphony. Utah Opera's performances of a?oeLa traviataa?? will take place in the newly renovated Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre on October 12 at 7:30 PM, October 14 and 16 at 7 PM, October 18 at 7:30 PM and October 20 at 2 PM. This production will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. Tickets priced $29-106 are available for purchase through utahopera.org or by calling (801) 533-6683. Students are eligible to receive a 50 percent discount off the standard ticket price during Monday and Wednesday performances.
Lyric Opera of Kansas City today announced a rare opportunity to see a master at work when world-renowned soprano Carol Vaness teaches a Master Class with the Lyric Opera Resident and Apprentice Artists on Sat., Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. in Lyric Opera's Michael and Ginger Frost Production Arts Building (712 E. 18th St., Kansas City, MO 64108). Currently a vocal instructor at Indiana University and Aspen Music Festival, Vaness will lead each singer through a selected aria, stopping and correcting as needed, to help hone the singer's vocal technique and dramatic interpretation. A brief reception will follow the vocal work session.
Francesca Campagna has been named General Director of the Center for Contemporary Opera, effective immediately. As a globally renowned artistic manager and consultant to cultural institutions, she has built a formidable reputation for her deep knowledge of opera, and her ability to extend the reach of preeminent artists and institutions to new audiences. It is this rare combination that made her the CCO Board's choice.
This Fall marks the culmination of the 36th season of the Verdi Chorus, who will present their Fall Concert, Sound and Fury, for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 16 and 17. Led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, the Verdi Chorus is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. This program, which Ketchum says includes a?oesome of the most powerful moments from some of the greatest operatic works,a?? will feature selections from two Verdi operas a?" Otello and Il trovatore; two Puccini operas a?" Turandot and Tosca; as well as sequences from Lehár's The Merry Widow.
BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that opera and theatre performer Rosemary Kuhlmann has died at age 97. Kuhlmann was known for being one of the first performers to bring opera to television.
Tony Award & Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan will return to Broadway with the second of his two exhilarating dramas celebrating Lyndon B. Johnson's legacy: THE GREAT SOCIETY. Get to know the cast below as they begin Broadway performances!
A celebration of New York City Opera's 75th Anniversary, which will also be the finale to Bryant Park Picnic Performances, presented by Bank of America, will feature NYCO chorus and soloists Lisa Chavez, Glen Seven Allen, Mark Rucker, Brandie Sutton, Won Whi Choi, Kristin Sampson, Christopher Job, Jessica Fishenfeld, Inna Dukach, and Megan Picerno, accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra, and narrated by Michael Capasso, General Director of the company. The performances will be led by a quartet of conductors: Carolyn Kuan, James Meena, Gil Rose, and James Lowe.
Works & Process at the Guggenheim is pleased to announce its fall 2019 season. Since 1984 the performing arts series has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to leading creators.
The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team of the riveting West Coast premiere of Noura by Heather Raffo (the award-winning 9 Parts of Desire, the opera Fallujah), a graduate of The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Loosely inspired by Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Noura received the prestigious Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Original New Play and the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award. Directed by Johanna McKeon (Off Broadway's I Have Loved Strangers and Tokio Confidential), Noura begins performances September 20, 2019 and runs through October 20 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run September 20a?"25. Opening night is Thursday, September 26 at 8:00 p.m. Single tickets on sale now, starting at $30.00, and can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE [234-5623], or at the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.
Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents The National Ballet of Canada: Orpheus Alive by Robert Binet and Missy Mazzoli, moderated by Wendy Whelan on Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 3pm.
Since his appointment as General Director the end of the 2018 season, Robert Meya has provided the utmost in forward-looking executive leadership and strategic direction for Santa Fe Opera. Only the fourth General Director in the company's 62-year history, Meya succeeds Charles MacKay who followed General Director Richard Gaddes and Company Founder John Crosby. I spoke with Robert Meya at Santa Fe Opera.
Producers Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Group announced today three principal cast changes for Broadway's blockbuster phenomenon, Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, directed by theater legend, the late Harold Prince.
Lincoln Center Theater, under the direction of André Bishop, has announced it will produce a new musical during its 2019-2020 season. FLYING OVER SUNSET, with a book and direction by James Lapine, music by Tom Kitt, and lyrics by Michael Korie, will feature choreography by Michelle Dorrance, and will begin previews March 12, 2020 and open on Thursday, April 16, 2020 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street). Carmen Cusack, Harry Hadden-Paton and Tony Yazbeck will head the cast with additional casting to be announced at a later date.
New York City Opera (NYCO), under the direction of Michael Capasso, General Director, has announced that it will celebrate its 75th Anniversary with a free concert in Bryant Park on Monday, September 9 at 6pm. The anniversary concert, which will be the finale to Bryant Park Picnic Performances presented by Bank of America, will feature soloists Michael Chioldi, Lisa Chavez, Glen Seven Allen, Mark Rucker, Brandie Sutton, Won Whi Choi, Kristin Sampson, Mark Delavan, Inna Dukach, and Megan Picerno, backed by a 30-member chorus, accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra led by a quartet of conductors: Carolyn Kuan, James Meena, Gil Rose, and James Lowe. The celebratory concert will be narrated by Mr. Capasso.
Word for Word and Z Space stage an atmospheric production of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's legendary Rime of the Ancient Mariner with press nights of Friday and Saturday September 20 & 21 at 8pm running through October 12 (Previews Sept 11-19).
Following an extensive national search, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival (HPAF) has named Shayna Leahy, current Director of Production, the festival's new Artistic Administrator, effective August 26, 2019.
