Ovation News

Beginning performances Tuesday, May 14, HANNAH CORNEAU will assume the role of Elphaba in the Broadway production of WICKED.

What is described to some as crude humor to others is the best kind of humor. I was delighted to see that the touring production of Monty Python's Spamalot was touring and would be making a stop in St. Paul at the Ordway. Adapted from the 1975 film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, this production moved to Broadway in 2005 and stars a lot of well-known names. The Broadway production was even nominated for 14 Tony awards and won three including Best Musical. The Broadway run even starred some now very big names including Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce, Christian Borle and Sara Ramirez (Greys Anatomy).

As I walked into the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City to see ROTTERDAM, the second play of Center Theatre Group's 2019 Block Party, I was drawn to a display asking audience members questions about relationship deal breakers. A few of the questions about relationship deal breakers included if one person in a couple changes into a religious zealot for beliefs you do not share or takes a job requiring a cross country move to a small town where you know no one, would that end the relationship for you. What I realized in answering the questions is that real and abiding love of who a person really is down to their soul, not their superficial appearance or belief system, is what is necessary for a relationship to survive real challenges. But what if one person in a couple decides he/she is transgender and decides to transition to the opposite sex? Is that a deal breaker, especially if you are no longer physically attracted to that person?

Music Director Jaap van Zweden will conduct the New York Philharmonic in Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 at the 28th Annual Free Memorial Day Concert, Monday, May 27, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of the performance; ticket distribution will begin at 5:00 p.m. The audio of the performance will be broadcast onto the adjacent Pulpit Green, weather permitting. The program will be presented without intermission.

Chance Theater, Anaheim's official resident theater company, presents David Hare's celebrated drama, Skylight. Written by David Hare and directed by Chance Theater's Artistic Director, Oanh Nguyen, Skylight will preview from April 19th through April 26th; with regular performances beginning April 27th and continuing through May 19th on the Cripe Stage at the Bette Aitken theater arts Center.

Tour-de-force performer Storm Large is happy to say there is nothing quote, unquote normal about her interactive, bawdy storytelling concert. She said that the audience can expect really good music, great performance, and musicianship when her show arrives at Straz Center of the Performing Arts on April 4.

Last night, Theatre Now New York (TNNY) presented its Sixth Annual Festival of 10-Minute Musicals at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center, 129 West 67th Street, New York, NY 10023. SOUND BITES 6.0 grants composers, lyricists, and librettists the unique opportunity to present their work in front of a live audience. This one-night only event, now in its sixth year, showcases 10 new musicals by up-and-coming musical theatre writing teams.

LA STAGE Alliance (LASA) has announced the departure of Interim Executive Director Marco Gomez. Gomez was both a generous donor and an excellent manager during an important transitional period in the organization's life. Gomez, a real estate developer and longtime theatre producer, also served as co-producer of this year's outstanding Ovation Awards event. His contributions to LASA have been invaluable.

The Ojai Playwrights Conference launches its 22nd season with the annual Gala Benefit, a farm-to-stable celebration at Aspen Grove Ranch, a stunning private ranch in upper Ojai. Festivities begin at 4:00 p.m. with a cocktail reception featuring fine wines from Ojai Alisal Vineyard, craft cocktails and tasty appetizers. Starting at 5 p.m., attendees gather under a big top tent to enjoy an original show produced for the Gala with songs and dramatic scene readings performed by celebrity guest artists. The evening culminates with a four-course dinner prepared by innovative chefs Nick Barainca and Michael Hollingsworth. All proceeds from the Gala support the development of new plays for the American theatre at OPC's annual Summer Conference and New Works Festival held in Ojai. 

Another world premiere by our 'playwright in residence'. Nine different plays on nine different bridges, including the two bridge plays performed on Broadway in 2017 where they received a standing ovation! Don't miss this unique and entertaining combination of comedy and heart-felt drama!

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents Inna Faliks, piano, one of the most "adventurous and passionate" (The New Yorker) artists of her generation, performing a world premiere by Richard Danielpour and works by Rodion Shchedrin, Schumann and Chopin in her Wallis debut on Sunday, May 12, 2019, 7 pm, in The Wallis' Bram Goldsmith Theater. The Ukrainian-born American pianist gives the world premiere of Iranian-American composer Danielpour's Eleven Bagatelles for Piano, Shchedrin's Basso Ostinato, Chopin's Polonaise-Fantasie, Op 61, and Schumann's Symphonic Etudes, Op 13, with posthumous variations. Faliks, Head of Piano at UCLA, performs on leading stages around the globe, garnering acclaim for her musical "poetry and panoramic vision" (The Washington Post) and "riveting passion" (The Baltimore Sun). Grammy winner Danielpour is "an outstanding composer" (New York Daily News) and one of the most recorded composers of his generation with a list of commissions from Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, Dawn Upshaw, Emanuel Ax, the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Guarneri and Emerson string quartets, among many others. Like Faliks, he also teaches at UCLA, as Co-Area Head, Composition.

Ovation TV, America's only arts network, has announced the world premiere date of the new season of Inside the Actors Studio. The network, committed to presenting an exciting and diverse lineup of talent to discuss the craft of acting, is proud to bring back this award-winning master class series to its dedicated fans as well as to a new generation of viewers. Inside the Actors Studio will premiere on Sunday, October 13 at 10pm ET / 7pm PT.

Skylight Theatre Company (Producing Artistic Director, Gary Grossman and Co-Artistic Director Tony Abatemarco) announced today the world premiere of BRONCO BILLY - THE MUSICAL, It marks the organization's first world premiere musical production. The new musical, based on the Warner Bros. film Bronco Billy, features a book by Dennis Hackin, lyrics and music by Chip Rosenbloom and John Torres, with additional lyrics by Michele Brourman. Hunter Bird will direct. Preview performances begin on May 10, with the official press opening on Saturday, May 18, 2019. The limited engagement plays through June 30 at the Skylight Theatre, located at 1816 ½ North Vermont in Los Feliz, Ca. Tickets are now on sale now at http://www.SkylightTix.com.

Thriller Live, the West End concert spectacular, is extending its record-breaking run to April 2020.

Ammunition Theatre Company has announced the world premiere production of Brain Problems, a new comedy by Malcolm Barrett directed by Bernardo Cubria. Opening is set for Friday, April 26, at 8pm, at The Pico in West Los Angeles. The engagement will continue through May 19 only.

The Drama League has announced the twelve stage directors who have been selected as the 2019 Directing Fellows of The Drama League Directors Project: NJ Agwuna, Sharifa Elkady, Raz Golden, Chika Ike, Rebecca Marzalek-Kelly, Ismael Lara, Jr., Amanda McRaven, Lindsey Hope Pearlman, Ben Randle, Tai Thompson, Gabriel Torres, and Sophia Watt. They will be publicly introduced to the professional theatre community during the 85th Annual Drama League Awards, which will be held on Friday, May 17, 2019 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square (1535 Broadway). More information can be found at www.dramaleague.org

I've never felt quite so transported into the realities of a convent or the freshness of a mountain or the sadness of a man who has lost his wife and is too aggrieved to notice his children. This is quite discombobulating (in the best possible way) considering I've grown up with the movie, appeared in the musical twice and directed it. The singing is sensational. Under the guise of Musical Director Andrew Christie assisted by Vocal Coach Kerry Ackerman the harmonies are on point and the light and shade most definitely in all the right places. Accolades to the orchestra who supported the performers so ably. Michael Potts (Captain von Trapp) has a voice that is almost too big for the senses. He worked it to perfection bringing us near the point of 'overwhelm' then subtly pulling back. Potts took the feelings evoked by the music to new heights. I could literally smell the edelweiss and those top notes - wow. He is a gifted being.

Anna Perry's energetic and period-perfect choreography - along with impressive performances from a cadre of university students destined for Broadway stardom - ensures that Belmont University Musical Theatre's Thoroughly Modern Millie is a complete and utter delight, featuring a memorable score wrapped up in a rather daft but engaging storyline that earns every bit of the resounding applause in a standing ovation that comes at show's end.

New Rochelle Opera will honor Metropolitan Opera Chorus Master Donald Palumbo and Metropolitan Opera Assistant Conductor Gregory Buchalter at its Annual Spring Gala on Thursday, May 2, 2019. The event will take place at VIP Country Club, 600 Davenport Avenue, New Rochelle, NY at 6:30 pm. The fundraiser ushers in the Company's 34th season of bringing high-quality, affordable opera to Westchester County.

Acclaimed playwright Sarah Ruhl began her career as an avid consumer of other people's works. A church in Chicago was the unlikely venue of her first encounter with 'Angels in America,' where she gushed about Tony Kushner's work for its 'seriousness, endurance, political engagement, and language.'