Annie, the Broadway musical by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan, is something of a community theater warhorse - a show that is sure to bring in throngs of theater-goers despite the oftentimes scornful dismay of the theaterati - along the same lines as Steel Magnolias, Grease and, well, you catch my drift. There's nothing epoch-shattering, paradigm-shifting or cutting edge about Annie (or any of the other shows of its ilk), but in a Nashville theater season during which we've seen laudable revivals of those other two shows, it only seems logical that a new production of Annie could be equally as entertaining and a welcome diversion.
Gingold Theatrical Group's 13th Season of Project Shaw, a special series of evenings offering some of Shaw's greatest works and those of his contemporaries, presented monthly at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy, continued on June 18th with Buoyant Billions, one of Shaw's wittiest and least known plays.
After the success of last year's huge sell-out theatre tour, Collabro will be back on the road in 2019 with a mammoth 51 date tour across the UK finishing at London's Royal Albert Hall. The musical theatre group's COLLABRO ROAD TO THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL TOUR will see the group perform at a variety of intimate theatres including Wolverhampton Grand Theatre on Tuesday 16 April - just four days before the Royal Albert Hall performance.
n 1998 when Jason Robert Brown won a Tony Award for the score of this unusually provocative musical Parade, the opulent Broadway production closed to critical acclaim, but due to excessive costs, the show remained inaccessible until the Donmar Warehouse resurrected it and produced a tight - minus the frills - mounting at the Mark Taper Forum in 2009. 3-D Theatricals, who are becoming increasingly known for their superlative skill with producing big musicals, have decided to put back many of the frills of the original and double the cast to its original size - 36, in order to enhance and give the musical the big, full-voiced chorus sound it deserves. And, in my mind, this bigger hybrid version surpasses the Taper's for its grande musical elegance and the presence of a perfectly cast lead actor in the role of Leo Frank, Jeff Skowron.
If the rousing and prolonged applause and immediate standing ovation is any indication, this show is going to wow local audiences all throughout the summer.
The 1950s was a period of racial stress in much of the south. Lynchings, school segregation, separate lunch counters and drinking fountains, blacks to the back of the bus, laws against black and white mixing. Even separate black and white radio stations was the custom, as were black and white musical styles. Patty Page, Perry Como and 'nice music' was the white style. Rock and Roll was for blacks.
Summer unofficially began with the Hollywood Bowl ushering in its 2018 season during its Opening Night Concert featuring Diana Ross, Saturday, June 16, at 8 pm. The living legend with an impressive career spanning nearly six decades performed a unique set featuring her favorite and most memorable songs accompanied by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (HBO), led by Principal Conductor Thomas Wilkins.
Good Night Theatre Collective kicked off Pride weekend in Sioux Falls with their last cabaret show of season 2, PRIDE: The Love Cabaret. Thursday's sold out show featured songs written or performed by LGBTQ artists.
California Shakespeare Theater continues its 44th Season with the West Coast Premiere of Everybody, a sparkling new riff on the 15th-century morality play The Summoning of Everyman by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, whom the New York Times calls "one of this country's most original and illuminating writers.' A finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, Everybody is Cal Shakes' second official offering under the New Classics Initiative (NCI), exploring what it means to be a classical theater in the 21st century, and to allow living writers to expand our classical canon. Directed by Nataki Garrett making her Cal Shakes debut, Everybody plays July 18 - August 5 at the Bruns Amphitheater in Orinda. Low-priced previews take place July 18-20; Opening Night is July 21. Tickets (ranging from $20?$92) are available through the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666 or by visiting www.calshakes.org. Ticket prices are subject to change without notice.
Something has refreshed the Hong Kong Cultural Centre since early this month when Hong Kong Ballet's season finale, WHEELDON, RATMANSKY, MCINTYRE & THE BEATLES, a showcase of three short pieces by arguably the best contemporary ballet choreographers at this day and age, was presented on the Grand Theatre stage.
Sandra Dickinson has had a long and diverse career, spanning stage and screen. An American who has lived in the UK for over four decades, she was recently seen in Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One and as Lucille Ball in I Loved Lucy at the Arts Theatre.
She is currently starring opposite Jonathan Chambers in the European premiere of The Unbuilt City at the King's Head Theatre.
One of my firm beliefs is that dance is one of the most elegant and poignant forms of storytelling, and the creatives behind 4Seasons have re-affirmed that tenfold. If you'd like a night of an exquisite blend of physical theatre and dance, this is a must see.
"It is required you do awake your faith." In one of Shakespeare's last plays, The Winter's Tale tells the story of a King who banishes his family wrongfully, and is taught the meaning of forgiveness through the inspired plan of a wise, loyal woman. Shakespeare by the Sea's 21st Season continues with this epic and magical story, opening June 21 and directed by Ovation Award-winner Stephanie A. Coltrin.
Music teacher Shelley Beard Santore, of Lansdowne, PA, the Suzuki Academy Department Head and Master Faculty member at The Music School of Delaware, had many supporters in the audience when she was named as the grand prize winner in the Fifth Annual Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO) Ovation Award in a surprise presentation. It took place in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center on Sunday, June 10, 2018 at 3 p.m. during the 78th Annual Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Festival Concert. The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra's Ovation Award for Inspiration and Outstanding Leadership in Music Education has been honoring excellence in music instruction since its inaugural year in 2014.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Greenhouse Theater Center's Jacob Harvey will be exiting his position as the company's artistic director as the decision has been made to eliminate the role.
An unforgettable love story inspired by one of the most romantic movies of all time. Stephen Sachs directs Deaf actors Deanne Bray (Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, Heroes) and Troy Kotsur (title role in Cyrano at the Fountain, Big River on Broadway) in Sachs' newest play, inspired by the screenplay for Noel Coward's Brief Encounter. The world premiere of Arrival & Departure will open on July 14 and continue through September 30 at the Fountain Theatre. The cast also features hearing actors Jessica Jade Andres, Adam Burch,Brian Robert Burns, Shon Fuller, Kyra Kotsur, Aurelia Myersand Stasha Surdyke.
BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature A CHORUS LINE, BEAUTIFUL, and More!
