Paul Smith News

BET Networks announced its upcoming programming schedule for BET and Centric at its annual Upfront presentation.

Three Cat Productions presents the world premiere production of the CHICAGO IS! A HOMETOWN MUSICAL REVIEW at the Chicago Park District's Berger Park Coach House Theater at 6205 N. Sheridan Road (Edgewater by Granville el stop on Red Line).

The Costume Institute's spring 2015 exhibition, China: Through the Looking Glass, will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 7 through August 16, 2015 (preceded on May 4 by The Costume Institute Benefit). Presented in the Museum's Chinese Galleries and Anna Wintour Costume Center, the exhibition will explore the impact of Chinese aesthetics on Western fashion and how China has fueled the fashionable imagination for centuries. In this collaboration between The Costume Institute and the Department of Asian Art, high fashion will be juxtaposed with Chinese costumes, paintings, porcelains, and other art, including films, to reveal enchanting reflections of Chinese imagery.

The Costume Institute's spring 2015 exhibition, China: Through the Looking Glass, will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 7 through August 16, 2015 (preceded on May 4 by The Costume Institute Benefit). Presented in the Museum's Chinese Galleries and Anna Wintour Costume Center, the exhibition will explore the impact of Chinese aesthetics on Western fashion and how China has fueled the fashionable imagination for centuries. In this collaboration between The Costume Institute and the Department of Asian Art, high fashion will be juxtaposed with Chinese costumes, paintings, porcelains, and other art, including films, to reveal enchanting reflections of Chinese imagery.

Coach, Inc., a leading New York design house of modern luxury accessories and lifestyle collections, and InterparfumsSA (Euronext: ITP), the creator of prestige perfumes and cosmetics, announced that they have entered into an 11-year exclusive worldwide fragrance license agreement. Under the agreement, Interparfums will create, produce and distribute new perfumes and fragrance-related products, including new men's and women's scents. Interparfums will distribute these fragrances globally to department and specialty stores and duty free shops, as well as in Coach retail stores beginning fall 2016.

Highly coveted Paris-based fashion brand Isabel Marant and Asia's leading retail, brand management and distribution company ImagineX Group announced the establishment of an exclusive strategic partnership to position the Isabel Marant brands for growth across Greater China. Together they will develop Isabel Marant brand as well as its second line, Isabel Marant Etoile, to reach a dozen of points of sale over the next five years.

Act II Playhouse's production of UNNECESSARY FARCE by Paul Smith Slade is boisterous, funny, chaotic and a wonderfully done farce. According to a press release from Act II Playhouse, this show has 'Two Cops. Three Crooks. Eight Doors. One Killer in a Kilt.' Without giving too much away, this show is about an undercover cop and a rookie cop who are prepared to take down a corrupt mayor, but just like in any good farce, everything that can go wrong does go wrong. UNNECESSARY FARCE at Act II Playhouse is a delightfully amusing show that will have audiences laughing throughout the show.

Hollywood takes center stage this weekend with the 87th annual Academy Awards, but this year's Oscars have a decidedly Broadway vibe to them. Not only will the star-studded event be hosted by Tony and Emmy-winner Neil Patrick Harris, but theatre and movie-musical producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan are back at the helm for the third straight year.

Are you struggling to fill out the top categories in your offic Oscar pool? Well, have no fear, BroadwayWorld is here to help. We have assembled a panel of experts to help narrow things down for you.

Hollywood takes center stage this weekend with the 87th annual Academy Awards, but this year's Oscars have a decidedly Broadway vibe to them. Not only will the star-studded event be hosted by Tony and Emmy-winner Neil Patrick Harris, but theatre and movie-musical producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan are back at the helm for the third straight year.

The Costume Institute's spring 2015 exhibition, China: Through the Looking Glass, will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 7 through August 16, 2015 (preceded on May 4 by The Costume Institute Benefit). Presented in the Museum's Chinese Galleries and Anna Wintour Costume Center, the exhibition will explore how China has fueled the fashionable imagination for centuries, resulting in highly creative distortions of cultural realities and mythologies. In this collaboration between The Costume Institute and the Department of Asian Art, high fashion will be juxtaposed with Chinese costumes, paintings, porcelains, and other art, as well as films, to reveal enchanting reflections of Chinese imagery.

On Tuesday, February 3 at 7:30 pm, the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series at the Folger Shakespeare Library continues its 46th season with a reading by two voices from the world of British poetry and theatre—Simon Armitage and Peter Oswald. The post-reading conversation will be moderated by Paul Smith, Director of the British Council, USA. Tickets for this event are $15 and can be purchased at the Folger Box Office at 202.544.7077 or by visiting www.folger.edu/poetry.

The world premiere production of Scarlet Sisters Everleigh, now playing at the Berger Park Coach House through November 29, explores the scandalous lives of the Everleigh Sisters, the famous madams from the legendary southside Chicago brothel, the Everleigh Club. Through the use of four-part harmony, Gary Gimmestad, composer and arranger, has incorporated music from the time period to help tell the story of Chicago's Levee District.

DENGUE FEVER, whose exotic blend of Cambodian rock, Afro grooves, surf, and garage psych confirmed today the first round of North American tour dates in 2015 with all tickets on sale Friday.

Three Cat Productions has announced its second full season, three world premieres of new works by Chicago playwrights, produced in partnership with the Chicago Park District's Berger Park Cultural Center at 6205 N. Sheridan Road.

LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater's production of brownsville song (b-side for tray), a new play by Kimber Lee, directed byPatricia McGregor, opened on October 20 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65 Street). This New York premiere, which features Sheldon Best, Sun Mee Chomet, Lizan Mitchell, Chris Myers and Taliyah Whitaker, is playing a limited engagement through Sunday, November 16. Scroll down for photos from the opening night festivities!

Bloomingdale's new Stanford store in Palo Alto, CA, opened on Oct. 10, 2014. This location will anchor the Stanford Shopping Center at the northeast side of the mall as part of a multi-phase renovation of the shopping center.

This year, evian and French fashion house KENZO collaborated to design the 2015 evian Limited Edition bottle. KENZO's Creative Directors, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, have united with evian to convey their graphic, intimate vision for this one-of-a-kind creation unveiled at Paris Fashion Week and available in the U.S. beginning November 2014.

According to the New York Times,Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation chairwoman Joan H. Weill will step down from her current position tomorrow, October 2. She told NYT: "The institutions you support are like your children. You have to know when to step back and let them be independent of you. I look forward to seeing Ailey continue to do great things. I will still be the one applauding loudest."

New York's longest running and most horrifying haunted house, NIGHTMARE, will take on the legendary horror stories and urban legends of NYC's history in this 11th season edition - NIGHTMARE: NEW YORK. Producers Timothy Haskell (Creator of Nightmare) and Steve Kopelman, (producer of Rob Zombie's Great American Nightmare') have announced. NIGHTMARE: NEW YORK will run today, September 26th through November 1st, 2014 at The Clemente, 107 Suffolk Street between Rivington and Delancey on Manhattan's lower east side.