Ravinia Festival News

In honor of Margaret Wise Brown's 100th Birthday, The InterSchool Orchestra of New York (ISO) (www.isorch.org) in association with GPR Records (Glen Roven, Peter Fitzgerald, Richard Cohen, artistic directors) have announced a live concert based on Brown's two best selling children's books Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny.

Stowe Arts Academy University Preparatory has selected Ravinia Festival President and CEO Welz Kauffman to receive its prestigious 'Voices of Freedom' Award. The prize goes to an individual whose work stands out in providing creative and educational outlets that empower students to build a better world. Kauffman was chosen by Stowe's local School Council to receive the prize for developing Ravinia Festival's REACH*TEACH*PLAY educational programs.

In honor of Margaret Wise Brown's 100th Birthday, The InterSchool Orchestra of New York (ISO) (www.isorch.org) in association with GPR Records (Glen Roven, Peter Fitzgerald, Richard Cohen, artistic directors) have announced a live concert based on Brown's two best selling children's books Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny.

Timothy Nolen (Phantom, Cyrano), Lisa Vroman (Phantom, Les Misérables), and Rob Berman (Broadway, regional, and Encores! Music Director) have been named judges for the 2010 Lotte Lenya Competition, an annual international competition that recognizes talented young singer-actors, aged 19-32, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of repertoire.

Writers' Theatre Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announce that A Minister's Wife, Writers' Theatre's musical adapted from George Bernard Shaw's Candida, will be produced by Lincoln Center Theater in the 2010-11 season. The original musical was conceived and directed by Michael Halberstam, adapted by Austin Pendleton with music by Joshua Schmidt and lyrics by Jan Tranen. The Lincoln Center production will be directed by Halberstam. Performances begin on Thursday, April 7, 2011 and opens on Thursday, May 5, 2011 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street, New York City).

As previously announced, this year's Ravinia Festival includes a new production of the musical Annie Get Your Gun; a gala concert celebrating Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday and featuring highlights from Ravinia's Sondheim productions; Ravinia Music Director James Conlon's 60th birthday celebration taking the Chicago Symphony Orchestra into the Martin Theatre for two Mozart operas, featuring mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade in Così fan tutte and baritone Nathan Gunn in The Marriage of Figaro; Leonard Bernstein's Vocal Suite from Candide; Broadway vocalist Kelli O'Hara and pianist Hershey Felder in intimate solo shows in the Martin Theatre; world premieres with Concert Dance, Inc. and the debut of Delfos Danza Contemporánea; the presentation of Ballet Folklorico de Mexico; and a national radio broadcast of Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion. Today, the Ravinia organization revealed that George Hearn has been added to the cast of Annie Get Your Gun as Buffalo Bill Cody, joining Patti LuPone as Annie Oakley and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Frank Butler. Paul Gemignani will conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the show's three performances, Aug. 13-15. Hearn and LuPone also reunite with Michael Cerveris, Audra McDonald and the CSO for an all-Sondheim gala concert on July 31.

Appearing together again after their Tony Award® winning performances in Evita, Patti LuPone joins Mandy Patinkin onstage for An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin. These Broadway legends will bring their critically acclaimed theatre concert to the Joe R. and Theresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts for one performance only on Thursday, March 25th, 2010 at 8 p.m.

Christoph Eschenbach will conduct the New York Philharmonic in a program of music by German and Austrian composers from three centuries: the U.S. Premiere of Matthias Pintscher's towards Osiris, Berg's Violin Concerto with Pinchas Zukerman as soloist, and Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1, arranged by Schoenberg, Thursday, March 18, 2010, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 19, at 2:00 p.m., and Saturday, March 20, at 8:00 p.m.

Christoph Eschenbach will conduct the New York Philharmonic in a program of music by German and Austrian composers from three centuries: the U.S. Premiere of Matthias Pintscher's towards Osiris, Berg's Violin Concerto with Pinchas Zukerman as soloist, and Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1, arranged by Schoenberg, Thursday, March 18, 2010, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 19, at 2:00 p.m., and Saturday, March 20, at 8:00 p.m.

Christoph Eschenbach will conduct the New York Philharmonic in a program of music by German and Austrian composers from three centuries: the U.S. Premiere of Matthias Pintscher's towards Osiris, Berg's Violin Concerto with Pinchas Zukerman as soloist, and Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1, arranged by Schoenberg, Thursday, March 18, 2010, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 19, at 2:00 p.m., and Saturday, March 20, at 8:00 p.m.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Liza Minnelli, 'Billy Elliot,' 'Ragtime,' Christine Ebersole, 'God Of Carnage,' 'It Takes A Village,' more.....

Timothy Nolen (Phantom, Cyrano), Lisa Vroman (Phantom, Les Misérables), and Rob Berman (Broadway, regional, and Encores! Music Director) have been named judges for the 2010 Lotte Lenya Competition, an annual international competition that recognizes talented young singer-actors, aged 19-32, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of repertoire.

On Friday, April 16 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot, stars from Lincoln Center's award-winning revival of South Pacific join The New York Pops, under the baton of Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke, for The Best of Lerner and Loewe-a tribute to one of Broadway's greatest creative teams: lyricist/librettist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org) present a special non-subscription program, The Sweetest Path, on Tuesday, March 16 at 8 PM at Kaufman Center's Merkin Concert Hall.

The New York Philharmonic will present SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert on March 15 and Tuesday, March 16, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. This celebration of the 80th birthday of the great Broadway and film composer/lyricist will include his most enduring orchestral music and songs - performed, in some cases, by the stars of the original Broadway cast productions - in addition to rarely-heard material. Joining the celebration will be (in alphabetical order) Michael Cerveris, Victoria Clark, Jason Danieley, Nathan Gunn, George Hearn, Patti LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, and others to be announced, including surprise guests. Paul Gemignani, Mr. Sondheim's longtime collaborator, will conduct the New York Philharmonic; Lonny Price is the director; and Mr. Price and Matt Cowart are the producers.

See two of opera's brightest stars on Sunday, March 14 in the intimate Lund Auditorium. Chicago fan-favorites, baritone, Nathan Gunn and soprano, Elizabeth Futral come together for a very special event supporting student scholarships at Dominican University. The program ranges from opera to musical theatre to songs by Tom Waits. Among the highlights is a selection from André Previn's Brief Encounter in which Gunn and Futral premiered the lead roles at Houston Grand Opera.

In support of The Music Theatre Company, Highland Park's epicenter for professional music theatre, Anthropologie, for the first time, will open its doors on Sunday, March 14th from 6:00 - 10:00 p.m., for what promises to be a unique fundraising extravaganza.

The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University (ATRU) and Ravinia Festival proudly co-present the internationally acclaimed Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández.

The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University (ATRU) and Ravinia Festival proudly co-present the internationally acclaimed Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández.

Beloved playwright A.R. Gurney, a Connecticut resident and author of the plays The Cocktail Hour, The Dining Room and Love Letters, returns to Long Wharf Theatre with his hit comedy Sylvia.