Sage News

Following the success of his North American tour this fall, Live Nation has announced that Sting's Back to Bass Tour will extend to Europe early next year as he celebrates the 25th anniversary of his solo career by taking it back to bass...all of the hits, stripped down, as they haven't been played in years.

Starving Artist Studios, a new performing arts training facility in Central Florida, brings Tony-Award winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown to Orlando for a Concert and Master Class.

The battle of the bands is on as Nickelodeon premieres its brand-new live-action comedy series, How to Rock (http://www.nick.com/shows/how-torock) on Saturday, Feb. 4 with back-to-back episodes airing at 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT). The series, featuring original music performed by Cymphonique Miller (http://www.nick.com/celebrity/cymphonique-miller.html), centers on Kacey Simon, a talented teenager who takes her rhythmic pop band to new heights as their lead singer, while navigating the shark-infested social waters of high school.

Bay Street Players will present the Tony Award winning musical, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE from February 3rd through February 26th.

Colorado-based acoustic quintet Elephant Revival is about to embark on a spring tour including several notable festival appearances. But first the band makes a stop at eTown, the internationally syndicated, recorded-live Boulder, Colo., radio show, and delivers several showcases at the International Folk Alliance Conference, February 24-26 in Memphis, Tenn.

The 64th annual Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, under the leadership of General Manager Bernard Foccroulle, will open on July 5 and run until July 27, 2012, featuring a diverse menu of seven opera and musical theater productions, seven orchestral concerts, five solo recitals, seven intimate chamber music performances, two world music programs, and more than thirty events from the 15th annual European Academy of Music. The Festival's wide-ranging events unfold in nine extraordinary venues, many of them open-air, in and around the picturesque ancient Provencal city: castles, a cathedral, a basilica, a palace courtyard, a historical site dating back to the 11th century BC, and an 18th century theatre transformed from a «jeu de paume» court where Louis XIV played in 1660.

Amidst the tour by indie acoustic quintet Elephant Revival behind its sophomore release, BREAK IN THE CLOUDS (June 2011, Ruff Shod/Nettwerk Records), the band will play in Kansas next month.

Today we are talking to a star of many notable films and television shows who initially surprised many viewers with his commanding presence as the voice of the Beast in Disney's classic animated film BEAUTY & THE BEAST, now back in theaters for its twentieth anniversary (in 3D) - the one and only Robby Benson. In addition to telling us all about his impressions of and experiences working on BEAUTY & THE BEAST and what he thinks of the new 3D movie experience, he also shares his affection for co-stars Angela Lansbury and Paige O'Hara - both having been previous InDepth InterView participants, as well - and what the storied legacy of the film means to him. Also, Benson discusses his talented family, including his rock star wife, Karla DeVito, and their daughter, a star-on-the-rise in her own right, Lyric (her Benson-produced debut album, LYRIC'S LOVE LIGHT REVOLUTION, is available here) and details the many hats he wears as an actor, director, producer, author, singer and recording artist. Plus, recollections on ICE CASTLES and its haunting Marvin Hamlisch theme, directing FRIENDS and EVENING SHADE, his vivid memories of performing in OLIVER!, THE ROTHSCHILDS, THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE on Broadway and a discussion of his own semi-auto-biographical musical, OPEN HEART, and, of course, what it was like being suggested by Francis Ford Coppola to George Lucas for a role in STAR WARS - and much, much more!

On Sunday, April 1, the hometown of California cuisine hosts a day of "Delicious Fictions" featuring Golden Globe Award-winner Jill Eikenberry and Emmy Award-nominee Michael Tucker.

Bay Street Players will present the Tony Award winning musical, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE from February 3rd through February 26th.

Ebony Theatre's production of Lorraine Hansberry's American classic 'A Raisin in the Sun,' playing at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre, opened last night with performances continuing through February 19, 2012. Check out photos from the show's opening night below!

Guest star Paul Binder, Ringmaster of the Big Apple Circus, will join Symphony Space's political cabaret, The Thalia Follies, returning for its seventh season to the stage with its newest production, Primary Colors.

The battle of the bands is on as Nickelodeon premieres its brand-new live-action comedy series, How to Rock (http://www.nick.com/shows/how-torock) on Saturday, Feb. 4 with back-to-back episodes airing at 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT). The series, featuring original music performed by Cymphonique Miller (http://www.nick.com/celebrity/cymphonique-miller.html), centers on Kacey Simon, a talented teenager who takes her rhythmic pop band to new heights as their lead singer, while navigating the shark-infested social waters of high school.

Starving Artist Studios, a new performing arts training facility in Central Florida, brings Tony-Award winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown to Orlando for a Concert and Master Class.

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is a fascinating and visually dazzling examination of painter Georges Seurat and his unique style, which art books call pointillism. Stephen Sondheim has crafted an entertaining score, but it was at the suggestion of book writer, James Lapine, that this artful and delightful production actually came together. While viewing his masterpiece, "A Sunday afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte", Lapine remarked that the only thing missing was the painter himself, and so we're blessed with this visually arresting musical recreation of that moment in time. The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis has conjured up a superb rendering, filled with sharp performances and a pair of tableaus, one at the end of each act, that are breathtaking in their beauty.

The Music Institute of Chicago, recognizing extraordinarily talented pre-college musicians, has announced six recipients of its inaugural Academy Fellowships.

Berkshire Theatre Group has announced the programming for their newest performance space, The Garage, in the lobby of The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield.

John C. Reilly directs the West Coast premiere of Evan Brenner's moving and enlightening one-man play, Buddha: Triumph & Tragedy In The Life Of The Great Sage. The limited four-week engagement runs February 3 - 25 at the Bootleg Theater.

As it enters the final four months of its Legacy Tour, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) announced today that it has commissioned artist Daniel Arsham to create the décor for its final performances, to be held December 29 - 31 at Park Avenue Armory in New York City.

Theatre Industry Weekends are set to run March 23 - 25, 2012 and March 30 - April 1, 2012