Stephanie Berger News

Well, it's that time of the year again--time for a look-back on what was worth making note of during the calendar year that's about to come to an end. It's from a totally personal, subjective point of view, of course, but frankly that's the way opera-lovers always seem to like it, n'est-ce pas? The productions worth noting come from places big, small and in-between, from composers old as the hills to freshly minted or somewhere in between (likewise the performers), from traditional or boldly modern to simply stand up and sing.

This quote is the opening sentence from the author of the book and the words that inspired, created and catapulted The White Album -- a theatrical representation in full of Didion's autobiographical, literary essays of the same name published in 1979 but focused on the tumultuous period of time between 1966 (though it was officially started in 1968) and 1971, which had an engagement as part of BAM's Next Wave Festival November 28 - December 1, through collaborators between Lars Jan/Early Morning Opera, Mia Barron (who portrayed Didion herself), and multiple commissioners and supporters including Center Theatre Group, arts centers at CalArts, UCLA, Ohio State University and the UCross Foundation, amongst others.

To say that this was an unusual week for opera-goers venturing into BAM's Next Wave Festival would be an understatement—but then the unexpected is what makes it is an indispensable component of the New York arts scene, with Philip Glass's SATYAGRAHA and Douglas J. Cuomo's SAVAGE WINTER.

BWW Review: Folkoperan and Cirkus Cirkör's Astounding Production of Satyagraha Lifts Philip Glass' Opera to New Heights

PBS revealed tonight that TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was voted America's best-loved novel during this evening's GREAT AMERICAN READ "Grand Finale". The final episode, taped in front of a live audience at the Masonic Hall in New York City, counted down all 100 novels, which were first announced to the public in April. Series host Meredith Vieira joined the playwright and cast of the new Broadway play based on TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD- author Aaron Sorkin, Jeff Daniels (Atticus Finch), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (Calpurnia) and Gbenga Akinnagbe (Tom Robinson) - to celebrate the announcement of America's best-loved novel, and discuss both its lasting impact and why it resonates today. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD begins previews on Broadway on Thursday, November 1, and opens on Thursday, December 13 at the Shubert Theatre (225 West 44th Street).

The 15th Fall for Dance, at NY City Center, are the variety of New York's art and dance. It featured ballet, contemporary, modern, funk, street dancing, and much more. Don't forget to get your tickets before these performances are sold out.

With today's society in constant need of visual stimulus, staging oratorio repertoire has become increasingly necessary. Gone are the days where a chorus can stand solemnly still in their tuxes and black dresses, holding their binders at hip height, while soloists sit downstage in bedazzled gowns and teased out hair. At least the days are gone when this would attract a young, fresh audience. To their credit, La Fura dels Baus seems to understand this and executed a visual feast of an evening--akin to a cracked out Ferngully--stumbling only when attempting to drive home the message of their concept. They had a lot to say--but I wasn't exactly sure what it was...

MACBETH seems to be one of the most abused pieces from Williams Shakespeare's canon; yet, when a production does the show justice, it is incredibly spellbinding. Luckily for fans of the play and art of theatre in general, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more robustly magnificent production of the classic than NINAGAWA MACBETH.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at The Creation, part of Mostly Mzart at Lincoln Center. Check out the photos below!

The person seated in the back of the orchestra section on opening night of the Encores! Off-Center concert mounting of GONE MISSING, who was loudly sobbing during the closing song, was by no means causing a disturbance. In fact, the choked-up moans of heartbreak being emitted throughout New York City Center's auditorium many times during the performance were simply bringing to the surface the sadness that served as the evening's subtext, even for those who did not know the clever and touching revue's late composer/lyricist personally.

Encores! Off-Center, New York City Center's popular summer musical theater series, continues tonight with Gone Missing. John Behlmann, Susan Blackwell, Aysan Celik, Deborah S. Craig, Taylor Mac, and David Ryan Smith will star in the special two-night-only engagement, presented in honor of composer and 2017 Encores! Artistic Director Michael Friedman.

Ensemble Connect-made up of some of the finest young professional classical musicians in the United States-performs a program of adventurous, contemporary works, including the New York City premiere of a new work by Andy Akiho in its first collaboration with the Rite of Summer Music Festival on Saturday, June 9 at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Governors Island. The concerts, which take place on Colonels Row, include all 18 of Ensemble Connect's musicians as they approach the end of their two-year fellowship. The program also includes music by Charles Wuorinen, Osvaldo Golijov, and Jennifer Higdon.

The National Endowment for the Arts has just announced that current chair Jane Chu has chosen to resign from her post after a four year run.

The final presentation of the recently expanded Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge, took place just last night. This year's Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge finalists included Eliza Corrington & Braxton Gerald Carr, Tucker Donelan, Jillian Guetersloh, Fritz Hager, Aaron Richert, and David Volpini. Check out photos from inside the special night below!

On Monday evening, March 5, at 7 p.m. with every seat in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater occupied, more than 425 singers in the Young People's Chorus of New York City opened the celebration of their storied 30-year history by singing 'Why We Tell the Story' written by Broadway's powerhouse songwriting team Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, among the evening's special guests, who also helped host. Under the leadership of YPC Artistic Director Francisco J. Nuñez and Associate Artistic Director Elizabeth Nuñez, YPC was also joined by renowned baritone Lester Lynch as well as Broadway's Jenn Colella from 'Come From Away' and Jordan Donica, soon to be featured in 'My  Fair Lady.'

Every year since its inception in 2004, Fall for Dance has brought together both veteran and emerging artists to perform on the same stage on the same night. And if that wasn't enough for you, audience members have the opportunity to see all this at the low cost of $15 for any seat in the house at the lovely New York City Center! This two-week festival has had sold out performances each year and has become a cultural staple to dance lovers of all walks of life here in New York City.

Five ITVS documentaries, four for Independent Lens and one for POV, received News & Documentary Emmy Awards, it was announced today at the 38th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards.

There are opera festivals and then there are OPERA FESTIVALS, but none that promise to be the equivalent of Opera Philadelphia's O17, which opens on September 14 for a 12-day run. It's a dazzling array of the old and new, the well-known and emerging, being produced at prestigious venues around the city, from the Academy of Music to the Barnes Foundation. There's even a screening in Independence Park of a hit from the last opera season.

YPC Concludes Season with its Mostly Mozart Festival Debut at Lincoln Center In a wonderfully auspicious debut, last week Young People's Chorus of New York City opened Mostly Mozart Festival, Lincoln Center's venerable and most beloved summer music series.

Well, no one can accuse Mostly Mozart of being in a rut. Even though the name of this season's first program, “The Singing Heart,” under Music director Louis Langree (heard on the 26th), is not so different from last year's opener, “The Illuminated Heart,” the two evenings couldn't have been more different. They did have one thing in common: They were both wonderful.