T. Jones News

Albert Schultz, General Director of the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, today announced Full Bloom - a new dance program opening the Young Centre's 2010 season.

Albert Schultz, General Director of the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, today announced Full Bloom - a new dance program opening the Young Centre's 2010 season.

2009 provided me with the opportunity to review 126 of the more than 200 shows that were available in the St. Louis region, and it began in terrific fashion with New Line Theatre's NIGHT OF THE LIVING SHOW TUNES. This was a wonderful sampling of contemporary show tunes performed by a cast of talented locals, and featuring artistic director Scott Miller's fine accompaniment on piano. In the acoustically perfect confines of the Sheldon Concert Hall, these unique melodies made a glorious noise. And, as I continued on my quest to expose my young son to the world of musical theatre, I ended the year with the Imaginary Theatre Company's splendid presentation of BAH! HUMBUG!. I was lucky enough to catch quite a few gems in between, and I've decided to compile a list of the ten most intriguing and engaging productions I saw in 2009.

Saycon Sengbloh takes on her largest and most influential role to date as the muse of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti in Fela!, now playing at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre will present a new staging of Noel Coward's PRIVATE LIVES. The play, set in a hotel balcony, will presented in the round in the new staging, by acclaimed Chicago director Gary Griffin. Performances for the production will begin January 6th. The company has added new seating to its Courtyard Theatre in order to accommodate Griffin's idea, adding seats around the proscenium.

Japan Society presents the 13th Annual Contemporary Dance Showcase: Japan + East Asia featuring astounding works from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

This year, we had the pleasure of making the following conversations and performances available to our viewers

Current GRAMMY Award nominees Beyoncé, Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Antebellum, Maxwell, and Taylor Swift are the first performers announced for the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast.

Albert Schultz, General Director of the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, today announced Full Bloom - a new dance program opening the Young Centre's 2010 season.

Sting and Alicia Keys were amongst other well-known music and entertainment personalities to visit the Broadway sensation Fela! during its first week run, and the praise for this dazzling production was unanimous.

Indiana University and The Cleveland Orchestra today (Dec. 18) announced details of The Cleveland Orchestra's newly established Indiana University Residency, to take place Jan. 18-21, 2010.

Producers Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter and Will & Jada Pinkett Smith announced today that beginning January 6, the new critically acclaimed Broadway musical Fela! will add Wednesday matinee performances to its weekly schedule and push back Sunday matinee times to 3pm. The new schedule, beginning Tuesday, January 5 will be as follows: Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday at 2pm & 8pm, Thursday and Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm & 8pm and Sunday at 3pm (except Sunday, January 10 when curtain is 2pm).

The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is once again a prominent player on the nominee list for the annual Grammy Awards, to be presented live on Jan. 31 on CBS.

The New York Times this week profiles the women of FELA! - the nine unnamed, almost speechless figures that decorate the stage of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, representing the 27 wives of the Nigerian Afrobeat musician and political activist.

Hot on the heels of its 27th Fall Season, Zenon Dance Company (zenondance.org) returns to the Ritz Theater with a holiday favorite for all ages: 'The Nutcracker According to Mother Goose.' Zenon Dance Company, a professional modern- and jazz-dance company, blends nursery rhymes with Tchaikovsky in this witty, madcap holiday romp with a significant pedigree.

Hot on the heels of its 27th Fall Season, Zenon Dance Company (zenondance.org) returns to the Ritz Theater with a holiday favorite for all ages: 'The Nutcracker According to Mother Goose.' Zenon Dance Company, a professional modern- and jazz-dance company, blends nursery rhymes with Tchaikovsky in this witty, madcap holiday romp with a significant pedigree.

Theater Talk airs Friday nights on PBS/Thirteen and 5 times weekly on CUNY TV. It also telecast every Thursday night on PBS Station NJN, which is available to all over-the-air digital and cable TV viewers in the NYC area.

It is Theatre Development Fund's belief that future audiences are built by engaging students, first-hand, in the vital and exciting activity of the creative process, as well as providing opportunities to see live performances of great theatre.

Variety reports that Fela!,will get big screen treatment by Hunger director Steve McQueen. Like the musical, the film is based on the life and music of groundbreaking African composer, performer and activist Fela Anikulapo-Kuti as written in the book, Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon, by Michael Veal.