Verona News

An Australian premiere opens the season with a new production of Verdi's dark tale of seduction and intrigue, Rigoletto. There are some opera arias you just have to hear sung by the very best and inRigoletto you have the perfect opportunity. Italian opera star Gianluca Terranova will sing the memorable 'La donna è mobile' as the Duke in this stunning, broody new production. Recent Ringcycle standouts – Warwick Fyfe (in the title role) and Daniel Sumegi (as Sparafucile) – reunite, heading up a stellar cast.

Casting for Regent's Park Open Air Theatre's 2014 production of All My Sons was announced today, with further casting confirmed for Hobson's Choice and the Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. The season opens on 15 May.

DON FELDER--former guitarist of the Eagles, New York Times best-selling author and four-time Grammy Award winner—will re-release his critically acclaimed solo album today, March 25 on his Top Ten Inc. label via INGrooves Music Group.

Acclaimed Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko will make her Met debut as Elvira in a revival of Bellini's I Puritani, with Met stars Lawrence Brownlee and Mariusz Kwiecien in their respective company role debuts as Arturo and Riccardo. Michele Mariotti conducts a cast that also includes Michele Pertusi as Elvira's father, Giorgio, in a revival of the bel canto opera opening April 17. The Met performances will be the first time the husband-and-wife pairing of Mariotti and Peretyatko have performed I Puritani together. The opera will be seen in a revival of Sandro Sequi's 1976 production, which has served as a showcase for such formidable stars as Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Edita Gruberova, and Anna Netrebko.

Pacific Northwest Ballet continues its 2013-2014 season with George Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream. A complete delight for all ages, this full-length ballet is based on William Shakespeare's comedy about the romantic adventures, quarrels and reunions of two pairs of mortal lovers and the king and queen of the fairies. Balanchine's Midsummer, which New York City Ballet premiered in 1962, was the first original evening-length ballet he choreographed in America. Staged by PNB Founding Artistic Director Francia Russell, PNB's production is an enchanted landscape where misunderstandings and mayhem weave tangled paths through the opulent layers of Martin Pakledinaz's designs and Balanchine's marvelously crafted partnerings. All ends well in Act II's wedding festivities with the recognition of ideal love, tenderly portrayed in an exquisite pas de deux. A Midsummer Night's Dream plays for eight performances only, April 11-19 at McCaw Hall at Seattle Center Tickets start at $28 and may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206. 441.2424, online at PNB.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer Street.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents Alabama Story, the third installment of PTC's new play reading series, called Play-By-Play. Alabama Story by Kenneth Jones runs April 4 and 5, 2014. PTC Artistic Director Karen Azenberg directs the production.

DCINY expands its collaboration with innovative young composer and two-time Grammy Award- winner Christopher Tin with an exhilarating night of Tin's music at Carnegie Hall. The Drop of Dawn on Sunday, April 13 at 8:30 pm, unites two large-scale, multi-lingual choral and orchestral works: the world premiere of The Drop That Contained The Sea, and a performance of Tin's acclaimed Calling All Dawns, whose opening movement, "Baba Yetu," made history as the first piece of music written for a video game to win a Grammy Award. Performing with the Distinguished Concerts Orchestra and Singers International, which features outstanding choruses chosen from across the US, Canada and England, and conducted by DCINY Artistic Director Jonathan Griffith, is an array of spectacular singers and world music artists including mezzo-sopranos Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek (of Anonymous 4) and Charity Dawson, tenor Saum Eskandani, Indian Classical vocalist Roopa Mahadevan, Mongolian pop star Nominjin, and Portuguese fado singer Nathalie Pires. The Drop That Contained The Sea will also be released on CD and iTunes on May 8, with pre-orders available starting April 13 on ChristopherTin.com.

The Old Globe today announced two of the stars of Shakespeare's classic tragedy Othello, the first show of the Globe's 2014 Summer Shakespeare Festival. Making their Globe debuts are Emmy Award-winner Richard Thomas ('The Americans,' 'The Waltons') as Iago and Kristen Connolly ('House of Cards,' The Cabin in the Woods) as Desdemona. Both artists continue collaborations with Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein that began in New York: Thomas starred in Edelstein's critically acclaimed production of Timon of Athens at The Public Theater in 2011, and Connolly in three Shakespeare plays that Edelstein helped produce at The Public. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

This just in! Producers Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Group just announced that THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA will welcome a starry leading combination beginning Monday, May 12.

The British are coming to Monmouth for Theater at Monmouth's 45th season. The British Invasion, running from June 28 through September 28, 2014, features a line-up of plays from England's greatest playwrights.

Seattle Shakespeare Company's Artistic Director George Mount announced the company's programming plans for 2014-2015 that include expanding to five plays for its indoor season, the return of directors Jon Kretzu and John Langs, and the mainstage directing debuts of Desdemona Chiang and Makaela Pollock.

In the midst of the wildly successful and warmly received Reflektor Tour, Arcade Fire are excited to announce that Lost Bayou Ramblers and tUnE-yArDs will be added to dates on the tour'

DISASTER, is the acclaimed 1970s disaster movie musical comedy is celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a special deal . . . $25 tickets will be available today for tonight's show at the box office of the St. Luke's Theatre (308 W. 46th Street). Offer only available in-person at the box office (opens at 2:00pm); 2 tickets per person limit; $25 tickets are for tonight's show only, while supply lasts.

The highly celebrated New York troupe Fiasco Theater will make their Washington, DC debut with their production of William Shakespeare's clever comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona at Folger Theatre. Directed by company members Jessie Austrian and Ben Steinfeld, The Two Gentlemen of Verona will play at the Folger from April 17 - May 25, 2014.

The new musical ROCKY, starring Andy Karl and Margo Seibert, opens tomorrow, March 13, at Broadway's historic Winter Garden Theatre. Scroll down to learn more about the full company, plus watch footage of Sylvester Stallone's speech following the first preview of Rocky on Broadway!

The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, its 32 professional member theatres and partner organizations are happy to offer the seventeenth annual Stages Festival throughout the month of March 2014.

The Harbor Lights Theater Company, led by Executive Artistic Director Tamara Jenkins, Co-Artistic Director Jay Montgomery, and Associate Producer Beth Gittleman, announces its fifth season as Staten Island's first and only Professional Equity theater company with the American classic Driving Miss Daisy.

Shakespeare on the Sound is creating a surrealist theme inspired by Salvador Dali for its fundraising Gala April 5 (Saturday) at the Dolce Center in Norwalk (32 Weed Ave.) in support of a growing educational outreach and the production of "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" in Rowayton's Pinkney Park next June.

The Old Globe today announced it will present two Shakespeare-themed events. On Monday, April 28 at 7:00 p.m., Tony Award winner Roger Rees will return to the Globe for a one-night-only engagement of What You Will, his hysterical (and somewhat historical) 90-minute gallop through the world of Shakespeare. On Saturday, May 3 at 11:00 a.m., Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein will offer an encore of Thinking Shakespeare Live!, his 90-minute exploration of the language of Shakespeare. This fast-paced, funny, and altogether fascinating program based on Edelstein's book, Thinking Shakespeare: A How-To Guide for Student Actors, Directors, and Anyone Else Who Wants to Feel More Comfortable with the Bard, reveals a performer's approach to Shakespearean language so audiences may easily understand the poetry of the Bard.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre continues the second half of its season with Tribes, a sophisticated and moving family drama by celebrated British playwright Nina Raine. Her profound and powerful new play became an award-winning hit in London and New York. Now renowned director Jonathan Moscone brings it to Berkeley Rep this April for its Bay Area premiere. Tribes follows Billy, a young man who was born deaf into a loquacious and highly opinionated academic family who raised him to lip-read and integrate into the hearing world. When he meets Sylvia - raised by Deaf parents and going deaf herself - Billy decides it's time to speak on his own terms and to be heard. Playing out in words, sign language, and sometimes mesmerizing silence, this penetrating drama examines familial love, notions of belonging, and the intersections of communication. Tribes start previews Friday, April 11, opens on April 16, and closes on Sunday, May 11, 2014.