W.H. Auden News

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts opens its 30th Anniversary 2018-19 Season and launches its new Chamber Opera Commissioning Initiative with the New York Premiere of PROVING UP, adapted from the short story "Proving Up" by Karen Russell.

Following his hugely successful and highly acclaimed first year as artistic director, Tom Littler is marking the start of his second year at the helm with a season of new work celebrating rebellious spirits. This includes the first UK production by award-winning British/American playwright Bathsheba Doran, the world premiere of a play about the maverick surrealist, Leonora Carrington, the revival of a modern Canadian classic and a rip-roaring, spine-chilling, body-snatching Christmas comedy.

My grandfather's rice bowl, the only surviving heirloom from Sargodha - the ancestral home and lands from which my father's family lived for centuries - became the catalyst for this project. Seven metals were used to make this bowl: iron, copper, zinc, brass, mercury, gold and silver. Over 100 years old, it is a symbolic reminder of the past.

San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the world, offers audiences a look at the opera stars of tomorrow with a lively, fully-staged production of The Rake's Progress. Based loosely on the eponymous eight paintings and engravings by William Hogarth (1733-1735), Stravinsky's dramatic opera follows the decline and fall of a profligate heir who makes a devil's bargain with Nick Shadow, abandoning life in the country and his tender fiancee for the wicked temptations of London.The Rake's Progress will be performed 7:30pm, Thursday, August 2 and 2:00pm, Saturday, August 4 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. For tickets or more information, visit www.merola.org or call (415) 864-3330.

Martha Henry stars as Prospero in Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino's production of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Previews are now underway at the Festival Theatre and the production opens the 2018 season on Monday, May 28.

Jaffrey's River Street Theatre (RST) presents The Royal Ballet's special tribute to Leonard Bernstein in honor of his worldwide centenary celebration. This exclusive Monadnock Region RST Stage2Screen presentation will be shown this weekend, May 11-13, as it was staged in London on March 27, 2018, and captured in high definition.

The Trojan War: Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare, Modern English verse translation by Lillian Groag; The Trojan Women by Euripides, new English translation by Guy Roberts and Rebecca Greene Udden. Directed by Guy Roberts and Rebecca Green Udden.

Jermyn Street Theatre has announced casting for Tomorrow at Noon, a programme of three new plays by Jenny Ayres, Emma Harding, and Morna Young, each of which reacts to one of Coward's Tonight at 8.30 plays, and responds to it in a contemporary voice.

New episodes of Poetry in America will be on public television stations nationwide starting the first week of April and running throughout the Spring.(Check local listings as some stations will debut the series at other times during the spring.)

The centennial of renowned American composer Leonard Bernstein is celebrated throughout the National Philharmonic's 2018-2019 concert series at The Music Center at Strathmore. Performing compositions that influenced Bernstein, as well as some of his very own famous works, the National Philharmonic will be the only symphony orchestra dedicating most of its 2018-2019 season to the works surrounding the legendary composer. 

San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the world, launches its 61st season offering audiences a look at the opera stars of tomorrow.

NBA Hall of Fame basketball star and platinum hip-hop artist Shaquille O'Neal reads the immersive Edward Hirsch poem “Fast Break” about the universal experience of playing basketball in a remarkable new 12-part television series Poetry in America that aims to bring poetry to millions of viewers. Watch the trailer here!

Join the Utah Symphony and Music Director Thierry Fischer the final weekend of February and the first weekend of March for two programs of rarely-performed works celebrating the 100th birthday of beloved late composer, conductor, and pianist Leonard Bernstein. Tickets are priced from $23-83 and can be purchased at utahsymphony.org or by calling (801) 533-6683.

One of today's most gifted pianists, Orli Shaham, joins conductor Eric Jacobsen and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate the 100thBirthday of one of America's most beloved composers, Leonard Bernstein on Saturday, February 17 at 8 p.m. at the Bob Carr Theater, located at 401 West Livingston Street, Orlando, FL. 32801.

Theatre of NOTE is proud to announce the 23rd Annual Hollywood Performance Marathon, on Saturday, January 20 beginning at 3pm and continuing until dawn, at Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd. (just North of Sunset) in Hollywood. NOTE's Hollywood Performance Marathon celebrates its twenty-third year with over 50 performers who will donate their time and talent to benefit Theatre of NOTE. This highly anticipated local tradition is an all-day-all-night extravaganza of eclectic performances, including comedy, juggling, poetry, puppets, performance art, dance, music, monologues and much more!

For our first autumn as a producing venue, Jermyn Street Theatre created an Escape Season. The plays circled around themes of escaping entrapment of different kinds. In spring 2018, we are presenting the Scandal Season. These productions are about people who break the rules, outraging their contemporaries and blazing their own trail.

Westport Country Playhouse will stage a limited engagement of the recent off-Broadway musical, 'Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie,' from January 9 through January 20. Featured in the title role is David M. Lutken, the show's deviser, who won Helen Hayes and Joseph Jefferson awards for his performance.

The New York Philharmonic will present Bernstein's Philharmonic: A Centennial Festival, October 25-November 14, 2017,celebrating the former Philharmonic Music Director and Laureate Conductor on the centennial of his birth. The festival - which is part of the worldwide salute to the legacy of the renowned composer, conductor, pianist, and educator - will center on Bernstein's symphonic cycle, conducted by Alan Gilbert and Leonard Slatkin, complemented by other Bernstein works as well as by music by composers he admired and championed. In addition, the Philharmonic will present a Young People's Concert - the series that Bernstein famously brought to national attention through the television broadcasts - titled Inspirations and Tributes: "Celebrating Leonard Bernstein," conducted by Leonard Slatkin and featuring pianist Makoto Ozone on November 11. A number of other events - ranging from a marathon of Bernstein's Mahler recordings to a partnership with Harvard and University of Michigan to explore Bernstein as an educator and conductor - complement the concerts throughout the centennial season. Bernstein served as the Philharmonic's Music Director from 1958 to 1969, when he was named Laureate Conductor, a title he held until his death in 1990.

'Finishing the Suit' is a memory play, written by Lawrence Aronovitch and directed by Joan Kane, about a tailor who mourns the loss of the two most important people in his life: his lover Jimmy and his most famous client, the Duke of Windsor.