Wesley Stewart News

American Idol finalist Elliott Yamin recently headlined a concert at Bahia Mar Fort Lauderdale which honored that community's first responders. The event was hosted by Every Kid Swims, a nonprofit whose mission is to empower foster/at-risk youth through swim lessons, water therapy, and mentoring programs.

Los Altos Hills will be alive with The Sound of Music this summer, when multi-award winning Foothill Music Theatre presents the Tony, Grammy, and Academy Award-winning musical. This beloved musical, set in Austria in 1938, follows novice Maria Rainer who becomes the governess for the von Trapp family, capturing the hearts of the seven children and their father, a widowed naval captain. As the Nazis occupy Austria, the family is forced make decisions which forever change their lives, fleeing their home in pursuit of freedom. Director Milissa Carey, music director William Liberatore, and choreographers Brett and C.J. Blankenship breathe new life into this classic tale of hope, love, and family. The Sound of Music will play July 19- August 5, 2018(press opening: July 20) at the Smithwick Theatre, I-280 & El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills. Tickets ($12 - $32) and information can be found at www.foothill.edu/theatre or by phone at (650) 949-7360.    

Los Altos Hills will be alive with The Sound of Music this summer, when multi-award winning Foothill Music Theatre presents the Tony, Grammy, and Academy Award-winning musical. This beloved musical, set in Austria in 1938, follows novice Maria Rainer who becomes the governess for the von Trapp family, capturing the hearts of the seven children and their father, a widowed naval captain. As the Nazis occupy Austria, the family is forced make decisions which forever change their lives, fleeing their home in pursuit of freedom.

In my recent very extended assessment of cabaret shows I never reviewed during the second half of 2014, there were two significant omissions. I didn't leave these out of my critical mix because they weren't strikingly significant. In fact, it was just the opposite. The new variety game show, Tune In Time, which dubs itself the “Musical Theater Olympics,” and the musical theater piece/song cycle, New World Waking, were among the most original and entertaining productions I witnessed this year and deserved more of a feature treatment than a quickie review. My take on Tune In Time (which will begin a new monthly run at the York Theatre on January 5) should beat the clock before the next show. So by simple process of elimination, this commentary will be on New World Waking, which when performed on December 6 was one of the highlights of the recent annual 12-day, 20-show Winter Rhythms Festival at Urban Stages.

Urban Stages, in association with producer/director/lyricist and Director of Musical Programming Peter Napolitano, today announced that Tony Award Nominee Stephanie D'Abruzzo will join the line-up for their sixth series of musical evenings entitled WINTER RHYTHMS 2014, beginning Tuesday, December 2nd and continuing through Sunday, December 14th at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director), in association with producer/director/lyricist and Director of Musical Programming Peter Napolitano, today announced the line-up for their sixth series of musical evenings entitled WINTER RHYTHMS 2014, beginning Tuesday, December 2nd and continuing through Sunday, December 14th at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

The award-winning Musical Theatre Guild, a company of professional performers who present concert-staged readings of seldom seen musicals, will continue its 15th season with Michael John LaChuisa's HELLO AGAIN.

The award-winning Musical Theatre Guild, a company of professional performers who present concert-staged readings of seldom seen musicals, will continue its 15th season with Michael John LaChuisa's HELLO AGAIN.

Los Angeles...Celebration Theatre presents the first show of their 2009-2010 season, the Los Angeles intimate theatre premiere of the heavenly smash-hit, musical comedy sensation, ALTAR BOYZ.

altar BOYZ, currently playing the Celebration Theatre in WeHo, is a jubilant celebration of living by 5 members of a boy band that really care about each other and you, their audience! With their genesis as altar boys, all but one are catholic and show via rock music the ins and outs of staying sin free, or at least a close proximity. They announce that their mission is to save all souls - quite a hefty goal, but you haven't met these boys or experienced their drive and commitment.

West Coast Ensemble is thrilled to announce that their critically-acclaimed, smash-hit production of BIG, The Musical, with book by John Weidman, music by David Shire, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., based on the motion picture 'BIG' written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg and directed by Richard Israel (Floyd Collins, Assassins) is EXTENDING THROUGH SUNDAY, JULY 26 at West Coast Ensemble's new home - The El Centro Theatre, 800 N. El Centro Ave. in Hollywood.

Los Angeles...Celebration Theatre presents the first show of their 2009-2010 season, the Los Angeles intimate theatre premiere of the heavenly smash-hit, musical comedy sensation, ALTAR BOYZ.

Los Angeles...Celebration Theatre presents the first show of their 2009-2010 season, the Los Angeles intimate theatre premiere of the heavenly smash-hit, musical comedy sensation, ALTAR BOYZ.

West Coast Ensemble is thrilled to announce that their critically-acclaimed, smash-hit production of BIG, The Musical, with book by John Weidman, music by David Shire, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., based on the motion picture 'BIG' written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg and directed by Richard Israel (Floyd Collins, Assassins) is EXTENDING THROUGH SUNDAY, JULY 26 at West Coast Ensemble's new home - The El Centro Theatre, 800 N. El Centro Ave. in Hollywood.

Filled with colorful criminals, biting social satire and a brilliant score, The Threepenny Opera opens International City Theatre's 2009 Season at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Jules Aaron directs Michael Feingold's translation of the trailblazing musical by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill that became one of the most influential plays of the 20th Century. Darryl Archibald is musical director and Kay Cole choreographs the five-week run February 20 through March 22; low-priced previews begin February 17. First performed in 1928, Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera was a revolutionary musical theater masterpiece that mocked the bourgeois political movement of pre-Hitler Germany. Brecht's brittle, sardonic tale of beggars, thieves and prostitutes, adapted from the 1728 play The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, was a fierce social and political critique, and Weill's innovative score that fused American jazz with German cabaret captured the ironic tone of the lyrics. Part acid social criticism, part bittersweet romance, the now eighty-year old saga of 'Mack the Knife' and his entourage of criminals and whores has never lost its theatrical punch. 'It's a satire on capitalism and corruption told from the viewpoint of the 'little people',' notes Aaron. 'If there was ever time to revive this show, it's now. Michael [Feingold]'s translation is earthy, gritty and very funny. I think it's going to strike a chord with audiences.'

Filled with colorful criminals, biting social satire and a brilliant score, The Threepenny Opera opens International City Theatre's 2009 Season at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Jules Aaron directs Michael Feingold's translation of the trailblazing musical by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill that became one of the most influential plays of the 20th Century. Darryl Archibald is musical director and Kay Cole choreographs the five-week run February 20 through March 22; low-priced previews begin February 17. First performed in 1928, Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera was a revolutionary musical theater masterpiece that mocked the bourgeois political movement of pre-Hitler Germany. Brecht's brittle, sardonic tale of beggars, thieves and prostitutes, adapted from the 1728 play The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, was a fierce social and political critique, and Weill's innovative score that fused American jazz with German cabaret captured the ironic tone of the lyrics. Part acid social criticism, part bittersweet romance, the now eighty-year old saga of 'Mack the Knife' and his entourage of criminals and whores has never lost its theatrical punch. 'It's a satire on capitalism and corruption told from the viewpoint of the 'little people',' notes Aaron. 'If there was ever time to revive this show, it's now. Michael [Feingold]'s translation is earthy, gritty and very funny. I think it's going to strike a chord with audiences.'