You Never Know 2005 - Articles Page 7

Dear Readers, there are shows out there that are all dessert and give you the fun and fluff. A certain pee-soaked musical comes to mind. Then there are the shows that slip the meaningful messages or vegetables in with the yummy portions to trick you into enriching your mind and soul. There's a baseball show currently running that fits that bill. And then there are the shows that are all nutrition. Shows that are so meaningful and full of raw significance that some may not be ready to handle them. Such is "Blackbird" currently running at 18th & Union produced by White Rabbits Inc and Libby Barnard. That's not to say you can't enjoy those nutritious morsels on some level especially considering the stirring performances but know that while your mind and soul may be richer at the end, the rest of you may walk away feeling not so great. Or, as happened with one patron the night I saw it, you may not be able to handle it and may need to leave. But with the subject matter, the theater knows this may happen and even encouraged it.

Tom Brennan explains that what you want, what you really, really want, is a comedy set in a school in May 1997.

Arthur, Guenevere, Lancelot, Merlin-these names spark the imagination and bring to mind images of knights, swords, castles, and magic. The tales of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the legendary Camelot are the subject of myriad novels, movies, TV shows, songs, plays, and musicals. From the 1938 tale The Sword the Stone (which was made into the animated film by Disney in 1963) to the 2008 TV series Merlin to the 2005 Broadway show Monty Python's Spamalot (based on the 1975 movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail), for generations these stories have taken us on magical adventures. The 1960 musical Camelot, by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe is based on the T.H. White novel The Once and Future King. Camelot comes to life at Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre May 9-June 22. Check out our interview with Matthew Blake Johnson, who can be seen on stage at Dutch Apple as Mordred in Camelot.

tars of the show and co-conceivers of this new production, Lauren Molina (who plays Lucy) and Nick Cearley (who plays Linus) took the time to answer a few questions about the show.

It's been seven years since multi-platinum rock band ANGELS & AIRWAVES have played live and three years since they've released new music. The waiting ends with today's announcement of a much-anticipated tour and the release of new track “Rebel Girl”.

Neptune Theatre's production of The Color Purple is an effortless, empowering production that will be remembered for decades. The show opened April 9th and will end June 2nd

Legendary metal band Demons & Wizards have just announced their A Magical Encounter With Demons & Wizards North American headline tour today. The band will hit the road starting August 17th in Los Angeles and will be wrapping with their sold out show on September 7th in Atlanta. The band will be joined by special guests Lizzy Borden and Tyr and will be playing major markets like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and more. Tickets are available for purchase HERE.

Ifa Bayeza's (lower case titled) benevolence, the second play in her trilogy revolving around Emmett Till, the 14 year old Chicago boy brutally murdered in the Mississippi Delta in 1955, is hard to watch. It's also important, because it takes us beyond what we think we know to detail the aftermath of Till's violent death on two couples, one white, one black, all real historical figures. Penumbra Theatre in Saint Paul is mounting the world premiere under Talvin Wilks' direction.

Hailed by Paste as ”bluegrass innovators,” Raleigh, NC-based quartet Chatham County Line will release their eighth studio album, Sharing The Covers, March 8 on Yep Roc Records. The video for the first single, Wilco's “I Got You (At the End of the Century),” premiered today at The Bluegrass Situation. The track is now available at all streaming services. 

Don't let the Christmas lights strung across the ceiling fool you, Dark and Stormy's BLACKBIRD is not a feel-good holiday play. Which is why it's a great choice for right now, if you need a break from the sugary sweet holiday fare. Written in 2005, BLACKBIRD is a brutal play about a woman confronting her abuser, 15 years after he raped and kidnapped her at the age of 12 (she may have gone willingly, but she was still a child). Yes, it's a difficult one to watch, but with painfully real performances by the two-person cast, in the intimate environment of Dark and Stormy's Northeast Minneapolis studio space, it's worth the effort.

PS CLASSICS, the label that celebrates the heritage of Broadway and American popular song, has released its groundbreaking new recording Philip Chaffin: Will He Like Me? today, Friday, November 9. The album is featured in The New York Times "2018 Holiday Gift Guide," which raves, "From 'When I Marry Mr. Snow' to 'I Got Lost in His Arms,' Chaffin tells a familiar story that has never sounded so new." 

IRON MAIDEN will bring the Legacy Of The Beast Tour to North America in 2019 for an extensive series of arena and amphitheater shows produced by Live Nation, including a first ever headline appearance at the Banc of California Stadium in LA. The tour will cover a total of 33 cities right across the U.S.A. and Canada, including Portland, Oregon where they haven't played since 1987 on the Somewhere In Time Tour, Hartford, Connecticut where they last played in 2005, and many other places not visited since the Maiden England 2012/13 Tour. The full list of dates is below. 

As of last fall, JERSEY BOYS has been seen on the stage by more than 25 million people around the world. So, is it really that good? Tough question. My first instinct is to say JERSEY BOYS ain't all that. It's a backstage, jukebox, rise-and-fall musical, a combination that ought to be the broadest, most formulaic thing you've ever seen. Yet, it surprises...

Jim Messina's legacy spans five decades and three acclaimed rock super groups: Loggins & Messina, Buffalo Springfield, and Poco. And he's had a vibrant solo career, plus a dizzying array of producing and engineering credits for such luminaries as The Doors, Joni Mitchell, and Herb Alpert. Performing with his band in Folsom, the concert will include songs we all know and love, from across his storied career. Get ready for "…a splendid good-timey sensibility and professionalism" (Los Angeles Times).

Thirty years. It's an eternity in rock 'n' roll, and a marathon for the bands who fly its tattered flag. Revisit the class of 1988, and the casualties are piled high: a thousand bands that blew up and burnt out. In this chew-and-spit industry, the Spin Doctors are the last men standing, still making music like their lives depend on it, still riding the bus, still shaking the room. They've never been a band for backslaps and self-congratulation. Even now, plans are afoot for a seventh studio album and another swashbuckling world tour, adding to their tally of almost two thousand shows. But faced with that milestone, even a band of their velocity takes a breath for reflection. “I'd never have guessed,” admits drummer Aaron Comess, “this would have turned into thirty years of making great music together.”

The Growing Stage, The Children's Theatre of New Jersey, located in the Historic Palace Theatre in Netcong opens its Main Stage season with 'The Wizard of Oz.' Broadwayworld.com had the pleasure of interviewing Jeorgi Smith who plays Dorothy about her career and the upcoming show at The Growing Stage.

Jim Messina's legacy spans five decades and three acclaimed rock super groups: Loggins & Messina, Buffalo Springfield, and Poco. And he's had a vibrant solo career, plus a dizzying array of producing and engineering credits for such luminaries as The Doors, Joni Mitchell, and Herb Alpert. Performing with his band in Folsom, the concert will include songs we all know and love, from across his storied career. Get ready for "…a splendid good-timey sensibility and professionalism" (Los Angeles Times).

It's the day of the show, y'all: The Nashville premiere of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band is tonight - at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue in The Nations - and six of the actors portraying Crowley's now-iconic characters took time from tech week to answer questions about their processes and to offer their reasons for why you should come see the show.

Thirty years. It's an eternity in rock 'n' roll, and a marathon for the bands who fly its tattered flag. Revisit the class of 1988, and the casualties are piled high: a thousand bands that blew up and burnt out. In this chew-and-spit industry, theSpin Doctors are the last men standing, still making music like their lives depend on it, still riding the bus, still shaking the room. They've never been a band for backslaps and self-congratulation. Even now, plans are afoot for a seventh studio album and another swashbuckling world tour, adding to their tally of almost two thousand shows. But faced with that milestone, even a band of their velocity takes a breath for reflection. “I'd never have guessed,” admits drummer Aaron Comess, “this would have turned into thirty years of making great music together.”

As rock phenoms go, Sarah Borges has never been easy to pin down. Since bursting onto the national scene in 2005 as the lead singer of the Broken Singles, she hasn't allowed a speck of dust to settle on her sound or her story. Instead, the Massachusetts native has just kept on moving and shaking.

Linda Thompson's career began in the much beloved late '60s/early '70s British folk-rock scene, when she went by the name Linda Peters. At first, she was mostly a session singer and a part of a short-lived duo with Paul McNeill with whom she released two singles, in 1968 and 1969. McNeill happened to be friends with Sandy Denny, and soon so was Linda. She became one of the “supergroup” of musician friends related to Fairport Convention for the 1972 The Bunch album, a side project of sorts that highlighted rock hits of the '50s. The album's single featured Linda and Sandy covering the Everly Brothers' “When Will I Be Loved.” Also in 1972 Linda married Richard Thompson; she and Sandy can be found in the credits for his solo debut, Henry the Human Fly. Beginning in 1974, albums started appearing by Richard & Linda Thompson, winding up with 1982's classic Shoot Out the Lights — which also signaled the end of their marriage.

Next month, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.

The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (SCLA) currently presents their new distinct take on Shakespeare's classic HENRY IV. Helmed by Tony Award-winning director Daniel Sullivan, SCLA has combined PART I and PART II into a single sitting of theatre, featuring the Los Angeles stage debut of Tom Hanks as Falstaff. We had the opportunity to chat with one of HENRY IV's most talented co-conspirators, actor Harry Groener who plays Northumberland and Justice Shallow.

David Horovitch is currently starring in Mike Bartlett's Not Talking. Originally broadcast on radio, the play is now being performed on stage for the first time at Arcola Theatre.