Side by Side by Sondheim Revival 1980 - Articles Page 5

Theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI) is celebrating the anniversary of West Side Story's opening night on Broadway 61 years ago, by making West Side Story School Edition available for licensing to schools and amateur groups around the world.

Presented by a brand new Production group, 4 Leaf Music Productions, in Association with Golden Performing Arts Center, and based on a 1934 Kaufman and Hart play of the same name, this musical tells the story of three friends, Franklin, Charley, and Mary, and the progressive decadence of their bonds and their dreams. The story is told in reverse. When it begins, in 1980, they're in their 40's: Franklin, is a rich, successful, conceited and confused noted songwriter; Charley, the lyricist in the duo, has cut off ties with his partner after a nervous breakdown and Mary is a lonely alcoholic still secretly in love with Franklin from when they first met, years and years ago. As we move forward in the play but backwards in time, we see how their friendships disintegrate, along with their aspirations and Franklin's many whirlwind marriages. Rewinding through the '70s and '60s, we end up in 1957, when the three of them meet for the first time, on a rooftop in the city, all hopeful young talents per-chance gathering to watch Sputnik go by in the pre-dawn sky. The song they sing, 'Our Time' ('We're the movers, we're the shapers/ the names in tomorrow's papers'), is undercut by some very keen irony, since we've already seen how it all turns out, at the beginning.

Plays through the 18th of August, 2018

ANNIE, this year's Hollywood Bowl Summer Musical, will be performed by an all-star cast July 27, 28 and 29. Each year, a condensed version of a full-length Broadway musical corrals name performers from theatre, television and music with crazy, busy schedules that normally wouldn't be available for a full musical schedule commitment. We have the opportunity to chat with Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, who will be playing Grace Farrell in this production.

While the buzz recently has been about a screen adaptation of the classic musical West Side Story, The Hollywood Reporter has just revealed that award-winning director Ivo van Hove will be bringing West Side Story to the Broadway stage next season. 

Take a fun-packed trip back in time to the electric 80's with the world premiere of Club Tropicana The Musical, a summer adventure of love in the sun, with a soundtrack of smash-hit pop classics - it really is the feel-good musical of the year!

The 72nd Annual Tony Awards are this Sunday June 10th at 8/9c hosted by Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles. It's the biggest award show of the Broadway season and it closes out a long awards season for Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals and plays. We can't help but wonder what chances this year's Best Musical and Best Play nominees have of taking home the ultimate prize...

Jump For Joy! The Off-Broadway cast recording of the New York premiere production of the new musical Unexpected Joy, with book and lyrics by Bill Russell (Side Show) and music by Janet Hood (Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens with Bill Russell), will be recorded and released by JAY Records. Produced by John Yap, the recording will feature the original cast of The York Theatre Company production who will gather at Sear Sound Studios (353 West 48th Street) on Monday, May 14, 2018 to lay down the tracks for the recording.

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

On March 19, 2018, Virginia's Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre honored legendary Broadway composer John Kander with the company's ninth Stephen Sondheim Award. The Stephen Sondheim Award was presented at a black-tie Gala Benefit at the Embassy of Italy and will benefit Signature Theatre's artistic, education, and community programs.

The Muny announced today that Tony and Grammy Award- winning artist Heather Headley and Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-nominated artist Matthew Morrison will serve as co-hosts for The Muny's historic Centennial Gala show, An Evening with the Stars, May 18, 2018 at 9:15 p.m. at The Muny.

The 5th Avenue Theatre has announced an incredible six-show lineup for its 2018/19 season, which includes launching the national tour of the acclaimed sensation Come From Away, the timeless beloved musical Annie, rock 'n' roll hit parade Rock of Ages, the sumptuous West Coast premiere of Little Dancer, a lavish and loving staging of the iconic West Side Story and an exciting new collaboration with ACT - A Contemporary Theatre-Urinetown. Additionally, The 5th will host a one week run of the national tour of The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical.

Roundabout Theatre Company, in association with Staci Levine, has announced the Broadway return of beloved stage and screen star John Lithgow in John Lithgow: Stories by Heart, directed by Daniel Sullivan.

Performance Space New York (formerly Performance Space 122) presents the East Village Series, its first semi-annual themed series, and the first program curated by the institution's new Executive Artistic Director, Jenny Schlenzka. This presentation of works from some of today's most radical performers and multidisciplinary artists resituates the institution in newly revamped spaces, designed by Deborah Berke Partners, in 122 Community Center (150 First Avenue, at East 9th Street), where Performance Space 122 was founded, and where it operated until it moved out in 2011 for the building renovation. The series contemplates the past, present, and future of the organization and its neighborhood.

Producers of the Tooting Arts Club production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which broke the Barrow Street Theatre sales house record for the week ending December 31st, announced today that Thom Sesma (as Sweeney Todd), Sally Ann Triplett (as Mrs. Lovett), Zachary Noah Piser (as Tobias), Billy Harrigan Tighe (as Anthony) and DeLaney Westfall (as Johanna) will join current cast members Michael James Leslie (as Judge Turpin), John Rapson (as The Beadle) and Stacie Bono (as Pirelli & Beggar Woman) startingTuesday, February 27, 2018. The cast also includes Matt Leisy, Liz Pearce, Danny Rothman and Monet Sabel.

Roundabout Theatre Company, in association with Staci Levine, has announced the Broadway return of beloved stage and screen star John Lithgow in John Lithgow: Stories by Heart, directed by Daniel Sullivan.

Matthew McKenna is unmasked today as the star and handsome hero of Bananaman the Musical.

There's a new demon barber in town... The Tooting Arts Club production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street recently welcomed Hugh Panaro as its new leading man.

Roundabout Theatre Company, in association with Staci Levine, has announced the Broadway return of beloved stage and screen star John Lithgow in John Lithgow: Stories by Heart, directed by Daniel Sullivan.

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is presented with heart and humour by @littletriangeco for @sydneyfringe

Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He took piano lessons as a boy and attended the Garrison and Boston Latin Schools. At Harvard University, he studied with Walter Piston, Edward Burlingame-Hill, and A. Tillman Merritt, among others. Before graduating in 1939, he made an unofficial conducting debut with his own incidental music to 'The Birds,' and directed and performed in Marc Blitzstein's 'The Cradle Will Rock.' Then at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he studied piano with Isabella Vengerova, conducting with Fritz Reiner, and orchestration with Randall Thompson. 

Second Stage Theater, the preeminent home for American plays and living American playwrights, has announced new Board of Trustees members Elin Nierenberg, Tamara Harris Robinson, Ira Schreck, Brooke Shields, Susan Wasserstein and Kara Young.

The international touring company of the beloved classic musical "West Side Story," which features music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Arthur Laurents, will come to The Theatre at Solaire (Aseana Avenue, Solaire Resort and Casino) next month, August 10-27.

One of the latest in this series of revues is SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM, a brainchild of frequent Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, which premiered on Broadway in 2010. Reorchestrated to fit the Boston Pops, SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM played a two-night engagement at Symphony Hall on June 15 and June 16 under the direction of Sarna Lapine and conducted by Keith Lockhart.

The 71st Annual Tony Awards are this Sunday June 11th at 8/9c hosted by Kevin Spacey. It's the biggest award show of the Broadway season and it closes out a long awards season for Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals and plays. We can't help but wonder what chances this year's Best Musical and Best Play nominees have of taking home the ultimate prize...