They Wrote That? 2004 - Articles Page 7

Adam Chanler-Berat, Tavi Gevinson, and Andy Grotelueschen have joined the upcoming Classic Stage Company revival of Assassins. They will play the roles of John Hinckley Jr., Squeaky Fromme, and Samuel Byck respectively.

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network announced today the directorial lineup and additional casting for the first installment of the anticipated new romantic anthology drama “Cherish the Day,” created and executive produced by Emmy® winner/Academy Award®-nominee Ava DuVernay (“Queen Sugar,” “When They See Us”). The series from Warner Horizon Scripted Television added Michael Beach, Anne-Marie Johnson and Kellee Stewart in recurring roles. They join previously announced series regulars Xosha Roquemore, Alano Miller and legendary Emmy®-winning actress Cicely Tyson. The DuVernay led series recently announced it achieved full gender parity with a production crew of over 50% women, including 18 female department heads. 

Actor-singer-dancer-choreographer Adam Fleming became a part of Broadway history originating the roles of Sketch in Hairspray and Lucas in Bare. In 2005, he starred in David Brind and Adam Salky's acclaimed short film, Dare, about two teenage boys' tense, spark-filled encounter in a pool following high school play practice. Dare gained a cult following as part of Strand Releasing's 'Boys Life' series and ultimately achieved worldwide popularity via more than 12 Million views on Youtube. The fan fervor (and fan fiction!) eventually inspired a sequel, ten years later. The original and the sequel are now being presented together as The Dare Project and attracting new legions of fans.

The Barrow Group announces its 2019-2020 season, which consists of three timely productions that invite audiences to take a look deep within-inspiring positive change in action and awareness.

The French Institute Alliance Fran aise (FIAF), New York's premier French cultural and language center, today announced the 2019 Crossing the Line Festival, featuring 11 performances and a gallery exhibition from a geographically, generationally, and artistically diverse group of artists whose work transcends genres and boundaries. All performances are world, US, or New York premieres; they are united by their convention-breaking fearlessness as they confront topics from social injustice to personal demons. Many of the performances pay homage to legendary artists of our time and previous eras, while the theme of migration and its transformational effects on identity informs several others. The festival runs from September 12 to October 12. Ticket are available at crossingtheline.org.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's upcoming Summer Series program will feature highlights from the company's recent repertoire, including work by acclaimed choreographers Brian Brooks, Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo and Crystal Pite. The program will premiere at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park (205 East Randolph Street) on Thursday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m., followed by performances Saturday, June 8 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 9 at 3 p.m.  Tickets are now on sale.

Sundance Institute will gather 20 celebrated and revered expert voices across film, art, culture and science to award feature-length and short films shown at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival with 12 prizes, announced at a ceremony February 2 that will be livestreamed at sundance.org and on YouTube. Short Film Awards will be announced at a separate ceremony on January 29 and will also be livestreamed. The Festival takes place January 24 through February 3 in Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance, Utah.

Brilliant writers, tribunes of the working class and icons of the lost world of newspapering, Jimmy Breslin and his friend Pete Hamill personified New York City. For five decades, these colorful columnists spoke for ordinary people and brought passion, wit and literary merit to their reporting on their city and nation. Their writings probed issues of race, class and the practice of journalism that resonate powerfully today.

What might you expect if you find yourself caught up in the spectacle of the Broadway Princess Party's festivities at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's James K. Polk Theatre today, November 16? A theatrical concert like none other, predicts Laura Osnes, one of the three aforementioned princesses of the Great White Way who will bring their magical blend of entertainment, theatrical revelry, onstage magic - and pure, unadulterated pleasure (and boatloads of fun, we suspect) - to Music City for a one-night stand that promises to leave audiences feeling 'transported, enchanted, empowered and inspired.'

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents How to Write a Musical That Works, part 1: The World and The Want, the first workshop in a 3-part series. One of the programs in TRU Beginnings: Opportunities for Early Development of New Work, it will take placeon Sunday, December 9, 2018.

What might you expect if you find yourself caught up in the spectacle of the Broadway Princess Party's festivities at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's James K. Polk Theatre on Friday, November 16? A theatrical concert like none other, predicts Laura Osnes, one of the three aforementioned princesses of the Great White Way who will bring their magical blend of entertainment, theatrical revelry, onstage magic - and pure, unadulterated pleasure (and boatloads of fun, we suspect) - to Music City for a one-night stand that promises to leave audiences feeling 'transported, enchanted, empowered and inspired.'

Margaret Edwartowski has been told her whole life that she looks like the late pop singer Cass Elliot, or, perhaps best known onstage, as "Mama Cass" of the Mamas and the Papas. "People would always come up to me and say, 'You know who you remind me of…" Edwartowski says. "Once I learned about her and started reading about her, I tried to emulate her. She was smart, resilient and very talented."

There's just something about Kristin Chenoweth. It's almost undefinable, perhaps even undescribable, yet as with any writer's efforts to put into words how remarkable the woman behind the image is, I'll give it my best shot, attempting to encapsulate the wonder that is Kristin Chenoweth in 2,000 words or less (but if I go over, don't judge too harshly - I'm simply stating the facts that prove the folly of my initial hypothesis).

There's just something about Kristin Chenoweth. It's almost undefinable, perhaps even undescribable, yet as with any writer's efforts to put into words how remarkable the woman behind the image is, I'll give it my best shot, attempting to encapsulate the wonder that is Kristin Chenoweth in 2,000 words or less (but if I go over, don't judge too harshly - I'm simply stating the facts that prove the folly of my initial hypothesis).

There's just something about Kristin Chenoweth. It's almost undefinable, perhaps even undescribable, yet as with any writer's efforts to put into words how remarkable the woman behind the image is, I'll give it my best shot, attempting to encapsulate the wonder that is Kristin Chenoweth in 2,000 words or less (but if I go over, don't judge too harshly - I'm simply stating the facts that prove the folly of my initial hypothesis).

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) and the Onassis Foundation USA announced today six free performances of THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS, the groundbreaking re-telling of Sophocles' classic, for a limited engagement, September 4-9 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. With book, original lyrics, and direction by Lee Breuer and original music, adapted lyrics, and music direction by Bob Telson, the iconic musical returns to New York City for the first time since 2004 to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the original production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and to honor visionary director Lee Breuer for his lifetime of excellence and historic collaboration with The Public Theater.

The imaginative and increasingly important Key Pianists concert series, founded by pianist Terry Eder in 2015, embarks on its fourth season with a recital by Norman Krieger, who 'owns a world of technique' (Los Angeles Times), on Wednesday evening, October 17, 2018 at 8 pm at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. His program will include Brahms' Sonata in C Major and Beethoven's Sonata in D minor, as well as works by Chopin, Lazaroff, and Fine. On Tuesday evening, February 26, 2019 at 8 pm, pianist Jason Hardink-dubbed 'a pianist of such extraordinary power-and memory-that he is difficult to forget' by ConcertoNet's Harry Rolnick (14 Dec 2015)-will give a recital of 19th- and 20th-century gems by Eckardt, Debussy, Liszt, Xenakis, and Messiaen. To close out the season, series founder Terry Eder, noted for her 'fascinating [performances] full of life and risk' (New York Concert Review, Summer 2006), performs Schubert's Impromptu in F Minor, Op. 142, No. 1 and Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 28, as well as works by Debussy, Dohnanyi, and Kodaly.

'A Blanket of Dust' is the story of a modern day Antigone.  The daughter of a U.S. Senator seeks justice for her husband, who has died in the World Trade Center. Her ordeal drives her to the outer fringes of society.  After struggling to establish facts that the government, the media, her family and her countrymen deny, she protests with a harrowing act of sacrificial tragedy.  The play's world premiere will be presented Off-Broadway by Delphi Film from June 6 to 30 at The Flea Theater Mainstage,  20 Thomas Street, directed by Chris Murrah.

Following directly on the heels of The Catastrophic Theatre's smash hit musical SMALL BALL, with book and lyrics by Mickle Maher, the theatre is commemorating its long and prolific relationship with Maher by remounting its lauded 2008 production of his play THE STRANGERER to play in repertory with its spiritual sequel, in an extremely limited run. THE STRANGERER is a darkly hilarious satire of the first debate in the 2004 presidential election between George W. Bush and Jim Kerry, moderated by Jim Lehrer. It will be presented in repertory with JIM LEHRER AND THE THEATRE AND ITS DOUBLE AND JIM LEHRER'S DOUBLE, a sequel to THE STRANGERER about Jim Lehrer, the now retired news anchor and presidential debate moderator, who is visited one evening by his double: Jim Lehrer, the amateur playwright.

Award winners Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez will be presenting sponsors at the 4th annual Brooklyn Children's Theatre's SPRING SING on Saturday, April 14, 2018. Kristen, an Oscar and Grammy winner, co-wrote Broadway's first a capella show, IN TRANSIT. Bobby, co-creator of BOOK OF MORMON and AVENUE Q, is the only person ever to double EGOT - winning at least two Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards. Together they wrote music for Disney's FROZEN and Disney Pixar's COCO.

Ms. McEntire, the third in a family of four children, grew up on a cattle ranch in the small, rural town of Chockie, Oklahoma. Her father expected all the children to work on the ranch and Ms. McEntire began riding horses at the age of three. By the time she was seven, she was gathering cattle from before daylight until after dark. In what little spare time she had, McEntire also competed in rodeos as a barrel racera sport she continued until she was 21. As a child, Ms. McEntire's mother taught her and her three siblings how to sing and harmonize as they traveled to and from their father's rodeo performances. While in high school, Ms. McEntire and her siblings formed their own group, The Singing McEntires, and performed frequently at rodeos, clubs, and dance halls. Ms. McEntire attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University, graduating with a major in elementary education and a minor in music. She continued to work on her father's ranch to help pay her tuition. While the more predictable career paths for Ms. McEntire would have been to become a teacher or barrel racer, she was determined to pursue her dream of becoming a country music artist. Ms. McEntire got her first break singing the national anthem at a rodeo in 1974, which resulted in an invitation to move to Nashville and ultimately a deal with Polygram Mercury Records. Although her first recordings were not an immediate success, Ms. McEntire worked diligently, releasing a series of increasingly popular albums and winning the CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Award four years in a row, from 1984 to 1987. As the only country female solo act to have a No. 1 hit in four straight decades, Reba has achieved a rare pinnacle with 35 No. 1 singles and over 56 million albums sold worldwide often prompting her to be called the 'queen of country music.' The Country Music Hall of Fame and Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame member has won 15 American Music Awards, 13 ACM Awards, nine People's Choice Awards, seven CMA Awards, two GRAMMY Awards, an ACM Career Achievement Honor and the National Artistic Achievement Award from the U.S. Congress, in addition to other leadership and philanthropic accolades. With SING IT NOW: SONGS OF FAITH AND HOPE(Nash Icon Records / Capitol Christian Music Group), which topped both theBillboard Country and Christian/Gospel charts for multiple weeks and marked her thirteenth summit, Ms. McEntire won her first GMA Dove Awards forBluegrass/Country/Roots Album of the Year as well as a GRAMMY Awards nomination for Best Roots Gospel Album to be broadcast live on January 28, 2018 on CBS. Her creative and entrepreneurial endeavors have established her as a household name across music, television, film, theater and retail. Proving her business acumen, Ms. McEntire has expanded her brand to include lines with Dillard's and Justin Boots. She wrote her autobiography, Reba: My Story, in 1994, and a second book, Comfort from a Country Quilt, in 1999. Ms. McEntire is also an acclaimed actress with 11 movie credits, a lead role on Broadway and starred in her own six-season television sitcom 'Reba,' for which she received a Golden Globe nomination in 2004. 'The Horatio Alger Association stands for integrity, honesty and resilience qualities that Reba certainly exemplifies,' said Matthew Rose, president, Horatio Alger Association and 2013 Horatio Alger Award recipient. 'She has faced numerous challenges in both her early career and personal tragedies, with admirable strength and grace. Reba inspires us all with her tenacity and always upbeat attitude. Her positive outlook is contagious and she will serve as an excellent role model for our Scholars. For these reasons and more, we are proud to recognize her as a 2018 Horatio Alger Member.'< Ms. McEntire is also well-known for her charitable efforts, working with organizations such as The Salvation Army, Texoma Medical Center, Children's Medical Research, Habitat for Humanity, Outnumber Hunger and more. The Texoma Medical Center in Denison, Texas, is home to the Reba McEntire Rehabilitation Center, Reba's Ranch House, and the TMC Reba Mobile Mammography Unit. In recognition of her philanthropic efforts, Ms. McEntire has received the Salvation Army Award, the Home Depot Humanitarian Award and Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award.

'My goal at the moment is to sound like a dead Italian,' says British baritone Christopher Maltman, who stars as Don Alfonso with Broadway's Kelli O'Hara as Despina, co-conspirators against young lovers in the Met's new production of Mozart's comedy COSI FAN TUTTE. 'Or, at least, to sound like a 'live' dead Italian.'

Ragged Wing Ensemble, known throughout the Bay Area for its original, ensemble-driven productions, presents A Different Long Stretch of Earth, an original play written by Addie Ulrey for Ragged Wing's core company (and directed by Amy Sass). Inspired by her work at the intersection of arts nonprofits and social justice as well as her fickle and persistent love of the Old West, Ulrey takes us into the contemporary American West where a group of characters wrestle with the mindsets and mythologies of our collective past and explore how they shape our ability to envision the future.

Next month, the Harris Center joins Capital Public Radio in celebrating a historic moment in the history of jazz. The date was January 16, 1938 at Carnegie Hall the hallowed venue for respectable classical music. There, Benny Goodman's band played swing music for the first time, with one of the earliest racially-integrated jazz groups.

Throughout the past two decades, the musical landscape has continually merged, morphed, and matrixed, fractured in countless directions while intersecting at the most unexpected points. Electronic music underwent a renaissance in the aughts, rising out of the warehouses and blank spaces and overtaking the biggest festival fields in the world. THE CRYSTAL METHOD followed a similar trajectory since their formation in 1993. The Grammy Award-nominated, platinum-certified trailblazing duo Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland set the stage for the genre-mashing electronic sounds that fuel the current zeitgeist.