Some Men 2007 - Articles Page 13

n August 26 and 27, Nikki Blonsky--the Golden Globe-nominated star of the 2007 hit movie musical HAIRSPRAY--will join Tony nominee Lainie Kazan in the Atlantic City premiere of the hit off-Broadway smash MY BIG GAY ITALIAN WEDDING at the Hilton Hotel Casino Resort. Before the show premieres, NNikki once again sat down for an exclusive chat with BroadwayWorld's Michael Lawrence Quintos about her latest project and why she's having 'one heckuva gay summer.'

Diamond selling- multiplatinum Grammy winning group, Boyz II Men will celebrate 20 hit making years with their brand new album Twenty. The double CD album set will contain 10 brand new songs plus 10 newly recorded and updated versions of Boyz II Men classics, including 'End Of The Road,' 'I'll Make Love To You,' and 'Bended Knee,' amongst others that spawned the birth of one of the most successful singing groups of all time.

Singer/actress Nikki Blonsky truly embodies that notion of overnight success. Plucked from obscurity at age 17, then-newcomer Blonsky beat out hundreds of young girls from a nationwide open casting call to land the coveted lead role in the big-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical HAIRSPRAY. On July 15-16, she will be slipping back into familiar territory as she joins MEN ALIVE: The Orange County Gay Men's Chorus for their 10th Anniversary Concert 'GREASY HAIRSPRAY' at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

Switzerland's acclaimed Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve returns to Jacob's Pillow for the first time since its 2007 U.S. debut, June 22-26 in the Ted Shawn Theatre.

Who Wants Cake? and The Ringwald Theatre are proud to announce the return of its wildly popular Gay Play Series (GPS). Last year's inaugural outing was attended by hundreds of people over a single weekend. This year the festival will run over 10 days with additional programming and added festivities from June 17th through June 27th once again at The Ringwald Theatre in downtown Ferndale.

Switzerland's acclaimed Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve returns to Jacob's Pillow for the first time since its 2007 U.S. debut, June 22-26 in the Ted Shawn Theatre.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced that DAVID WILSON BARNES (Second Stage's hit Becky Shaw), JUSTIN BARTHA (The Hangover, Broadway's Lend Me a Tenor), ANNA CAMP (Second Stage's The Scene, 'True Blood'), and KRYSTEN RITTER (Confessions of a Shopaholic, Second Stage's All This Intimacy) will appear in the world premiere comedy, ALL NEW PEOPLE, written by ZACH BRAFF and directed by PETER DuBOIS. ALL NEW PEOPLE will begin previews on Tuesday, June 28 and officially open on Monday, July 25 at 7:00pm at Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theatre (305 West 43rd street). For tickets or more information, please visit www.2ST.com.

Who Wants Cake? and The Ringwald Theatre are proud to announce the return of its wildly popular Gay Play Series (GPS). Last year's inaugural outing was attended by hundreds of people over a single weekend. This year the festival will run over 10 days with additional programming and added festivities from June 17th through June 27th once again at The Ringwald Theatre in downtown Ferndale.

New Repertory Theatre, in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, will conclude its 27th Season with the Tony Award-winning musical Passing Strange. Directed by Kate Warner, with music direction by Todd C. Gordon, and choreography by Kelli Edwards, Passing Strange begins performances on May 1 and runs through May 22, 2011.

Executive Producer Lou Spisto today announced that The Old Globe will produce the World Premieres of four new plays and musicals in its 2011-12 Winter Season. The season will feature the World Premiere musicals Some Lovers by music legend Burt Bacharach and Tony Award winner Steven Sater and Nobody Loves You by Gaby Alter and Itamar Moses, as well as the West Coast Premiere of John Kander and Fred Ebb's The Scottsboro Boys, recently nominated for 12 Tony Awards including Best Musical, directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman. The two plays receiving World Premiere productions are Somewhere by Globe Playwright-in-Residence Matthew Lopez and The Recommendation by Jonathan Caren. The new season also includes revivals of Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show and the Eugene O'Neill classic Anna Christie directed by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner David Auburn. Special events include the World Premiere of Odyssey by Todd Almond, a music theater event conceived and directed by Lear deBessonet celebrating the Globe's 75th Anniversary, The Old Globe/University of San Diego Graduate Theatre Program production of Twelfth Night and Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, which returns for its 14th consecutive year.

New Repertory Theatre, in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, will conclude its 27th Season with the Tony Award-winning musical Passing Strange. Directed by Kate Warner, with music direction by Todd C. Gordon, and choreography by Kelli Edwards, Passing Strange begins performances on May 1 and runs through May 22, 2011.

Shakespeare on the Sound, Connecticut's premier outdoor summer Shakespeare theater company, today announced complete casting for their upcoming production of Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing, under the direction of Joanna Settle.

Shakespeare on the Sound, Connecticut's premier outdoor summer Shakespeare theater company, today announced complete casting for their upcoming production of Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing, under the direction of Joanna Settle.

The Playwrights Horizons World Premiere production of GO BACK TO WHERE YOU ARE, a new play by five-time Obie Award winner David Greenspan (author/performer of She Stoops to Comedy, performer in The Wax and director of Kate's Diary, all at PH; Coraline; Some Men; The Argument; The Myopia; The Boys in the Band) is set to open Tuesday, April 12 at 7:30 PM at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater

Today we lost one of the greats: the gentle giant of directors, Sidney Lumet. What a resume! Just to pick seven of perhaps the best known of the bunch, the bunch in question being over 100 titles strong: 12 ANGRY MEN, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, SERPICO, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, NETWORK and BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD - the films spanning fifty years from MEN in 1957 and DEVIL in 2007 - it is clear to see why Lumet was one of the most cherished and celebrated directors in Hollywood, especially known for his tough, gritty New York stories and his pristine stage-to-screen transfers. For an excellent example of the latter (in addition to LONG DAY'S JOURNEY and the others) check out DEATHTRAP - based on Ira Levin's play, the longest-running thriller in Broadway history - featuring Michael Caine in one of his best roles and Christopher Reeve and Dyan Cannon in their finest performances on film. For an example of the former genre, look no further than NETWORK, containing one of the strongest screenplays ever penned, from the fiery and ferocious pen of Paddy Cheyefsky, and Faye Dunaway in her Oscar-winning performance for all the ages. As far as theatrical screenplays on screen, Lumet would be hard-pressed to even come close to the power, prescience and transformative brilliance at the core of the conceit of that film - yet he did just that; with his final, 2007 film no less. I am speaking, of course, of the underrated and riveting BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, with Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris. Taking an original screenplay that could just as well have been written for the stage - shades of 12 ANGRY MEN, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, NETWORK and SERPICO, certainly - Lumet made a bristling, biting brilliant work of staggering craft and ingenuity - all with verve, energy and drive of a man a quarter of his age at the time (80). His films were classics in his own time and, now, in his passing, they are just as timeless - if not more so. With each passing year, new layers of truth, beauty, sadness and soulfulness can be found in the countless frames in the innumerable unforgettable scenes in his many masterpieces.

The Senegalese filmmakers Ousmane Sembène (1923-2007) and Djibril Diop Mambéty (1945-1998) pioneered cinematic creativity in Africa. Among the many filmmakers they inspired is Moussa Sene Absa (b. 1958), a protégé and former assistant to Mambéty.

Making its Midwest premiere in the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill W. and Dr. Bob is an inspirational, gripping and timely story about the men and their wives whose relationships pioneered the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous and the creation of Al-Anon.

In her second commission for the Geffen Playhouse, Jane Anderson combines the two oldest professions: theater and prostitution. The Escort follows the relationship between Charlotte, a high-class call girl played by Maggie Siff (Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy) and Rhona, her upper West side female gynecologist, played by Polly Draper (thirtysomething, Broadway's Closer). James Eckhouse (CTG's The Goat, Beverly Hills 90210) doubles as Rhona's self-righteous liberal ex-husband and one of Charlotte's johns, and LAtheater newcomer Gabriel Sunday (My Suicide, Taking Woodstock) doubles as Rhona's manipulative teenage son and a seductive male escort. Helmed by Lisa Peterson, The Escort opens at the Geffen Playhouse on April 6 and runs through May 8. "The last play I wrote for the Geffen was about cancer, fire, suicide and death; so I thought I'd give us all a break this time and write about sex," said playwright Jane Anderson. "Audiences shouldn't expect from me some bawdy farce filled with a lot of slamming of bedroom doors, but what I hope to do is to give them a great roller coaster ride where they swing between asking 'why not?' to saying 'enough is enough is enough.' The Escort is the Geffen Playhouse's second commission from Emmy Award winning playwright Jane Anderson. Her first, The Quality of Life, premiered in the Audrey Skirball Theater at the Geffen Playhouse in 2007 and was honored with numerous awards including both an LADCC and Ovation Award for Best New Play before moving on to subsequent productions around the country. Opening night festivities for The Escort, which are sponsored by Los Angeles magazine, will be celebrated at Napa Valley Grille with Chef Joseph Gillard's seasonal specialties, complete with wine by Malibu Family Wines and a specialty drink courtesy of Krol Vodka. Other festivities during the run of The Escort include the theater's special Signature Series options for no additional cost. Special evenings include an intellectual, thought-provoking post show Q&A at Talk Back Tuesdays; a scintillating, one-of-a kind after-party at Girls Night Out; a cultural happy hour with Lounge Fridays and complimentary wine tastings during Wine Down Sundays. For more information, please view www.geffenplayhouse.com/signatureseries.

New Repertory Theatre, in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, will conclude its 27th Season with the Tony Award-winning musical Passing Strange. Directed by Kate Warner, with music direction by Todd C. Gordon, and choreography by Kelli Edwards, Passing Strange begins performances on May 1 and runs through May 22, 2011.

Broadway Playwright Terrence McNally and SpeakEasy Stage Company Founder and Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault will be honored at SpeakEasy Stage Company's 20th Anniversary Gala on Monday, April 4th, 2011, from 6-9PM at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel.

Making its Midwest premiere in the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill W. and Dr. Bob is an inspirational, gripping and timely story about the men and their wives whose relationships pioneered the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous and the creation of Al-Anon.

The Senegalese filmmakers Ousmane Sembène (1923-2007) and Djibril Diop Mambéty (1945-1998) pioneered cinematic creativity in Africa. Among the many filmmakers they inspired is Moussa Sene Absa (b. 1958), a protégé and former assistant to Mambéty.

Broadway Playwright Terrence McNally and SpeakEasy Stage Company Founder and Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault will be honored at SpeakEasy Stage Company's 20th Anniversary Gala on Monday, April 4th, 2011, from 6-9PM at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel.

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris and Simon Jones, Co-Artistic Directors), the critically-acclaimed company "dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit," announces complete casting for Three Men on a Horse, by John Cecil Holm & George Abbott, the final production of the company's 2010/11 season.

Years before Coppola's Godfather enthralled a nation and decades before "Sopranos" and "Boardwalk Empire" fed viewers' insatiable appetites for serial gangster melodrama, the yakuza (Japanese mafia) were mainstays of the Japanese film industry.