The Most Deserving Revival 2014 - Articles Page 5

I'm all for efforts to create new ensemble musicals in tune with our times. RIDE THE CYCLONE was composed in 2008 by Canadian artists Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond, played at the Toronto Fringe Festival, and has bumped across Canada and the US (including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Seattle) since then, collecting a fan club as it goes. Funny and tuneful, it has a dark but intriguing premise, a theatrically spooky setting, and some strong musical moments. I just wish it traded less on tired stereotypes. Warning: spoilers ahead.

Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, Artistic Producer) today announced the second year of The Eric H. Weinberger Award for Emerging Librettists, a juried cash and production grant to be given annually to support the early work and career of a deserving musical theatre librettist. The Award commemorates the life and work of playwright/librettist Eric H. Weinberger (1950-2017), who was a Drama Desk Award nominee for Best Book of a Musical (Wanda's World, and the playwright/librettist of Class Mothers '68, that earned Pricilla Lopez a Drama Desk Award nomination.

Norwegian Cruise Line, the innovator in global cruise travel, announced today on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” that GRAMMY Award-winning artist and superstar Kelly Clarkson will serve as the godmother to its newest ship, Norwegian Encore, debuting in Miami in November.

Producers John Frost, Craig Donnell, Warner Bros Theatre Ventures, Langley Park Productions and Neal Street Productions are delighted to announce that Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is partnering with My Room to bring hope, strength and joy to children and their families facing life-threatening cancers.

Reel Artistry, Inc., New York City's premier video production company for celebrities, artists and creative brands, has partnered with Broadway Buzz to announce the REEL DEAL Competition for performers in New York City. 

In a small black box theatre in Southlake, Texas, a group of young people are focusing intently as a choreographer gives instructions. The dancers are clearly enjoying themselves.

ASCAP Award-winning writer/producer Chip Deffaa's latest CD, 'The Irving Berlin Duets Album'--featuring  such  Broadway notables as Stephen Bogardus ('Bright Star'), Jon Peterson ('Cabaret'), Seth Sikes ('The Band's Visit'), Giuseppe Bausilio  ('Hamilton'), and more--is out now. 

The Country Music Association has announced the final nominees for a?oeThe 53rd Annual CMA Awards,a?? as Maren Morris tops the list of finalists with six nominations. Brothers Osborne receives four nominations, the second most nominations this year, while 11 garner three nominations eacha?"Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Scott Hendricks, Dann Huff, Greg Kurstin, Kacey Musgraves, Blake Shelton, Chris Stapleton and Carrie Underwood. For the night's highest honor, reigning Entertainer of the Year Keith Urban is nominated again in the category alongside Garth Brooks, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton and Underwood. 

ASCAP Award-winning writer/producer Chip Deffaa's new CD, 'The Irving Berlin Duets Album'--being released August 31st--will features such  Broadway notables as Stephen Bogardus ('Bright Star'), Jon Peterson ('Cabaret'), Seth Sikes ('The Band's Visit'), Giuseppe Bausilio  ('Hamilton'), and more.  The album, an outgrowth of shows  celebrating Berlin that Deffaa has been presenting  at the venerable 13th Street Theater, features 29  Irving Berlin duets--a mix of  famed numbers, rarities, and rediscoveries--including some never-before-recorded material.  The album--which will be available  from Amazon, CDBaby, ITunes, Footlight Records etc. on August 31st--may be pre-ordered, as either a physical CD or a digital download, here:  https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/chipdeffaasirvingberlind.  

TOOTSIE, a stage adaptation of the well-know 1982 Dustin Hoffman vehicle, missed its opportunity to engage in poignant conversations on gender, feminism, and trans identities. Instead, David Yazbek's lyrics and music stay stuck in the bygone era of the early 1980s, leaning heavily on the tired and inherently transphobic a?oeman in a dressa?? gag and a rather generic sounding Broadway score rooted firmly in the most rudimentary basics of musical writing.

Directed by Richard Romagnoli and presented by PTP/NYC for a run at Atlantic Stage 2, 'Havel: the Passion of Thought' has been delighting audiences since its July 9th start; it really is quite the addition to the group's thirty-third season. In a time when artists were silenced in Czechoslovakia because of their efforts to bring attention to human suffering and value. They were arrested, their free speech squandered and rights evoked in the very fashion against which they protested. The ingenious idea to place Havel's 'Vanek Plays' in the center of Pinter's 'The New World Order' and Beckett's 'Catastrophe' does wonders to portray a political agenda that becomes more pronounced as humor gives way to the true nature of the matter at hand.

Bursting at the seams with professionalism, passion and unbridled provocation, KINKY BOOTS at the Fugard Theatre has welcomed full audiences since its debut over a month ago and, from just 5 minutes into the show, it's easy to see why. The Harvey FiersteinCyndi Lauper hybrid production has garnered multiple awards in its prime, and this original South African rendition deserves equal accolades.

The Country Music Association's acclaimed CMA Songwriters Series Presented by   U.S. Bank has announced a performance in Phoenix at Mesa Arts Center's Piper Repertory Theater Wednesday, Aug. 21 featuring Lauren Alaina, Ingrid Andress, Marti Lynn Dodson and Mickey Guyton. The series hosts an intimate round of performances with some of Country Music's top songwriters taking turns sharing the stories behind their hit songs and performing them as originally written. Tickets for the performance start at $23 plus service fees and go on sale Friday, July 19 at 12:00 PM/CT through Mesa Arts Center. $1 of each ticket sold will benefit the CMA Foundation, CMA's philanthropic arm, which is committed to improving and sustaining high quality music education programs across the United States. 

The ongoing alternate-history podcast BRASS premieres its third season this month. Recorded in Seattle, Washington and featuring a veteran cast of Pacific Northwest talent, the series follows the adventures of a quartet of Victorian science geniuses and their ongoing battle against a criminal mastermind known only as the Crime Minister.

The Country Music Association's acclaimed CMA Songwriters Series Presented by U.S. Bank has announced a performance in Charlotte at the McGlohon Theater at Spirit Square Wednesday, Aug. 7 featuring Russell Dickerson, Lindsay Ell, Jordan Reynolds and Frank Rogers. The series hosts an intimate round of performances with some of Country Music's top songwriting talent taking turns sharing the stories behind their hit songs and performing them as originally written. Tickets for the performance start at $15 plus service fees and go on sale Friday, July 12 at 10:00 AMET at Blumenthal Performing Arts. $1 of each ticket sold will benefit the CMA Foundation, CMA's philanthropic arm, which is committed to improving and sustaining high quality music education programs across the United States. 

The Paley Center for Media today announced that it will host the New York premiere of the Disney Channel Original Movie Descendants 3. Part of the PaleyLive Summer Season, the premiere will take place on Tuesday, July 30 at 5:30 pm and will be immediately followed by a discussion with members of the cast and creative team.

Carrie Underwood emerged as the night's biggest winner with two trophies at tonight's “2019 CMT Music Awards,” continuing her streak as the most awarded artist in CMT history. Winning two awards tonight for “Female Video” for “Love Wins” and “Video of the Year” for “Cry Pretty,” her overall CMT Music Awards tally now consists of 20 career wins.

HISTORY premieres two new two-hour documentaries 'Secrets In The Sky: The Untold Story of Skunk Works' on Sunday, June 9 at 9PM ET/PT and 'Game Changers: Inside the Video Game Wars' on Sunday, June 16 at 9PM ET/PT as part of its premium documentary strand HISTORY Films, which spotlights significant and gripping historical events deserving to be told.

'Descendants 3,' the third movie in Disney's global smash franchise, is set to premiere on FRIDAY, AUG. 2 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EDT), on Disney Channel and DisneyNOW.

The National Comedy Center was formally designated as the nation's official cultural institution dedicated to the art form of comedy on Tuesday, March 12. In a tremendous bi-partisan show of support, both the Senate and House of Representatives passed this bill in February, and the president signed it into law on Tuesday, recognizing the Center as the "Official National Comedy Center of the United States."

The Tony Award winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) will launch its 84th year and Bill Rauch's final season as artistic director with preview performances beginning on March 1. The 2019 season officially kicks off Friday night, March 8, in the Angus Bowmer Theatre with Shakespeare's As You Like It (director, Rosa Joshi). On Saturday afternoon, Cambodian Rock Band (director, Chay Yew) opens in the Thomas Theatre, and Hairspray The Broadway Musical (director, Christopher Liam Moore) opens that evening in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. On Sunday afternoon, the drama by Southern Oregon based playwright Octavio Solis, Mother Road (director, Bill Rauch), will see its world premiere in the Angus Bowmer Theatre.

'Shame 2.0' is a workshop with tremendous potential and interesting stories to tell. It's a complicated show about a complicated issue, but it also brings out universal themes that transcend race, nationality, and political ideologies. It's certainly worth seeing, and, with time, will sharpen into a powerful piece of art.

TLC's SAY YES TO THE PROM initiative is back for the eighth consecutive year and kicking off the 2019 prom season alongside returning retail partner Macy's to help 1,000 underserved and deserving students across the country find the perfect prom look. Travelling to five different cities, SAY YES TO THE PROM will create the ultimate prom “shopping” experience, complete with one-on-one style sessions with Monte Durham of TLC's SAY YES TO THE DRESS: ATLANTA to help the students find the perfect dress, tuxedo and accessories.

Emmy®Award-winning actress Melissa McCarthy will receive this year's Distinguished Artisan Award at the 6th Annual  Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Awards (MUAHS, IATSE Local 706) celebrating her prolific acting career and the plethora of characters she embraces. McCarthy is the first female artist to receive this award. The black-tie awards gala, honoring both make-up artists and hair stylists outstanding achievements in motion pictures, television, commercials and live theater, returns to the NOVO in L.A. Live on Saturday, February 16, 2019.  The announcement was made today by Sue Cabral-Ebert, President of IATSE Local 706.