Stew and Heidi Rodewald, creators of the Tony Award-winning show Passing Strange, team with director Joanna Settle to bring you their thrilling new musical, THE TOTAL BENT, a riotous new show at the crossroads of the sacred and profane, survival and liberation, gospel and rock 'n' roll.
When a British record producer arrives in Montgomery, Alabama to hook Marty Roy, a young black musical prodigy, he launches us back into Marty's tumultuous upbringing. The son of a gospel star and self-proclaimed healer, Marty spent his childhood writing the songs that have made his charismatic father famous. But in a nation on the verge of social upheaval, with the rising heat from the street guiding his pen, Marty finds himself at odds with his spiritually forceful father as he strives to create a masterpiece that will change America- no matter the cost.
A funny, fiery, one-of-a-kind show, THE TOTAL BENT is about the passions that divide a father and son as they make their music and make their choice between salvation and selling out.
This winter and spring, Joe's Pub a?" a program and venue of The Public Theater a?" is honoring new voices in musical theater through a variety of shows. From Broadway performers in concert to new musicals presented in the concert setting, there's something for every fan of musicals happening this season. Audiences are invited to celebrate the art of musical theater in non-conventional yet intimate ways with returning artists and new faces alike at Joe's Pub.
The Muny announced today the directors, choreographers and music directors for its 2020 season, which opens June 15 with Kander and Ebb's internationally-acclaimed Chicago. Among the talented list are a mix of Muny favorites and newcomers. In addition to casting, a comprehensive list of design teams for each production will be released later this spring. Telsey + Company is the official casting partner for Muny.
Porchlight Music Theatre's 25th Anniversary Mainstage Season Continues with Duke Ellington's SOPHISTICATED LADIES, January 24 - March 6, 2020 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St. Featuring music by Duke Ellington, concept by Donald McKayle, direction and choreography by Brenda Didier and Florence Walker Harris, and music direction by Jermaine Hill.
The Grammy Museum will be hosting NOTES ON LIVING: ALL-STAR JAZZ WITH TALES BY BRIAN DOYLE May 14, 2019 as a joint benefit for WordTheatre in the Schools (WITS) and the Grammy Museum. WordTheatre's artistic director Cedering Fox will be producing and directing this evening of selected stories by award-winning author Brian Doyle, read by a star-studded cast, and accompanied by an all-star jazz band led by Starr Parodi. Cedering opened up some of her early evening time to speak to me.
Moliere in the Park, presented in partnership with the Prospect Park Alliance and the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, has announced its inaugural season.
Haven Theatre today announced the appointment of Ian Damont Martin as the company's new Artistic Director and Angela Salinas as its Managing Director. Martin, who previously served as Associate Artistic Director, succeeds Josh Sobel, who has helmed the company as AD since August 2014. Sobel, who has been accepted into the MFA Directing Program at California Institute of the Arts, will serve as Associate Artistic Director through the season's end and will remain active with Haven as an Artistic Associate thereafter. Salinas, who previously worked as General/Production Manager, succeeds Executive Director Carol Cohen, who will now serve as Haven's Board President.
Hell in a Handbag Productions launches its 2019 season with a revival of the musical that started it all: POSEIDON! An Upside Down Musical, a musical parody and a loving homage to the classic 1972 film, The Poseidon Adventure, the grandmother of all disaster films.
Due to popular demand, Haven Theatre, in association with About Face Theatre, announces one additional week of performances of is hit Midwest premiere musical THE TOTAL BENT
Hell in a Handbag Productions launches its 2019 season with a revival of the musical that started it all: POSEIDON! An Upside Down Musical, a musical parody and a loving homage to the classic 1972 film, The Poseidon Adventure, the grandmother of all disaster films. Handbag's very first show will return March 15 - April 28, 2019 at a venue befitting of an ocean liner: The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway in Chicago.
Haven Theatre, in association with About Face Theatre, presents the Midwest premiere of THE TOTAL BENT, a dynamic new rock show about fathers, sons, social upheaval and the choice between salvation and selling out.
Hell in a Handbag Productions announces casting for its revival of the musical that started it all: POSEIDON! An Upside Down Musical, a musical parody and loving homage to the classic 1972 film, The Poseidon Adventure, the grandmother of all disaster films.
Haven Theatre, in association with About Face Theatre, presents the Midwest premiere of THE TOTAL BENT, a dynamic new rock show about fathers, sons, social upheaval and the choice between salvation and selling out.
Hell in a Handbag Productions launches its 2019 season with a revival of the musical that started it all: POSEIDON! An Upside Down Musical, a musical parody and a loving homage to the classic 1972 film, The Poseidon Adventure, the grandmother of all disaster films.
Haven Theatre, in association with About Face Theatre, is pleased to announce casting for its Midwest premiere of THE TOTAL BENT, featuring text by Stew and music and lyrics by Stew and Heidi Rodewald (Passing Strange) and directed by Jeff Award-winning director Lili-Anne Brown.
Jacob G. Padron, 38, has been named the new Artistic Director of Long Wharf Theatre and will begin his role February 1, 2019.
Griffin Theatre Company Artistic Director William Massolia today announced the addition of nine new ensemble members: Isa Arciniegas, Larry Baldacci, Peter Byrne, Jermaine Hill, Nicole Laurenzi, Ryan McBride, Rochelle Therrien, Jason VonRohn and Scott Weinstein. Additionally, Griffin is pleased to add six new artistic associates: Will Kiley, Dorothy Milne, Mechelle Moe, Alexander Ridgers, Rachel Sypniewski and Brandon Wardell.
Composer Heidi Rodewald, known for her collaborations with Stew on Passing Strange and The Total Bent, strikes out on her own in The Good Swimmer, a "pop requiem" that addresses issues of war, heroism, sacrifice, loss, and idealism. The moody, multi-layered song-cycle for guitar, bass, piano, trumpet, woodwinds, strings, drums, and vocals is performed by a nine-piece band led by singer David Driver. Set in the early days of the Vietnam War among a group of lifeguards, Donna Di Novelli's lyrics are a radical recontextualization of found texts, including a defunct lifesaving manual. A cast of young singers in their teens and early 20s at the start of their professional careers-Jeremy Weiss, Sophia Byrd, Naseer Sleets, Joey LaPlante, Luke Bob Robinson, Papa Holt, and Kennedy Kanagawa-vividly conveys the sense of young people being thrust into a historical moment they have no control of. Their shattering experience brings the audience to a galvanizing realization: we truly honor our fallen soldiers only when we defy the political drumbeat of a senseless war.
The Marie-Josee Kravis Prize for New Music at the New York Philharmonic, which recognizes a composer for extraordinary artistic endeavor in the field of new music, has been awarded to South Korean composer Unsuk Chin. One of the world's largest new-music prizes, the Kravis Prize includes $200,000 and a commission to write a work for the New York Philharmonic. Ms. Chin's new orchestral work will receive its World Premiere by the Philharmonic in a future season. Funding for the Kravis Prize comes from a $10 million gift to the New York Philharmonic in 2009 by Henry R. Kravis in honor of his wife, Marie-Josee, for whom the Prize is named. Past Prize winners include Henri Dutilleux, Per Norgard, and Louis Andriessen.
Denver-based alt-folk collective Alright Alright – driven by the powerhouse husband-and-wife songwriting team of Seth and China Kent – is set to release its debut full-length album, Nearby, on October 5, 2018 via Hooves and Sugar Record Co. The seductively atmospheric record was produced by the duo with Eric Dawson Tate and Ben Wysocki, mixed by Eric Dawson Tate, and mastered by Alan Douches of West West Side Music.
Theatre NOVA, Ann Arbor's professional theatre with an exclusive focus on new plays and playwrights, presents the Michigan premiere of "The Totalitarians" by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb.
Star of stage and screen, Jonah Platt has signed on to play Country Songwriter Hall of Famer, Dean Dillon, in the upcoming musical Tennessee Whiskey The Musical: The Story of Dean Dillon, written by Dewey Moss featuring the songs of Mr. Dillon.
Theatre NOVA, Ann Arbor's professional theatre with an exclusive focus on new plays and playwrights, presents the Michigan premiere of "The Totalitarians" by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb.
STEW & THE NEGRO PROBLEM - the powerhouse indie rock band fronted by longtime collaborators Stew and Heidi Rodewald - will perform a one-night-only concert at THE TOTAL BENT/NATIVE SONG DOUBLE RECORD RELEASE PARTY, featuring selections from the duo's two most recent recordings, on Monday, June 18 at Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker St.) in Manhattan. Doors open at 7 pm for the concert beginning at 8 pm.
The entertainment community is coming together for Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) and its sixth biennial roadblock televised fundraising special, supporting urgently needed research and new treatments for cancer.
Karamu House, the oldest multicultural performing arts center in the country, closes it's 102nd consecutive season with the Tony Award-winning musical Passing Strange. Karamu House President and CEO, Tony F. Sias notes, 'this is a piece that is important and relevant, and speaks to and engages our millennial and 'genZ' generations.' With book and lyrics written by Tony Award-winning singer-songwriter Stew, and music composed by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, the production opened on May 10 and will run through June 3, 2018 in Karamu's Arena Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio.
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