The Revisionist 2016 - Articles Page 1.8

West Side Story is officially in previews on Broadway! The new production is directed by Tony Award winner Ivo van Hove; and for the first time ever in the United States, will feature all-new choreography by the internationally acclaimed Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. West Side Story will begin previews on December 10, 2019 and open February 6th, 2020 at the Broadway Theatre.

At first glance, the musical stage adaptation of ANASTASIA looks and feels like an appropriately grand, luxe affaira?"from its gorgeous costumes designed to the lush soundscapes created by the orchestra and the vocal talents that have been assembled for this tour. But the undeniable wow factor of the show is, of course, the stunning visual trifecta of its scenic design working in keen harmony with dazzling projections and stage lighting. The overall technical prowess of this stage musical is just jaw-droppinga?"and, I must say, is quite an adequate enough reason to experience the show. The adaptation's execution of the story itself, however, suffers slightly from its well-meaning intentionsa?"revealing a stage show that feels stilted by its own drama, and with an unsure footing of what it truly wants to be.

Thirty-five Adelaide exclusives including five world-first performances and 22 Australian premieres are among 60 events being held as part of Adelaide Festival Centre's OzAsia Festival 2019 a?" Australia's leading contemporary arts festival engaging with Asia.

Litfest is excited to welcome headliner Malcolm Gladwell to the Winspear Centre for Music on October 2 as part of his 2019 Canadian tour. The event is co-presented with the Edmonton Community Foundation, and will preview LitFest 2019, happening October 17-27 in downtown Edmonton. 

Hamilton is a show whose impact extended well beyond the Great White Way and into the larger culture almost immediately; you have to have literally lived under a rock to have escaped awareness of this revisionist take on early United States history. In 2016, Hamilton received a record-setting 16 Tony nominations, won 11, including Best Musical, and was also the recipient of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

PlayGround has announced the lineup for its twenty-third annual ten-minute play showcase, BEST OF PLAYGROUND 23. The fully-produced evening-length program of short plays by Linda Amayo-Hassan, Tom Bruett, Lauren Gorski, Sam Hurwitt, Molly Olis Krost, Alanna McFall, and Nic A. Sommerfeld were drawn from more than 170 submissions and 36 ten-minute plays developed at this season's Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series at Berkeley Rep and will kick off the 25th Season's PlayGround Festival of New Works, May 9-26, 2019, at Potrero Stage. For more information and tickets, visit http://playground-sf.org/bestof.

Vilna, a new play by Ira Fuchs directed by Joseph Discher, will begin its limited Off-Broadway World Premiere engagement at the Theatre at St. Clement's (423 West 46th Street, between Ninth & Tenth Avenues) on Monday March 11th. Opening Night is set for Wednesday March 20th (7pm). This limited Off-Broadway engagement continues through Sunday April 14th only.

As with each passing season, 2018 proved to be another exceptional year for theater not only in Souther California in general but also in Orange County---my home base. This year, the OC finally welcomed the debut of what has become this century's most awarded and most renowned stage musical ever about the Founding Father etched regally on the 10 dollar bill. Meanwhile, So. Cal. enjoyed a powerful surge of new stage works that explored Asian-American experiences, a positive step forward in the presentation of diverse voices we seldom hear from on the stage. A pair of touring musicals---both opening in the O.C. in early 2019---made such an impact in their Los Angeles engagements for me personally that I had to include them in my list, even though I have not 'officially' reviewed the productions for print. With that said, here is my 'Best of 2018' from Orange County and adjacent locales nearby---a mixture of outstanding shows and brilliant performances that made a lasting, memorable imprint in my theatergoing experience this year.

Comics Uniting Nations, Greenpoint Innovations, Hypokrit Theatre Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and UNICEF are collaborating to present THE POINT: a Climate Week NYC (CWNYC) 2018 affiliate event - a series of artistic activations that will use a unique blend of the arts to inspire and inform about climate change and the value of forests, both locally and globally.

Town Hall Theatre 'Lost & Found' Season 2018/19 opens with  the Bay Area Premiere of THE REVOLUTIONISTS, a bold and irreverent new  comedy by Lauren Gunderson.  THE REVOLUTIONISTS will have 12 performances, including two previews, September 27 through October 20, 2018, at Town Hall Theatre Company, 3535 School Street, in Lafayette, CA.  Tickets are $18 - $30, and are available through the Box Office at (925) 283-1557 or online at www.TownHallTheatre.com. 

The French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF), New York's premier French cultural institution, today announced Crossing The Line Festival 2018, featuring leading international artists in a wide-ranging program of events, performances, and exhibitions from September 18 to October 13, 2018. Tickets are now available at crossingthelinefestival.org.

RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER (Daniella Topol, Artistic Director; Annie Middleton, Managing Director) is proud to announce that performances of Arthur Laurents's THE ENCLAVE begin tonight, April 24, 2018. THE ENCLAVE is presented with the support of the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation, which has awarded The Arthur Laurents Centennial Grant to MIDDLE VOICE, the apprentice company at Rattlestick.. Directed by Victor Cervantes Jr. (The Parlour), THE ENCLAVE will play an extremely limited run at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (224 Waverly Place) from April 24, 2018 through April 28, 2018.

RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER (Daniella Topol, Artistic Director; Annie Middleton, Managing Director) is proud to announce that their annual F*CK!NG GOOD PLAYS FESTIVAL will take place May 7 through May 12 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. The F*CK!NG GOOD PLAYS FESTIVAL is a long-standing tradition at Rattlestick of doing readings of bold new works from Rattlestick Alumni Writers and from Rattlestick's apprentice company, Middle Voice; as well as welcome new writers to Rattlestick for the first time.  On the final day of the F*CK!NG GOOD PLAYS FESTIVAL, Rattlestick will present TheaterJam, a day-long event featuring over 20 writers.

A new season of The History of the World in 100 Performances with Adam Gopnik begins on Monday, April 30, with a look at the 1956 original Broadway premiere of My Fair Lady. The season continues with explorations of the scandalous 1913 premiere of The Rite of Spring and the evolution of Hamilton. With discussion led by New Yorker essayist and best-selling author Adam Gopnik, these free events include live performance alongside audio and video clips as each panel explores these landmark moments in the performing arts. 

RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER is proud to announce that their annual F*CK!NG GOOD PLAYS FESTIVAL will take place May 7 through May 12 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

A new season of The History of the World in 100 Performances with Adam Gopnik begins on Monday, April 30, with a look at the 1956 original Broadway premiere of My Fair Lady. The season continues with explorations of the scandalous 1913 premiere of The Rite of Spring and the evolution of Hamilton. With discussion led by New Yorker essayist and best-selling author Adam Gopnik, these free events include live performance alongside audio and video clips as each panel explores these landmark moments in the performing arts. 

Stages Repertory Theatre, in partnership with The Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center ('the J'), presents the regional premiere of playwright and Academy Award-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg's original drama The Revisionist, running April 10-22, 2018. All performances of The Revisionist will take place at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center.

RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER (Daniella Topol, Artistic Director; Annie Middleton, Managing Director) is proud to announce that the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation has awarded The Arthur Laurents Centennial Grant to MIDDLE VOICE, the apprentice company at Rattlestick, to revive Arthur Laurents's THE ENCLAVE. Directed by Victor Cervantes Jr. (The Parlour), THE ENCLAVE will play an extremely limited run at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (224 Waverly Place) from April 24, 2018 through April 28, 2018.

For his first solo museum show in the United States, artist Nick Mauss (b. 1980) will present Transmissions, an exhibition conceived for the Whitney, which explores the reciprocal relationship of modernist ballet and the avant-garde in New York from the 1930s through '50s. The exhibition-which features daily dance performances in the Whitney's eighth-floor Hurst Family Galleries-goes on view March 16.

Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev go head-to-head in Blind Date, a new play by Rogelio Martinez directed by Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls. Today, Falls announced his cast for the world-premiere production, which features as characters some of the figures who shaped the political landscapes of the 1980s and beyond.

Page Seventy-Three Productions (Page 73) presents the world premiere of TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY, a new play by Susan Soon He Stanton.

From Friday, February 2 through Sunday, February 18, BAMcin matek presents Fight the Power: Black Superheroes on Film.

In a new op-ed article appearing in The New York Times, former TODAY show host Billy Bush reaffirms comments made by Donald Trump in the now infamous 2005 ACCESS HOLLYWOOD video tape. The article comes one day before Bush is set to appear on tonight's LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT.

Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev go head-to-head in Blind Date, a new play by Rogelio Martinez directed by Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls. Today, Falls announced his cast for the world-premiere production, which features as characters some of the figures who shaped the political landscapes of the 1980s and beyond.

Broadway's longest running musical, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has a sequel and this week it is in Orlando. With music written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, one would hope that the mysteries from the original finally resolve themselves. With every fiber of my being, I wanted to like this show; however, this production left me shaking my head.