The Thin 2019 - Articles Page 16

SCHOOL OF ROCK - THE MUSICAL is bursting with kids, all of them bursting with talent. Based on the 2003 movie starring Jack Black, the stage version is the brainchild of Andrew Lloyd Webber, a guy who knows a thing or two about creating successful musicals. Nominated for four 2016 Tony Awards, the show ran for more than three years on Broadway, a little over a year in London, and the national tour has been on the road since September, 2017. It's a feel good musical with a happy ending, something to lighten up the winter doldrums.

When 12 people live in a converted warehouse in North London, what could possibly go wrong? The Worst Little Warehouse in London is an off-the-wall comedy cabaret, starring every housemate you've ever lived with. The show enjoyed sell-out success and critical acclaim at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe.

Crafting a musical theater hit is a lot like alchemy - the ancient study focused primarily on creating gold from baser elements - and oftentimes no matter the ingredients, directors never quite achieve the outcome for which they strive. But in the case of director/choreographer Everett Tarlton's production of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate (now onstage at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre through March 7), he has crafted something so special that it essentially defines the theatrical gold standard.

When 12 people live in a converted warehouse in North London, what could possibly go wrong? The Worst Little Warehouse in London is an off-the-wall comedy cabaret, starring every housemate you've ever lived with. The show enjoyed sell-out success and critical acclaim at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe and is heading to Adelaide for the 2019 Fringe.

When 12 people live in a converted warehouse in North London, what could possibly go wrong? The Worst Little Warehouse in London is an off-the-wall comedy cabaret, starring every housemate you've ever lived with. The show enjoyed sell-out success and critical acclaim at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe.

Heavy Pettin' first stirred into action when vocalist Hamie, guitarists Gordon Bonnar and Punky Mendoza, drummer Gary Moat and bassist Brian Waugh first burst out of Glasgow in 1981. They were vibrant, priapic, anthemic and focused. As they showed on a three-track demo, and on the subsequent debut single for independent label Neat ('Roll The Dice'/'Love Xs Love'), they were more than mere Def Leppard slaves. In fact, the Pettin' had an international sound that owed something to AC/DC, UFO, Thin Lizzy and Foreigner, but also had its own raging momentum.

PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES is a Tony nominated 1981 musical written by the performance group of the same name. The group, Pump Boys and Dinettes, consisted of John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann. The members also jointly directed and starred in the original Broadway production. The show is basically a series of standalone songs rather than a conventional story tied together with music. The book for this musical is very thin and really only exists to get to the next song. Each song represents some element of small-town life: the sacredness of fishing, the fun of owning a pair of "Drinkin Shoes," and other assorted blue collar tales including growing up with with their grandma, whom they called Mamaw. The company tosses off 21 short-form songs with performances that harken back to simpler, more straight forward times with good natured knee-slapping, song, dance and humor. They shatter the fourth wall by talking directly to the audience and eventually coming right out into it and the end result is a refreshing blast from the past.

The Crossing and Donald Nally have won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for their recording of Lansing McLoskey's Zealot Canticles. The award was presented yesterday, February 10, 2019, at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. This marks the Philadelphia new-music choir's second consecutive Grammy in the category, previously winning the 2018 Grammy for Gavin Bryars' The Fifth Century with PRISM Saxophone Quartet on ECM. The Crossing's recording of Thomas Lloyd's Bonhoeffer (Albany 2016) was nominated for the 2017 Grammy in the same category.

After the surprise announcement that legendary musician PETER MURPHY would be doing a special tribute performing songs by the late great Thin White Duke, DAVID BOWIE, tickets for the March 26, 2019 show at San Francisco's The Chapel sold out in just THREE HOURS!

Today, Guitar World premieres the debut video from Memoirs of an Uprising, the self-produced new album from singer/songwriter/guitarist,  Damon Johnson. The clip for the single “Shivering Shivering” was directed by Chris Hopkins and shot on location in Nashville. Double Dragon Records will release the full album Memoirs of an Uprising on March 8, 2019. A  limited run of Red Vinyl pressings of the album can be ordered here.  

Mosaic Theater Company of DC is proud to announce the second installment in its annual Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival, the world premiere workshop production of Shame 2.0 (With Comments From The Populace). Previews begin on January 30, 2019 with a press opening today, February 7, 2019 at 7:30pm in the Lang Theatre at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. The 19 performance run will be informed by a stripped down aesthetic and an emphasis on script updates through the lengthier than usual preview period and the evolving nature of the documentary-based rehearsal process.

On February 5, 2019, The Tucson Desert Song Festival and the University of Arizona (UA) presented a recital of Spanish language art songs by soprano Ana Maria Martinez and pianist Craig Terry in Crowder Hall. The songs, from Spain, Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico were appropriate to the Puerto Rican soprano and to the Tucson public, which comes from various Spanish-speaking areas.

Memory. With the first downbeat I was instantly transported to 1982 and the mezzanine of the New York's famed Winter Garden Theatre were the new Broadway production of CATS would settle in a for a record breaking 18 years. The iconic CATS theme wafted from it's synthesizers accompanied by lasers and I knew I was in for something wildly different. Almost 37 years later that same music evokes excitement and nostalgia, with a hint of 'on no, not this again.' A glimmering new National tour began a few weeks ago after it's most recent revival on Broadway and Buffalo audiences were treated to a visual feast last night as the show settled in for it's one week run.

L.A. Theatre Works will bring its signature radio-theater hybrid style to Morristown on Friday, March 8 as it presents Steel Magnolias.  The play is a funny, heartbreaking story of female empowerment and resilience by Robert Harling, is directed by Brian Kite and features a company of six diverse women including Shannon Holt, Elisa Bocanegra, Monica McSwain, Inger Tudor, Cerris Morgan-Moyer and Patti Yasutake.

Classic Stage Company presents Marc Blitzstein's allegorical play in music The Cradle Will Rock, directed by John Doyle, March 21 - May 19, 2019. A Depression-era indictment of rampant capitalism told almost entirely in song, The Cradle Will Rock maintains a twinkle in its eye while bearing sharp fangs. The 1937 premiere of this story of American class tensions-directed by Orson Welles-was famously shut down on the eve of opening night by federal authorities over so-called 'budget cuts,' commonly considered a thin veil for fears of the play's pro-labor stance. The artists involved rebelliously circumvented its cancellation, making for one of the most memorable stories in 20th century theater history. While Blitzstein's libretto is very much a product of its own 1930s political context, The Cradle Will Rock pulses with immediacy in an era of expanding economic inequality and policy for purchase. CSC's 2018-2019 season began with The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Bertolt Brecht's allegory about the rise of fascism via a charismatic tyrant; this spring, it closes with an all-American Brecht-and-Weill-inspired work, which carries a message of defiance built into its very title.

From March 6-8, the paleo snack brand Bubba's Fine Foods will be raising a ruckus at Natural Products Expo West as they unveil a bold new look in line with their avant-garde recipes.

The San Francisco International Arts Festival (SFIAF) is pleased to reveal the full schedule of performances for the 2019 Festival that will run from May 23 - June 2 and have as a central theme The Path to Democracy. As the dark clouds of nationalism and fascism re-assert themselves on the global stage, SFIAF looks at some of the struggles for democracy past and present and how they manifest themselves in different cultures. The Festival will take place at, and in partnership with, the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.

When the American Ballet Theatre came to Washington, D.C. last year, they served up a delectable Whipped Cream at the Kennedy Center. In 2019, the company has returned with a similarly infectious Harlequinade which, even when viewed independent of Whipped Cream, never reaches the technical heights expected of such a revered company. At Tuesday's performance, the murmurs I overheard at intermission were largely mixed with one audience member calling the dance 'enjoyable but so thin it was like looking through cellophane.' Harlequinade is a fun evening-but it plays more as an introduction to ballet then as a truly triumphant production.

To mark 25 years since David Bowie's Space Oddity was unleashed on the world, The Thin White Duke's band today announces AUSTRALIAN dates for its "A BOWIE CELEBRATION: THE DAVID BOWIE ALUMNI TOUR".

The Paley Center for Media will present Shaping Our Nation's Story: African- American Achievements in Television Presented by Citi from February 1-28. Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of Motown and the 100th birthday anniversary celebration of Jackie Robinson, this monthlong celebration will take place at the Paley Center's locations in New York City and Beverly Hills and will feature an interactive exhibit, family craft activities, education classes for high school students focusing on the civil rights movement, and screenings that take visitors on a nostalgic journey through the most significant African-American moments in television. 

The 29th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement throughout Los Angeles, were presented on Monday, January 28, at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown LA.

The Rothko Chapel and DiverseWorks have collaborated to bring Chicago-based dance company, The Seldoms, to Houston for one-performance only today, January 31, 2019 at 7 p.m. at the Rothko Chapel. The company will perform an excerpt Floe, from their new dance theater work, Dancing on Thin Ice. The performance is pay what you can with a suggested donation of $20. Rothko Chapel is located at 3900 Yupon Street, Houston, 77006.

Mosaic Theater Company of DC is proud to announce the second installment in its annual Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival, the world premiere workshop production of Shame 2.0 (With Comments From The Populace). Previews begin on January 30, 2019 with a press opening on Thursday, February 7, 2019 at 7:30pm in the Lang Theatre at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. The 19 performance run will be informed by a stripped down aesthetic and an emphasis on script updates through the lengthier than usual preview period and the evolving nature of the documentary-based rehearsal process.

The 29th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement throughout Los Angeles, were presented on Monday, January 28, at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.