Talk To Me - Articles Page 23

BroadwayWorld had the opportunity to speak to Ashworth about his experience working with Odom to create the song for Regina King's film adaptation of Kemp Powers' play. Both songwriters feel that “Speak Now” is as timely and culturally relevant in 2021 as it was in 1964 – the year that the meeting between Cassius Clay, Jim Brown, Sam Cooke, and Malcolm X took place.

“Who knew when we started our 10x10 New Play Festival ten years ago that it would become one of our most popular events of the year?” said Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. “We started with two weeks of performances and as of last year, we ran our 10x10 Plays for one month in the middle of the winter.'

It’s hard to believe that COVID has darkened our theatres for nearly a year. So, why is puppetry more important than ever right now to bring us together through story, entertainment, and a fusion of performance art forms?

 Producer/singer/songwriter, Lisa Dawn Miller has announced the launch of a new music publishing company, LDM Publishing (ldmpublishing.com) to market and brand the legacy song catalogue and story of her father, legendary Motown songwriter, Ron Miller (ronmillersongbook.com) as well as her own catalogue of original songs.

Lucie Jones and Oliver Tomsett are appearing in a concert performance of a new musical about the Gunpowder Plot, Treason the Musical, filmed at Cadogan Hall. We spoke to them about the show.

Virtuoso pianist, actor and writer Hershey Felder certainly knows how to handle any curveballs life throws him. Stuck in Florence, Italy (poor guy!) for the duration of Covid, he is using his Tuscan surroundings to enrich his new show about native son Giacomo Puccini. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and Opera San José are coming together to offer viewers the world premiere livestream of Hershey Felder, PUCCINI, a new work by and starring Felder, along with guest stars from the opera world - baritone Nathan Gunn, sopranos Gianna Corbisiero and Ekaterina Siurina, and tenor Charles Castronovo. Presented by Hershey Felder Presents Live from Florence, Hershey Felder, PUCCINI tells the story of a young musician captivated by the world of opera, particularly by Puccini’s eternally popular works La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. Sumptuously filmed and performed on location in Lucca, Italy in the very home where Giacomo Puccini was born, Hershey Felder, PUCCINI combines theatre, music and film to create a uniquely moving experience for audiences. The show will be streamed live at 5pm PST on Sunday, March 14, 2021 (with streaming on-demand access through March 21). To buy tickets or find more information, visit TheatreWorks.org or Operasj.org. Ticket sales directly benefit the arts organization through which they are purchased. BroadwayWorld spoke with Felder earlier this week from his home in Florence while he was in the midst of making final tweaks to the show. He is super fascinating and just plain fun to talk to. His knowledge of, and love for, the arts runs so deep that that I always come away from any conversation with him having learned something, having been entertained and having been moved. Much like the experience of seeing one of his shows, in fact. Underscoring everything is his irrepressible sense of humor and musical way with words.

WOMADelaide 2021 was a very different event from previous festivals,

Battersea Arts Centre today announced a partnership with the NHS to become the community Vaccination Centre for Wandsworth. From Monday 8 March 2021 residents from the borough will be welcomed into the Lavender Hill venue. They will receive vaccines, administered by trained NHS staff.

With only a few weeks away from Autism Awareness month, Dad’s Publishing is setting out to help children who have an autistic brother or sister better understand their sibling as well as their own feelings with the release of their third children’s book, His Own Way, on March 22, 2021.

Forest Hills, Queens, New York City-based actor and cabaret star Stephen S. Miller, the co-host of the new talk show 'Tawkin’ with the Roses' will be returning to London-based Harold Sanditen's Open Mic Party on Thursday, March 11, 2021 for a Disney-themed show.

There are just some people on this planet who naturally operate on a more creative level than the rest of us, and mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn is clearly one of those people. She is bringing her wildly inventive musical science show Science Fair: An Opera with Experiments to The Marsh on Saturday, March 6th.  Conceived and performed by Chinn with pianist Erika Switzer, Science Fair pairs luscious operatic vocals with light-hearted humor and science lectures. Chinn herself describes it as “a classical cabaret of science songs with science communication staging, including live experiments and slide shows, a little audience participation and a general sort of Bill Nye fun.” Science Fair will be available for livestream at 5:00pm PST on March 6th, followed by a post-performance Q&A with The Marsh Founder/Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman. Chinn will also appear two days prior to that on Stephanie’s MarshStream at 7:30pm on Thursday, March 4th to discuss this innovative work. For more information, visit www.themarsh.org/marshstream. BroadwayWorld caught up with Chinn last week from her home in the Hudson Valley, where she had just moved from New York City only two days earlier. A Northern California native with degrees from the Eastman and Yale Schools of Music, Shinn has enjoyed an unusually eclectic career, with credits as varied as touring around the world in Phillip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach, playing Lady Thiang in The King & I on the West End, and performing with the experimental Wooster Group in New York. Given her resume, I had thought she might be fascinating to talk to, and she did not disappoint. I mean, what other opera singers do you know who do science in their spare time, just for fun? We talked about how Science Fair came to be, her passion for the creative process, and our evolving understanding around issues of racial and gender equity. In conversation, she is candid and accessible, brainy and funny, and always very, very thoughtful. Underlying everything is her enduring joy in pushing the boundaries of what it means to create musical art.

The film adaptation of Herbert Siguenza’s solo show A WEEKEND WITH PABLO PICASSO begins its on-demand viewing March 6, 2021. Presented by CaltechLive! and produced by San Diego Repertory Theatre, Tim Powell and Todd Salovey direct WEEKEND, based on Herbert's sold out nationwide, one-man show. The very busy Herbert managed to carve out a little time to answer a few of my enquiries.

Read the latest from student bloggers Jaclyn, Drew, Madison, Rachel, and more!

Talented singer-songwriter Kim MClay, who is perhaps best known for touring across the country as Maggie in A Chorus Line, is celebrating the announcement of her debut EP with a one-night-only fundraising concert on Friday, February 26 at 8pm (EST) on Instagram live, @heyitskimmcclay!

Locals are protesting a tribute to Rush Limbaugh that was posted on the marquee of a historically queer-friendly theater in Fresno.

An educator, musician, and singer, Birdwell taught musical theater and opera singing for more than six decades, serving as a professor of voice at the Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University until her passing. 

ACO’s Composer to Composer series features major American composers in conversation with each other about their work and leading a creative life. The intergenerational discussions begin by exploring a single orchestral piece, with one composer interviewing the other.

Following the release of acoustic EP Letters To Our Former Selves – Acoustic late last year, Youth Fountain is excited to be back at it with new single “Peace Offering.”

The Spring 2021 Season offers three moving, one-person performances: Colman Domingo’s A Boy and His Soul, directed by Craig Wallace; Lucy Alibar’s Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up, directed by Round House Artistic Director Ryan Rilette; and Young Jean Lee’s We’re Gonna Die, directed by Paige Hernandez.

Some Like It Hot has found a new member of its creative team! The Shubert Organization and Neil Meron have just announced Emmy nominated writer and performer Amber Ruffin joins Tony nominee Matthew López to adapt the musical comedy from the beloved MGM film.

Jessica Rose McVay is Artistic Director of the women-led production company, 45North. We spoke to her about the Written on the Waves project, a season of theatrical works crafted for audiences to enjoy during lockdown.

Cara desperately wanted someone to talk to about the stereotypical 'The Broadway Body' and its issues. But her frustrations grew as she found no resources to discuss the topic. 

On January 30, 2021 at 12 p.m. PST, Cloud 21 International (www.cloud21.com) and Kultura PR International (www.kulturapr.com) presented the fourth installment of 'Indie Entertainment Showcase,” a special virtual event held during the festival in Park City.

Losing your opportunity to do what you love is an intense feeling. A feeling all of us felt, whether you’re on stage or off.

It's time for the 2021 edition of 100 Theatre Twitter Accounts You MUST Follow! We chose accounts we find interesting for a number of reasons - be it news, comedy, backstage info, Twitter-savvy performers, or just because we happen to enjoy their feed.