My Fair Lady Tour 1957 - Articles Page 3

The first clue that ANASTASIA was going to be different than what I expected was a note on the title page reading, “Inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Pictures.” Plural? A savvy journalist, I quickly asked Siri to bring up the imdb page for “Anastasia”. Turns out Fox made ANASTASIA twice, the 1997 animated off-brand Disney princess movie and a 1957 film that scored Ingrid Bergman's second Oscar and marked Helen Hayes' transition to the big screen. And it turns out the musical version has more in common with LES MISERABLES and RAGTIME than BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Gone is the hell-wizard Rasputin, his talking fruit bat sidekick, and the singing demon caterpillars. At intermission, I asked my third grade niece, Adalyn, how she was liking it. “It's awesome…it's real people, like no Beast or anything. No animals.” We decide that Disney staged musicals are great but more it's more impressive when you can achieve the magic without a story that departs from reality. ANASTASIA is historical fiction hypothetical. It poses a “what if…?” that a daughter of the last czar of Russia (The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna) escaped when the czar's family was executed in 1918. Rumors persisted for decades that Anastasia did, in fact, escape. In 2007, DNA testing confirmed the remains of all four Grand Duchesses were in the Imperial grave. In this version, Terrence McNalley's book follows Anastasia's rediscovery of her identity after surviving the attack on her family and sustaining some plot enabling amnesia. Renamed “Anya” she grows up and makes a life in post-Revolution Russia. Anastasia's grandmother, the Dowager Empress (in a staggeringly moving performance by Joy Franz) has fled to France and offered a cash reward for anyone escorting the rumored alive Anastasia to Paris. The wily duo Vlad (Edward Staudenmayer) and Dmitry (Jake Levy) pull a My Fair Lady style makeover on Anya to collect the Dowager's prize. They are pursued by Gleb (Jason Michael Evans). A Soviet officer drawn to Anya romantically but tasked with finding and eliminating the last Romanov. Anya's memory becomes somewhat coaxed back, but the Dowager has stopped seeing Anastasia claimants after too much heart-break from countless frauds. It sounds dark, but with high-tech digital scenery and inspired performances across the cast it is delightful. Stephen Flaherty (Music) and Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics), responsible for bringing us RAGTIME, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, LUCKY STIFF, as well as the Oscar nominated songs carried over from the animated film. ANASTASIA is a perfect context for this pair. “Stay, I Pray You” (my favorite song of the evening) is evocative of RAGTIME's “New Music”. The two songs literally race my heart in a strangely specific way. My real test of a National Tour at Gammage is how fast I get the music playing in my car on the way home. At ANASTASIA I was already finding, “Stay, I Pray You” walking through the parking lot. The rest of the score is similarly haunting. Lila Coogan, as Anya/Anastasia, powers through the score with nuance, clarity, and passion. Tari Kelly, as Countess Lily, and Stadenmayer (Vlad) were Adalyn's favorite performances and I have to agree. This incredibly gifted pair take the “triple threat” designation (singer, dancer, actor) and go quadruple with the addition of flawless comic timing. The choreography by Peggy Hickey is masterful. It somehow combines inventive and traditional throughout and the ten-minute slice of “Swan Lake” infused into “Quartet at the Ballet” is the highlight of the second act. It's a fun-size version that gets an under-represented art form onto the plate. This kind of trope often means the plot putting the plot on hold. But here, it is the connective tissue between Anya, Dmitry, the Dowager, and Gleb as they each bring us up to speed heading into the show's climax. Ultimately, the show's success comes from applying a higher artistic standard to the “previously-animated-film-now-theatrically-staged” genre. It cashes in on the name draw of the 1997 film then gives the viewer something much more enriched than what they think they are coming to see.

After successful productions of The Sound of Music, Evita, and Sunset Boulevard the three past summers, Festival Bruxellons! is this year presenting Frederick Loewe's and Alan Jay Lerner's musical masterpiece My Fair Lady in a new brilliant French adaptation by Stéphane Laporte, in collaboration with Jack Cooper and Simon Paco, both of whom, as they did Evita and Sunset, directed.

Julie Andrews will lend her voice to the character of "Lady Whistledown" in Netflix and Shondaland's upcoming 'The Untitled Bridgerton Series.'

San Francisco Playhouse announced casting for Cabaret, the Tony Award-winning musical that will close the company's 2018/19 Season. Susi Damilano will direct, with music direction by Dave Dobrusky and choreography by Nicole Helfer.

What makes a Broadway theatre? Technically any venue with 500 seats or more, located along Broadway in New York City's Theatre District is a Broadway theatre, and the art that is produced in these special places is widely considered the highest form of theatrical entertainment in the world. Today, forty-one theatres are technically Broadway houses, each with their own rich history. Below, we're giving you the scoop on the life of every one of them!

WEST SIDE STORY opened at Lyric Opera in Chicago on May 3 and is running through June 10, 2019.

Ovens Auditorium, located in the East Charlotte neighborhood just outside of Uptown Charlotte, will continue its over 60 year old tradition of hosting top Broadway musicals with seven upcoming shows presented by Blumenthal Performing Arts.

The full cast is announced for the Theatr Clwyd and Menier Chocolate Factory co-production of Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending. Theatr Clwyd's Artistic Director Tamara Harvey directs Catrin Aaron (Beulah Binnings), Michael Geary (Pee Wee Binnings), Valentine Hanson (Uncle Pleasant), Jenny Livsey (Eva Temple / Woman), Laura Jane Matthewson (Dolly Hamma), Mark Meadows (Jabe Torrance), Ifan Meredith (David Cutrere / Dog Hamma), Hattie Morahan (Lady Torrance), Seth Numrich (Val Xavier), Ian Porter (Sheriff Talbott), Jemima Rooper (Carol Cutrere), Carol Royle (Vee Talbott) and Carrie Quinlan (Sister / Nurse Porter). Public booking for the Menier Chocolate Factory dates opens at 9am today.

Currently celebrating its 25th Silver Anniversary Season, The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre is set to bring the most requested show by its audience members to the stage when it presents a brand new production of the classic Lerner & Loewe musical My Fair Lady. The beloved musical will be the dinner theatre's spring 2019 presentation following its area premiere production of Gilligan's Island - The Musical.

Riverside Theatre, led by Producing Artistic Director/CEO Allen D. Cornell and Managing Director/COO Jon R. Moses, present one of Broadway's great musicals and the Lerner and Loewe classic, My Fair Lady. Sponsored by Bill & Laura Frick and Riverside Theatre's Patron Producers Group, My Fair Lady performs on the Stark Stage from March 12-31, 2019

Currently celebrating its 25th Silver Anniversary Season, The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre has announced auditions for its upcoming production of the classic Lerner & Loewe musical My Fair Lady. The beloved musical will be the dinner theatre's spring 2019 presentation following its area premiere production of Gilligan's Island - The Musical at the beginning of the year.

Seefestbuehne Moerbisch, situated next to the Austrian-Hungarian border in Niederoesterreich by the Lake Neusiedl is an exquisite venue to watch and listen to operetta. The enormous open-air theatre with its mighty stage has been a host to beautifully conceived classic operetta performances since 1957. The core repertoire covers the most popular works of Franz Lehar, Johann Strauss and Emmerich Kalman alongside with the occasional visit of musicals such as The Fiddler on the Roof and My Fair Lady.

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theatre, presents the regional premiere of "Living on Love," a new romantic comedy by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro, based on the play "Peccadillo" by Garson Kanin.  The delightful "Living on Love" opens at Door County's theatrical icon on Today, August 25 and performs through September 2 and is a glamorous, hilarious romp through the world of music, marriage, celebrity and love!

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theatre, presents the regional premiere of "Living on Love," a new romantic comedy by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro, based on the play "Peccadillo" by Garson Kanin.  The delightful "Living on Love" opens at Door County's theatrical icon on Wednesday, August 25 and performs through September 2 and is a glamorous, hilarious romp through the world of music, marriage, celebrity and love!

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston wraps up the company's spectacular 50th Anniversary Summer Season with The Music Man from August 2-12.  The multiple Tony award-winning musical will run for 8 performances (including 4 matinees) at the Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington St., Waltham, MA.

This July and August, Bergen County audiences will be transported back 60 years to the graffiti-filled streets of NYC's Upper West Side, as SummerStage at Leonia presents one of the greatest musicals ever produced, WEST SIDE STORY, at the Civil War Drill Hall Theater in Leonia.

This July and August, Bergen County audiences will be transported back 60 years to the graffiti-filled streets of NYC's Upper West Side, as SummerStage at Leonia presents one of the greatest musicals ever produced, WEST SIDE STORY, at the Civil War Drill Hall Theater in Leonia.

The Guthrie Theater presents West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play June 16 - August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

Pittsburgh CLO is proud to bring Lerner and Loewe's BRIGADOON from the Scottish Highlands to the Benedum Center stage July 17 - 22. As part of its ongoing mission to celebrate musical theater, Pittsburgh CLO often revives classics, thus introducing new audiences to the masterpieces of Broadway's golden age.

The Guthrie Theater presents West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play June 16 - August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

The Guthrie Theater presents West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play June 16 - August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

The Guthrie Theater (Joseph Haj, artistic director) proudly announced the cast and creative team for the theater's summer musical, West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play through August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

San Francisco Playhouse (Artistic Director Bill English; Producing Director Susi Damilano) announced casting for the final show of its 2017-18 Mainstage Season--Sunday in the Park with George, the quintessential Stephen Sondheim musical about the art of creation and the creation of art. Bill English will direct the 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical.

The Guthrie Theater (Joseph Haj, artistic director) proudly announced the cast and creative team for the theater's summer musical, West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play June 16 - August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.

The Guthrie Theater (Joseph Haj, artistic director) proudly announced the cast and creative team for the theater's summer musical, West Side Story. Directed by Haj, this major revival of a timeless classic will play June 16 - August 26, 2018, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Single tickets for West Side Story start at $15 for preview performances (June 16-21) and are on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 877.44.STAGE (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group sales) and online at guthrietheater.org.