The Challenge 1992 - Articles Page 4

Disney's Aladdin is flying into East Lansing from December 4th through 15th at the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts. The hit musical, based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature film, has been amazing audiences since the show's Broadway debut back in 2014. It has the music that we all know and love from the film and new songs that add to the Disney magic. a?oeMagical, romantic, surprising, exhilarating and funny,a?? is how Jonathan Weir, who plays Jafar the villain on the tour, described the show. a?oeIt's a fantastical story of a young man's adventure to become himself, the friendship he creates with a genie in a lamp, and the adventures and romance it unfolds.a?? Read more of BroadwayWorld Detroit's conversation with Jonathan Weir below to find out why he thinks Disney's Aladdin is special and if Jafar is really all that villainous!

This is not your ordinary play: it features a wrestling match, ballet, jug band, vaudeville show, and a presidential roast. Kennesaw State University's Department of Theatre and Performance Studies will present the cult classic '45 Plays for 45 Presidents' September 24-29 at the Onyx Theater on the Kennesaw campus.

ALADDIN is a vibrant kaleidoscope of extravagant costumes, choreography, and vocal performances. An entertaining musical comedy jam-packed with a cast of over 30 members, there is always something to marvel at throughout the show for children and adults alike. It's glitz, dynamic, and sure to entertain. Directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw with orchestrations by Danny Troob, this show packs an impressive punch when it comes to presentational musical numbers.

Extra! Extra! This just in! Disney's sensational blockbuster musical Newsies leaps onto the stage at the Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend for three weeks only. This exciting mega-musical, and winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Choreography, will entertain audiences of all generations with its heart, humour, and high-energy dancing from June 27 to July 13.

The French Institute Alliance Fran aise (FIAF), New York's premier French cultural and language center, today announced the 2019 Crossing the Line Festival, featuring 11 performances and a gallery exhibition from a geographically, generationally, and artistically diverse group of artists whose work transcends genres and boundaries. All performances are world, US, or New York premieres; they are united by their convention-breaking fearlessness as they confront topics from social injustice to personal demons. Many of the performances pay homage to legendary artists of our time and previous eras, while the theme of migration and its transformational effects on identity informs several others. The festival runs from September 12 to October 12. Ticket are available at crossingtheline.org.

Overall, FALSETTOS makes a strong impression at Kennedy Center and is most definitely worth the trip.

AstonRep Theatre Company, under the artistic leadership of Derek Bertelsen and Sara Pavlak McGuire, announces its 2019-20 season, to be presented at its new artistic home, The Edge Theater in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood.

From stage to screen and everywhere in between, Liz Callaway's four-decades-long career has been non-stop. That includes numerous cabarets, and, hot off the heels of her hit solo show A HYMN FOR HER, Liz Callaway gets even hotter with SETS IN THE CITY, an eclectic mix of old and new favorites written by Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Burt Bacharach, and more.

Every founder has a unique personal tie to the organization they bring to life. After 28 years of daily interaction with the Shotgun Players, Patrick Dooley and the theater he created can be hard to define as separate entities. Thanks to the O2 Sabbatical Award, Dooley will get a chance to discover that distinction with a well-earned break.  

In just one week's time, the stories of over fifty members of the armed forces community from across the West Midlands will be presented in the world premiere of a new play. Reparation Island plays at The Patrick Studio, Birmingham Hippodrome from Thursday 13 - Saturday 15 June.

When Lee Atwater passed away in 1991, he left behind a legacy that shaped the modern political landscape, and turned negative politics into the norm. Though he asked for forgiveness for his 'sins' on his deathbed (including attacks against politicians Tom Turnipseed, Gary Hart, and Michael Dukakis), the damage had been done. Premiering at the 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival, 'Son of a Bitch' is a new play that grapples with Atwater's role in the 1988 Bush/Quayle Presidential campaign, and his legacy.

It's another busy weekend in Nashville - but when is Music City not packed with events, festivals, affairs? - and we're back with our Critic's Choice recommendations to have you cut through the theatrical flotsam and jetsam and find a cultural opening that's a good fit for your harried lifestyle. Nashville Opera opens its staging of Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock at Noah Liff Opera Center, Way Off Broadway Productions unveils its version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Music Valley Event Center, Street Theatre Company invites you to the see their staging of Lynn Nottage's Sweat at their new venue on Elm Hill Pike and Nashville Rep continues its celebration of 10 years of The Ingram New Works Festival at Nashville Children's Theatre.

Disney, Will Smith and Make-A-Wish® launched the #FriendLikeMe Challenge today pegged to the upcoming release of 'Aladdin.' Will Smith, who stars in the film as the wish-granting Genie, is encouraging fans and celebrities to participate in the challenge and help show the world: Where there's a wish, there's a way. Part of a global cause marketing campaign, the challenge poses the question: 'If you were the Genie in Disney's 'Aladdin' and had the chance to grant three heartfelt wishes for someone, who would you share them with? Tag a friend on Twitter and/or Instagram. For every public post with #FriendLikeMe from April 29 through May 24, 2019, Disney will donate $5 up to $1 million to Make-A-Wish to help grant life-changing wishes to children battling critical illnesses all over the world. For more information, go to FriendLikeMe.org' or see the official release below.

On Tuesday, April 9, cartoonist Cathy Guisewite will visit The Music Hall as part of its Innovation + Leadership series to share FIFTY THINGS THAT AREN'T MY FAULT: Essays from the Grown-up Years, her humorous and poignant observations of caring for both growing children and aging parents. The book features nearly one hundred of her spot illustrations.

Okay, this week, I only have to throw out two CDs, but it hurts! I'll never forget May 31, 1992--the 46th Annual Tony Awards. I had just turned 16 and was eagerly tuning in to absorb the Broadway of it all. I didn't really know much about any of the shows, other than that friends and family in New York had flipped for Guys And Dolls and that my parents had loved an earlier incarnation of Jelly's Last Jam when it played the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Glenn Close was hosting and Patti LuPone was presenting and I was not moving from my seat on the couch until I had a ranked list of the shows I wanted to see when I got to New York to visit my grandparents for Thanksgiving.

Last September, veteran downtown playwright Tony Stinkmetal foisted upon a Trump-weary New York City a frantic fever dream of a theater show: SlashR was a tongue-in-cheek satire that tackled issues as diverse as immigration, political correctness, dating apps, Benghazi, Big Pharma and bedbugs - all wrapped up in a cuddly tale of serial killers and Russians destroying American democracy.

Last September, veteran downtown playwright Tony Stinkmetal foisted upon a Trump-weary New York City a frantic fever dream of a theater show: SlashR was a tongue-in-cheek satire that tackled issues as diverse as immigration, political correctness, dating apps, Benghazi, Big Pharma and bedbugs - all wrapped up in a cuddly tale of serial killers and Russians destroying American democracy.

Stephen Daldry ('The Crown,' Billy Elliot, The Inheritance) directs his National Theatre of Great Britain's landmark production of J.B. Priestley's classic thriller An Inspector Calls, hailed as the theatrical event of its generation and winner of an unprecedented number of awards, including three Olivier's, four Tony's and seven Drama Desk Awards, with an exclusive West Coast engagement at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts from Tuesday, January 22 to Sunday, February 10, 2019.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler announced the cast of the second production of its 2018-19 Season: Birdy, adapted by Naomi Wallace from the novel by William Wharton, and directed by Steven Maler. The production runs February 27 through March 10 at the Carling-Sorenson Theater at Babson College in Wellesley.

The Canadian Opera Company announced today a new mainstage commission: The Old Fools by celebrated Montreal-based composer Ana Sokolovi? and seasoned British librettist Paul Bentley. La Reine-Garcon, first announced in 2015, is moving forward as a co-commission with the Opera de Montreal; it's the first mainstage collaboration of its kind between the two major Canadian opera companies and at its helm are two exceptional Canadian artists: Julien Bilodeau as composer and Michel Marc Bouchard as librettist.

If the thing you love about musical theatre is its ability to express a character's emotions and inner struggles in song, BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY is the show for you...

While the 1992 movie Newsies received mixed reviews and did not perform well in movie theaters, it developed quite a following as a home movie. The inspirational movie, based loosely on the historical newsboys' strike of 1899, starred Christian Bale as Jack Kelly and David Moscow as David Jacobs. In 2011 Disney Theatrical Productions adapted Newsies for the stage, and it opened on Broadway in 2012, earning eight Tony Award nominations. Disney's Newsies: The Broadway Musical, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, and book by Harvey Fierstein, has found its way onto stages in many schools and community theatres, building up a new generation of Newsies fans. With its rousing musical numbers and high-energy dancing, Newsies is sure to bring audiences to their feet. Under the direction of Adam Gustafson and Kyle Weary, Theatre Harrisburg's Newsies opened at the Whitaker Center on November 2nd, when I had the opportunity to view this delightful show.

The Anchoress, a new monodrama by composer David Ludwig, "a composer with something urgent to say" (Philadelphia Inquirer), will have its world premiere today, October 17, 2018 at 7:30 PM at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia under the auspices of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. The next evening, Thursday, October 18, the New York premiere will take place at DiMenna Center for Classical Music. Set to texts by Katie Ford, whose poetry "possess[es] the veiled brilliance of stained glass windows seen at night" (The New York Times Book Review), The Anchoress is based on the medieval mystic tradition called anchorism and its relationship to contemporary society. It will be performed by soprano Hyunah Yu, the early music ensemble Piffaro: The Renaissance Wind Band, and all-saxophone PRISM Quartet.