A New Brain - 2015 - New York Articles Page 20

Head Over Heels opens on Broadway tonight at Broadway's Hudson Theatre (141 West 44th Street)! Let's see what the critics had to say!

Respected Dallas, TX-based singer/songwriter/producer/musician-of-many-trades Salim Nourallah is set to release a sprawling double-album, Somewhere South of Sane, on September 28, 2018 on Palo Santo Records.  In advance of the album release, Nourallah is releasing four pre-album “bundles” that will include tracks from the album as well as previously recorded but unreleased material or acoustic re-imaginings of tracks from past Nourallah albums.  Each bundle, (EP) will be accompanied by new online video content.  

HBO has confirmed a fresh array of thought-provoking documentaries for the second half of 2018, including: Susan Lacy's JANE FONDA IN FIVE ACTS, the intimate story of an icon; Nathaniel Kahn's THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING, an insider's look at today's money-driven art world; Kate Davis and David Heilbroner's SAY HER NAME: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SANDRA BLAND about the tragic death of a young woman who was stopped for a routine traffic violation; and Rudy Valdez's Sundance award winner THE SENTENCE, a portrait of a family in crisis.

Grammy-nominated DJ, music producer, composer and music and film director Sam Spiegel's “To Whom It May Concern,” featuring Ceelo Green, Theophilus London and Alex Ebert, premieres today atConsequence of Sound. Consequence of Sound raves about Spiegel's “funky-as-hell electronic jams” and hails “To Whom It May Concern” as “undeniably smooth.” Read their interview with Spiegel and listen to the track HERE.

L Wolf Productions has announced New York City premiere of the one-man play SWANSONG, written by Conor McDermottroe and performed by Andre de Vanny. Melbourne Fringe co-founder Greg Carroll directs. The production will open on Tuesday, November 6th at 9:00 pm at Theatre Row's The Studio Theatre. Tickets cost $47.25 and can be purchased on line at www.telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200.

Open Book Theatre Company in Trenton gears up for another season of plays worth talking about

Theaterlab present the world premiere of MAGDALENA, an intimate multimedia solo work by the award-winning filmmaker and a Guggenheim Fellow Gabri Christa. Utilizing storytelling, visuals, and dance, the artist reveals a deeply personal account of experiencing her Dutch mother's dementia, and an effort to piece together her past, marked by struggles with war, interracial marriage and unconventional motherhood.

Open Book Theatre Company is pleased to announce its fifth season.  The award winning professional theatre will present 5 plays, including a Michigan Premiere.  Two of the plays won Tony Awards for Best Play, and one of those also earned the Pulitzer.

Word for Word celebrates this 25th season with a rare production "Anniversary! Stories by Tobias Wolff and George Saunders" featuring Wolff's "Deep Kiss" and Saunders' "Victory Lap," works by two of the companies favorite authors, directed by Joel Mullennix and Delia MacDougall. "Anniversary! Stories by Tobias Wolff and George Saunders" opens with a press night Saturday August 11, 8pm (Preview Aug 8, 9 & 10) running through September 2 at Z Space Main Stage in San Francisco's Mission/SOMA district. Tobias Wolff and George Saunders are brilliant performers in the short story form, and the company feels lucky to be staging their stories for its 25th Anniversary. Over the past quarter century, Word for Word has had the pleasure and the honor to work with some of the best writers of all time.

Casting is now complete for the Hollywood Bowl's upcoming production of Annie. The new cast members are Roger Bart as Daniel 'Rooster' Hannigan, Kaylin Hedges as Annie, Ali Stroker as 'Star-to-Be,' Amir Talai as Bert Healy, Marlow Barkley as Kate, Amadi Chapata as Pepper, Noe Lynds as July, Rae Martinez as Tessie, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja as Molly, and Olivia Zenetzis as Duffy.

Steppenwolf for Young Adults (SYA) announces the full casting for its first show of the 2018/19 season, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. This Tony Award-winning play is adapted by Simon Stephens, based on the book by Mark Haddon and directed by Steppenwolf Artistic Producer Jonathan Berry.

Casting of Goodspeed Musicals' Cyrano is complete. Film and TV actor Blake Jenner will play Christian. He joins previously announced Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Peter Dinklage, who will play Cyrano alongside film actress Haley Bennett as Roxanne in this bold new musical.

While its original production, as most Broadway shows go, offered the expected big sets, first-rate costumes, and impressive production values, the 2015 Tony Award-winning revival production of THE COLOR PUPLE---currently slaying audiences for a week-long stop at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through June 24---is decidedly more subdued and scaled-down by comparison, allowing the songs, the story, and the cast performances to shine on their own merits instead. The resulting show is a powerful, uplifting one, bathed in a loving, spiritual embrace that shines a light on the struggles, the insecurities, the passions, and the tenacity of African-American women living in the early decades of the 20th Century. I can say without hesitation that this revival production is an excellent way to experience this beautiful, touching, and ultimately triumphant musical.

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and Joe's Pub at The Public join forces once again for the Kimmel Center Theater Residency. Under the tutelage of Jay Wahl, Producing Artistic Director of the Kimmel Center, and Shanta Thake, Director of Joe's Pub, the program serves as an incubator for artists and their collaborators to create and develop music and theater projects. The program will be held in the Kimmel Center's SEI Innovation Studio (300 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA) from June 18-30 with Public Readings, free and open to the public, on June 29 and 30. Readings will be followed by Q&A sessions with the artists.

Every month Ben Asher curates NY's most superlative comedy show, DoublePlusGood Comedy, bringing you comedy that reaches up into your brain with the force of a fist through the nose. Top pro comics and performers from TV and NYC's major clubs performing long (20+ min) sets on an intimate stage. The best comedy value in the city. Every 2nd Wednesday of the month at Pacific Standard.

'Punt' is a story of gambling culture in Ireland, following one man on the slippery slope to rock bottom after a lifetime of small bets, race meetings, online gauntlets, high stakes card games and the unspoken challenges that go with a life of 'investing' in chance.

From July 12-28, 2018, the “relentlessly inventive” (New York Magazine) new music collective Bang on a Can collaborates with MASS MoCA to present the 17th annual Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA. The festival is a musical utopia for innovative musicians and adventurous listeners in the beautiful Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, dedicated entirely to the creation, study, and performance of contemporary music. Featuring public performances, recitals, and lectures, the festival features over 60 cutting-edge composers and performers from around the globe, including over 42 fellows selected from a pool of more than 250 applicants from throughout the world. This year's featured guest composer is Steve Reich. MASS MoCA, 'a mind-blowing delight,' (New York Post) is one of the largest museums of contemporary art in the country, with exhibitions spaces dedicated to James Turrell, Laurie Anderson, Sol LeWitt, Anselm Kiefer and Jenny Holzer, as well as massive gallery spaces with exhibitions by Taryn Simon, Liz Glynn, Allison Janae Hamilton, and Rachel Howard among many others.

In the black at the back of the Vineyard Theater during one of the final previews of The Beast in the Jungle the other night sat its composer, disguising himself as a member of the audience by dispassionately drinking in the stage action and politely applauding at the appropriate places. This is-typically-the usual battle station for the artist-in-progress. Atypically-in fact, for the first time--John Kander sat alone.

SpectreVision and Ubisoft Montreal released the new trailer for their gaming collaboration Transference at E3 2018 today. A narrative experience that merges movies with games, Transference is an immersive and unsettling psychological thriller that brings the first-person exploration game into a chilling new dimension. 

The Music Center announced it will present the Los Angeles premiere of the live overnight performance of Max Richter's SLEEP, one of the longest single pieces of classical music ever to be recorded and performed, in Grand Park on Friday, July 27 and Saturday, July 28, 2018.  Following its recent successes in New York City and at SXSW, along with performances in London, Berlin and Sydney among others, SLEEP will be performed outdoors for the first time as the first overnight event to be held at Grand Park, Los Angeles County's highly popular gathering space.  Cots will replace traditional seating to allow attendees to fully immerse themselves in the eight-hour experience.  The concert, featuring Richter playing the piano and keyboard along with the musicians on the 2015 Deutsche Grammophon recording of the work, American Contemporary Music Ensemble and soprano Grace Davidson, will begin at 10:30 p.m. on both Friday andSaturday evenings and conclude at 6:30 a.m. the following mornings.  The Music Center Presents Max Richter's SLEEP is supported by the Ring-Miscikowski Foundation/The Ring Foundation.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley presents Bay Area audiences with the California Premiere of FINKS, a comic drama based on the true story of comedian/actor Jack Gilford directed by TheatreWorks Director of New Works Giovanna Sardelli. With the 1950s Red Scare in full swing, the House Un-American Activities Committee attacks 'subversion' in the arts. When a romance blossoms between rising comic Mickey and firebrand actress Natalie, they face being blacklisted along with their friends and fellow artists. Written by Jack's son, playwright/screenwriter Joe Gilford, this engaging play shares the story of targeted individuals in the entertainment industry suddenly faced with losing their careers, or being branded forever as 'finks.' For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

Boz and the Bard Productions, Inc., in association with Adelaide Raleigh Productions, LLC, is excited to present the staged reading of a new play by Grant MacDermott called Jasper. This is the first of two readings sponsored by the TRU Voices 2018 Play Reading Series. The reading will be directed by Katie McHugh, and will be held on Monday, June 11th , 7-9pm, at The SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam St, New York, NY 10013. Following the reading, please stay for TRU's 'Dollars and Sense' panel discussion featuring prominent commercial producers and general managers

After an incredible tour in 2017, "Mystery Science Theater 3000" announces the MST3K Live 30th Anniversary Tour featuring, for the first time in 25 years, original host and MST3K creator Joel Hodgson back in the red jumpsuit as Joel Robinson. Alongside new MST3K host Jonah Heston (Jonah Ray), Joel, Jonah and the Bots will bring new movies and all new riffs and sketches live to the stage across U.S. cities this fall. The MST3K Live 30th Anniversary Tour kicks off October 9 in Portland, ME and hits 29 cities to perform 42 shows across the U.S. Tickets for all dates go on sale Friday, June 8 via AXS.com and local venue box offices.

It's about time we move oolong to the summer and celebrate the second-most consumed beverage in the world - tea! With the temperatures rising and flowers blooming, there's nothing more refreshing than a tall glass of freshly brewed iced tea or a tea cocktail! In honor of National Iced Tea Month this June, as well as National Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month, the Tea Council of the USA is sharing important new research that supports the health benefits of sipping iced (or hot) tea in June, throughout the summer and all year!

In a special collaboration for New York Live Arts, artists Nick Cave and Bob Faust create a kaleidoscopic mural from one of Cave's iconic Soundsuits constructed entirely of woven bags collected from around the world. These bags we carry are filled with promise is a through-the-looking-glass interpretation that the baggage we all walk through life with is anything but weighty. In this manifestation, the bags seem to defy gravity, and rather than weighing us down, actually carry the hopes, dreams, and aspirations that fuel us for our choices ahead. From the single source image of Cave's work, Faust selects and manipulates key details that seem to morph seamlessly into multiple patterns, shape-shifting across the 31 linear feet of lobby wall. The mural acts as a conditioning agent for audiences, preparing them for the performative experience on Live Arts' mainstage that awaits on the other side.