A Song for the First of May - 1971 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 13

What better way to spend Mother's Day than laughing with Mom at the first ladies of TV's funniest families, Edith Bunker and Florida Evans? To celebrate Mom's Day, getTV will air classic back-to-back episodes of “All in the Family” and “Good Times” showcasing the talents of Jean Stapleton and Esther Rolle, on Sunday, May 13 beginning at 1:30PM ET/12:30C and continuing all day until 12 midnight/11C.

The film version of Grease celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and many of us probably still picture John Travolta and Olivia Newton John when we think about this show. First appearing on stage in 1971, Grease enjoyed an eight-year run on Broadway, two revivals, and of course many community theatre and school performances over the years. I even performed in Grease at my high school during my junior year. This iconic musical, which follows the lives, loves, and heartbreaks of a group of high school students in the 1950s, takes the stage at Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre May 3-June 17. Kathleen Carter, who portrays Rizzo, took a few moments to give us some insight into the production.

Legendary singer and 2016 Kennedy Center Honoree Mavis Staples will headline a special evening for the 2018 Kennedy Center Spring Gala on Sunday, May 6, 2018, in the Concert Hall. An Evening with Mavis Staples and Special Guests pairs Staples with some of her most notable collaborators: singer-songwriter Neko Case, multi-instrumentalist Bruce Hornsby, and bluegrass-county artist Alison Krauss. Together, they will lead guests through Staples's 60-plus year catalog of genre-defying contributions to American music, including many seminal works that have woven her into the very fabric of gospel, soul, folk pop, R&B, Hip Hop, blues, and rock. The event is chaired by Frances and Craig Lindner.

The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will mark the opening of its new major exhibition, Outlaws & Armadillos: Country's Roaring '70s, with a lively concentration of programs highlighting the cultural and artistic explosion forged in the 1970s by two distinctly creative cities: Austin and Nashville.

Fans of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame group THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND will be excited to hear Peach Picks: Cream Of The Crop 2003, a collection of the best performances culled from six shows in July and August 2003. Set for release May 16via the band's Peach Records (Orchard distribution), the collection includes 36 tracks recorded between July 25 and August 10, 2003 in Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Darien Center, NY, Hartford, Charlotte and Raleigh, with no song repeated.

5-STAR THEATRICALS (formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre) continues its 2017-2018 season with the Thousand Oaks premiere of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Peter Parnell (based on the Victor Hugo Novel and songs from the Disney film), musical direction by Dan Redfeld, choreography by Michelle Elkin and directed by Misti B. Wills. THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME opens on Friday, April 20, 2017 and runs through Sunday, April 29, 2018 at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.  

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) will hold its annual Spring Gala on Monday evening, May 7 at 583 Park Avenue. The evening will honor Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Playwrights Musical Theater Fellowship alumnus Robert Lopez, the Academy Award and Grammy Award-winning songwriters of Frozen and Coco.

'Now that you're gone, all that's left is a Band of Gold….' Well, that was 1970, and while the singer of the song's husband may have quit, Freda Payne the songstress is very, very much still around. She stars in Delaware Theatre Company's regional premiere of ELLA: First Lady of Song, opening April 18.

From 1948 to 1971, TV's longest-running prime time variety program, CBS' 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' beamed the world's biggest stars into the homes of nearly every American household live every Sunday evening. For musicians of all stripes, performing on the show was the pinnacle of television opportunities, with singular star-making potential. Among the artists vaulted to new heights of stardom via history-making appearances were The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Temptations, and The Supremes, all of whom returned to 'The Ed Sullivan Show' several times after electrifying debut performances on the program.

OPERA NEWS Editor in Chief F. Paul Driscoll today announced the recipients of the 13th Annual OPERA NEWS Awards. This year's honorees—conductorWilliam Christie, mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto, tenor Vittorio Grigolo, soprano Hei-Kyung Hong, and soprano Sonya Yoncheva — will be celebrated at a black-tie gala celebration on April 22nd, 2018 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Renowned opera singer and recitalist Stephanie Blythe will be the special musical guest.

OPERA NEWS Editor in Chief F. Paul Driscoll today announced the recipients of the 13th Annual OPERA NEWS Awards. This year's honorees-conductor William Christie, mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto, tenor Vittorio Grigolo, soprano Hei-Kyung Hong, and soprano Sonya Yoncheva - will be celebrated at a black-tie gala celebration on April 22nd, 2018 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Renowned opera singer and recitalist Stephanie Blythe will be the special musical guest. 

Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera that tells the story of the final week in the life of Jesus Christ. It begins with the preparation for the arrival of Jesus and his disciples in Jerusalem and ends with the crucifixion. It also highlights the political and interpersonal struggles between Jesus and one of his 12 apostles, Judas Iscariot that are not present in the Bible narratives.

The Muny announced today that Tony and Grammy Award- winning artist Heather Headley and Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-nominated artist Matthew Morrison will serve as co-hosts for The Muny's historic Centennial Gala show, An Evening with the Stars, May 18, 2018 at 9:15 p.m. at The Muny.

Exploration through world culture, original voices, and iconic masters are on display throughout the 2018-2019 ballet and contemporary dance season at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The upcoming ballet and dance season-among the nation's most robust and eclectic-features a breadth of dynamic and world-class choreography performed by today's preeminent companies. Brought to life onstage by virtuosic dancers and visionary designers, the season encompasses compelling and thought-provoking works, collaborations across genres, and quintessential classics steeped in tradition.

Godspell is one of those shows that is reinvented with each production. There is a timelessness about it that makes it just as applicable today as it did when the first production opened off-Broadway in 1971. NextStop Theatre Company's current production, Godspell is more grounded in our obsession with electronics and social media, then with the overall notion of becoming a community.

5-STAR THEATRICALS (formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre) continues its 2017-2018 season with the Thousand Oaks premiere of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Peter Parnell (based on the Victor Hugo Novel and songs from the Disney film), musical direction by Dan Redfeld, choreography by Michelle Elkin and directed by Misti B. Wills. THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME opens on Friday, April 20, 2017 and runs through Sunday, April 29, 2018at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.

Stages Theatre Company (STC) has announced its 35th Anniversary Season! Looking around our world, it seems so much has changed since 1984. On the other hand, much has remained constant. The Stages Theatre Company mission of enrichment and education of children and youth in a professional theatre environment that stimulates artistic excellence and personal growth is unchanged, and our MAGNIFICENT ANNIVERSARY SEASON reflects that and MORE.

Portland's Cast Aside Productions has mounted a staging that re-imagines the 1971 Stephen Schwartz musical, based on the Gospel of Matthew, Godspell, setting the entire piece as a rock concert. The production is exuberant, animated, peopled with excellent musicians and a fine cast, but also beset by concept and technical difficulties.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents their popular Writer-Producer Speed Date on Sunday, March 4, 2018. In deference to Oscar night, the event will start one hour earlier than usual: from 4:30pm - 8:00pm at NOLA Rehearsal Studio, 244 W 54th St., 11th floor. Application is free, and you must apply prior to purchasing your spot, on sale February 24, 2018. If accepted, there is a participation fee of $70 for TRU Members ($85 for non-members, $25 for each collaborator), and your pitch slot can be purchased at https://truonline.org/events/speed-date-03-04-18/.  

Tommy Bolin was born to Barb and Rich Bolin in Sioux City, Iowa, August 3 1951. At age five (!) Rich, took him to see Elvis Presley LIVE and Tommy's path, as it turns out, was set. The very blue collar Bolin family did all they could for Tommy, including buying him his first guitar, the obligatory Sears Silver-tone. His first Sioux City teen band was The Miserlous, followed in 1964 at age 13, by Denny and The Triumphs, which morphed into Patch of Blue. In 1999, they were was inducted in the Iowa Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. After leaving Patch of Blue, Tommy gigged with The Chateaux, based in Vermillion, South Dakota, where he met their drummer, Bobby Berge. It was at a gig with them there they he met John Tesar, who wrote lyrics for Tommy throughout his career. But Tommy wasn't "fitting in" at school. After being suspended from Central High School for his hair being too long, then cutting it short, and still being suspended, Barb and Rich supported 16 year old Tommy in leaving Sioux City. A one way bus ticket to Denver, Colorado was all he needed to start his new musical career.

The Hollywood Pantages, a Nederlander Theatre, is proud to announce the 2018-19 Season, consisting of seven productions including a Tony®-Winning Best Musical Revival, direct-from-Broadway L.A. Premieres, and highly-anticipated returns of long-running Broadway Blockbusters.

The New York Philharmonic announces program updates for its Lunar New Year Concert and Gala, led by Long Yu, on Tuesday, February 20, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. The program will feature Andy Akiho's Ricochet, Concerto for Ping Pong, Violin, Percussion, and Orchestra, featuring Philharmonic violinist Elizabeth Zeltser (in her Philharmonic solo debut), ping pong players Ariel Hsing and Michael Landers (Philharmonic debuts), and percussionist David Cossin (Philharmonic debut). As previously announced, the program will also include Li Huanzhi's Spring Festival Overture and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, with pianist Serena Wang, the Farmers' Chorus of the Yunnan Province, soprano Vanessa Vasquez, tenors Chad Johnson and Issachah Savage, and bass Alex Rosen, all in their Philharmonic debuts (the additional soprano and mezzo-soprano will be announced at a later date).

Country legends Johnny Lee and Mickey Gilley will be joining forces to co-headline the Urban Cowboy Reunion Tour beginning January 26. The two friends are reuniting for a series of live concert dates throughout 2018.

Willie Nelson. Waylon Jennings. Kris Kristofferson. Jessi Colter. Bobby Bare. Jerry Jeff Walker. David Allan Coe. Cowboy Jack Clement. Tom T. Hall. Billy Joe Shaver. Guy Clark. Townes Van Zandt. Tompall Glaser. Today, all names synonymous with the word 'outlaw,' but 40 years ago they started a musical revolution by creating music and a culture that shook the status quo on Music Row and cemented their place in country music history and beyond.

Famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater marks its annual Kennedy Center engagement, February 6 11, with seven magnetic performances on the Opera House stage. Led by Artistic Director Robert Battle, the company's performances include two D.C. debuts, three new productions, and a total of 10 works by a range of diverse choreographers. Alvin Ailey's American masterpiece Revelations will be performed as the finale for all seven programs.