All This Intimacy - 2006 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 8

This season brings Matthew Lopez' Olivier Award-winning, two-part drama, The Inheritance, to the Broadway stage.

Theatre Under The Stars' Spring Awakening does more than entertain its audiences. It enlivens the fifty first season of the massive theatre known for their proclivity for golden age musicals and traditional fare and re-introduces to Houston audiences a production that highlights still-relevant subjects such as child abuse, teen suicide, sex education, gender politics, abortion and more.

When I was first approached by Giles Foden to adapt his 1998 novel for the stage, I was unsure how to respond. I'd seen Kevin MacDonald's fine movie version in 2006 and wondered what a theatrical version could add to it. So I went back to Giles's novel and found myself gripped by his account of Ugandan history and the complexity of Idi Amin Dada, its nightmarishly charismatic President from 1971 to 1979. Giles constructed Nicholas Garrigan, Amin's physician, out of a number of real prototypes, ranging from rogue diplomats to mercenaries. What gripped me from the outset was the core psychological drama exploring friendship, charisma and denial in the face of atrocity. 

Adelaide theatre company Verendus Theatrical are back at the Holden Street Theatres with their latest production, Yasmina Reza's a?oeARTa?? .

The Willard Suitcases, a new musical by Julianne Wick Davis, makes its world premiere debut at the American Shakespeare Center on October 4, directed by Ethan McSweeny and featuring Nancy Anderson (Wonderful Town Broadway, Kiss Me Kate West End). Inspired by Jon Crispin's photographs of suitcases discovered abandoned in the derelict Willard Asylum, Davis' song-cycle imagines the lives of the patients who packed those bags.

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced a new five-year extension of Franz Welser-Möst's contract as Music Director, continuing a partnership that began in 2002 to 2027. The announcement was made at Severance Hall in Cleveland at the Gala Concert opening the Orchestra's 2019-20 season.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced its inaugural presentation of visual art to be featured at the REACH, the Center's 21st-century expansion project. Ten works in a rich diversity of media will be on display at the facility upon opening, including six pieces on loan from Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland; sculptures by Joel Shapiro, Deborah Butterfield, and Roy Lichtenstein; and a wall hanging by Sam Gilliam. All works will be on view for the public beginning September 7, 2019.

4615 Theatre Company's Enron, directed by Jordan Friend, is an entertaining, satirical glimpse into a whirlwind scandal.

 Idle Muse Theatre Company (IMTC) begins its 2019-20 Season with Equivocation, by Bill Cain, directed by Artistic Director Evan Jackson*, September 20 a?" October 10 at The Edge Theatre Off Broadway, 1133 W Catalpa Ave.

Don't miss this stellar production, beautifully directed with incredible performances, that left me speechless.

Philadelphia-based punk band, The Menzingers will release their sixth studio record Hello Exile on October 4 via Epitaph.

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.

Theatre for a New Audience founding artistic director Jeffrey Horowitz, having just received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2019 OBIEs, today announces TFANA's 40th anniversary season. The 2019-2020 programming exemplifies what makes TFANA, in the words of the OBIE committee, one of the city's most vital institutions championing adventurous and urgent productions of Shakespeare alongside other writers.

It all stems straight from the heart. Nashville-based songstress Lucie Silvas unapologetically personifies a spirit of freedom. Like a well-traveled rolling stone, her music threads together an Americana patchwork of retro-fitted pop and countrified rock, echoing sweet Motown soul, dripping dirty Delta blues, and reflecting Laurel Canyon bliss. However, her independence behind-the-scenes makes such sonic fearlessness possible in the first place.

The Kitchen presents a special live performance celebrating the launch of vocalist and composer Kristin Anna's recent album I Must Be The Devil, with an opening set of songs and poems by  Ragnar Kjartansson to jubilate the event (June 2).

 In 1962, fifty-seven years ago, the magnificent TONY BENNETT recorded "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."  The song was honored with two Grammy Awards, including "Record of the Year" and gave Tony a signature tune that, as he delights in saying, has made him "A Citizen of the World."  Last March, the classic was entered into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress as "an aural treasure worthy of preservation." Now in 2019, and about to turn an ageless 93, the legendary performer -  himself a world treasure - continues to leave his heart in each song that he sings and in every aspect of his life.

From March 27 - April 14 2019 at the IRT Theater in the West Village, the #HealMeToo Festival will bring together over 50 leading artists, experts, and activists for a multi-disciplinary exploration of gendered and sexual violence and how it can be healed.

The latest film from acclaimed filmmaker David Sutherland (Kind-Hearted Woman, Country Boys, The Farmer's Wife), Marcos Doesn't Live Here Anymore examines the US immigration system through the lives of two unforgettable protagonists whose lives reveal the human cost of deportation. Elizabeth Perez, a decorated US Marine veteran living in Cleveland, fights to reunite her family after her undocumented husband, Marcos, is deported. Meanwhile, Marcos is alone in Mexico, working as a soccer referee, struggling with depression and fighting the urge to cross the border illegally to see his family. With his signature raw, unfiltered intimacy, Sutherland weaves a parallel love story that takes us into a world often lived in the shadows. When Elizabeth's efforts hit a legal brick wall, she must plan for the unthinkable alternative: leaving the US with her children to live in exile in Mexico. A special presentation of Independent Lens, FRONTLINE and VOCES, Marcos Doesn't Live Here Anymorepremieres on Monday, April 15, 2019, 9:00-11:00 PM ET (check local listings) on PBS, and will also be available simultaneously for online streaming at pbs.org.

Renee Rapp (The Jimmy Awrads winner 2018), Antonio Cipriano (Jagged Little Pill), Arianna Afsar (Hamilton), Jelani Remy (Ain't Too Proud, The Lion King), Taylor Iman Jones (Head Over Heels), Celia Gooding (Jagged Little Pill), Chris Rice (Book of Mormon), Robby Clater (Pretty Woman), Jacob Haren (Book of Mormon), Diamond Essence White (Dear Evan Hansen), Joey LaBrasca (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Anthony Norman (The Prom), Ariane Rinehart (The Sound of Music Live) Anthony Sagaria (American Psycho) Cameron Anika Hill, Max Sheldon, Tyler Conroy and Adam Rennie join the cast of 54 Sings The High School Musical Trilogy at Feinstein's/54 Below. Further casting to be announced.

In early 2019, Kaufman Music Center will launch a new classical concert series at Merkin Hall, 'Only at Merkin with Terrance McKnight.' Hosted by WQXR's Terrance McKnight and showcasing some of the classical world's most acclaimed and celebrated artists, these evenings of insightful conversation and virtuosic performances will enlighten and inspire, deepening the audience's understanding and appreciation of the music, the composers, and the artists' creative process.

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.

In early 2019, Kaufman Music Center will launch a new classical concert series at Merkin Hall, 'Only at Merkin with Terrance McKnight.' Hosted by WQXR's Terrance McKnight and showcasing some of the classical world's most acclaimed and celebrated artists, these evenings of insightful conversation and virtuosic performances will enlighten and inspire, deepening the audience's understanding and appreciation of the music, the composers, and the artists' creative process.

ONCE is a perfect gem of a musical that has found a home at The Segal Centre for Performing Arts. In 2006, writer and director John Carney recruited his long time friend and former bandmate Glen Hansard to write songs for his indie film, which was being produced on a shoestring budget. Due to a series of what could have been perceived as unfortunate events, Hansard took over the male lead opposite Markéta Irglovà, who was also composing songs for the film. The resulting film is both true to life and magical and easily one of the best romantic comedies of a generation. ONCE took home the Audience Award at Sundance before going on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Hansard and Irglovà's Falling Slowly.

Mallory Bechtel (Dear Evan Hansen), Catlin Houlahan (The Girl From The North Country, Waitress), Michael Lee Brown (Dear Evan Hansen), Jelani Remy (Smokey Joe's Cafe, The Lion King), Phoenix Best (Dear Evan Hansen), Amber Ardolino (Head Over Heels, Hamilton Chicago Company), Chris Rice (Book of Mormon), Robby Clater (Pretty Woman), Dan Macke (Dear Evan Hansen), Diamond Essence White (Dear Evan Hansen), and Gabriel Sidney Brown (Les Miserables National Tour) join the previously announced 54 Sings The High School Musical Trilogy at Feinstein's/54 Below.