Back Here - 1928 - Broadway Articles Page 8

From September 4-14, 2014, Houston Ballet launches its 45th season with the company premiere of John Neumeier's three-act ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream. The ballet is based on Shakespeare's lighthearted play of the same name and follows the hijinks and hilarity that ensues when a well-intentioned plan with a love potion goes awry. Created in 1977, A Midsummer Night's Dream has served as Mr. Neumeier's calling card, being seen as one of his most joyous and popular creations. Houston Ballet is the first American ballet company to perform the famous work and it is the first piece by Mr. Neumeier to enter the Houston Ballet repertoire.

Following the opening night performance of Cabaret, actor Alan Cumming (Emcee) surprised and awed the guests of the opening night bash. Inspired by German artist Otto Dix, Cumming emerged from his dressing room as the subject of one of Dix's most famous paintings, Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden (1926). Brandishing a red-checkered jumpsuit, a monocle fixed over his right eye, a cigarette holder and slicked-back hair, the Cabaret star looked almost identical to the 1926 painting. In an interview with NPR, Alan explained, ' I decided that I would do my own thing and have a modern interpretation of an image that is very much an inspiration for the production. We have those images of Otto Dix all over the walls, and [George] Grosz and all those painters. ... I'm going to go as that painting.' The portrait, a mixed media work on wood, is currently housed at the Musee National d'Art Moderne in Paris. At the time of its creation, Dix had just been discharged from service in World War I and was working in Dresden during the Weimar Republicof Germany.

Berkshire Theatre Group presents Noel Coward's Design for Living at the Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge. Opening Night is August 2 at 8pm. Preview performances begin tonight, July 30 at 7pm and the production closes August 16 at 8pm.

Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Craig Barron and Oscar-winning sound designer Ben Burtt will explore the side-by-side advances in filmmaking technology and aviation at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' four-evening series

Cabaret is set in 1930s Berlin, just around the time the Nazi Party began rising to power in Germany. The Emcee, Sally Bowles and a raucous ensemble take the stage at the Kit Kat Klub nightly to tantalize the crowd, and to leave their troubles outside. But as life in pre-WWII Germany grows more and more uncertain, the club, a metaphor for the threatening state of the late Weimar Germany begins to fall apart.

Jim Dale got his big break at an audition after getting a big laugh from a big fall. From that moment on, he would use his physicality for laughs, making him part of a long line of artists unafraid of falling down on the job.

Berkshire Theatre Group presents Noel Coward's Design for Living at the Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge. Opening Night is August 2 at 8pm. Preview performances begin on July 30 at 7pm and the production closes August 16 at 8pm.

The end of World War I in 1918 brought radical change to a defeated, disillusioned Germany. The entire population had experienced hunger, death, and violence. In October of that year, as the Americans brought renewed vigor to the fighting on the Western front, a largely communist revolt against the Kaiser and the war spread across Germany. Top military leaders showed no confidence in the monarchy. In early November, the Kaiser abdicated, and a leading socialist party declared a republic, thus bringing the Weimar Republic to power. The November 11 armistice was signed soon after. The war with the world had ended, but Germany's internal war was just beginning.

Berkshire Theatre Group and Artistic Director/CEO, Kate Maguire have announced the Summer 2014 Theatre Season offering classic works coupled with contemporary plays.

Currently at Laurel Mill Playhouse, a group of enthusiastic, great performers have taken on Andrew Lippa's THE WILD PARTY in a production that, while enthusiastic and lively, unfortunately suffers from some creative decisions and is hindered by the limitations of its small venue.

A Noise Within, led by Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, announces its 23rd season of classic theater in Southern California. Informed by the climate of social and economic upheaval in which we live, the season's theme-reflected in a kaleidoscopic palette of plays-is REVOLUTION.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, April 13, 2014 - Sunday, April 13, 2014.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, March 16, 2014 - Sunday, March 16, 2014.

Berkshire Theatre Group and Artistic Director/CEO, Kate Maguire have announced the Summer 2014 Theatre Season offering classic works coupled with contemporary plays.

Sophie Treadwell's expressionist masterpiece Machinal, directed by Lyndsey Turner opened Thursday, January 16 at the American Airlines Theatre. The New York Times raves "A thrill! Rebecca Hall burns bright in her illuminating Broadway debut" and Time Out New York declares "5 stars! If you care about American theatre, go now!" Read what the critics have been saying about Roundabout's revival of Machinal below. Let us know your thoughts on the show by leaving a comment on this post.

Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Machinal, starring Rebecca Hall, written by Sophie Treadwell and directed by Lyndsey Turner, opens tonight, January 16, 2014 at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway. Let's see what the critics had to say...

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, January 5, 2014 - Sunday, January 5, 2014.

Ted Sod: Where were you born and educated? How did you become a costume designer?

Ted Sod: Why did you choose to direct Machinal? Lyndsey Turner: I first read Machinal when I was at university: I was struck by the boldness of the writing, the way Treadwell follows, with brutal inexorable logic, the journey of an unremarkable woman through a series of encounters which lead her to commit a remarkable act. The play is a brilliant account of the impact of mechanization and industrialization on American society, as well a forensic and unflinching portrait of a young woman in crisis.

Bette Midler will be portraying another Hollywood icon after her turn as Sue Mengers in I'LL EAT YOU LAST on Broadway and in LA. According to Deadline, Midler will star in HBO Films' upcoming Mae West biopic, directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist) from a script by Harvey Fierstein (Kinky Boots).

A Big Theorist takes issue with another Big Theorist's disagreement with a Mere Critic's comments on a Medium-Prestige Poet's poem about the impossibility of communication. It's lab time, with the blackboard covered with symbols and arrows.

Nihilism-a dread word. Basically signifying that with the loss of supernatural underpinnings, there are no grounded values, no ways of determining what is really real, and no goals. A 19th-century genie that can't be corked back in the bottle. A reef always there, below the surface.

Music Director Alan Gilbert opens the New York Philharmonic's 2013-14 season with the Opening Gala concert, headlined by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, tonight, September 25, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Gilbert will conduct Mr. Ma and the Orchestra in two works by Argentinian composers: the World Premiere of Octavio Brunetti's arrangement, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, of a suite from Astor Piazzolla's La serie del Ángel, and Osvaldo Golijov's Azul, composed for the eminent cellist. The program opens with Ravel's Alborada del gracioso and closes with Bolero, two pieces that reflect the French composer's fascination with Spain. The concert will be telecast nationally on Live From Lincoln Center at a later date, and Classical 105.9 FM WQXR at 7:30 p.m.

It's 'Hooray for Captain Spaulding, The African Explorer!' and hooray for the entire cast of ANIMAL CRACKERS who pay (and play) fitting homage to the Brothers Marx in this comedy music production at Baltimore's Center Stage.

Howard Hawks, the quintessential Hollywood director known for his mastery of many genres, will be the subject of a complete retrospective at Museum of the Moving Image from today, September 7 through November 10, 2013. The Museum will present 39 features. All of the films will be shown in 35mm-many in stunning restorations-except for Red Line 7000, which will be shown in 16mm.