Beautiful Thing - 1999 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 18

Lorinda Lisitza may be one of the best-kept secrets in the New York musical theater community, but with her standout cabaret show, Triumphant Baby (running for six shows this month at the Metropolitan Room), this terrific actor, singer, comedian--and inveterate poker--player may finally be dealt a winning hand.

NBC announced today that its new relationship show, READY FOR LOVE, an innovative series that brings the age old art of matchmaking to the modern age, will premiere in Winter 2012-13.

Soulpepper Theatre Company is one of the most successful theatre companies in Canada, and growing every day. What began as a group of twelve actors who wanted to tell classical theatre stories has grown into one of the largest theatre companies in Toronto and one of the most well respected in the country. They've enjoyed many sold-out productions in the last few years, and have been responsible for the growth and development of new Canadian works, including the smash hit Kim's Convenience, which has arguably been the most talked-about Canadian play of the last twelve months.

Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning actress Cynthia Nixon will join soprano Lisa Delan and pianist Kristin Pankonin in an evening that features Gordon Getty's The White Election, a song cycle based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Ms. Nixon will read selections from Emily Dickinson's letters. The event will take place on Thursday, April 19, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. at The Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse (Samuel B. & David Rose Building, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, 165 West 65th Street, Manhattan).

After 6 seasons at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Julius returns to B'way in a Stratford production, with his brother in the cast as well.

Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning actress Cynthia Nixon will join soprano Lisa Delan and pianist Kristin Pankonin in an evening that features Gordon Getty's The White Election, a song cycle based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Ms. Nixon will read selections from Emily Dickinson's letters. The event will take place on Thursday, April 19, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. at The Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse (Samuel B. & David Rose Building, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, 165 West 65th Street, Manhattan).

Nigel Redden, Director of Lincoln Center Festival, today announced the Festival's line-up, which runs from July 5 through August 5, 2012. Single tickets go on sale on April 2. Theater offerings include Mikhail Baryshnikov in Dmitry Krymov's staging of a new play, In Paris, as well as Sydney Theatre Company's acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya directed by Tamas Ascher and adapted by Andrew Upton. The stellar cast includes John Bell, Cate Blanchett, Hayley McElhinney, Richard Roxburgh, and Hugo Weaving.

The Highline Ballroom has announced upcoming shows for March 12th through April 12th. All shows will take place at the Highline Ballroom at 431 West 16th Street between 9th Avenue and 10th Avenue. Tickets may be purchased through Ticketweb, online at ticketweb.com or at the Highline Box Office from noon until doors close at 866-468-7619.

MUSE/IQUE, Pasadena's new orchestra founded last year by Artistic Director Rachael Worby, launches its inaugural season with an UNCORKED event Ebony and Ivory on March 19, 2012 at 7:00pm.

Headlining the most successful entertainment of all time, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Michael Crawford was actually not the first name the creative team considered for the gothic musical undertaking during its creation in the mid-1980s, believe it or not. Steve Harley famously recorded the original single of the title song with composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's muse Sarah Brightman and subsequently starred in the grandiose Ken Russell fever dream music video. While the public and critics alike assumed Harley's bid for the lead role in the gestating show was all but guaranteed after the video debut, it was not meant to be. Master director Hal Prince had his sights set on a British stage and screen star who had made a name with American audiences decades before in the troubled film versions of two Broadway hits - A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM and HELLO, DOLLY! - as well as made a name for himself the world over in the British sitcom SOME MOTHERS DO 'AVE 'EM. Crawford had also cemented his place in the musical theatre with his roles in FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON and BILLY, but it was PHANTOM that would catapult him into the ranks of iconic musical megastar. So, today, let us take a look at what made Michael Crawford's performance in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA so unforgettable as we celebrate this week's US release of the simply spectacular DVD/Blu-ray of the 25th anniversary production mounted late last year at the Royal Albert Hall starring Ramim Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, loving assembled and presented by original lead producer Cameron Mackintosh and featuring a grand finale complete with original PHANTOM cast-members Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, among a host of other glories.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres will resurrect its ever-popular 50s musical classic, FOREVER PLAID, opening Tuesday, January 10, in the Fireside Theatre.

The Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside has announced its initial line-up of shows for the Winter/Spring of 2012!

Today, on the eve of 112th anniversary of Duke Ellington's birth, New York City Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center are pleased to announce a new producing partnership that will combine the organizations' specialties: musical theater and jazz.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced the complete cast for its upcoming production of the new musical THE BLUE FLOWER: Sebastian Arcelus (Buddy in Elf, Wicked, Jersey Boys), Marc Kudisch (Three-time Tony Award nominee for 9 to 5, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Thoroughly Modern Millie), Meghan McGeary (The Blue Flower at A.R.T.), Joseph Medeiros (Irving Berlin's White Christmas), Julia Osborne (National Tour of South Pacific), Graham Rowat (Guys and Dolls), Aaron Serotsky (August: Osage County), and Teal Wicks (Elphaba in Wicked).

Pioneer, innovator and the voice of an entire new musical theatre generation coming in the dawning of the age of GLEE, Tony Award recipient and Grammy-winning composer, lyricist and performer Lin-Manuel Miranda has merged the worlds of the two most significant of original American art forms - musicals and rap - in such a striking and surprisingly inventive way with his hit musical IN THE HEIGHTS - currently touring the country - and is setting out to do the same with his fresh collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning NEXT TO NORMAL composer Tom Kitt on their new musical BRING IT ON!, currently in previews out of town in Los Angeles as it eyes New York. In addition to discussing the development of IN THE HEIGHTS and BRING IT ON! in detail, Miranda and I also outline his experience working alongside the two modern-day masters of the musical theatre - Stephen Sondheim and the recently deceased Arthur Laurents - on the Spanish translation and new lyrics for the recent bilingual revival of WEST SIDE STORY - in addition to his forthcoming ALEXANDER HAMILTON project, which Miranda recently performed a medley from for President Obama himself at the White House Poetry Jam. As if all of that were not enough, we also delve into his thought process as he sets out to take on one of Sondheim's most challenging roles in all of musical theatre - that of Charley Kringas in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG at Encores!, under the direction of James Lapine. Plus, news on his new feature film THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN, as well as recollections of his fondest Broadway shows, scores, cast albums, movie musicals and general musical and theatrical inspirations - and his favorite Shakespeare plays, too - as well as much, much more!

Today we have a super-special DVD and Blu-ray overview as we take a look at and listen to five brand new Blu-rays hitting the shelves in October, including two stunning Blu-ray debuts of two of Quentin Tarantino's seminal 90s films - PULP FICTION and JACKIE BROWN. While Tarantino won his only Oscar to date for his screenwriting work on PULP - a credit he shared with co-storywriter Roger Avery - it is his studied, mature and delicate directorial work on JACKIE BROWN that won over many film fans who may have found a bit too much flash, pop, sizzle and razzmatazz in the packed-to-the-gills PULP. Although, if all the Tarantino tough guy talk and off-the-wall soundtrack selections are not quite your speed, we also have three early Halloween selections sure to send some shivers up your spine, with MANHUNTER, HANNIBAL and the recent remake of THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. While MANHUNTER was the movie-going public's first glimpse of what became the most beloved movie villain of all-time - the cannibalistic genius himself, Hannibal Lector - it was in a very different, completely different guise: noted stage and screen actor Brian Cox plays the role that eventually was made famous (and Oscar-winning) by Anthony Hopkins in the second film of the Hannibal Lector series, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (by Jonathan Demme), just a few short years after Michael Mann's treatment of the original Thomas Harris novel, RED DRAGON. Of course, RED DRAGON was also made into a movie of the same name recently, directed by Brett Ratner and featuring an all-star cast comprising Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ralph Fiennes, Mary Louise Parker, Ed Norton, Harvey Keitel and many more. While many film fans certainly cite SILENCE as the finest Lector film - and it very well may be - my personal bias is for Ridley Scott's daring and gruesome 1999 hit, HANNIBAL, starring Hopkins alongside Julianne Moore in the role of Clarice Starling (made famous by Jodie Foster, who passed on the ultra-violent script), which is also finally getting the Blu-ray upgrade along with Mann's MANHUNTER. Then, there is the witty and disturbing remaining of one of the most scandalous and prurient torture porn films ever made - created long before that term was ever coined; in the age of Eli Roth and the SAW series - Wes Craven's harrowing horror revenge tale, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. Recent PROMISES, PROMISES on Broadway star Tony Goldwyn was a recent InDepth InterView participant and told me about how pleased he was with this remake and while it does not have the seedy voyeuristic bent of the original, it makes an impact in a new and equally entertaining way. Whether checking out one or all of these superb new Blu-ray releases you are assured a memorable movie experience, just as the temperatures begin to cool and you yearn for nights of warmth inside away from the elements.

Gary Griffin is directing Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's first production of the 2011-12 season, FOLLIES. The production will play today through November 6. For additional information, visit: www.chicagoshakes.com.

We are thrilled to present our second issue with the incredible Kristin Chenoweth. We sat down with her to talk about her newly released country album 'Some Lessons Learned'. Chenoweth is best known on Broadway for her performance as Sally Brown inYou're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1999), for which she won a Tony Award, and for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked (2003). Her best-known television role is Annabeth Schott in NBC's The West Wing. As Olive Snook on the ABC comedy-drama Pushing Daisies, she won a 2009 Emmy Award.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced the complete cast for its upcoming production of the new musical THE BLUE FLOWER: Sebastian Arcelus (Buddy in Elf, Wicked, Jersey Boys), Marc Kudisch (Three-time Tony Award nominee for 9 to 5, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Thoroughly Modern Millie), Meghan McGeary (The Blue Flower at A.R.T.), Joseph Medeiros (Irving Berlin's White Christmas), Julia Osborne (National Tour of South Pacific), Graham Rowat (Guys and Dolls), Aaron Serotsky (August: Osage County), and Teal Wicks (Elphaba in Wicked).

Having racked up multiple top ten hits while still a mere teenager since he burst upon the music scene in 1999, songwriter and performer Shad Moss was once known as Lil Bow Wow and now goes by just Bow Wow, though he is building up a considerable enough film resume to consider now using only his Christian name to differentiate his various talents. Between LIKE MIKE, ROLL BOUNCE, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT, Tyler Perry's MADEA'S BIG HAPPY FAMILY most recently, and, now, his villainous new role in THE FAMILY TREE, Moss has transitioned from rapper to leading man in much the same way that he seamlessly moved from boy wonder to the man behind his own music at Cash Money Records. With news on his forthcoming album UNDERRATED featuring collaborations with Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown and Nicki Minaj, among others, as well as a look back at his past albums and appearances - such as his movie musical debut in MTV's CARMEN: A HIP-HOPERA co-starring Beyonce Knowles, Mekhi Pfeiffer and Mos Def; as well as his memorable stint on ENTOURAGE - Moss also shares his individual observations on how the music industry has changed and morphed in the last fifteen years since he started out as Jermaine Dupri's protégé, as well as all about his upcoming film thriller RECALLED and working with the cast, crew and creatives of THE FAMILY TREE - Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney and Chi McBride included - and much, much more! THE FAMILY TREE opens in select cities today.

Audiences will be captivated by Pittsburgh CLO's production of Jesus Christ Superstar, August 2-14 at the Benedum Center! This powerful rock opera takes viewers on an emotional journey through the final days of Jesus of Nazareth.

For 15 years, the hits have kept on coming at Radio Disney, the #1 radio network devoted to kids, tweens and families.

Audiences will be captivated by Pittsburgh CLO's production of Jesus Christ Superstar, August 2-14 at the Benedum Center! This powerful rock opera takes viewers on an emotional journey through the final days of Jesus of Nazareth.

Musical Theatre West is proud to announce the professional regional premiere of THE WEDDING SINGER at the beautiful 1,070-seat Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach. THE WEDDING SINGER previews July 8 and runs July 9 through July 24, 2011.

Musical Theatre West is proud to announce the professional regional premiere of THE WEDDING SINGER at the beautiful 1,070-seat Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach. THE WEDDING SINGER previews July 8 and runs July 9 through July 24, 2011.