Becoming - 1976 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 17

Theater League has announced on-sale dates for individual tickets to the shows in the 2015-16 Broadway at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Center Series. Tickets to ELF, FLASHDANCE THE MUSICAL, A RAT PACK CHRISTMAS and RAGTIME, all starting at $29, will go on sale August 25. The on-sale date for JERSEY BOYS will be announced later in the month.

Houston, August 17, 2015—Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) 2015–16 season showcases the vibrant and diverse artistic mix that marks HGO as a leading 21st-century American opera company: Wagner's Siegfried, the third installment of La Fura dels Baus's imaginative Ring cycle featuring a new generation of Wagnerians; the world premiere of Prince of Players by eminent American composer Carlisle Floyd, the Lynn Wyatt Great Artist for 2015–16; Dvoák's fairy tale rarity Rusalka; a holiday revival of family favorite The Little Prince from the award-winning composer Rachel Portman and librettist Nicholas Wright; a new production of The Marriage of Figaro; a new-to-Houston Eugene Onegin; a beloved core production, Tosca; and the Houston debut of Broadway sensation Rob Ashford's take on the classic musical Carousel. Through its community collaboration program HGOco, the company will present two additional world premieres: O Columbia, a chamber opera by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Royce Vavrek that examines the past, present, and future of the American spirit of exploration; and The Root of the Wind is Water, a chamber opera by composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann about the impact of hurricanes on the Texas Gulf coast.

It was a time of war and political scandal, but for three minutes and 20 seconds Americans across the U.S. could turn up their radios and hear the grooving beats and infectious lyrics of KC & The Sunshine Band's 'Get Down Tonight.' Times have changed since 1975, but fast forward to 2015 and here we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of 'Get Down Tonight' topping the charts. Harry Wayne 'KC' Casey and KC and The Sunshine Band are featured in a brand-new episode of CNN's The Seventies 'What's Goin On,' premiering tonight, August 13, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

PITTSBURGH – Performing in Pittsburgh for the first time since 1977, Randy Newman, whose music speaks to multiple generations, closes the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Summer with the Symphony: Today Night Icons series tonight, July 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Heinz Hall.

David-Troy Somerville, co-founder and original lead singer of the 1950's rock 'n' roll vocal group The Diamonds and known to music fans around the world as 'Diamond Dave' Somerville, passed away early Tuesday morning in Santa Barbara from cancer. He was 81.

PITTSBURGH – Performing in Pittsburgh for the first time since 1977, Randy Newman, whose music speaks to multiple generations, closes the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Summer with the Symphony: Thursday Night Icons series on July 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Heinz Hall.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announces a celebration of films from the Swinging Sixties (and beyond) with the retrospective Richard Lester: The Running Jumping Pop Cinema Iconoclast

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will welcome two new staff conductors at the start of the 2015-2016 season. Andrés Franco and Francesco Lecce-Chong both will join the symphony staff as assistant conductors.

?La Jolla Playhouse, nationally-renowned for its commitment to the development of new work and new theatrical forms, is pleased to announce the projects and collaborators for its second Without Walls (WoW) Festival taking place October 9 - 11.

Gonzo Multimedia will be releasing an unreleased live DVD/CD by rock legends The Boomtown Rats featuring Bob Geldof titled “Live In Germany '78” today, June 8, 2015!

Gonzo Multimedia will be releasing an unreleased live DVD/CD by rock legends The Boomtown Rats featuring Bob Geldof titled “Live In Germany '78” on June 8, 2015!

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra announced today the appointment of Melia Peters Tourangeau as its new president and CEO. Tourangeau comes to Pittsburgh from Salt Lake City, Utah, where she has served as president and chief executive officer of the Utah Symphony | Utah Opera (USUO) for the last seven years.

The exhibition Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys: Fine Arts presents new and existing work by the Belgian artists Jos de Gruyter (b. 1965) and Harald Thys (b. 1966).

The 22nd Annual Merritt Awards for Excellence in Design and Collaboration will take place on Monday, May 4th, at Loyola University Chicago.

Pompoms, popularity, sorority life and a mid-life crisis are just the tip of the iceberg in VANITIES, the musical. VANITIES, a play by Jack Heifner, opened Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in New York in 1976. The cast included Kathy Bates as Joanne, Jane Galloway as Kathy and Susan Merson as Mary. In 1981, the play was taped and televised on HBO starring Annette O'Toole, Meredith Baxter Birney and Shelley Hack. Needless to say, this script is powerful. The musical was adapted by Jack Heifner with music and lyrics by David Kirshenbaum. When a popular play is transformed into a musical, I am doubtful, but this musical had its moments.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton are excited to announce the main company's 2015-16 season performances in Chicago. Tickets to four engagements at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, 205 East Randolph Street, are available immediately as a Season 38 subscription; single tickets will go on sale in August 2015.

Melba Moore, a four-time Grammy nominee and winner of the 1970 Tony Award for 'Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical,' for her performance as 'Lutiebelle' in Purlie will appear at the Metropolitan Room on April 13 at 9:30 with a new show featuring songs made famous by legendary singers, including Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Nancy Wilson, Barbra Streisand, and Diana Ross. Joining Moore will be her special guest, actor/singer/songwriter Clifton Davis, who wrote hits for The Jackson Five. With a total of 11 top ten U.S. hits on the Billboard charts over the past 40 years, both singles and albums, Melba Moore continues into the 21st century as one of pop music's most enduring artists.

Ten-time Grammy Award-winning artist and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master George Benson returns to Segerstrom Center for the Arts for one night only tonight, March 27 at 8 p.m. in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.

The 007 official website has announced that the actress has signed on to join Daniel Craig in the upcoming Bond installment, SPECTRE. She'll play a woman named Estrella. No other details were announed

KC and The Sunshine Band dominated the 1970s, ruling the airwaves with a unique meeting of Caribbean, pop, R&B and latin styles that inspired infectious grooves and the distinctive Sunshine Sound, producing such #1 hits as 'Get Down Tonight,' 'That's the Way (I Like It),' 'Boogie Shoes,' 'Shake Your Booty,' and many more. Before he impacted the world, teaching them how to boogie, Harry Wayne 'KC' Casey was, like the rest of America, being shaped by the music, conflicts, innocence, sex, social and political movements and counterculture of the 1960s.

Minnesota Opera Music Director Michael Christie leads the world premiere performances of The Manchurian Candidate, today, March 7–15, 2015in the Ordway Music Theater. Christie is recognized as “ … a top-notch conductor of new works …” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Based on the novel by Richard Condon and directed by Kevin Newbury, The Manchurian Candidate traces the mysterious story of an American soldier decorated during the Korean War who is brainwashed into becoming an unwitting assassin in a conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government. This taut and suspenseful thriller is the highly anticipated second opera by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell, creators of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night.

John Lithgow is a Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner; a TV star, movie star and theater star; and a New York Times best-selling author. Now see him like you've never seen him before in his funny, touching one-man theatrical memoir, John Lithgow: Stories by Heart.

Tonight, March 7, John Lithgow will bring his one-man show, JOHN LITHGOW: STORIES BY HEART, to Aurora's Paramount Theatre.

Slamgate Productions in conjunction with the Mozell Entertainment Group is happy to announce the limited theatrical release of the new teen flick “At the Top of the Pyramid.”

Today Relix is premiering Asleep at the Wheel's “The Girl I Left Behind Me” with The Avett Brothers from the upcoming Bob Wills tribute albumStill The King: Celebrating The Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. “When [The Avetts] came in the studio they were primed and ready to roll,” says Ray Benson, frontman of Asleep at the Wheel. “The result is a joyous romp with hilarious lyrics!” Stream the track via Relix HERE.