Between The Lines - 1992 - West End Articles Page 6

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the greatest theatrical works (non-musical) from 1920-2020; see if your favorites made the list!

Joe's Pub - a program and venue of The Public Theater - brings the world to New York City this spring and summer. Audiences can skip the hassle and headaches of JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark to visit the Middle East (Tarek Yamani Trio, Divahn, Yemen Blues, and Shai Tsabari and the Middle East Groove Masters), Asia (Mai Khoi, AzN Pop!, and Akiko Yano Trio), Europe (Elina Duni, Pierce Turner, Germán López, Sam Lee, and Daniel Norgren), Africa (Michael Olatuja, AJOYO, and AfrotoniX), India (Amaan & Ayaan Ali Bangash, Aditya Prakash Ensemble, Sunny Jain, and Kiran Ahluwalia), and the Americas (Jim Cuddy and Nation Beat). Joe's Pub asks its audiences to leave their passports behind, settle into seats with some of New York City's best views, and sail the skies with better inflight entertainment and food than they'll find on any commercial airline.

Musical legends Mariah Carey, Annie Lennox / Dave Stewart p/k/a Eurythmics, Ernie Isley / Marvin Isley / O'Kelly Isley / Ronald Isley / Rudolph Isley / Chris Jasper p/k/a The Isley Brothers, Steve Miller, Chad Hugo / Pharrell Williams p/k/a The Neptunes, Rick Nowels and William “Mickey” Stevenson will become the latest inductees of the Songwriters Hall of Fame at the organization's 51st Annual Induction and Awards Dinner. These legendary songwriters wrote mega-hits such as, 'Vision of Love,”  “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” “Shout,” “The Joker,” “Hollaback Girl,” “Heaven is a Place on Earth,” and “Dancing In The Street.” The star-studded induction event is slated for Thursday, June 11th at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Additional special award honorees will be announced soon.

City Winery Chicago, 1200 W. Randolph Street, announces two-time Grammy Award-winning country artist Rodney Crowell, funk-soul group Robert Randolph & the Family Band and more. The following shows go on sale to the public on Friday, December 13 at noon. Tickets will be available at citywinery.com/chicago.

Today's top stories: Beetlejuice will close in June, and more!

Sting's acclaimed musical, THE LAST SHIP, starring and featuring original music and lyrics by the 17-time Grammy Award®-winner, will go on sale Friday, November 29 for the premiere Detroit engagement at the Detroit Opera House. Tickets start at $35 and can be purchased online at broadwayindetroit.com or ticketmaster.com, and by phone at 800-982-2787. Tickets may also be purchased at the Detroit Opera House and Fisher Theatre box offices.

From the bustle of neon-lit Shinjuku and its ultramodern skyscrapers to the traditional scenery of Mt. Fuji, cherry blossoms, and Shinto shrines, Tokyo has served as a source of creative inspiration for generations of international filmmakers. Anticipating the 2020 Summer Games, when the eyes of the world will once again fall upon Japan's dynamic capital, Tokyo Stories: Japan in the Global Imagination considers the ways Japan—and the elusive concept of “Japaneseness” —is rendered and interpreted outside its borders with a revealing selection of Tokyo-set films by foreign directors, including Japanese co-productions, Hollywood blockbusters, and European arthouse favorites.

As general director, president & CEO Anthony Freud announced today, big changes are underway at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Acclaimed and beloved music director Sir Andrew Davis plans to conclude his two-decade-long tenure at the end of the 2020|21 season. Eminent Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola has been named as Lyric's music director designate, effective immediately, and will become Lyric's music director beginning with the 2021|22 season. As Davis continues his substantial responsibilities while overseeing the transition, Mazzola looks forward to his role in leading Lyric through the next, dynamic chapter of the iconic company's journey.

The Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) today announced the full roster of neighborhoods and sites participating in Open House Chicago 2019a?"now in its ninth year and one of the largest architecture festivals in the world.  This free two-day public event, taking place Saturday and Sunday, October 19 and 20, offers behind-the-scenes access to almost 350 sites in 38 neighborhoods, many rarely open to the public, including repurposed mansions, stunning skyscrapers, opulent theaters, exclusive private clubs, industrial facilities, cutting-edge offices and breathtaking sacred spaces. 

Ahead of its 60th Birthday, Hampstead Theatre announces Roxana Silbert's inaugural season as Artistic Director.

Sting's acclaimed musical, THE LAST SHIP, starring and featuring original music and lyrics by multiple Grammy Award-winner Sting, will make its premiere in Detroit at the Detroit Opera House, April 22-26, 2020, as part of an international Tour. THE LAST SHIP will also have engagements in Los Angeles at Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre; San Francisco at SHN's Golden Gate Theatre; Washington D.C. at the National Theatre; and in St. Paul, MN at the Ordway.

Mark Morris Dance Group & Music Ensemble returns to Jacob's Pillow's Ted Shawn Theatre, July 17-21, restaging both new and beloved repertory. 'A tour de force of artistic storytelling' (The Los Angeles Times), this audience favorite is renowned for deeply witty and poetic dance and has amassed one of the most extensive Pillow performance records of any artist. Mark Morris Dance Group & Music Ensemble performs Prelude and Prelude-a work that has not been performed anywhere since 1992-the new work Sport, excerpts from Words, and the company classic Grand Duo.

Before the high-flying, energetic production of Newsies put on by the Patel Conservatory takes the stage at Ferguson Hall, I had the chance to sit down with Director Suzanne Livesay and Student Performer Jaden Waz and discuss the show and what makes it memorable to all who see the show.

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.

Baillie & the Boys, gained prominence in the late 1980s as the trio (Kathie Baillie, Michael Bonagura, and Alan LeBoeuf) first found work singing harmony vocals on singles for Ed Bruce, Dan Seals, and Randy Travis, and Bonagura co-wrote Marie Osmond's single 'There's No Stopping Your Heart'. In 1987, Baillie & the Boys were signed to a record deal with RCA Records. Their self-titled album was released that year, producing three Top 20 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts. Turn The Tide, their second album, was released a year later. It produced four consecutive Top 10 hits on the country charts, including '(Wish I Had A) Heart of Stone', their highest-charting single.

Appropriately playing at Fallout Theatre's historically comedic stage, TERMINATOR: THE MUSICAL parodies Arnold Schwarzenegger's hit 1984 and 1991 films, The Terminator and T2: Judgement Day. The film features a time travelling robot, who has travelled from 2029 to 1984 in order to kill Sarah Connor before she gives birth to her son Jon Connor, the future hero in the war between humans and machines. The simple premise with complicated time travelling implications, propelled The Terminator franchise into a cult following over the past 3 decades. One fan of the franchise in particular must be Breanna Bietz - the writer and director of this hilarious musical parody. The show in fact parodies both the first and second Terminator films, beginning with the robotic assassin attempting to find and kill Sarah Connor, and moves to her son Jon being born and navigating the second round of time-hopping killer robots. With songs displaying the tough life of a maniacal robot's need for love, raunchy sex fueled attraction, and cheesy deaths, TERMINATOR THE MUSICAL delivers laughs through melody and great comedic timing and farce.

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), will host a conversation entitled 'Producing Theatre for an Ageless Audience', moderated by Linda Hartzell, SDC Foundation Trustee and Artistic Director Emerita of Seattle Children's Theatre, with luminary directors Mark Brokaw and Marcia Milgrom Dodge and playwright Timothy Allen McDonald on Monday May, 20, 2019 from 6:00-8:00 PM at SDC, 321 W. 44th St., Suite 804.

It's another busy weekend in Nashville - but when is Music City not packed with events, festivals, affairs? - and we're back with our Critic's Choice recommendations to have you cut through the theatrical flotsam and jetsam and find a cultural opening that's a good fit for your harried lifestyle. Nashville Opera opens its staging of Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock at Noah Liff Opera Center, Way Off Broadway Productions unveils its version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Music Valley Event Center, Street Theatre Company invites you to the see their staging of Lynn Nottage's Sweat at their new venue on Elm Hill Pike and Nashville Rep continues its celebration of 10 years of The Ingram New Works Festival at Nashville Children's Theatre.

The Jewish Museum will present Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything, a contemporary art exhibition devoted to the imagination and legacy of the influential singer/songwriter, man of letters, and global icon from Montreal, Canada. The exhibition will be on view from April 12 through September 8, 2019.

The Guthrie Theater (Joseph Haj, artistic director) today announced the nine productions of its 2019 2020 subscription season: Tennessee Williams' classic family drama The Glass Menagerie; Shakespeare's rollicking comedy Twelfth Night; an adaptation of Emma based on the Jane Austen novel; and Kander and Ebb's musical Cabaret will grace the Guthrie's signature Wurtele Thrust Stage while the McGuire Proscenium Stage's lineup will include Robert Harling's female-driven comedy Steel Magnolias; the regional premiere of Noura, Heather Raffo's complex tale of identity; Anne Bogart's acclaimed production of Euripides' The Bacchae; Karen Zacar as' comedic telenovela Destiny of Desire; and Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat.

Produced by Emery Entertainment, MEN ARE FROM MARS-WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS LIVE! will make a brief stop to the Playhouse @ Westport Plaza stage May 17-18 for three performances. Show times are Friday, May 17 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, May 18 at 4 p.m. & 8 p.m. The Off-Broadway hit is a light-hearted theatrical comedy based on the New York Times #1 best-selling book of the last decade by John Gray. Moving swiftly through a series of vignettes, the one-man fusion of theatre and stand-up covers everything from dating and marriage to the bedroom.

2017 Tony Award winner for Best Play, Oslo, by J.T. Rogers, is Repertory Theatre St. Louis' artistic director Steven Woolf's final directing project before his retirement begins. It is the story of the Norwegian couple-an academic and social scientist, Terje, who has developed a new approach to conflict resolution, and his clever wife, Mona, who is a dignitary in the office of the Foreign Ministry-who together initiated and facilitated clandestine peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1992 and 1993; talks that would highlight the past and decide the futures of two peoples, each having reasonable grievances, though each striving to find resolution.

Jim Cartwright's tale of the small town girl with voices of the greats within her comes to life in Shaun Rennie's sublime production of THE RISE & FALL OF LITTLE VOICE.

Stephen Daldry's multi-award-winning revival of J.B. Priestley's AN INSPECTOR CALLS will land at The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts January 22 through February 10, 2019 as part of its international tour. This production, the longest running revival of a play in history, has already been seen by over four million theatregoers worldwide. I had the most lovely opportunity to chat up Jeff Harmer (who limns the role of patriarch Arthur Birling) on his history and experiences with this and other INSPECTORs.

Skylight Music Theatre announced the cast and creative team for Five Guys Named Moe, a joyful, jazzy tribute to Louis Jordan, the 1940s rhythm and blues singer, songwriter and bandleader.