Co-Optimists - 1924 - West End Articles Page 8

Gingold Theatrical Group (David Staller, Artistic Director) will continue the 14th Season of Project Shaw, Art as Activism: A Theatrical Survival Guide, a special series of evenings of plays that embrace human rights and free speech. All of GTG's programming, inspired by the works of George Bernard Shaw, are designed to provoke peaceful discussion and activism.

Judith Jamison and members of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater appear at TEDx for REVELATIONS FROM OF A LIFETIME IN DANCE.

Producer Suzi Dietz announced today that on the heels of its successful run in Los Angeles, Miss America's Ugly Daughter written and performed by Bess Myerson's only child, Barra Grant, will open in New York this winter. Miss America's Ugly Daughter is a darkly comedic, poignant two character solo show about the seismic mother-daughter relationship of Bess Myerson and Barra Grant and will be directed by Eve Brandstein.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is currently bringing audiences to their feet in London during over two dozen international performances this month.  From the Sadler's Wells Theatre this Friday, Rehearsal Director Matthew Rushing will host a live stream masterclass teaching excerpts of Rennie Harris' Lazarus, involving dance studios across the United Kingdom and open to students around the world via the internet.

a??a??a??a??a??a??a??The Ailey School, now celebrating its 50th anniversary, was selected to perform in the 2019 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Over 100 students from all programs of The Ailey School will answer the call of a?oeLet's Have a Parade,a?? the iconic phrase that has signaled the start of every Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade since 1924.  Led by The Ailey School Co-Director Tracy Inman, the dancers from age seven to 25 will perform a dance inspired by the a?oeRocka My Soula?? finale of Alvin Ailey's American masterpiece Revelations.

Roundabout Theatre Company and Columbia University School of the Arts have announced the winners of Columbia@Roundabout's 2019 New Play Reading Series. As part of the collaborative partnership between Roundabout Theatre Company and Columbia University, the reading series awards three playwrights from the current MFA program and recent alumni with a cash prize as well as a reading in Roundabout's Rehearsal Hall, followed by a post-reading reception. Five finalists have also received cash prizes in recognition of their exceptional work. No other collaborative partnership in the New York area brings together an esteemed Ivy League MFA program with a Tony Award-winning, not-for-profit theatre. The reading series is made possible by a grant from The Tow Foundation.   

The 30th anniversary season of the Bard Music Festival a?" an exploration of a?oeKorngold and His Worlda?? a?" opens this Friday, August 9, with Weekend One: Korngold and Vienna. The first of the weekend's six themed concerts, Program One: a?oeErich Wolfgang Korngold: From Viennese Prodigy to Hollywood Master,a?? offers a broad overview of the composer's multi-faceted career.

If there is a more perfect pooch to portray Annie's Sandy than Rufus Stewart, then his humans should produce said canine for an upcoming production of the beloved Broadway musical post-haste. Until such time as that occurs, we are simply going to claim Rufus as the quintessential canine co-star for any number of red-headed moppets singing about "Tomorrow" while palling around with FDR, Frances Perkins, Harold Ickes and others of their political ilk.

Playwright Noel Coward's effervescent 1930s comedy "Private Lives" will be the fourth and final play of the Hampton Theatre Company's 2018-2019 season, opening on May 23 at the Quogue Community Hall and running through June 9.

For the third consecutive year, media personality Shefik will return as Master of Ceremonies for Shop. Sell. Strut!. Miranda Eldridge will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies. The event takes place at iPlay America, 110 Schanck Road, Warehouse 100, Freehold, New Jersey 07728, on Sunday, May 19, 2018, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET. Tickets can be purchased online at https://one.bidpal.net/shopsellstrut3/ticketing, with prices ranging from $25 to $30. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Morgan Marie Michael Foundation (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization), for individuals on the autism spectrum. In 2018, the event had 15 ambassadors with a 2019 goal of 30 ambassadors. This year, the event currently has 43 ambassadors. This constitutes a 500% increase in ambassador fundraising.

Casting for the third and fourth weeks of American Ballet Theatre's 2019 Spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

Playwright Noel Coward's effervescent 1930s comedy "Private Lives" will be the fourth and final play of the Hampton Theatre Company's 2018-2019 season, opening on May 23 at the Quogue Community Hall and running through June 9.

Award-winning artists' collective Rogue Artists Ensemble is thrilled to announce the Inaugural Rogue Lab Readings Series, a four-day event that includes readings of seven new works written, directed, and designed by emerging LA artists, as well as post-show discussions and receptions. The reading series will feature new plays by 2018-2019 Rogue Lab playwrights Lisa Sanaye Dring, Eric Fagundes, John Guerra, Mildred Inez Lewis, Chelsea Sutton, and Jennie Webb, and a special new play presentation by writing team Taylor Coffman and Z. Lupetin.

In this solo concert, RESONANCE III, Miki Orihara will be dancing Martha Graham's 'Lamentation (1930)', Doris Humphrey's 'Two Ecstatic Themes (1931)', Seiko Takata's work 'Mother (1938)' Konami Ishii's 'Moon Desert (early 1930's)' and Yuriko's 'Cry (1963)'.

Actress Fay McKenzie Waldman passed away peacefully in her sleep on the morning of April 16th at the age of 101. She was born February 19, 1918 into a show business family where she was the youngest of two sisters and an actress cousin, and made her screen debut at only ten weeks old in "Station Content" (1918) in which she was carried in the arms of Gloria Swanson. Her parents, Eva & Bob "Pops" McKenzie were already veteran performers and apparently wanted their daughter to get an early start in films. She nearly stole the show from Oliver Hardy as "the baby" in the Alice Howell short "Distilled Love" (filmed in 1918 but released two years later). By the time she was six, Fay was considered an old hand, having played diverse parts in her father's stock company. Among her early films was the 1924 Photoplay Medal Winner, "The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln." 

Irish Repertory Theatre (Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director and Ciar n O'Reilly, Producing Director) announced today special events and programming for the month of May as part of The Sean O'Casey Season, celebrating 30 years of Irish Repertory Theatre. May's events will include a screening of the biographical film Under the Colored Cap by Sean O'Casey's daughter, Shivaun O'Casey; an original concert of songs from O'Casey's plays; and two free scholar-led panels about O'Casey's life that will be livestreamed on Facebook.

On Sunday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m., New Yorkers of all ages will take the Zankel Hall stage for Soul Mechanism: A Concert Celebrating the Music of Migrations, a special evening that marks the culmination of a citywide creative learning project. Led by celebrated performer Toshi Reagon and a band made up of longtime collaborators, the concert will showcase original songs written by New Yorkers in a performance featuring American roots songstress Martha Redbone, jazz and gospel vocalist Lizz Wright, singer-songwriter and filmmaker Be Steadwell, activist-artist Taina Asili, Sudanese singer Alsarah Elgadi, and other special guest artists.

Hailed as "one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its "full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times)," The Dessoff Choirs continues its 94th season with Whitman and the Civil War: a spring concert inspired by the American poet and journalist Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and his relationship with the Civil War. As part of a season-long celebration of Whitman's bicentennial, Dessoff's 50 singers will perform exquisite choral settings of Whitman's poetry by Van, Clausen, Weill, and Stanford as well as the world premiere of Ian Sturges Milliken's Whispers of Heavenly Death. (Please scroll below for complete program details.)

Following solo and concerto performances at Queens College's Karol Rathaus Festival last month, Polish-Canadian pianist Daniel Wnukowski (vnoo-koff'-skee) further champions the music of this long-neglected Galician-Jewish composer with the launch of a recording cycle of Karol Rathaus's complete works for solo piano. The project, spanning four volumes on Toccata Classics, is an extension of Mr. Wnukowski's advocacy for music suppressed by the Nazi regime, and all of the works on Volume 1 appear on recording for the first time.

A star-studded cast led by Becky Ann Baker (HBO's "Girls."), 5-Time Tony nominee Dana Ivy (off-Broadway's original "Driving Miss Daisy"), 4-Time Oscar nominee Marsha Mason ("The Goodbye Girl") and Tony winner John Rubinstein ("Children of a Lesser God") will perform in a benefit reading of "The Torch-Bearers" for Bucks County Playhouse. Performances will be held in New York at the Westside Theatre on Monday, March 11 at 7:00 p.m. and then two days later at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope on Wednesday, March 13 at 7:00 pm. The reading is the first of three benefit readings that will mark the Playhouse's 80th anniversary.

The Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House MFA Acting Program is proud to present Noel Coward's classic comedy Hay Fever. This madcap play about a weekend with the eccentric Bliss family will star the MFA Class of 2020 and a guest performer.  Director Jerrold Scott's production will take the audience back to the 1920's and remind them of the joy of life and fear of boredom. The show will run from February 27th-March 9th in Helen Theatre at Playhouse Square.

Music's Biggest Night - the GRAMMYs - is here! Live from STAPLES Center, and hosted by Alicia Keys, the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards will be broadcast on CBS at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. 

A star-studded cast led by Becky Ann Baker (HBO's 'Girls.'), 5-Time Tony nominee Dana Ivey (off-Broadway's original 'Driving Miss Daisy'), 4-Time Oscar nominee Marsha Mason ('The Goodbye Girl') and Tony winner John Rubinstein ('Children of a Lesser God') will star in a benefit reading of 'The Torch-Bearers' for Bucks County Playhouse. Performances will be held in New York at the Westside Theatre on Monday, March 11 at 7:00 p.m. and then two days later at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope on Wednesday, March 13 at 7:00 pm.  The reading is the first of three benefit readings that will mark the Playhouse's 80th anniversary.

Music Director Leon Botstein leads The Orchestra Now (T N) in a special all-Rathaus concert as part of the Karol Rathaus Festival organized by the Aaron Copland School of Music, in honor of Queens College's first professor of composition. Including public lectures, master classes, and a chamber music concert, the Festival culminates with its only orchestral performance, given by T N on February 24, 2019.