Co-Optimists - 1930 - West End Articles Page 16

Congo Square Theatre Company, well known for its powerful portrayal of African American classics and gripping new works, commemorates its 20th Anniversary season with a rare production of the 1965 satirical fantasy Day of Absence at the Richard Christiansen Theatre (housed inside Victory Gardens Biograph Theatre, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave.), February 27-March 22, 2020. The official opening night is Monday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.

For the past 126 years, Gibson has been synonymous with creating and shaping sound. The new Gibson era celebrates the iconic models of the Gibson Golden Era while leaning into the future with instruments that nurture new players across generations, genders, and genres of music. In 2019, Gibson emerged as the legitimate leader again by offering new, relevant and award-winning guitars.

Today Keen Company Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein announced the cast for the New York Premiere of Blues for an Alabama Sky by Pearl Cleage. LA Williams will direct a cast that features Prema Cruz, Alfie Fuller, John-Andrew Morrision, Khiry Walker, and Sheldon Woodley. The design team includes You-Shin Chen (scenic), Asa Benally (costumes), Oona Curley (lighting), and Lindsay Jones (original music & sound design). Casting is by Billy Hopkins Casting. Fran Rubenstein will serve as Production Stage Manager and Drew Francis will be the Production Manager.

New York vocalist Kendra Shank pays tribute to her friend and mentor Abbey Lincoln (1930 - 2010) in a program of songs composed by the legendary singer, songwriter, actress, poet, civil rights activist, and NEA Jazz Master whose powerful messages of love, struggle, hope, and freedom are timeless and timely. Shank's CD A Spirit Free: Abbey Lincoln Songbook (2007, the first Lincoln songbook ever recorded) received a New York Times Critics' Choice, 4 stars in DownBeat, and numerous 'Best of the Year' awards, among other accolades.

Austin Playhouse is celebrating the holiday season with the romantic musical comedy, She Loves Me. She Loves Me is a charming story set in the 1930's about two feuding shop clerks, Amalia and Georg. By Day, the two sparring co-workers can't seem to find common ground, but by night write beautiful love letters to their a?oesecret admirersa??. The unlikely romance unfolds as Georg and Amalia discover the truth that the anonymous pen pals they are falling for happen to be each other! But will their love continue to blossom once their identities are finally revealed? Musical favorites include, a?oeVanilla Ice Creama??, and a?oeShe Loves Mea??. She loves me is a musical adaption of the 1937 play Parfumerie. The story has also been adapted into the popular films The Shop around the Corner (1949) and You've Got Mail (1998).  

Julien's Auctions, the world-record breaking auction house, has announced its star-studded event ICONS & IDOLS: HOLLYWOOD to take place on December 16, 2019 at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills and live online at juliensauctions.com. This year end extravaganza offers over 400 items taken out of the vault and production archives of Hollywood's greatest films from the Golden Age of Hollywood to today's modern and new box office classics as well as important artifacts, rarely seen or coming to the auction block for the first time.

When German star, comedian Max Ehrlich, and his best friend, composer Willy Rosen were caught in Holland in 1942 and sent to the Westerbork Transit Camp, the commandant recognized Max and made him an offer he couldn't refuse: Every Monday night before the train leaves for Auschwitz the next morning, Max and Willy will do a cabaret. IF they are funny, they do it next week. If not - they are on the train. What followed was 18 months of the funniest cabaret in all of Europe!

Traditional West African dance and drumming take center stage at the Annenberg Center as Philadelphia's Kulu Mele celebrates its 50th anniversary with the world premiere of Ogun & the People, an Annenberg Center co-commission. This timely multi-media work explores the Afro-Cuban/Yoruba parable of the deity Ogun, a warrior and protector who abandons the other gods, wreaking terrible violence and famine on the world. It was specially created by Kulu Mele artistic director Dorothy Wilkie as her gift to the community (and the world), in commemoration of Kulu Mele's 50th anniversary. Major support for Ogun & the People has been provided to Kulu Mele by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Visit AnnenbergCenter.org for tickets.

Full casting and creative team is today announced for 'Reputation', a new musical by Alick Glass, set in the 1930s and celebrating the glorious sounds and musical rhythms of that era, which will get its world premiere at The Other Palace Studio from Tuesday 5 - Thursday 14 November.

Grand Rapids Symphony Music Director Marcelo Lehninger will remain at the helm of West Michigan's largest performing arts organization for another five years.

On the eve of her death, Anne Boleyn reflects on the journey that led her to become a queen, a mother, and, eventually, a woman condemned. A fascinating look at one of history's most famous marriages. Part of the 2nd Stages Series.

2FACED DANCE, founded and led by Artistic Director Tamsin Fitzgerald, presents a brand new show: 'THE BOX OF DELIGHTS', at the newly refurbished Green Dragon Hotel in Hereford where the company will present audiences with an entirely new experience: a festive combination of theatrical performance and exquisite dining a?" in partnership with the culinary team at the Green Dragon - which will be performed (and served) in seasonal style from December 17th to December 23rd.

Jonathan Miller's hilarious and much loved production of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic returns to the London Coliseum, almost 35 years after its premiere.

Performing in his 25th country, Goodwill Cultural Ambassador Ronald Rand will represent the United States at the Kenya International Theatre Festival, during his 20th year touring around the world in his celebrated solo play, LET IT BE ART! as Harold Clurman, 'the elder statesman of the American Theatre' on November 3rd in Nakuru at the Nakuru Players Theatre, and on November 5th at the Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi.

As the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts launches its 2019/2020 Season with record-breaking ticket sales and on the heels of its highly successful and critically lauded 2018/2019 Season, Michael Nemeroff, Chairman of the Board of Directors, announces the election of five business leaders to its growing Board of Directors. All highly accomplished in their respective fields and philanthropic work, they include: Thomas Blumenthal (a Beverly Hills resident), Donald Kivowitz (a West Hollywood resident), Agnes Lew (a San Marino resident) Peter Lowy (a West Los Angeles resident) and Richard Ziman (a Beverly Hills resident). In addition to Nemeroff, The Wallis is led by Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer Rachel Fine and Artistic Director Paul Crewes.

The Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture opens its 2019 Fall Season with a?oeA Salute to Richie Bonilla,a?? the long-time Latin Music Artist Manager, with a selection of artists he managed paying tribute in a star-studded concert on Saturday, October 12th at 7:30 PM in the Main Theater. There will be performances by the Puerto Rican singer/ songwriter and former Fania All-Star Ismael Miranda, singer Joe Bataan a?oeThe King of Latin Soul,a?? the Grammy Winning Cuban vocalist Albita, former Tito Puente vocalist Frankie Morales, timbalero Orlando Marin, known as a?oethe last Mambo King,a?? the highly energetic instrumental & vocal duo Los Hermanos Moreno, virtuoso flutist Connie Grossman and the Steven Oquendo Mambo Orchestra. Noted broadcaster Felipe Luciano will serve as Master of Ceremonies. A dance follows at 9:30 PM in the Hostos Café with DJ Brian Martínez spinning Salsa favorites.

Gibson--the legitimate leader in professional instruments—has teamed with nine-time GRAMMY Award-winner Sheryl Crow to present the new Sheryl Crow Country Western Supreme acoustic guitar. All Sheryl Crow Country Western Supreme guitars will be sold through Authorized Gibson dealers.

11-27 October, Pontine Theatre's co-directors, Greg Gathers & Marguerite Mathews, bring their unique approach to literary adaptation to Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1851 Gothic Romance, The House of the Seven Gables. Performances are Fridays at 7pm, Saturdays at 3pm and Sundays at 2pm.

Full casting and creative team is today announced for 'Reputation', a new musical by Alick Glass, set in the 1930s and celebrating the glorious sounds and musical rhythms of that era, which will get its world premiere at The Other Palace Studio from Tuesday 5 - Thursday 14 November.

La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts & Mccoy Rigby Entertainment present the West Coast Premiere of GRUMPY OLD MEN: THE MUSICAL, book by Dan Remmes, music by Neil Berg, lyrics by Nick Meglin, (Adapted from the Warner Bros. motion picture written by Mark Steven Johnson), additional orchestrations by Phil Reno, choreography by Michele Lynch, musical direction by Benet Braun and direction by Matt Lenz.

16th Street Theater announces Season Thirteen 2020: Redemption featuring two National New Play Network (NNPN) rolling world premieres by playwrights Maya Malan-Gonzalez and Audrey Cefaly, one world premiere by Julie Marie Myatt in collaboration with MC-10 Playwrights' Ensemble, one Chicago premiere by Lisa Langford co-produced with Pegasus Theatre Chicago with director Ilesa Duncan at the helm, and two true tales by Chicago writer/performers Steven Strafford and Debbie Baños.

Okada Masaki gets possessed in #BrackenMoor by his BFF who died at 12-years-old, in Alexi Kaye Campbell's chilling play about loss, grief, denial, rejection, acceptance, friendship, and mental health. Playing at Toho's Theatre Creation in Tokyo, Japan until August 27th, 2019!

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.

There's no doubt that dark times are ahead for the people of Berlin in this faithful recreation of the tawdry 1998 Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of CABARET. Using the original Broadway sets by Robert Brill and costumes by William Ivey Long, this Ogunquit Playhouse version, running now through August 10, is rough, tough and gritty, taking the implied decadence and hedonism of pre-World War II Germany and attaching it blatantly to every denizen of the speakeasy known as the Kit Kat Klub.

The South Street Seaport Museum announces an expanded schedule for the public cruises on Tugboat W.O. Decker.