Edge - 2007 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 19

WABC-TV, the No. 1 broadcast station in the U.S., announced that one of the most popular weather forecasters in New York City history, Sam Champion, is joining its weekday morning and noon teams as weather anchor. Starting Monday, June 3, 2019, Champion joins early risers Ken Rosato, Shirleen Allicot and traffic reporter Heather O'Rourke on Eyewitness News This Morning from 4:30-7:00 a.m. He will also be on Eyewitness News at noon with David Novarro and Shirleen Allicot. Champion will round out the Eyewitness News AccuWeather team led by chief meteorologist Lee Goldberg, along with Amy Freeze and Jeff Smith. Champion will continue to contribute to ABC News.

Craft Latino proudly pays tribute today to one of Mexico's greatest stars, Antonio Aguilar, on what would have been his 100th birthday, with the release ofAntonio Aguilar Centenario: Colección de la Familia—a 100-song playlist curated by his sonPepe Aguilar and family. Available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms, the career-spanning playlist includes the Aguilar family's personal favorites from Don Antonio's extensive catalog, including his biggest hits (“Albur de Amor,” “Un Puño de Tierra”) as well as songs made popular by his iconic films (“Heraclio Bernal,” “Caballo Prieto Azabache”). Listeners will enjoy a variety of styles like rancheras (Mexican folk songs), corridos(storytelling ballads), tambora (a style of banda music from Aguilar's home state of Zacatecas) and the popular mariachi.

The fun of an evening such as this week's 'Michael Kahn & Friends, Off the Record: The Lansburgh Years, 1992-2007' derives from the relaxed, unscripted content provided by those who usually offer scripts to an audience. The three actors and one former administrative colleague who joined Kahn at the Harman Wednesday to visit memory lane required little prompting by moderator Tom Story to recall and reminisce about their work with the Shakespeare Theatre Company during the Lansburgh Years. Once Story asked each to remember his/her first meeting with Michael Kahn, a series of photos of past productions drove the evening of anecdotes.

Now in its eleventh consecutive year, the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre presents Vibrant 2019 A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, its annual explosion of new writing, running between 16 June-4 July 2019.

The New Jersey Wines Culinary Series, which brings leading New Jersey winemakers and chefs together, will have its second event on Thursday May 23 at 6pm at the renowned A Toute Heure restaurant in Cranford teaming AJ Capella, winner of the 2017 Garden State Culinary Arts Award as Rising Star Chef with winemaker Conor Quilty of Unionville Vineyards in Ringoes.

The 5th Avenue Theatre has announced the full cast for West Side Story, the sweeping musical version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet set in the turbulent streets of New York City, where a star-crossed love blossoms between rival gangs. William Branner (National Tour: Bat Out Of Hell, Off-Broadway: Kragtar: An American Monster Musical) joins the cast to star as Tony, replacing the previously announced CJ Eldred.

Boston Landmarks Orchestra (LO) under the direction of Music Director Christopher Wilkins, and Executive Director Jo Frances Meyer, announces its 2019 season of free concerts at the DCR's Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade. The free, public concerts will be held every Wednesday evening at 7pm from July 17 to August 21, 2019.

New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," has announced its 29th season of adult, alternative musical theatre, including the return of the wild, comic rock musical CRY-BABY,  which New Line first produced in 2012 in its American regional premiere, based on the John Waters film, running Sept. 26-Oct. 19, 2019; followed by the electrifying new rock musical fresh from Broadway, in its regional premiere, HEAD OVER HEELS, a high-energy, adult romp about gender and sexuality, based on a 16th century novel and using the songs of the pop group The Go-Go's, running March 5-28, 2020; and the season closes with the return of one of New Line's biggest hits, which the New Liners first presented in 2007, the pitch dark satire URINETOWN, the hilarious, outrageous fable of greed, corruption, love, revolution, and urination, running June 4-27, 2020.

The June 2019 So-fi festival announces that it will be presenting works at The Clemente's Los Kabayitos and Flamboyan Theaters (107 Suffolk St. between Rivington & Delancey) and Westbeth (463 West Street between Bethune and West 12th St) June 6th-23rd 2019.

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), under the leadership of Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus and Executive Producer Diane Borger announced its 201920 Season programming today, including subscription offerings, A.R.T. Breakout, Afterglow @ OBERON, Live @ OBERON, the Run AMOC! Festival, The Donkey Show, and A.R.T. in the World.

A love letter to those who shape our lives, hold us together and break our hearts. IAMA Theatre Company presents theworld premiere of Mama Metal, a joyfully irreverent black comedy by 2017 Humanitas Play LA award-winner Sigrid Gilmer that entwines issues of identity with pop culture icons to tell a truly unique mother-daughter story. Deena Selenow directs for a May 23 opening atAtwater Village Theatre, where performances will continue through June 23. Low-priced previews begin May 17.

The national tour of Waitress, which is running in Tulsa through this weekend at the PAC, is powered by a vibrant female energy, but it is also packed with moments of joy and humor for pie-lovers of all genders. Waitress combines a refreshingly contemporary but accessible score with classic musical theatre influences, both in terms of sound and storytelling. Just as a pie doesn't need to be perfect to be well-worth savoring to the last bite, Waitress is a beautifully imperfect treat, full of sweetness and a cast that you absolutely don't want to miss while they're in town.

"There's probably no frame wide enough to encompass the creative output of the pianist Vijay Iyer," The New York Times observed. His Ph.D. in cognitive science from UC Berkeley is just the start. He's been recognized as a bona fide "genius" by DownBeat magazine and was named by GQ India as one of the 50 most influential Indians. The jazz pianist is also a prolific recording artist and his quintet will play the final Jazz Club performances of The Soraya's 2018/19 season on May 10 and 11.

The 5th Avenue Theatre has announced initial casting for West Side Story, the sweeping tale of young lovers caught between prejudice and warring street gangs in what is one of the most important and powerful musicals of all time.

Following three sold-out New York engagements, the Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre of Russia returns with a new verse drama Masquerade, directed by Rimas Tuminas (Eugene Onegin). Presented by The Cherry Orchard Festival Foundation (www.CherryOrchardFestival.org), Masquerade will play 4 performances at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street): June 13 at 7:30pm, June 14 at 7:30pm, June 15 at 7:30pm and June 16 at 2pm. Tickets are $55-$150. Group tickets, student discounts, and VIP tickets are available by calling Festival's office at 1-800-349-0021 or emailing info@cherryorchardfestival.org.  

The Broad Stage continues their collaboration with Red Hen Press for their final event of the season, Red Hen Press: The Figure of Orpheus in Poetry and Performance on Sunday, April 28 in The Edye at The Broad Stage. Poets selected by Poetry Society of America Director Alice Quinn will perform contemporary poems on the Orphic theme. A film clip from Marcel Camus' Black Orpheus will be shown to represent the theme in cinema, and pianist Paul Barnes will captivate the audience with The Orphee Suite for Piano, his amazing transcription of Philip Glass's symphony Orphee for solo piano. This event is sponsored in partnership with The Poetry Society of America and Red Hen Press.

Pasadena Playhouse, State Theatre of California, continues their exciting partnerships with Caltech Theatre and the USC School of Dramatic Arts this Spring, with MACH 33: The Caltech|Pasadena Playhouse Festival of New Science Driven Plays, presented by Caltech Theater and Pasadena Playhouse May 9 -11 and the New Works Festival Year 3 May 17-18, presented by USC School of Dramatic Arts and hosted by Pasadena Playhouse. These plays are part of Playhouse community programming. Danny Feldman is the Producing Artistic Director of Pasadena Playhouse.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation announced today that Lisette Oropesa has been named as the winner of the 2019 Richard Tucker Award. The soprano already headlines major productions worldwide, and after her recent house debuts in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Real Madrid and Royal Opera House, The Guardiandeclared: “The Cuban American soprano is sensationally good. She makes the stratospheric vocal fireworks … sound easy; indeed, her every note is part of a convincing portrayal of a complex character.” Widely referred to as the “Heisman Trophy of Opera,” the Tucker Award carries the foundation's most substantial cash prize of $50,000, and is conferred each year by a panel of opera industry professionals on an American singer at the threshold of a significant international career. Past winners include such luminaries as Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Matthew Polenzani, and Deborah Voigt. Oropesa will be inducted into this who's who of American opera at the foundation's annual gala, a perennial highlight of the opera season, on Sunday, October 27, at Carnegie Hall.

Parity Productions, the New York based theatre company dedicated to producing new work and filling at least 50% of the creative positions (playwrights, directors, and designers) with women and/or trans and gender nonconforming (TCNG) artists, opened Charlie's Waiting by Inaugural Parity Commission Winner Melisa Annis on March 31 at Theaterlab (357 W 36th St, New York, NY 10018) hosted by TLab Shares. Charlie's Waiting is playing an extended run of 21 performances now through April 20. The cast is led by Tony nominee Xanthe Elbrick (Broadway: Coram Boy, Candida), and features Stephanie Heitman (A Snowfall in Berlin), and Amy Scanlon (Balladeers Play to the Moon) and is directed by Parity Productions Artistic Director, Ludovica Villar Hauser. 

On Saturday, May 18th at 8PM at CMT Auditorium in New York City, the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony led by Maestro David Bernard, will perform the New York Premiere of an animated interpretation of Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' set to live music.

When you think of stories that are wildly captivating, real edge-of-your-seat stuff, you probably think of heist thrillers, gangster films, warfare and the like. You recall the battle sequences of Macbeth and King Lear, or the that first rumble between the Sharks and the Jets. What you likely don't think of, is stamps. Philately, or 'the collection and study of postage stamps', is hardly the stuff of intrigue and high-drama, right? Wrong. It's unlikely that you'll find a show with more intensity than Mauritius, currently playing at Rochester's Blackfriars Theatre.

Japan Society proudly presents Cross Transit, a collaborative multimedia dance work by acclaimed Japanese choreographer/dancer Akiko Kitamura, with video, photos and narration by Cambodian visual artist Kim Hak. 

Adventure Theatre MTC (ATMTC) today announced that Michael J. Bobbitt, who has served as the organization's Artistic Director since 2007, will be stepping down on July 1, 2019. Bobbitt, an award-winning director, choreographer, and playwright, will start a new position as Artistic Director at the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, MA on August 1.

Hadestown begins preview performances tonight, March 22, at the Walter Kerr Theatre, ahead of a Wednesday, April 17 official opening night. Get to know the cast below as they begin Broadway performances!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the full company for the world premiere of Tazewell Thompson's inspirational a cappella music infused play, Jubilee. Inspired by the world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers, this uplifting new work chronicles the bold African American ensemble as they travel the world, captivating kings, queens and audiences with hymns and spiritual songs supported by their rich voices. Written and directed by Thompson with vocal arrangements and music direction by Dianne Adams McDowell, Jubilee runs April 26 - June 2, 2019 in the Kreeger Theater.