Follow That Girl - 1960 - West End Articles Page 6

In THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN MUSICAL, Jack Viertel takes about musicals, puts them back together, sings their praises, marvels at their unflagging inventiveness, and occasionally despairs over their more embarrassing shortcomings. In the process, he invites us to fall in love with the art form all over again by showing us how musicals happen, what makes them work, how they captivate audiences, and how one landmark show leads to the next-by design or by accident, by emulation or by rebellion from OKLAHOMA! to HAMILTON and onward.

Now playing at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, the new McCoy/Rigby Entertainment production of the Tony Award-winning 1981 Broadway musical DREAMGIRLS is pretty much a faithful carbon-copy of the recent 2009 national touring production---which happens to also be directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom. La Mirada's offering---which continues through April 17---repurposes almost all of the visual and technical aspects of that tour, from the use of moving LED screens that set up different scenes and environments to William Ivey Long's lavishly exquisite costumes. It even taps that tour's original Effie played by the extraordinary Moya Angela, who has since matured wonderfully into the role. When your lead actress incites a boisterous standing ovation after slaying with an incredible performance of the musical's iconic 'And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)'---even as the show is still in the midst of that act one ending---you know you've got something great here.

Leapin' lizards! With more than 400 performances under her belt, the new U.S. National Tour of ANNIE will play the National Theatre for one week only, March 15 - 20, 2016. Directed by original lyricist and director Martin Charnin for the 19th time, this production of ANNIE is a brand new physical incarnation of the iconic 1977 Tony Award-winning original.

Today Jeanne Pratt AC, Chairman of The Production Company, announced her Company's 2016 season, starring CAROLINE O'CONNOR, DAVID HOBSON, NANCYE HAYES, SIMON GLEESON, AMY LEHPAMER AND TODD McKENNEY.

With disarming candor, wry wit and sharp self-deprecation, Nichols delivered a master class on his craft in what would be his last in-depth interviews, for BECOMING MIKE NICHOLS, debuting TONIGHT, FEB. 22, exclusively on HBO, following its world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

This summer marks another historic milestone for the annual Bard SummerScape festival. For the first time since its founding, this season's focus is on the music and culture of Italy, with seven weeks of music, opera,theater, dance, film, and cabaret keyed to the theme of the 27th Bard Music Festival, "Puccini and His World." This intensive examination of the life and times of Giacomo Puccini opens a window onto Italy's rich musical heritage from Palestrina to Menotti, by way of the most popular and successful - yet, paradoxically, frequently critically underrated - opera composer of all time. Complementing the music festival, some of the Tuscan master's most compelling compatriots provide other key SummerScape highlights. These include a rare, fully staged production of Iris, a forerunner of Madama Butterfly by Puccini's close contemporary Pietro Mascagni; the world premiere of Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed, four newly unearthed puppet plays from leading Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero, as reimagined by Dan Hurlin;the world premiere of Fantasque, a new ballet set to the music of Respighi and Rossini by John Heginbotham and Amy Trompetter; a film series on "Puccini and the Operatic Impulse in Cinema"; and the return of Bard's authentic and sensationally popularSpiegeltent,hosted by the inimitable Mx. Justin Vivian Bond. Taking place between July 1 and August 14 in the Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and other venues on Bard College's stunning Hudson River campus, SummerScape's 2016 offerings provide new opportunities to discover that, as Time Out New York puts it, "the experience of entering the Fisher Center and encountering something totally new is unforgettable and enriching." Tickets go on sale on Monday, February 15; click here for more information.

Leapin' lizards! With more than 400 performances under her belt, the new U.S. National Tour of ANNIE will play the National Theatre for one week only, March 15 - 20, 2016. Directed by original lyricist and director Martin Charnin for the 19th time, this production of ANNIE is a brand new physical incarnation of the iconic 1977 Tony Award-winning original.

With disarming candor, wry wit and sharp self-deprecation, Nichols delivered a master class on his craft in what would be his last in-depth interviews, for BECOMING MIKE NICHOLS, debuting MONDAY, FEB. 22, exclusively on HBO, following its world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Arriving on the scene after the French New Wave, with emotionally raw, tumultuous films that reflect his own life and personality, Maurice Pialat (1925-2003) was widely acclaimed in France, but underappreciated in the United States.

Westport Country Playhouse will commemorate the centennial year of playwright Arthur Miller (1915-2005) with one of his last works, BROKEN GLASS, helmed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, playing tonight, October 6 - 24. Set in 1938 Brooklyn at the time of Nazi Germany's Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass), the powerful drama incites a dangerous game of concealment, suspicion, and lies.

Cooking Channel celebrates home cooking and holiday fun in November with new series, season premieres and themed holiday specials!

Arriving on the scene after the French New Wave, with emotionally raw, tumultuous films that reflect his own life and personality, Maurice Pialat (1925-2003) was widely acclaimed in France, but underappreciated in the United States.

Get ready to travel back in time to the 1960's as Roger Bean's 60's nostalgia musical revue Why Do Fools Fall in Love? opens this weekend at the Black Box Arts Center in Shepherdstown, WV.

Westport Country Playhouse will commemorate the centennial year of playwright Arthur Miller (1915-2005) with one of his last works, BROKEN GLASS, helmed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, playing October 6 - 24. Set in 1938 Brooklyn at the time of Nazi Germany's Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass), the powerful drama incites a dangerous game of concealment, suspicion, and lies.

Author John Fitzgerald creates a new twist on genie folklore and re-imagines what rubbing a magic lamp would be like in modern times through his new novel, 'Alien Genie' (published by AuthorHouse).

When The Fantasticks opened at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village on May 3rd, 1960, no one, least of all its creators, had any idea this simple yet stylistic musical would become the longest lasting production in theatrical history, running in its original incarnation for 42 years, and 17,162 performances.

Japan Society's Film Program resurrects Monthly Classics to give New Yorkers regular screenings of beloved classics, hidden gems or recent discoveries of Japanese cinema on the first Today of every month.

Molly Smith directs her 30th production as Artistic Director of Arena Stage with a gritty and relevant take on the Tony Award-winning musical Oliver!, blending the chaotic worlds of 19th-century Victorian London with 2015 London. Smith's new in-the-round staging infuses a modern edge to the classic musical about an innocent orphan thrown into the dark world of double-dealing thieves and conmen, highlighting the disparity between classes and dangerous life on London's streets today. Featuring a remarkable score including 'You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two,' 'Consider Yourself,' 'Where is Love?' and 'Food, Glorious Food,' Oliver! runs October 30, 2015-January 3, 2016 in the Fichandler Stage at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater.

When The Fantasticks opened at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village on May 3rd, 1960, no one, least of all its creators, had any idea this simple yet stylistic musical would become the longest lasting production in theatrical history, running in its original incarnation for 42 years, and 17,162 performances.

Japan Society's Film Program resurrects Monthly Classics to give New Yorkers regular screenings of beloved classics, hidden gems or recent discoveries of Japanese cinema on the first Friday of every month.

Bravo to Chance Theater for taking on this mainstream hit and making it actually feel like a fresh, awesome little indie. Now playing through August 9, the latest offering from Orange County's bold, award-winning regional theater company is their own 'intimate' theater re-staging of HAIRSPRAY, the 2002 hit Tony Award-winning musical comedy. The results? Quite simply a more compact production that is an absolutely undeniable, all-around rousing winner. Under the direction of Kari Hayter, the celebratory production's immersive, semi-theater-in-the-round minimalist approach actually thrusts the show's outstanding music and comedy out front, wonderfully blanketing the audience in the show's pro-integration, pro-acceptance storyline about a rotund young lady with big hair and big dreams who sets off to change the world.

A poignant look at justice and the human spirit as told through the eyes of a young girl, Christopher Sergel's stage adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, continues this summer's 'Americana' season at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum, opening tonight, June 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Arcadia Performing Arts Foundation announced that Brian Hyland will be joining Dick Fox's DOO WOP EXTRAVAGANZA tonight, June 6 at 7pm. Brian Hyland is known for a slew of iconic hit songs including 'Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini' and 'Sealed With a Kiss.'. Dick Fox's DOO WOP EXTRAVAGANZA is a celebration of Doo-wop, the iconic sound that caused a sensation in the 1950's and early 1960's.

A poignant look at justice and the human spirit as told through the eyes of a young girl, Christopher Sergel's stage adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, continues this summer's 'Americana' season at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum, opening June 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Arcadia Performing Arts Foundation announced that Brian Hyland will be joining Dick Fox's DOO WOP EXTRAVAGANZA on Sunday, June 6 at 7pm. Brian Hyland is known for a slew of iconic hit songs including 'Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini' and 'Sealed With a Kiss.'. Dick Fox's DOO WOP EXTRAVAGANZA is a celebration of Doo-wop, the iconic sound that caused a sensation in the 1950's and early 1960's.