If - 1927 - Broadway Articles Page 18

Michael Cerveris, Isaiah Johnson, Randy Newman, Laura Osnes, Vonda Shepard, Brooklyn Shuck, Tony Vincent and Broadway Inspirational Voices have been cast in Randy Newman's Faust: The Concert, which will be performed on July 1 as the second Encores! Off-Center presentation of the 2014 season. Faust will be directed by Thomas Kail and choreographed by Marcos Santana. Jeanine Tesori is the Encores! Off-Center artistic director; Chris Fenwick is its music director.

North America's largest showcase of Japanese film and “One of the loopiest… and least predictable of New York's film festivals” (New York Magazine), JAPAN CUTS: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema returns for its eighth annual installment.

Quality Hill Playhouse in Kansas City, Mo. presents Rhapsody in Gershwin, a tribute to the works of brothers George and Ira Gershwin. Commissioned in the 1920s and 1930s the brothers wrote songs for Broadway, jazz clubs, concert halls, and films. Rhapsody in Gershwin opens on June 6 on the stage at Quality Hill Playhouse.

Today, Krass speaks exclusively with BWW about designing costumes for this unique production and shares why the experience was 'the best job I've ever had!'

I never thought that writing a rave review would be more difficult than constructing a less than positive critique, but Carole J. Bufford, damn her, is causing me creative problems. That's because for the third time in three years I'm compelled to praise this attractive powerhouse cabaret singer to the skies (you can find my two previous essays on her unassailable talent here and here) and my author's arsenal contains only so many superlatives. With yet another outstanding performance last Thursday night at the Metropolitan Room, the young woman who was named BroadwayWorld.com's 2013 Cabaret Vocalist of the Year has snatched my mental thesaurus (not to mention my online one) and trampled all over it. She's given me the writer's block blues.

Susan Dibble is a remarkable dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She has been for decades, and I had the fortune to work with and around her for some years in Massachusetts.

Refresh you musical memory with a selection of classic melodies when The Society for the Preservation of Music Hall (SPMH) presents That's Entertainment with the Mighty Wurlitzer at Cincinnati's Music Hall today, May 15 at 10:30 AM and 7:00 PM. The popular theatre organ concert series is presented in cooperation with the Ohio Valley Chapter of the American Organ Society.

Malcolm Gets will join Jennifer Bowles and Rob McClure in the New York City Center Encores! production of Irma La Douce, running for seven performances, May 7 - 11, 2014. Mr. Gets replaces Allan Corduner, who has had a scheduling conflict. The final production of the 2014 Encores! season will also feature Sam Bolen, Ben Crawford, Stephen DeRosa, Zachary James, Ken Krugman, and Chris Sullivan. Irma La Douce will be directed by John Doyle and choreographed by Chase Brock, with music direction by Rob Berman. Jack Viertel is Encores! Artistic Director.

The George and Ira Gershwin show MY ONE AND ONLY will be tapping its way onto the Stone Hall stage at the Manatee Performing Arts Center on May 1 and running through May 18!

Refresh you musical memory with a selection of classic melodies when The Society for the Preservation of Music Hall (SPMH) presents That's Entertainment with the Mighty Wurlitzer at Cincinnati's Music Hall on Thursday, May 15 at 10:30 AM and 7:00 PM. The popular theatre organ concert series is presented in cooperation with the Ohio Valley Chapter of the American Organ Society.

The New York City Center Encores! production of Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella opened earlier this week on April 2. The production stars Laura Benanti, Shuler Hensley, Cheyenne Jackson,Heidi Blickenstaff, Brian Cali, Bradley Dean, Zachary James, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Jessica Molaskey and Kevin Vortmann. The Most Happy Fella is directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, with music direction by Rob Berman. The production will run until April 6th.

What happens when a strapping young Englishman suddenly finds he has become a woman? It's an amazing journey, to say the very least, in Sarah Ruhl's adaptation of Virginia Woolf's sweeping and witty Orlando, beginning a 5-week run at Stage West tonight, April 3.

'A man's reach should exceed his grasp. Or what's a heaven for?' once wrote the poet Robert Browning. The line is about setting goals, striving, and ambition, all of which can be commendable desires. But sometimes in the world of cabaret, the desire to achieve the next level or to raise one's personal bar can be an overreach and overly ambitious. Such was the case with two shows staged this past week by two accomplished singers-Shana Farr and Jillian Laurain--who over the past couple of years have garnered mucho kudos for their vocal prowess and solid shows. Nobody could fault these lovely ladies for pushing their performance envelopes, but in both cases they fell short of their goals.

What happens when a strapping young Englishman suddenly finds he has become a woman? It's an amazing journey, to say the very least, in Sarah Ruhl's adaptation of Virginia Woolf's sweeping and witty Orlando, beginning a 5-week run at Stage West on Thursday, April 3.

Jennifer Bowles will play the title role opposite Rob McClure in New York City Center Encores! production of Irma La Douce, running for seven performances,May 7 - 11, 2014. The final production of the 2014 Encores! season will also feature Sam Bolen, Allan Corduner, Ben Crawford, Stephen DeRosa, Ken Krugman, Zachary James and Chris Sullivan. Irma La Douce will be directed by John Doyle and choreographed by Chase Brock, with music direction by Rob Berman.

The big question surrounding the fate of Harmony: Is Broadway ready for another musical about the turbulent 30s and Nazi occupation of Germany? With The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof (although set in Russia and at an earlier time, it's still about the plight of the Jews) and Cabaret firmly planted in our minds as three of the greatest musicals ever written about the Nazis, do we need one more? Barry Manilow has been trying desperately for over 10 years to get his Harmony, the true story about the Comedian Harmonists, onstage. Now at the Ahmanson through April 13, Harmony is beautifully produced and mounted, exceedingly well-performed and a thoroughly moving story about 6 singers/performers whose careers and lives were interrupted and controlled by Naziism. The answer to the big question is a shaky maybe.

Education Dramaturg Ted Sod met with composer John Kander to discuss his work on Cabaret.

Village Playwrights has announced a few new and exciting events.

After watching Crazy for You in New York City in 1992, Claudia Raia dreamed of one day producing this musical in Brazil. Two decades later, she finally makes her wish come true with an outstanding show at the Teatro Bradesco, São Paulo, directed by José Possi Neto, original choreography by Susan Stroman, and starring Jarbas Homem de Mello, who has been increasingly recognized as one of the most complete performers of musical theater in Brazil.

Music has always played the role of Muse for me as a stage director. Occasionally, when I am stuck creatively or wanting to be around the actors in the rehearsal room or need to assistance in focusing, I will play the same piece of music over and over. I have meditated on Dvorak when considering the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West in Vita & Virginia, on Bach's cello concertos when considering Julius Caesar, on Bartok when constructing A Midsummer Night's Dream, Zoe Keating for The Tempest, Rachmaninoff for Hamlet, and many others.

VILLAGE PLAYWRIGHTS has announced its upcoming events. Details below!

VILLAGE PLAYWRIGHTS has announced its upcoming events. Details below!

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has added an exciting roster of screen legends and beloved titles to the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival,

Gotham Chamber Opera and the Jarvis & Constance Doctorow Family Foundation announce the inaugural cycle of the Catherine Doctorow Prize for Music, a competitive prize awarded to a composer to support the creation of a new work for voice and chamber ensemble. For more information and to apply for this commissioning award, visit www.gothamchamberopera.org/registration. The deadline to apply is April 1, 2014.