In the Beginning - 1990 - Articles Page 12

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) announced the exciting line-up of the highly anticipated TD James Moody Jazz Festival. This year's program offers events combining jazz luminaries in collaboration with artists known for R&B, poetry, hip hop, and so much more.   

Park University’s International Center for Music (Park ICM), under the direction of founder, Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch, has for the last 20 years taken magnificent young instrumentalists, already identified as superior performers, and molded them into international virtuosos.

But beloved as it may be, why in the ever-loving hell has it taken so long for To Kill A Mockingbird to become a theatrical play that is actually worthy of its literary heritage? Sure, there’s been a 1990 (?!) version by Christopher Sergel that’s made it way through every high school auditorium, community theater playhouse and reginal theater over the intervening three decades that we are, quite frankly, sick to death of it. In fact, if we never see it again, we’ve seen it far too often: a warmed over, treacly and maudlin rehash that’s far too dependent on the title’s movie roots to really emerge from a darkened theater to become a consummate American play.

Daniel Henning, the Founding Artistic Director of The Blank Theatre in Hollywood, is stepping down after 32 years, effective October 8, 2022. Henning founded The Blank Theatre in 1990.

Beres has poured his voice—an instrument of subtlety and power reminiscent of an Otis Redding or a Teddy Pendergrass—over every kind of riddim track, from the reggae jams of the ’70s fusion band Zap Pow to the lush instrumentation of his 1976 album Soul Reggae to the spare digital beat of his 1985 dancehall breakthrough “What One Dance Can Do.”

 Emmy, Grammy, and Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald will return to Broadway this season starring in Ohio State Murders by Adrienne Kennedy, directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon  (Fences, A Soldier’s Play).

Hand Clapping, Heart Pumping, Soul Singing: MSMT & Portland Stage Present SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN

The complete cast and creative team have been announced for the first Broadway revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Joining the cast are Nadia Daniel and Jurnee Elizabeth Swan. Rounding out the company are Shirine Babb, Charles Browning, Peter Jay Fernandez, Sharina Martin, Warner Miller, Doron JePaul Mitchell and Kim Sullivan.

311 and Sixthman, have announced 311 Caribbean Cruise 7 – 311 Day at Sea. On March 8-13, 2023, Sixthman will proudly lend their two-decades+ of unforgettable event-planning magic to the first-ever '311 Day at Sea,' sailing from Miami, FL to Harvest Caye, Belize, and Roatán, Honduras aboard the Norwegian Pearl.

NOoSPHERE Arts Presents WE ARE NATURE 2022: Patterns Of Connection on July 23, August 27, and September 24, 2022 at the NOoSPHERE Arts Stage Roof, NYC and Kingsland Wildflowers at Broadway Stages, Brooklyn.

The Midwest Trust Center will present their Fall 2022 series of Arts Education shows, featuring acclaimed artists from around the world and around the corner. 

The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) has announced its 2022/23 Tisch Music Season, one of 92NY's largest and most diverse seasons to date.

Now in its forty-seventh year of operation, New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players (NYGASP) is America's preeminent professional Gilbert & Sullivan repertory ensemble.

The Greek National Opera’s 2022-23 season curated by GNO Artistic Director Giorgos Koumendakis will feature ten new opera and ballet productions, one newly commissioned opera, five revivals of past productions, music concerts, major co-productions with some of the world’s foremost opera houses, collaborations with leading conductors and more.

This fall the Pulitzer Arts Foundation will present Barbara Chase-Riboud Monumentale: The Bronzes, a major monographic presentation examining the artistic vision of the Paris-based artist, novelist, and poet, Barbara Chase-Riboud (b. Philadelphia, 1939).

The Ford will present a celebration and discovery inspired by LA’s culturally rich neighborhoods and communities. Each unique family event features artmaking, live performance, dancing, or listening with artists. These are daytime events, best for ages 3-11.

Book-It Repertory Theatre has announced its 2022-2023 season of plays, scheduled to begin September 21. Their 33rd season is a slate of four in-person mainstage productions, to be performed at Center Theatre at Seattle Center, and four titles in the arts education season, to be performed in schools.

The storied career of actor Al Pacino is to be celebrated in a one night only fundraiser Al Pacino Live on Stage, presented on Thursday, June 23 at 8:00 pm at Gindi Auditorium American Jewish University. 

“So, did you hear the story of the Johnstone twins? As like each other as two new pins. Of one womb born, on the self-same day, how one was kept and one given away?” These are the words spoken by the Narrator at the beginning of BLOOD BROTHERS, the long-running West End musical by Willy Russell which provides the perfect setup for the play that follows. BLOOD BROTHERS is not a show that gets produced that often, but that is likely exactly why the Florida Theatrical Association has opted to mount a production of the musical – to introduce it to new audiences and provide theatregoers the unique experience of seeing the show. I attended opening night and it was, in fact, the first time I have had the chance to see a live production even though I have been familiar with the piece due to its popularity in England and its not-as-successful run on Broadway in the early 1990’s. And though the piece itself has some challenges (more on that later) the FTA’s production is solid with outstanding and emotional performances by the cast and a creative vision true to the material

ACT (A Contemporary Theatre) of Connecticut will open their fourth and final production of the 2021-2022 season – Jonathan Larson's RENT, on May 28, 2022 at 8pm.

American Composers Orchestra continues its commitment to the creation and development of new orchestra music, and to the next generation of composers, through its 2022 ACO EarShot Readings in New York City on June 16 and 17, 2022 at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music (450 W. 37th St.).

San Francisco Playhouse announced casting for Follies by James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim. The musical will run on the San Francisco Playhouse Mainstage from June 30 through September 10, 2022. Bill English will direct, with music direction by Dave Dobrusky and choreography by Nicole Helfer. This marks the first fully staged professional production of Follies in San Francisco.

After a two-year postponement, the Trisha Brown Dance Company will celebrate its 50th anniversary at The Joyce Theater (May 24-29) with an historical season commemorating Brown’s extraordinary partnership with visual artist Robert Rauschenberg. 

San Francisco Playhouse announced casting for Follies by James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim. The musical will run on the San Francisco Playhouse Mainstage from June 30 through September 10, 2022.

The seductive new song sees Lamere leaning into an infectious disco beat while continuing to use prominent bass lines found throughout her debut album, Keep It Alive. Look for the video soon, which brings the viewer through the circles of hell in an underworld club.