Intermission! the Musical - 2018 - Regional (US) Articles Page 15

On occasion a show comes along that puts a smile on your lips from the opening curtain to the final bows, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is that kind of show. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, presented by The American Theatre Guild, opened on Tuesday night at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. The staged musical is adapted from the children's novel by Roald Dahl with book by David Greig, music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman.

Next up for L.A. Theatre Works will be Qui Nguyen's VIETGONE, set to be recorded live at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus for four performances beginning January 24, 2020. East West Players' Producing Artistic Director Emeritus Tim Dang will direct this semi-fictional tale of how Qui's parents met in an Arkansas relocation camp. The talented cast includes Will Dao, Desirée Mee Jung, Greg Watanabe, Paul Yen and Jeena Yi. I grabbed the opportunity, after all these years of knowing him, to interview the creative force behind the early development of the East West Players - Tim Dang.

Broadway San Jose General Manager Gretchen Feyer announced today the six productions that will make up the company's 2020a?'21 season. The season includes the return of the Broadway blockbuster, Disney's THE LION KING (July 15a?'August 9, 2020); the pre-Broadway engagement of 1776 (September 29a?'October 4, 2020), directed by Tony Awarda?'winner Diane Paulus; the Tony and Grammy Award­a?'winning pop culture phenomenon, DEAR EVAN HANSEN (November 10a?'29, 2020); the romantic and adventurea?'filled musical, ANASTASIA (January 26a?'31, 2021); the Bay Area premiere of the hit musical comedy, TOOTSIE (March 23a?'28, 2021); and the delectable Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (May 4a?'9, 2021).

Coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center from January 14th-19th is the national tour of Come From Away. I recently had the great pleasure of interviewing actor James Earl Jones II, who is currently in the production playing Bob & others.

American Symphony Orchestra will pay tribute to the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth with a concert that investigates how his music inspired others on Friday January 31, 8 pm at Carnegie Hall. From Liszt's fantasia on the 'Turkish March' to Spohr's Beethovenesque scherzo and Reger's variations on a bagatelle theme by Beethoven, the program also celebrates the 100th anniversary of an often-overlooked 20th-century master, Galina Ustvolskaya. Her Piano Concerto is considered her first composition and demands the listener's ear with a pounding rhythmic motif that is repeated by the piano until the closing chord.

Witness rare and poignant moments of humanity during the world's most brutal war in this stunning musical depiction of the legendary Christmas truce of 1914. a?oeSilent Night,a?? one of the most performed American operas of our time, is based on the 2005 screenplay a?oeJoyeux Noëla??. Tomer Zvulun will direct the production, and Robert Tweten will conduct the cast, Utah Opera Chorus, and Utah Symphony.

Arborhouse Productions & Visceral Entertainment today released a sneak peek of conceptual renderings for the new musical EMOJILAND by scenic designer David Goldstein and projection designers Lisa Renkel & POSSIBLE. The images vibrantly showcase the connection between the show's inherently technological setting and its advanced scenic, lighting, and projection design. EMOJILAND has allowed the production's design team to step outside the walls of traditional theatrical design to immerse the audience in the pixelated world within a smartphone.

Taking the film and its music to the next level, The Wallis and For The Record are presenting a holiday season encore of last year's LOVE, ACTUALLY LIVE world premiere in the Bram Stoker Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills through December 29. The multimedia presentation, adapted and directed by Anderson Davis with musical supervision by Jesse Vargas, turns the theater into a giant, immersive, cinema in a three-dimensional world where the film and live action seamlessly intertwine throughout the London setting. Each scene is a festival of excellent characterizations, extraordinary lighting effects and costumes, brilliant and fast-paced direction and choreography, and the joy of great music that perfectly expresses the mood and themes of the movie and jukebox musical LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE. No doubt this suburb holiday musical will be making its return to The Wallis each December!

On Saturday, December 21 at 2pm and Sunday, December 22 at 2pm, Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik, known for his 'dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique' (The New York Times) is presented by the Morris Museum in Bickford Theatre with pianist Randall Hodgkinson. This program, entitled Music from the Suitcase, features works by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Rubinstein, and Strauss. Tickets: Non-members: $40, Museum members: $35, Students with valid ID: $25

La MaMa, in association with the Polish Cultural Institute and Komuna//Warszawa, is proud to present the U.S. premiere of Cezary Goes to War, a musically-driven queer fantasia on masculinity, nationalism, and the culture of war. Conceived and directed by Cezary Tomaszewski, a rising star of the Eastern European avant-garde, Cezary Goes to War draws on Tomaszewski's personal experiences with Poland's military draft and its archaic system of male classification. Weaving text from military evaluations of manliness, choreography inspired by army drills, and the patriotic songs by Stanisław Moniuszko, the father of Polish national opera, Cezary Goes to War offers a witty critique of military recruitment, national pride, and the vulnerability of male identity.

The beloved TV classic Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer soars off the screen and onto the stage this holiday season. See all your favorite characters as they come to life in Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical presented by Society for the Performing Arts (SPA) on Thursday, December 26th and Friday, December 27th in Jones Hall for the Performing Arts. Join Rudolph and other iconic characters including Hermey the Elf, Yukon Cornelius and the Abominable Snow Monster as they help Santa save Christmas. Extend the fun before the 1 pm showing on December 27th with Family Day in the lobby of Jones Hall. Family Day, introduced by SPA during their 2018-2019 season, gives families the opportunity to experience theater together and provides pre-show activities for guests of all ages.

The Museum of Russian Icons presents its annual winter concert, featuring the talented concert pianist Ivan Gusev, on Sunday December 15 from 2:00-3:30pm. In his first full-length performance at the Museum, Gusev presents an all-Russian program featuring Alexander Scriabin's 'Four preludes' and 'Sonata No. 2,' two seasons from Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 'Seasons' cycle, and Modest Mussorgsky's virtuoso ten-piece suite, 'Pictures at an Exhibition.'

The Emojiland kingdom is now complete! Arborhouse Productions & Visceral Entertainment (Michael Chase Gosselin and Tim Sulka) today announced that Max Crumm (Grease, Disaster) will take on the role of the Man In Business Suit Levitating emoji, along with Jacob Dickey (Aladdin Broadway as Aladdin) as Smiling Face with Sunglasses, (aka a?oeSunnya??), Dwelvan David (Finding Neverland & The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess Tours) as Guardsman, Heather Makalani (Aladdin) as Kissy Face, Tanisha Moore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Tour) as Woman Dancing and Jordan Fife Hunt (A Chorus Line First Revival Tour) as Man Dancing.

The national tour of 'Come From Away' is warming hearts across America. A 'Best Musical' winner all around the world, the smash hit musical has won the Tony Award for 'Best Direction of a Musical' (Christopher Ashley), 4 Olivier Awards (London) including 'Best New Musical,' 5 Outer Critics Circle Awards (NYC) including 'Outstanding New Broadway Musical,' 3 Drama Desk Awards (NYC) including 'Outstanding Musical,' 4 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards (North American Tour) including 'Best Production,' 4 Helen Hayes Awards (D.C.) including 'Outstanding Production of a Musical,' 4 Gypsy Rose Lee Awards (Seattle) including 'Excellence in Production of a Musical,' 6 San Diego Critics Circle Awards including 'Outstanding New Musical,' 3 Toronto Theatre Critics Awards including 'Best New Musical,' 3 Dora Awards (Toronto) including 'Outstanding New Musical/Opera' and 'Outstanding Production,' and the 2017 Jon Kaplan Audience Choice Award (Toronto).

What do you get when you mix aspects of GYPSY, THE BAD SEED, and ALL ABOUT EVE with a heavy dose of camp and a soupçon of soap opera? RUTHLESS! THE MUSICAL, an all-female homage to overly-ambitious child actors, sleazy agents, poison pen critics, and jealous understudies that is a star vehicle for a little girl with stars in her eyes. In its second season on the Boston theater scene, Theater UnCorked takes a first crack at musical comedy and, even as it hits a few bumps along the way, it hits the funny bone again and again.

Tickets are Now on Sale for EMOJILAND THE MUSICAL and are available for purchase online at Dukeon42.org; by phone at 646-223-3010; or in person at The Duke on 42nd Street at 229 West 42nd Street (Tuesdays-Fridays 4-7 and Saturdays 12-6). The production will have a limited Off-Broadway run Thursday, January 9, 2020 through Sunday, March 8, 2020 at The Duke on 42nd Street in New 42nd Street Studios (229 West 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues). Emojiland The Musical garnered 12 nominations and 5 wins at the 2018 NYMF Awards and was a 2018 Richard Rodgers Award Finalist.

Calling all musical adventurists! The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's new CSO Proof series offers a novel way to experience performances at Music Hall. Imagine artists and audience members sharing the stage in casual, intermission-less concerts with elements of music, theater, lighting and dance. During the 2019/2020 season, three CSO Proof performances will help celebrate the Orchestra's 125th anniversary by presenting artists collaborating with different curators who craft themes connecting orchestral music to listeners in adventurous ways.

Actor and comedian Jim O'Heir from NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation makes a special pre-filmed video appearance this weekend at the world premiere of Hell on Earth: A New Musical (About Middle School). The Young Actors' Theatre Camp Founding Directors, Shawn Ryan and John Ainsworth, present their brand new musical starring 20 Bay Area teens at The Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts this weekend (November 15, 16, and 17).

Today's top stories: Becky Gulsvig joins Come From Away on Broadway today, and more!

Nylon Fusion Theatre Company in association with The Constellation Project will present the World Premiere of ray gun say0nara, a sci-fi play with songs written by Steven Mark Tenney, directed by Janet Bentley at The New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street New York, NY 10014), December 4-22. Performances will be on Wednesday, December 4 at 7pm, Thursday, December 5 at 7pm, Saturday, December 7 at 3pm, Sunday, December 8 at 7pm, Monday, December 9 at 7pm, Wednesday, December 11 at 7pm, Saturday, December 14 at 7pm, Sunday, December 15 at 3pm, Monday, December 16 at 7pm, Friday, December 20 at 7pm, Saturday, December 21 at 3pm, and Sunday, December 22 at 3pm.

Nylon Fusion Theatre Company will present the New York Premiere of The Listening Room, written by Michaela Jeffery (National Enbridge Playwrights Award recipient; Playwrights Guild of Canada's RBC Emerging Playwright Award finalist). and directed by Ivette Dumeng (Malan American Reconciliation at Royal Family: Jack in the Box/Medusa at Planet Connections) & Lori Kee (Luft Gangster at The Sheen Center) at The New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street, New York, NY 10014), November 30 - December 21. Performances will be on Saturday, November 30 at 8pm, Sunday, December 1 at 8pm, Monday, December 2 at 8pm, Friday,

For the first time ever in cutting-edge LED 3D, experience America's most breathtaking natural wonders and bustling cities, paired with live classical and contemporary compositions played live by the Utah Symphony led by Utah Symphony Associate Conductor Conner Gray Covington. This one-night special event will be held on November 19th commemorating the 100th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson establishing Zion National Park. Tickets start at $30 and can be purchased at utahsymphony.org or by calling 801-533-6683.