It's Only a Play - 1986 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 4

Ted Sperling, Artistic Director of MasterVoices, announced details of the acclaimed ensemble's 78th season, celebrating the joy of choral singing and the power of the human voice to unite, inspire and connect since 1941. Highlights include three major musical presentations at top venues, including a New York premiere, and the World Premiere of a new work, commissioned by the Company. Throughout the season there will be collaborations with leading singers, artists, ensembles and organizations, some who are familiar with and others who are new to the Company.

You may have heard of the long journey of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS from a 1060 Roger Corman horror film (with a young Jack Nicholson) to a 1982 Off-Broadway hit musical, a 1986 film with Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, and Steve Martin, and a revival in 2003 this time on Broadway with Hunter Foster, Douglas Sills and Kerry Butler. And believe it or not, another revival coming to Off-Broadway previewing on September 17 and opening October 17 to the Westside Theatre Upstairs with Jonathan Groff, Tammy Blanchard, Christian Borle, and Kinglsey Leggs.

La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts & Mccoy Rigby Entertainment present the West Coast Premiere of GRUMPY OLD MEN: THE MUSICAL, book by Dan Remmes, music by Neil Berg, lyrics by Nick Meglin, (Adapted from the Warner Bros. motion picture written by Mark Steven Johnson), additional orchestrations by Phil Reno, choreography by Michele Lynch, musical direction by Benet Braun and direction by Matt Lenz.

Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs is the first play in his semi-autobiographical trilogy, which also includes Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound. The play tells the story of a family living in the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn, New York during the depression. Since its Broadway premier at the Alvin Theatre in 1983, it has been hailed as one of Simon's best plays because of the authenticity of the family relationships it portrays. While the 1986 film version was found lacking by critics, and an attempted Broadway revival in 2009 was unsuccessful, Brighton Beach Memoirs has found its way to the community theatre stage bringing Simon's well-written characters and trademark humor to modern audiences. You can catch Brighton Beach Memoirs at Oyster Mill Playhouse from July 12-28. To find out a little more about the play and its production at Oyster Mill, we spoke with Aliza Bardfield, who will be portraying the role of Kate.

Lynette Linton has this morning announced her inaugural season as Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre. The 2019 - 2020 season includes UK debut plays from six playwrights alongside a new production of celebrated poet and playwright Jackie Kay's first play Chiaroscuro directed by Lynette Linton. Five Senior Artistic Associates have been announced as actress Adjoa Andoh, movement director Polly Bennett, producers Shawab Iqbal and Tobi Kyeremateng and actress Martha Plimpton. The associates will support an expansion of the Bush Theatre's initiatives to involve new writers and theatre practitioners in the theatre industry.

EgoPo Classic Theater in Philadelphia announces the hiring of Associate Producer, Dane Eissler, and Managing Director, Katrina Foy, arriving in July at the start of the 2019-2020 "Shepard Country" Festival Season, joining founder and Artistic Director Lane Savadove in leading the organization.  Foy succeeds Shayna Freed as Managing Director, who served in the role since 2015.  Eissler is the first in the Associate Producer role, marking a time of growth and opportunity for EgoPo's future.

Celebrating its 37th anniversary, Outfest - the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization promoting equality by creating, sharing, and protecting LGBTQ stories on the screen - today announced the complete programming lineup for the 2019 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival, presented by HBO. The nation's leading LGBTQ festival will be held July 18-28, 2019.

"It's the kind of music that makes you feel regal," actress Felicia P. Fields says, describing the genius of Duke Ellington. "The word 'sophistication' isn't used as much today as it was back then. There was an elegance in the period." Fields, who is one of the stars of Maine State Music Theatre's new production of SOPHISTICATED LADIES, which runs at the Pickard Theater from June 5-22, 2019, believes that the production, directed by Marc Robin with three individual choreographers and an eleven piece orchestra perfectly captures the 1920s and 1930s and the big-band era.

For its seventh year of offering plays by contemporary Irish playwrights to Portland audiences, Corrib Theatre announces a three-show season: Eclipsed by Patricia Burke Brogan, James X by Gerard Mannix Flynn, and Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue. All three 2019-20 productions will be held at New Expressive Works, 810 SE Belmont St., Portland.

The Actors' Gang's latest production VIOLENCE: THE MISADVENTURES OF SPIKE SPANGLE FARMER has just opened this week. This revival of their original 1986 piece, co-written by Actors' Gang Artistic Director Tim Robbins and frequent collaborator Adam Simon, seems, unfortunately, timely as ever. Adam shared with me his history with Actors' Gang, Tim and Roger Corman.

Steve Martin and Martin Short will bring their critically acclaimed comedy tour Now You See Them, Soon You Won't for the first time to Australian and New Zealand audiences in November. This celebrated comedy show redefines the form in unexpected and profound ways, from two of the funniest, most influential and acclaimed talents of the past century. The duo will be joined on stage by Grammy Award-winning bluegrass band The Steep Canyon Rangers. Tickets for Now You See Them, Soon You Won't go on sale Tuesday, 7 May. To purchase, please visit ticketek.com.au. The Sydney show will be part of the Just For Laughs Sydney Comedy Festival.

For those hoping to see Kahn in his element, you have one last chance with The Oresteia. After that, well, this quote from Romeo & Juliet seems most appropriate, "Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again."

Like the rest of you, I've spent this week obsessing over 'Fosse Verdon' on FX and especially Gwen Verdon, played brilliantly on the series by Michelle Williams, in a performance that makes you want to reinvestigate what made Gwen so great. Sweet Charity is the perfect place to start. Gwen became a star and won her first Tony in a featured role in Can Can and she gained worldwide acclaim (and number 2 in a total of four Tonys) as Lola in Damn Yankees on stage and screen and of course there were many other shows and movies and TV appearances, but Sweet Charity was the show Bob Fosse (and Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields and Neil Simon) created just for her. She may have lost the Tony to Angela Lansbury in Mame, but Gwen got that iconic poster and all those songs.

I recently rang her up to catch up on life and stuff and then thought to ask if we might schedule some time together to talk about Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon. Donna had first hand experience with both brilliant talents and at two very different times in her career. We also chatted about the upcoming FX Series, which would have friends and colleagues both onscreen and behind the scenes. F

"Cambodian Rock Band" by Lauren Yee has been named the winner of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, recognizing playwrights for the best scripts that premiered professionally outside New York City during 2018.

 In celebration of Stonewall's 50th Anniversary, Candid Theater Company, Judson Memorial Church, The Greenwich Village Orchestra, The West Village Chorale, MJP Theatrical, Metro Baptist Church, The NAMES Project Foundation/NAMES Memorial AIDS Quilt, and NYC Pride 2019 | WorldPride NYC | Stonewall50 have partnered to present a community-led professional presentation of QUILT, A MUSICAL CELEBRATION to benefit the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center and Frontline AIDS (formerly the International HIV/AIDS Alliance).

The second production of Pride Films and Plays's 2018-19 season will be IT'S ONLY A PLAY, by Terrence McNally. McNally is arguably Broadway's most prolific gay male playwright, with 20 Broadway credits to his name, plus many other plays produced off-Broadway.

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble (BTE), the professional Equity company in residence at the McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd. on the campus of College of DuPage (COD) opens its 2018-2019 season with "The Dingdong, or How the French Kiss," a new adaptation by Mark Shanahan from "Le Dindon" by Georges Feydeau. Five actors play 13 roles in this bubbly, fast-paced adaptation of Feydeau's classic directed by BTE Artistic Director Connie Canaday Howard, where opening the wrong door can lead to mayhem, giggles and ultimately some unexpected understandings of a happy marriage. The play runs Sept. 6-Oct. 7. There will be a preview Sept. 6. Press opening is Friday, Sept. 7.   

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble (BTE), the professional Equity company in residence at the McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd. on the campus of College of DuPage (COD) opens its 2018-2019 season with "The Dingdong, or How the French Kiss," a new adaptation by Mark Shanahan from "Le Dindon" by Georges Feydeau.

Dixon Place presents a one-night-only reading of excerpts from the new play Talmadge & Ray, written and performed by Andy Nagraj and Jonathan Spivey on August 3rd at 9:30 PM. Talmadge & Ray is the first work by the writing team that the pair also perform themselves.

It's the opening night of The Golden Egg on Broadway, and the wealthy producer Julia Budder is throwing a lavish party in her lavish Manhattan townhouse. Downstairs the celebrities are pouring in, but the real action is upstairs in the bedroom, where a group of insiders have staked themselves out to await the reviews. The group includes the excitable playwright; the possibly unstable wunderkind director; the pill-popping leading lady, treading the boards after becoming infamous in Hollywood; and the playwright's best friend, for whom the play was written but who passed up this production for a television series. Add to this a drama critic who's panned the playwright in the past and a new-in-town aspiring singer, and you have a prime recipe for the narcissism, ambition, childishness, and just plain irrationality that infuse the theatre-and for comedy. But don't worry: This play is sure to be the hit they have all been hoping for.

Dixon Place presents a one-night-only reading of excerpts from the new play Talmadge & Ray, written and performed by Andy Nagraj and Jonathan Spivey on August 3rd at 9:30 PM. Talmadge & Ray is the first work by the writing team that the pair also perform themselves.

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of professional theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, announces its 2018-19 grant recipients, including the 2018 Smith Prize for Political Theatre, six Producer Residencies, and five Collaboration Fund awards that will support partnerships between multiple Member Theaters, playwrights, and other theater makers in various projects.

UK-based Seabourne has garnered numerous commissions and awards in international competitions for his solo, chamber and orchestral works and song cycles

It's the opening night of The Golden Egg on Broadway, and the wealthy producer Julia Budder is throwing a lavish party in her lavish Manhattan townhouse. Downstairs the celebrities are pouring in, but the real action is upstairs in the bedroom, where a group of insiders have staked themselves out to await the reviews. The group includes the excitable playwright; the possibly unstable wunderkind director; the pill-popping leading lady, treading the boards after becoming infamous in Hollywood; and the playwright's best friend, for whom the play was written but who passed up this production for a television series. Add to this a drama critic who's panned the playwright in the past and a new-in-town aspiring singer, and you have a prime recipe for the narcissism, ambition, childishness, and just plain irrationality that infuse the theatre-and for comedy. But don't worry: This play is sure to be the hit they have all been hoping for.