Marguerite - 2008 - West End Articles Page 14

Eight new productions, four of which are company premieres, will highlight the Metropolitan Opera's 2009-10 season. General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine jointly announced plans that include: the Met premieres of Rossini's Armida, Verdi's Attila, Jan?ček's From the House of the Dead, and Shostakovich's The Nose; new productions of Bizet's Carmen, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Thomas's Hamlet, and Puccini's Tosca; and 18 revivals from the company's repertory. The season is the first to be entirely planned under Gelb's leadership, in collaboration with Levine (the past three seasons were planned before Gelb became General Manager in 2006-07 but included some productions, repertoire, and casting changes made by Gelb).

Academy Award-winners Geoffrey Rush (Shine) and Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking) will star in Eugene Ionesco's EXIT THE KING. This production marks Rush's Broadway debut. Translated by Neil Armfield and Geoffrey Rush and directed by Neil Armfield, EXIT THE KING will begin performances Saturday, March 7, 2009 at the Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street) and open on Thursday, March 26, 2009. This limited engagement will run for 14 weeks only, through Sunday, June 14, 2009.

In a year when new musical theatre productions in London consisted of juke box transfers, classic revivals, whimsical adventure stories and majestic failures, one might be forgiven for thinking that the age of great new musicals exists merely in days of Auld Lang Syne. So let's pause and think back over the year's musical fayre.

After an absence of 82 years, Puccini's bittersweet romance La Rondine returns to the Met in a new production with a gala premiere performance on New Year's Eve. La Rondine stars Angela Gheorghiu as Magda, the Parisian socialite, and Roberto Alagna as Ruggero, her lover. Lisette Oropesa, Marius Brenciu, in his Met debut, and Samuel Ramey are the other principal singers. Marco Armiliato conducts.

Today, November 29, the Metropolitan Opera Radio Saturday Matinee Broadcasts launches its 78th season of world-class opera heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network with the network premiere of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust.

The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 125th anniversary year with a unique gala performance on March 15, 2009 at 6:00 p.m., featuring Met stars in recreations of historic classic productions and high points in the company's past. Music Director James Levine conducts the evening of 26 staged scenes that, with the use of projections, and scenic and costume recreations, will evoke the Met's illustrious history.

Outrageous TV chat show king Graham Norton, comedienne Mel Giedroyc, 'Hairspray' leading man Michael Ball, opera diva Lesley Garrett and the stars of 'Jersey Boys' are to add glamour to the biggest and glitziest gathering of stars in the theatre year - the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Awards launch party.

Noted director Robert Lepage makes his Met debut with a technologically innovative new production of Hector Berlioz's masterpiece, La Damnation de Faust, opening on November 7. Music Director James Levine will conduct the first staging of the work at the Met since 1906, with Marcello Giordani in the title role, Susan Graham as Marguerite, and John Relyea as Méphistophélès.

On November 29, the Metropolitan Opera Radio Saturday Matinee Broadcasts launches its 78th season of world-class opera heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network with the network premiere of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust.

Whats On Stage is reporting that London's Evening Standard newspaper has published the list of nominees for the 2008 Evening Standard Theatre Awards, the first awards of the UK season.

Happy Holidays Everyone! Well ... here it is ... our BIGGEST CD coverage EVER and just in time for some last minute 'stocking-stuffer' inspiration ... even though a few of these are better used as coal, if you know what I mean.

Noted director Robert Lepage makes his Met debut with a technologically innovative new production of Hector Berlioz's masterpiece, La Damnation de Faust, opening on November 7. Music Director James Levine will conduct the first staging of the work at the Met since 1906, with Marcello Giordani in the title role, Susan Graham as Marguerite, and John Relyea as Méphistophélès.

42nd Street Moon, the company that celebrates and preserves the art and spirit of the American Musical Theatre, opens its 2008-09 Season in with one of the big hits of the 1960-61 season, the saucy Irma La Douce, the hit Parisian musical which was a sensation in London before its Tony-winning New York run.

UPDATED: Audition Info! NEW THIS WEEK! Family Show at MET! Adult Baseball Drama at FPCT! Single Carrot Announces New Season!

Back on the regular schedule! New this week: News from BSF and a New Theatre Company! Plus a benefit featuring local leading ladies abd a One Act Plat Festival at Laurel Mill Playhouse!

Tickets for the third season of The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's live transmissions in movie theaters around the world, go on sale to the general public on Friday August 22.

Tickets for the third season of The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's live transmissions in movie theaters around the world, go on sale to the general public on Friday August 22.

42nd Street Moon, the company that celebrates and preserves the art and spirit of the American Musical Theatre, opens its 2008-09 Season in with one of the big hits of the 1960-61 season, the saucy Irma La Douce, the hit Parisian musical which was a sensation in London before its Tony-winning New York run.

Broadway performers Jeffry Denman and Erin Crouch will be married on August 17th in NYC. Erin Virginia Crouch, the daughter of Victoria Crouch and John Crouch of Fallbrook, California will marry Jeffry Andrew Denman, the son of Marguerite Ellen Denman and Robert D. Denman of Buffalo, NY. Pastor Phil Trzynka will officiate at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Manhattan.

Disney's lavish musical is the classic love story of Belle, a kind-hearted but misunderstood young woman, and the Beast, a pompous prince who has been turned into an animal by the spell of an enchantress. To break the spell, the Beast must learn to love and be loved. Belle could be his chance, if only the Beast can control his anger and find the heart that he never had as a man. But time is running out and if he does not learn his lesson soon, he will be doomed to live in isolation for all eternity.

The Metropolitan Opera Presents Free Concert on Friday, June 20: 'Met Summer Concert: Live in Prospect Park'

Prior to the opening performances of Marguerite and for one night only - Sunday April 13 at 7PM - jazz legend and triple Oscar-winning composer Michel Legrand will give a rare London concert performing his own work accompanied by two of the world's top jazz musicians.

This March, be among the first people in America to see Will Eno's Tragedy: a tragedy at the Tony Award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre. An apocalyptic comedy by an intriguing new playwright, Tragedy makes its American premiere as part of Berkeley Rep's 40th birthday party, directed by Obie Award-winner Les Waters. Presented on the intimate Thrust Stage, Tragedy begins previews on March 14, opens March 19, and closes April 13, 2008.

La MaMa e.t.c., in association with The Forty Hour Club, is proud to present the World Premiere of The Honor and Glory of Whaling, written by La MaMa resident playwright Michael Gorman. Performances will run from December 28, 2007 to January 6, 2008 in a limited engagement at La MaMa's Annex Theater in NYC.