Promises, Promises - 1997 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 16

The Toronto International Film Festival® announced today its Discovery programme showcasing 35 outstanding and absorbing feature films, including 16 World Premieres, by first and second time feature directors from Canada and across the globe, sponsored by Dropbox.

'We are the storytellers; we are the musicmakers; we are the dreamers of dreams.' With these words the cast of Frank McCourt's The Irish and How They Got That Way brings to a close a spellbinding evening of story and song that has the audience clapping, foot-tapping, weeping, and laughing in one of the most vibrant theatrical experiences in recent memory. The co-production of Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt's 1997 play with music marks a stunningly successful collaboration between Maine State Music Theatre and Portland Stage and promises to be a major hit for its brief four-week engagement. McCourt's one-hundred-minute drama tells the story of several centuries of the Irish experience on both sides of the Atlantic. No mere history lesson, however, as much knowledge as the play does impart, rather The Irish is a poetic, saucy, irreverent, and exquisitely beautiful tapestry of music, language, narrative, peopled with colorful characters and showcased in compelling song and dance.

Celebrity chamber music ensemble Escher String Quartet stays in Festival residency for the final week with three diverse concert programs. 

Roundabout Theatre Company's new production of  The Cherry Orchard, starring Diane Lane, Chuck Cooper, Tavi Gevinson, John Glover, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Harold Perrineau and Joel Grey, has found its full company.

The Public Theater will kick off the 2016-17 season in September with a free Public Works musical adaptation of TWELFTH NIGHT, conceived by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub, with music and lyrics by Shaina Taub. Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, TWELFTH NIGHT will once again feature over 200 actors and community members alongside five equity actors, including this year Nikki M. James as Viola and Jose Llana as Orsino.

Just announced this afternoon, Roundabout Theatre Company will welcome Chuck Cooper as 'Pischik,' joining Diane Lane, Tavi Gevinson, John Glover, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Harold Perrineau and Joel Grey in a new production of The Cherry Orchard.

Hubbard Street 2, the young second company of the world-renowned Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, will present Mariko's Magical Mix: A Dance Adventure for their Jacob's Pillow debut, in the Doris Duke Theatre, tonight, July 13-17.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) just announced additional cast members joining Diane Lane in a new production of The Cherry Orchard.

Celebrity chamber music ensemble Escher String Quartet arrives for a week-long residency on Cape Cod in August, filling the final days of Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival's (CCCMF) 37th season with three diverse concert programs. The performances feature the Festival's two artistic directors as instrumental guests, both celebrating the 10th anniversary serving CCCMF. Escher Residency and Nakamatsu is presented on Monday, August 22 at 7:30 pm at the Church of the Holy Spirit, 204 Monument Road, Orleans. Escher Residency and Manasse on Wednesday, August 24, 7:30 pm is held at Chatham Congregational Church, 650 Main Street. The season comes to a brilliant close with Escher Residency and Symphonic Finale on Friday, August 26, 7:30 pm at Wellfleet Congregational Church, 200 Main Street.

Hubbard Street 2, the young second company of the world-renowned Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, will present Mariko's Magical Mix: A Dance Adventure for their Jacob's Pillow debut, in the Doris Duke Theatre, July 13-17.

As America celebrates its 240th Birthday today, let's talk about what is probably one of the greatest musicals ever written, and it only came about 46 years before Hamilton. 1776 dramatizes the story of how John Adams was able to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence as well as signing the Declaration of Independence. While the musical does dramatize the most important event in American history, the story behind the musical is probably just as interesting.

On Monday, June 20th, the Theater People Podcast welcomes Tony Award-winner Alice Ripley. For the episode, Ripley discusses her work in the recent AMERICAN PSYCHO, why this was the right role to bring her back to Broadway after a nearly five year-break, and why she thinks the show struggled to find an audience.

This summer, DreamWrights will be showcasing its teen musical, Legally Blonde, complete with a Greek chorus. But, this is definitely not a Greek chorus like anything Aristotle would recognize. This Greek chorus will be made up of three leading sorority girls:  Margot, Serena, and Pilar, who will be on stage throughout the entire show, and only visible to the main character, Elle Woods. Director Nic Ecker explains, "Traditionally these characters appear on stage briefly throughout the musical. For this production, I'm going to change things up by having them interacting with the action on stage, with their sole purpose to help Elle become a lawyer.  It's an interesting concept that, to my knowledge, hasn't been done in this way before. I am looking forward to these ancient Greek ideas coming to life in this very modern musical."

Lena Hall will reprise her Tony Award-winning performance as Yitzhak in the highly anticipated National Tour of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the 2014 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival, in performances at the SHN Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco (October 2-30, 2016) and the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles (November 1-27, 2016). She will join previously-announced Darren Criss on the tour.

In a 60-minute solo act performance, artist and theatre personality Aishveryaa Nidhi promises to enact some of the unread, yet crucial, chapters of a woman's life who embraced darkness with open arms. Premiered at Sydney's most respected venue, National Institute of Dramatic Arts, Australia, the play 'GANDHARI...IN SEARCH OF LIGHT' is a quest for the woman hidden beneath glorious tales of heroes and wars.

The Juilliard School will confer honorary doctorates on five remarkable artists during its 111th Commencement Ceremony today, May 20, 2016, at 11 a.m. in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center (Broadway at 65th Street, New York City).

Lee Latchford-Evans, who became famous in the 90s through the pop band Steps, is announced to play Nikolae Nikovsky to jointly host EUROBEAT Moldova at this year's Edinburgh Fringe production.

From acclaimed author of last season's smash hit Italian Opera Leslie Lewinter-Suskind comes something completely different.  Running June 17th-July 17th, California Stage Theatre Company will premiere her new play The Revolutionary Mind under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Ray Tatar.

Darren Criss will launch the highly anticipated National Tour of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the 2014 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival, reprising his critically-acclaimed performance at the SHN Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco (October 4-30, 2016) and the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles (November 1-27, 2016). Criss previously played Hedwig on Broadway for 12 weeks last year.

Milwaukee Rep closes a successful season in sublime style staging a production of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning play Fences on the Quadracci Powerhouse stage. Lou Bellamy, who worked extensively with the acclaimed African-American playwright at St. Paul, Minnesota's Penumbra Theatre Company, directed the spellbinding Rep performance. On a stunning, realistic set courtesy of Vicki Smith, the Pittsburgh brownstone with a comfortable wood porch, “lays in the lap of the audience on the thrust stage” according to the Rep In Depth, and places Wilson's flawed characters directly near the seats of the theatergoers, Seats where Wilson's portrait of humanity, seen through the African American experience, exposes compassion and struggle.   

The Juilliard School will confer honorary doctorates on five remarkable artists during its 111th Commencement Ceremony on Friday, May 20, 2016, at 11 a.m. in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center (Broadway at 65th Street, New York City). Christine Baranski will give Juilliard's Commencement Address.

Rehearsal begins today for BARBARA COOK: THEN AND NOW, a candid and intimate evening conceived by three-time Tony Award winner James Lapine and directed by ten-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune.

'History of Magic in North America', the first instalment from a collection of new original writing by J.K. Rowling entitled Magic in North America, will be published on pottermore.com over four days, beginning today through March 11. This new writing promises to enlighten readers about a previously unexplored corner of the wizarding world, taking us into the lives of North American witches and wizards; their history and their magic, and introduces audiences to a new era of the world that J.K. Rowling has created.

Artistic Director Grant Gershon and President & CEO Jean Davidson announce the 2016-17 season of the Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC), one of the world's foremost professional choruses noted for its adventurous programming and artistic excellence, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Under the artistic leadership of Gershon, the choir's 53rd season includes an ambitious blend of choral masterworks, engaging premieres, a cappella offerings and collaborations with some of today's leading artistic visionaries to create immersive musical experiences. The programming embraces the LA Master Chorale's distinguished history, while building upon its legacy of expanding the choral repertoire by commissioning new works and championing rising and established composers.

Producer Roy Furman, in association with Sandy Robertson and Luigi Caiola, just announced the return to the stage of one of the greatest voices and storytellers of our time. The legendary Tony and Grammy Award winner Barbara Cook will share the stories and songs that shaped her life and career in Barbara Cook: Then and Now, a candid and intimate evening conceived by 3-time Tony Award winner James Lapine and directed by 10-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune.