So Much for So Much - 1914 - Broadway Articles Page 6

I was very excited to see ABT's 'The Golden Cockerel 'on June 2, 2017. Having heard so much about it, and having read extensively about the Fokine ballet production from 1937, not to mention watching the enticing video on YouTube, I was looking forward to a very magical evening. I can't say that this promise was fulfilled, even if it did offer intermittent pleasures. But after leaving the theater following this two act extravaganza, I began to wonder what exactly it was that ABT had to offer and why they are presenting this piece, as it does not seem destined for a long life in the repertoire-or if it's just waiting to be taped for 'Great Performances' on Channel 13. Or perhaps there is nothing that could be mined from the ballet at all!

1914 is not a year that should conjure much nostalgia for those who survived it. Among smaller aggravations, the year marked the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and resulted in a half decade war, the likes of which the world had not seen. The year also marked the premiere of Fokine's 'The Golden Cockerel' by The Ballets Russes. Fokine, their first choreographer, was no stranger to '(Description) (Bird)' pieces whether it be 'The Dying Swan,' 'The Firebird,' or 'The Gold Cockerel.' 'The Golden Cockerel' was in his established career and it, unlike the previous year's infamous 'Rite of Spring,' was a jewel box escape from the hostile international climate. The warmth of this piece served a Parisian audience in search of the early 1910's glow, which was probably a distant memory by then. Today, scrupulously mounted by ABT under the direction of Ratmansky and with designs by Richard Hudson (off of the Natalia Goncharova originals,) 'The Golden Cockerel' is a charming aesthetic study even as it has waned as a satisfying evening of dance.

The George London Foundation for Singers has been honoring, supporting, and presenting the finest young opera singers in the U.S. and Canada since 1971.

On Tuesday, June 20, 2017, Tony Danza will lead a one-night-only showcase performance, "Tony Danza & the Stars of Tomorrow," to benefit the Police Athletic League (PAL) Acting program.

The feature film World Premiere of “Landing Up” (Bold Compass Films) is a story about a girl with nothing to lose and everything to hide, directed by Dani Tenenbaum and produced/written by Stacey Maltin.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Thursday, June 1, 2017 - or, as we like to call it #TheaterThursday, 'June is busting out all over…' as a song from Carousel reminds us, and there's no better way to kick off a new month than by planning our theater outings for the weekend! Tomorrow night at Cumberland County Playhouse, the company, cast and crew unveil the 2017 model of Smoke on the Mountain, which marks the 24th year of the musical playing in Crossville. Weslie Webster directs and her cast includes Daniel W. Black and Lauren Marshall as Sanders family father and mother Burl and Vera.

From the very moment audiences enter the theater at Hartford Stage for its final production of the 2016-17 season, George Bernard Shaw's HEARTBREAK HOUSE, it is immediately apparent the evening is going to be quite unique. In what has been called Shaw's "most ambitious and prophetic achievement", HEARTBREAK HOUSE manages to bring to life the signature wit and social dialogue of Shaw's other works but with a sense of danger, intrigue and fascination - and under the direction of Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak, the Hartford Stage production accomplishes this and more.

Tomorrow  Is Another Day, featuring new work by Mark Bradford, is presented by the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University and The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, at La Biennale di Venezia 57th International Art Exhibition.

Playwright Rajiv Joseph, best known for his critically acclaimed Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo has done it again with his world premiere play Archduke now onstage at the MTF through June 4. Based on fact and meticulously researched in Sarajevo where Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914 by Joseph and his director Giovanna Sardelli, the play has the ring of truth, but what catapults it into the sphere of brilliance is its dark humor that masks the gravity beneath.

At first it was unconscious, then by design: the 34th season of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Long Island's longest-running classical music festival, has something of a water theme.

“Men are like weapons. Women are like wounds.” That is a poignant line and an apt summation of the first part of Forum Theatre's #NastyWomen ethos. The first piece in this horrifying, yet deeply moving, work is Monica Byrne's What Every Girl Should Know, which takes place in 1914 and follows four teen girls in a New York reformatory.

One Last Thing (For Now) is inspired by love letters from times of conflict in different cultures and languages. The production, written and developed over the last two years by Lilac Yosiphon with the ensemble, is a universal look at the language of love, the wounds of war and everything in between.

The Royal Shakespeare Company have burst back to the West End with their double bill of Love's Labour's - both Lost and Won. This pairing really is a remarkable achievement. Set in the summer of 1914 and the winter of 1918, director Christopher Luscombe has combined the charm and elegance of an Edwardian country estate with a wit, silliness and sense of play that would surely have made Will proud.

Utah Shakespeare Festival Artistic Directors David Ivers and Brian Vaughn recently announced a slate of ten highly-creative, talented and experienced directors for the Festival's 2017 season.

Utah Shakespeare Festival Artistic Directors David Ivers and Brian Vaughn recently announced a slate of ten highly-creative, talented and experienced directors for the Festival's 2017 season.

This play took me 28 years. 1988 marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the First World War. To commemorate it, an 'Armistice Festival' was held in London, which, like the Edinburgh Festival, included a fringe open to anyone. I am ashamed to admit that I was a rather precocious 18 year old, and called the director of the festival, Tim McHenry, to suggest to him my idea of a one-man play about war poet Wilfred Owen.

Roll up, roll up!  Sell-out comedy returns to Pyramid with the best in live stand-up from our friends at The Comedy Store.  But hurry - it sells out fast!  The Comedy Store continues its residency at Pyramid presenting "the best in stand-up" from around the globe and showcasing the brightest names in comedy talent in Warrington.  The shows run on the first Saturday of each month, don't miss out!

"Art isn't easy," Stephen Sondheim wrote famously in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. Some artists, however, make it look simpler than others--like composer Kevin Puts, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for SILENT NIGHT, with Mark Campbell's libretto, for his first try at the notoriously difficult art form. (The Southeast premiere is opening at Atlanta Opera on November 5.) Easy? Well, looks can be deceiving.

This October, A Gothic Folktale opens the 2016-2017 Wonderbound season with a fantastical circus straight from the mind of Artistic Director Garrett Ammon. Set to the hauntingly beautiful music of Jesse Manley and His Band and featuring the interactive illusions of Professor Phelyx, this original production will pull audiences into the curious world under the big-top.

Tickets are now on sale for American Composers Orchestra's (ACO) 40th Anniversary Season, under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel and Music Director George Manahan. This season includes eight world premieres by a diverse set of composers performed by ACO at Carnegie Hall and Symphony Space, and continues the orchestra's commitment to serve as a catalyst for the creation of new orchestral music, providing unprecedented opportunities for American composers to create new work and for audiences to discover it. Founded in 1977, ACO remains the only orchestra in the world dedicated exclusively to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American composers. To date, ACO has performed music by 800 American composers, including 350 world premieres and newly commissioned works. ACO takes its commitment to fostering new work beyond the stage in its annual Underwood New Music Readings for emerging composers, now in its 26th year in New York, and through its program EarShot, the National Orchestra Composition Discovery Network, which brings the Readings experience to orchestras across the country in partnership with American Composers Forum, the League of American Orchestras, and New Music USA.

Center Theatre Group celebrates 50 years in the iconic Mark Taper Forum with the 2017-2018 season announced today by Artistic Director Michael Ritchie. The new season features five plays that represent the past, present and future of the theatre, plus a special immersive event on the streets of Los Angeles.

The UK premiere of the hit Off Broadway musical Adding Machine: A Musical, composed by Joshua Schmidt, with libretto by Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt, and based on the classic play by Elmer Rice, opens at the Finborough Theatre on Wednesday, 28 September 2016 (Press Nights: Friday 30 September and Saturday 1 October 2016 at 7.30pm).

'The flutist Marya Martin's festival brings an elite roster of chamber musicians to the ever-desirable vacation spot,' said The New Yorker of last year's Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival. This summer, the 33rd season of Long Island's longest-running classical music festival comprises 14 concerts from July 31 to August 28, featuring the signature mix of renowned and up-and-coming artists and classic and new music that has made it one of the most noteworthy summer music festivals in the country.

ABT's Resident Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, who created the version of 'The Golden Cockerel' that had its company premiere on June 6th 2016, is quoted in a Playbill article by Caroline Hamilton as saying, 'This production is overwhelmingly theatrical'. Ah, so that explains why there is virtually no dancing in the entire first act and very little in the second act! A little research reveals that Ratmansky reportedly added more dancing after getting less than laudatory reviews in 2012 when his 'Cockerel' opened in Copenhagen. Yet mime still predominates, which is the legacy of the unwieldy and heavy original costume designs by avant-garde artist Natalia Goncharova for the 1914 and 1937 Ballet Russes opera ballet productions of 'Le Coq d'Or' with choreography by Fokine. (In 1914, 'baby ballerina' Tamara Karsavina danced the role of the Queen of Shemakhan with Enrico Cecchetti as the Astrologer. The Cockerel was a stage prop.)

This summer, the 33rd season of Long Island's longest-running classical music festival comprises 13 concerts from July 31 to August 28, featuring the signature mix of renowned and up-and-coming artists and classic and new music that has made it one of the most noteworthy summer music festivals in the country.