So This is Love - 1928 - West End Articles Page 18

Berkshire Theatre Group has announced the visionary pianist, Christopher O'Riley, sponsored by WMHT, will play selections from Radiohead, The Cocteau Twins, Arcade Fire and more at The Colonial Theatre tonight, August 17 at 8pm.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Philharmonic and its Global Sponsor, Credit Suisse - whose partnership began at the start of the 2007 season - will offer a Free Dress Rehearsal of the Opening Night concert Wednesday, September 19, 2012, at 9:45 a.m.

Berkshire Theatre Group has announced the visionary pianist, Christopher O'Riley, sponsored by WMHT, will play selections from Radiohead, The Cocteau Twins, Arcade Fire and more at The Colonial Theatre on Friday, August 17 at 8pm.

Today we are talking to Patricia Kelly, the widow of one of the most iconic and influential performers in entertainment history, Gene Kelly, all about her husband's incomparable career on Broadway and in Hollywood, in honor of his centennial. Tracing Gene Kelly's journey from his theatre roots starring in Cole Porter's LEAVE IT TO ME!, Rodgers & Hart's PAL JOEY and William Saroyan's Pulitzer Prize-winning THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE on Broadway to his unforgettable screen appearances in many of the greatest movie musicals ever made - COVER GIRL, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, THE PIRATE, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS and many more included - Mrs. Kelly gives us a look into the life of one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. In addition to behind-the-scenes stories involving Kelly's frequent collaborators - such as esteemed director Vincente Minnelli, songwriter and producer Arthur Freed, arranger Saul Chaplin and others - Mrs. Kelly also shares candid anecdotes involving her husband's involvement with directing Rodgers & Hammerstein's FLOWER DRUM SONG on Broadway, helming the feature film adaptation of HELLO, DOLLY! starring Barbra Streisand, as well as his appearing in two idiosyncratic movie musicals later in his life, LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT (THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT) for Jacques Demy, as well as his au revoir to movie musicals in form of the Olivia Newton-John roller disco starrer XANADU. Additionally, Mrs. Kelly fills us in on all the details about this weekend's two-night Gene Kelly retrospective celebration, which she leads and narrates, as part of GENE KELLY @ 100 and her future plans for the multimedia presentation - each evening titled AN EVENING OF GENE KELLY and CHANGING THE LOOK OF DANCE ON FILM, respective - as she begins to tour the show across the country. Plus, reflections on SINGIN' IN THE RAIN's 60th anniversary and the recent Fathom HD premiere presentation in theaters, the impact of Kelly's work behind the camera, his choreographic legacy, what a legend is like at home, memories of attending the opening night of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (starring HELLO, DOLLY! lead Michael Crawford), what the master would say about GLEE, SMASH, BUNHEADS and today's movie musical renaissance, as well as much, much more!

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is celebrating this week's premiere of TNT's all-new series DALLAS by unveiling a 10-gallon list of the Top 10 Texas Movies.

Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Michael Ritchie has set the 2012-2013 season at the CTG/Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In a season of contrasts - of surprising comedy and startling drama, the 2012-2013 season at the Kirk Douglas Theatre will include the magical and mystical hi-jinks of the CTG-commissioned "Elephant Room" by Trey Lyford, Geoff Sobelle and Steve Cuiffo; the acclaimed Gate Theatre Dublin production of the Beckett classic "Krapp's Last Tape" with one of Britain's greatest actors, John Hurt; the comic genius of The Second City with their unique, satirical twist on a Dickens's favorite - "A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!" written by Peter Gwinn and Bobby Mort; the world premiere of the otherworldly drama "The Nether" by the 2012 Susan Blackburn Smith prize-winning playwright Jennifer Haley; and the world premiere of the powerful boxing drama "The Royale" by Los Angeles playwright Marco Ramirez.

The Summer Season at the Finborough Theatre continues with rediscoveries of EVENTS WHILE GUARDING THE BOFORS GUN and MERRIE ENGLAND. Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of playwright John McGrath, and unseen in a professional production in London since 1966, John McGrath's Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun opens at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre for a limited four-week season from Tuesday, 22 May 2012 directed by Robert Hastie. Merrie England plays at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of nine Sunday and Monday evening performances and Tuesday matinees, opening tonight, 27 May 2012.

It's officially summer come June and this summer season promises to be an active one at the Frist Center. Next month kicks off with the opening of Metamorphoses: Drawings by Erin Anfinson, Kristi Hargrove, Mark Hosford, and Chris Scarborough in the Conte Community Arts Gallery, and is shortly followed by the opening of Constable: Oil Sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum on June 22. The Frist has collaborated with Watkins College on an quilting workshop with edgy quilter Ben Venom and the second installment of Frist Fridays on June 29th features Sam Bush with special guest Lera Lynn.

The Summer Season at the Finborough Theatre continues with rediscoveries of EVENTS WHILE GUARDING THE BOFORS GUN and MERRIE ENGLAND. Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of playwright John McGrath, and unseen in a professional production in London since 1966, John McGrath's Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun opens at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre for a limited four-week season from tonight, 22 May 2012 directed by Robert Hastie. Merrie England plays at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of nine Sunday and Monday evening performances and Tuesday matinees, opening on Sunday, 27 May 2012.

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is truly a gay, show-within-a-show romp for the ages. At first I was like 'What gay holy hell is this?!'

The Summer Season at the Finborough Theatre continues with rediscoveries of EVENTS WHILE GUARDING THE BOFORS GUN and MERRIE ENGLAND. Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of playwright John McGrath, and unseen in a professional production in London since 1966, John McGrath's Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun opens at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre for a limited four-week season from Tuesday, 22 May 2012 directed by Robert Hastie. Merrie England plays at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of nine Sunday and Monday evening performances and Tuesday matinees, opening on Sunday, 27 May 2012.

Berkshire Theatre Group and Artistic Director/CEO, Kate Maguire have just announced programming for Summer 2012. BTG's Summer of 2012 boasts a full assortment of theatrical productions, concerts, comedy, Friday Series play readings, Musical Mondays, Made in the Berkshires and more.

Artistic Director Chay Yew and Executive Director Jan Kallish announce the 2012-2013 Victory Gardens season. The season will include Equivocation by Bill Cain, directed by Sean Graney; Failure: A Love Story by Phillip Dawkins, directed by Seth Bockley; Disconnect by Anupama Chandrasekhar, directed by Dexter Bullard; The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Joanie Schultz; and Chicago is Burning by Marcus Gardley, directed by Chay Yew.

New York Theatre Ballet's (NYTB) Signatures 12 presents the world premiere of Gemma Bond's Run Loose, the U.S. premiere of Antonia Franceschi's City Scenes, Richard Alston's A Rugged Flourish as well as new productions of three classic works, Merce Cunningham's Septet, Jose Limon's The Moor's Pavane, and James Waring's An Eccentric Beauty Revisited--all on March 9 and 10 at New York City's Florence Gould Hall. NYTB Artistic Director Diana Byer commented, "We love the old and are interested in the new, performing them together creates a greater context for understanding both."

New York Theatre Ballet's (NYTB) Signatures 12 presents the world premiere of Gemma Bond's Run Loose, the U.S. premiere of Antonia Franceschi's City Scenes, Richard Alston's A Rugged Flourish as well as new productions of three classic works, Merce Cunningham's Septet, Jose Limon's The Moor's Pavane, and James Waring's An Eccentric Beauty Revisited--all on March 9 and 10 at New York City's Florence Gould Hall. NYTB Artistic Director Diana Byer commented, "We love the old and are interested in the new, performing them together creates a greater context for understanding both."

Headlining the most successful entertainment of all time, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Michael Crawford was actually not the first name the creative team considered for the gothic musical undertaking during its creation in the mid-1980s, believe it or not. Steve Harley famously recorded the original single of the title song with composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's muse Sarah Brightman and subsequently starred in the grandiose Ken Russell fever dream music video. While the public and critics alike assumed Harley's bid for the lead role in the gestating show was all but guaranteed after the video debut, it was not meant to be. Master director Hal Prince had his sights set on a British stage and screen star who had made a name with American audiences decades before in the troubled film versions of two Broadway hits - A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM and HELLO, DOLLY! - as well as made a name for himself the world over in the British sitcom SOME MOTHERS DO 'AVE 'EM. Crawford had also cemented his place in the musical theatre with his roles in FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON and BILLY, but it was PHANTOM that would catapult him into the ranks of iconic musical megastar. So, today, let us take a look at what made Michael Crawford's performance in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA so unforgettable as we celebrate this week's US release of the simply spectacular DVD/Blu-ray of the 25th anniversary production mounted late last year at the Royal Albert Hall starring Ramim Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, loving assembled and presented by original lead producer Cameron Mackintosh and featuring a grand finale complete with original PHANTOM cast-members Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, among a host of other glories.

BroadwayWorld.com has learned details about a recent reading of the Guthrie Theatre's upcoming production of ROMAN HOLIDAY in Minneapolis. Starring in the reading, directed by John Miller-Stephany were Laura Osnes as Princess Ann and John Behlmann as Joe Bradley. They rest of the reading cast featured many of the area's top local talent. We're told that the reading went quite well, and that the song choices, which of course include some of Porter's biggest hits like 'Easy to Love,' 'Begin the Beguine,' 'Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye' and 'Riding High' also included many rarely heard gems that 'fit perfectly into the story.' Also in attendance for the staged reading were book writer Paul Blake and other members of the creative team.

After nearly 100 productions of the play around the world, including two by the Royal Court Theatre in London, Soho Rep and The Play Company, in association with John Adrian Selzer, will present the New York premiere February 1-26, 2012.

Signature Theatre Company (Founding Artistic Director James Houghton; Executive Director Erika Mallin), announced today seven productions for its inaugural 2012 season at Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street near 10th Avenue), the company's new Frank Gehry-designed permanent home opening in February 2012. Signature Center will allow the Company to expand its programming, introduce new initiatives, and build audiences. Featuring three intimate theatres, a studio theatre, rehearsal studio and a shared lobby with café and bookstore, Signature Center will be both a theatre community hub and a neighborhood destination.

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) 2011-12 season opens with a new revival of the dazzling George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart 1930 comedy Once in a Lifetime, which has been called 'a delicious Hollywood send up' (The New York Times) and 'a tinseltown satire [with] bite' (Newsday).

With its many supporting roles for older performers, one of the great pleasures of productions of Follies is the opportunity to see some of the theatre's senior members making a triumphant return to the Broadway stage.

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) 2011-12 season opens with a new revival of the dazzling George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart 1930 comedy Once in a Lifetime, which has been called 'a delicious Hollywood send up' (The New York Times) and 'a tinseltown satire [with] bite' (Newsday).

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) 2011-12 season opens with a new revival of the dazzling George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart 1930 comedy Once in a Lifetime, which has been called 'a delicious Hollywood send up' (The New York Times) and 'a tinseltown satire [with] bite' (Newsday).

Classical virtuosity and wit are the hallmarks of 3e étage, a contemporary ballet ensemble formed by and featuring dancers and soloists of the legendary Paris Opera Ballet.

I'm reminded of the old joke: It's only funny till someone gets hurt; then it's hilarious. Jacobean audiences liked the stage littered with corpses at the end; we settle for one or two corpses and people's lives shattered. And that this show certainly delivers. There may not be much depth to it, much in the way of a philosophical point, but it's absorbing to see.