Something You Did - 2008 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 10

PS CLASSICS has announced the release of All the Girls – the new album from Rebecca Luker and Sally Wilfert – on CD online and in stores today, Friday, March 5. It was released in digital and streaming formats in December. The album marks the final recording by Ms. Luker, a Broadway luminary for over 30 years, who passed away late last year.

Making for a special one-of-a-kind event, they’ll join the previously announced performers: Jeff Schroeder of The Smashing Pumpkins, Katie Cole, Kevin Rudolf and Tommy Marz.

The everyone else part of ME, MYSELF, AND EVERYONE ELSE all comes from one amazing woman and breathtaking whirlwind of talent. This is Christina Bianco.

While many may consider musical theatre to be rather niche (and it is compared to a lot of other mainstream entertainment, don’t get me wrong), it might surprise them just how popular many of the more mainstream musicals are.

Cellist and composer Ben Sollee joined forces with acclaimed string trio Time For Three to collaborate on the score for the new Focus Features’ film Land, starring and directed by Robin Wright.

Progressive pop-punk band Frontside are gearing up for the release of their new EP, Closer To Closure, which is due out tomorrow, February 5, 2021 via Revival Recordings.

Andrew Whyment is a theatre director and Artistic Director of Squint. He is currently an Associate of the National Youth Theatre and formerly Resident Assistant Director at Leeds Playhouse. Whyment spoke to us about the workshops Squint has been running to help artists continue writing and devising theatre.

Four decades later and in the middle of a show business shut down, Brandy's Piano Bar is still offering live entertainment ... and some great hot toddies.

They say you should write about what you know, and Jessica Hendy did just that. Well look at her now.

Howard Johnson, veteran jazz musician, tuba innovator and founding member of the Saturday Night Live band, died at home in New York on Jan. 11, 2021, following a long illness, according to his longtime partner, Nancy Olewine. 

For the past fourteen years DC Theatre Scene has been the place to go locally to find out what’s what in the DC theatre community. Its Publisher and Editor Lorraine Treanor recently announced the site would stop publishing fresh content on December 31st and, with that, the DMV loses its liveliest local theatre site.

Talking to Khori Dastoor, General Director of Opera San José brings to mind that old quote from Elizabeth Taylor when she was faced with unimaginable adversity, “Now is the time for guts and guile.” Just one year into her tenure as GD, Dastoor is faced with an almost impossible situation due to the Covid pandemic. Out of all the arts, opera, the artform which she has made her life’s work, arguably has the biggest challenges. After all, the act of singing operatically produces enormous amounts of aerosols, the core audience is older and thus especially at risk for Covid, and the population at large may not consider opera to be essential to their lives. Since creating new works is practically impossible, many GD’s are offering a sort of greatest hits of former glories, video snippets from past years that were already in the can. Or maybe something like a “reading” of an old holiday chestnut like Der Rosenkavalier, presented Brady-Bunch style on Zoom. So what does Dastoor do instead? She goes bravely programs a brand-new, beautifully-produced production of Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers, starring no less than world-renowned opera star Susan Graham, alongside two of Opera San José’s super-talented Resident Artists, soprano Maya Kherani and baritone Efraín Solis. This immensely moving chamber work is based on an unpublished play by Terrance  McNally, adapted by librettist Gene Scheer, and tells the story of a family struggling to connect during the early years of the AIDS pandemic. The work premiered in 2008, yet somehow feels more relevant than ever, given the parallels with what we’re all going through today, as evidenced by McNally’s death from Covid earlier this year. The opera is currently available for streaming through the end of December. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit operasj.org. BroadwayWorld spoke with Dastoor shortly after the filming of Three Decembers had been completed. Dastoor was remarkably open and forthcoming about the challenges of the opera world right now, even as her passion for growing the artform burns stronger than ever. We talked about how she managed to produce Three Decembers during Covid, her successful earlier career as a lyric soprano, and the imperative to keep the arts alive during these difficult times. Her responses to my questions were invariably thoughtful, often surprising and not without humor. And, as a rare woman of color leading an opera company, her understanding of the need to open up her artform runs deep. Above all, though, she is just plain fun to talk to - effortlessly engaging, whip-smart, emotionally transparent, and without an ounce of pretension.

While performing arts organizations around the world are dusting off existing productions of the usual chestnuts during the month of December, Opera San José is taking a more audacious approach with its holiday programming. They are presenting a new, fully-staged production of Jake Heggie’s immensely moving chamber opera, Three Decembers, featuring world-renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham in the central role, alongside celebrated Opera San José Resident Artists soprano Maya Kherani and baritone Efraín Solís. Based on the unpublished play Some Christmas Letters by Tony-winning playwright Terrance McNally, Three Decembers follows the story of a famous actress, Madeline Mitchell, and her two adult children, Beatrice and Charlie over three decades (1986, 1996, and 2006). With a witty and touching libretto by Gene Scheer and a soaring musical score by Jake Heggie, Three Decembers is a 90-minute fullhearted American opera about family – the ones we are born into and those we create. The world-class digital production is offered via on-demand streaming through December 31, 2020. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit operasj.org or call (408) 437-4450. BroadwayWorld speaks with charismatic baritone Efraín Solís, who plays son Charlie.

Six online concerts will replace 20 show in person... but you know with Urban Stages involved, the shows will be good.

Although the show only ran for 105 performances at the Bernard B. Jacobs theater in 2008, the legacy of the show still lives on today. Enough so, that Netflix is in the process of adapting the show for the screen.

Today (November 13) in live streaming: Nikki Renee Daniels visits Backstage Live, the Next On Stage Finale, and so much more!

'Frozen' stars Kristen Bell and Jonathan Groff will reunite to star in 'Molly and the Moon,' an upcoming musical film from Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. The pair created 'How I Met Your Mother.'

The central line running through Josh Kelley’s upcoming album, My Baby & The Band, set for Nov. 13 release, is his family.

An enchanted evening it sure was for those lucky enough to get to see the revival of South Pacific at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. Chocked full of A-List Broadway performers included the talents of Kelli O’Hara, Matthew Morrison, Danny Burstein, Liz McCartney and the golden voiced baritone making his Broadway debut, Paulo Szot.

The first theatre course I took at Princeton was Stacy Wolfa??s class a?oeThe Musical Theatre  of Stephen Sondheima?? during my freshman fall

Renée Fleming's long and distinguished career includes performing in some of the world's most famous opera houses, performing on Broadway, and being heard on many recordings singing everything from arias to showtunes. Tonight Ms. Fleming will add another honor to her canon as she and Vanessa Williams will become the first artists to perform a live indoor concert onstage at Kennedy Center's Opera House. The evening is entitled A Time to Sing: An Evening with Renée Fleming and Vanessa Williams. While the audience will be very minimal in person, you can watch the concert in your very own living room by purchasing a ticket for the livestream. Click here for details.

This list includes books like Wicked: The Grimmerie and Hamilton: The Revolution, as well as a Broadway cookbook, a book about Broadway art, the collected lyrics and Stephen Sondheim, and more!

Teenage Star Grace DeAmicis, from the Tony-award winning play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” popped in to chat about her training and experiences working on Broadway with young performers at Moonlit Wings Productions.

Stacy Sullivan is well known in the Cabaret Community for being the very epitome of warmth and friendship. She always greets her friends and fans with a big smile, a hug and a a?oeHow are you?a?? Unfailingly classy, well dressed and always stunning, Stacy creates very interesting cabaret shows that tend to focus on one artists - a?oeIt's A Good Day, A Tribute To Miss Peggy Leea??, a?oeOn The Air - Songs For Marian McPartlanda?? and one that I was luckily in attendance for on opening night, a?oeA Night at the Troubadour: Presenting Elton John and David Acklesa??.  

Tony nominee and best selling concert artist Sam Harris is about to have another child but his son, Cooper, is not getting a sibling. The literary world is getting a new novel. Harris talks with Stephen Mosher about the three musketeers that is his family, raising a 12-year-old in quarantine and the novel THE SUBSTANCE OF ALL THINGS