Take It From Us - 1950 - West End Articles Page 14

The centennial of Ella Fitzgerald's birthday has been celebrated throughout this year and is culminated with the release of SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME, featuring digitally remastered vocal tracks from Ella's original Decca and Verve recordings paired with newly orchestrated and arranged performances by the London Symphony Orchestra.

Leonard Bernstein was arguably one of the most versatile musicians the world has ever known. If you are a lover of classical music, you know that his recordings and compositions were the stuff legend is made of; and if you are a musical theatre geek, you know that Bernstein wrote some of the most innovative and genre-merging theatrical scores that still have not been topped to this day.

This has been an unusual weekend for me. I had the privilege of attending two compelling plays written by African Americans about African Americans and performed by African Americans. Both shows are moving presentations that made me laugh. They made me cry. And they made me view the lives of families very different from my own with a new sense of understanding.

Written by Anna Rak and Palmyra Mattner, and under the direction of Kira Kull, STRINGS will soon take the stage at the Access Theatre in Tribeca for its New York premiere; the show also marks EBTT's second NY production. A theater troupe of unique origins and aspirations, Eastern Bridge strives to bring together the voices, experiences and talents of those who are culturally or ethically different, but collaborate for the purpose of providing a unique theatrical experience. By giving expression to these foreign voices, the cast, creative team and theater-goers alike now have this special opportunity to bring what is different together to share in the purity of a mother's love.

It's been ten years since The Sweetback Sisters first began forging their distinct sonic universe of golden era country, and on their new album, King Of Killing Time, (Out August 25th on Signature Sounds) they push their sound into more adventurous and playful territory than ever before.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles (BAFTA Los Angeles) is pleased to announce that award-winning actor and producer Matt Damon will receive the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film presented by Newegg at the 2017 AMD British Academy Britannia Awards.

A jazz song from the late-50s, an Oxford-educated financial advisor and a group of once-celebrated but unemployed musicians -- some of whom no longer even owned an instrument -- are not the standard ingredients from which global hits are made. But then the story of the Sachal Ensemble, from Lahore, Pakistan, is anything but standard.

The Third Annual Asian World Film Festival (AWFF) has selected Turkey's official 2018 Oscar entry, Ayla: The Daughter of War as the Festivals opening night film on October 25. Filmed in South Korea, Ayla: The Daughter of War tells a touching story of an orphan girl and a Turkish soldier set during the Korean War.

The centennial of Ella Fitzgerald's birthday has been celebrated throughout this year and is culminated with the release of SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME, featuring digitally remastered vocal tracks from Ella's original Decca and Verve recordings paired with newly orchestrated and arranged performances by the London Symphony Orchestra.

1993's rarely produced Sunset Boulevard is a somewhat flawed musical play that satisfies best with the casting of an actress of great star quality as Norma Desmond, one whose face could have convincingly lit up a silent film screen. Moonlight Amphitheatre has its star in Valerie Perri, and under Larry Raben's resourcefully skilled staging, Sunset Boulevard is a hit.

A  jazz song from the late-50s, an Oxford-educated financial advisor and a group of once-celebrated but unemployed musicians -- some of whom no longer even owned an instrument -- are not the standard ingredients from which global hits are made.

The Leo Baeck Institute (LBI), a New York-based research library and archive that preserves millions of papers and books saved by German and Austrian Jewish refugees from the Nazis, will present a series of seven programs that mine the remarkable history of German-speaking Jewry for insight into present-day concerns ranging from gay rights to the Trump presidency.

With tweaking and some rewrites, it has the makings of a cult classic.

BRIC, the largest presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn, has announced the fall 2017 season at BRIC House, the organization's 40,000 SF home in Downtown Brooklyn.

It's been ten years since The Sweetback Sisters first began forging their distinct sonic universe of golden era country, and on their new album, King Of Killing Time, (Out August 25th on Signature Sounds) they push their sound into more adventurous and playful territory than ever before. 

For 12 years running, the FSCJ Artist series and the Wilson Center for the Arts has produced an Annual High School Summer Musical Theatre Experience. This year brings WEST SIDE STORY, a mammothly essential piece of work to all musical theatre lovers. With book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, WEST SIDE STORY is often heralded as a top 5 work of theatre. The show runs through July 30th, and tickets are available here.

Raleigh Little Theatre has announced its 2017-2018 season - scroll down for highlights!

The completely original new musical Something Rotten! brings its rib-tickling North American tour to Starlight Theatre for six performances July 25-30.

ALL SHOOK UP, a celebration of music performed by the King, Elvis Presley, is a entertaining mash-up of Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT, combined with some ideas from FOOTLOOSE, and with just a pinch of the movie version of GREASE (book by Joe DiPietro). I know how that sounds, but instead of taking itself or the music too seriously, this show actually achieves a sort of subversive and hilarious kitsch appeal. It's the current production on the MUNY's stage, and it's a splashy, funny, silly, and tune-filled hoot from start to finish.

Raleigh Little Theatre has announced its 2017-2018 season - scroll down for highlights!

'It's a warhorse and has been a guaranteed sellout since 1950, but that doesn't mean a production doesn't need a little spark. DJ [Salisbury] did exactly what I asked him to do,' says Maine State Music Theatre's Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark. 'I asked him not to reinvent the wheel, but to tweak the show with some new nuances.' Clark is talking about MSMT's new production of Guys and Dolls which opened last week to glowing reviews. Clark was part of the popular MSMT community series, PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN panel that also featured Guys and Dolls stars, James Beaman (Nathan Detroit), Kristen Hahn (Sarah Brown), and Stephen Mark Lukas (Sky Masterson), as well as Props Master Elizabeth Frino. Moderated by Broadway World's Maine editor Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold, the participants at the capacity-crowd event discussed the making of this exciting new production in Midcoast Maine.

Shea's 710 Theatre is proud to announce the 2017 -18 Frey Electric Construction Co. Season.

Ruth Eckerd Hall announces the Adults At Leisure Series for the 2017-18 season, which includes returning favorites Blue Suede Shoes (The Premier Elvis Birthday Bash), 110 Years of Broadway and the Hitmen In Concert as well as several shows making their debut, including 3 Redneck Tenors, The Modern Gentlemen, One Night In Memphis and more.

Fittingly, as most of the world celebrates Gay Pride month, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills is presenting an absorbing, beautifully-poetic production of playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell's drama THE PRIDE, which continues its Los Angeles-area premiere through July 9, 2017. Highly-stylized yet riveting and universally approachable, this new production of the play that originated in the UK features a superb cast smartly directed by the Wallis' Artist-in-Residence Michael Arden.

Ruth Eckerd Hall announces the Adults At Leisure Series for the 2017-18 season, which includes returning favorites Blue Suede Shoes (The Premier Elvis Birthday Bash), 110 Years of Broadway and the Hitmen In Concert as well as several shows making their debut, including 3 Redneck Tenors, The Modern Gentlemen, One Night In Memphis and more.