The Contrast - 2006 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 5

Parisian culture, Polish politics, and the piano are the focus of this summer's annual Bard SummerScape festival, with seven weeks of music, opera, theater, dance, film, and cabaret keyed to the theme of the 28th Bard Music Festival, 'Chopin and His World.'

“A prolific choreographer of skillfully constructed dances that respectfully mesh with music and striking visual design” (The New Yorker), Jessica Lang and her company return to Jacob's Pillow for the ensemble's first Ted Shawn Theatre engagement, July 5-9. In addition to a Pillow-commissioned world premiere work, the program includes Lang's Thousand Yard Stare, a dance embodying the incredible pride and honor as well as the searing loss experienced by military veterans. The program will also include the East Coast and company premiere of Lang's Lyric Pieces as well as Solo Bach, Sweet Silent Thought, and The Calling. This season, the Pillow has formed a partnership with the Tanglewood Music Center, whereby Tanglewood Fellows and alumni will be providing the music accompaniment for this engagement.

The well-oiled machine Manuel has created in his Spring Awakening is a small miracle in the intimate space, showcasing the truly remarkable cast.

Pokey LaFarge's new album, Manic Revelations, is now streaming in full at Brooklyn Vegan. Of the album, Brooklyn Vegan hails, “For Manic Revelations, he's taking his sound in slightly more modern directions.

The official music video for Pokey LaFarge's “Riot In The Streets” premiered yesterday at HuffPost and can now be watched/shared

Pokey LaFarge's new song, “Better Man Than Me,” premiered yesterday at Billboard and can now be heard/shared here.

Convinced that art can stimulate discussion and eliminate barriers, Jewish Women's Theatre (JWT) and NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change, will host the world premiere of a new theatrical collaboration and art exhibit in Santa Monica on May 6. The salon-style play will tour throughout the Southland until May 22, with a show at the IMAN Center in LA on May 11.

For the first time in the U.S., legendary Japanese composer Akira Ifukube's massively influential monster music comes to life in the chamber pop/rock aural extravaganza, Godzilla Legend-Music of Akira Ifukube. Presented by Japan's popular techno-pop bandHikashu, this 90-minute tour de force performance features favorite themes and sensational musical set pieces from some of the most reveredGodzilla movies of all time. Devised and arranged by Hikashu founding member INOUE Makoto under Ifukube's endorsement, the performance features narration by Inoue, who also plays synthesizers, and appearances by 'extreme vocalist' and multi-instrumentalist MAKIGAMI Koichi, current Hikashu front man, and rising star art-pop duo Charan-Po-Rantan. The one-night-only concert takes place Friday, April 28, 7:30 pm, at Japan Society.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City concludes its 59th season with Gilbert & Sullivan's delightful comic operetta The Pirates of Penzance  April 22, 26, 28, 29, and 30 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The production will be sung in English with English titles. High res production and artists' photos can be downloaded here .

South Portland's Lyric Music Theater is taking a bold and daring step in presenting the 2006 musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind's 1891 provocative play, Spring Awakening. The wrenching musical drama explores with a piercing honesty the lives of teenagers and their adult authority figures locked in a lethal struggle as the young men and women search for freedom of expression, sexual liberation and fulfillment, and the embrace of their true identities in a dark, corseted world of repression and convention. The issues raised by Frank Wedekind's play remain as potent and relevant today as they did in the late 19th century, and the Steven Sater book and lyrics and Duncan Sheik music remain true to the essence of the piece. Wedekind's world - the world of Freud and nascent psychology - is a bleak place where adults abuse their children psychologically and physically, where creativity is stifled, and love - as a total expression of body and soul - is forbidden. In this dark universe, the young villagers long in secret and search for a path through the pain.

Boston Ballet's spring season continues with Kylian/Wings of Wax, a trio of ballets by three choreographic masters.

Parisian culture, Polish politics, and the piano are the focus of this summer's annual Bard SummerScape festival, with seven weeks of music, opera, theater, dance, film, and cabaret keyed to the theme of the 28th Bard Music Festival, 'Chopin and His World.'

Ronan Noone is both an alumnus and adjunct assistant professor of the M.F.A. Playwriting Program at Boston University. He has written a revision of his play THE ATHEIST, reimagining the satirical comedy with a female protagonist. At Boston Playwrights' Theatre, Georgia Lyman gives a robust, multi-dimensional performance as the crooked tabloid journalist who looks all too familiar in today's media landscape.

Greensky Bluegrass is Anders Beck (dobro), Michael Arlen Bont (banjo), Dave Bruzza (guitar), Mike Devol (upright bass) and Paul Hoffman (mandolin).

'Superfine! The Fairest Fair' is back to challenge the establishment! An alternative to mainstream fairs, each edition of Superfine! creates a cutting-edge marketplace where buyers, sellers, and artists can operate transparently on an even plane.

When an injured reindeer appears in a young girl's backyard, it sets the stage for a story filled with heart and hope in the new stage adaptation of the film Prancer, making its world debut on The Rose stage. The show, which opens Today, Nov. 25 and runs through Dec. 18, 2016, will showcase breathtaking puppetry and a heartwarming story to bring light to the holiday season. 

When an injured reindeer appears in a young girl's backyard, it sets the stage for a story filled with heart and hope in the new stage adaptation of the film Prancer, making its world debut on The Rose stage. The show, which opens Friday, Nov. 25 and runs through Dec. 18, 2016, will showcase breathtaking puppetry and a heartwarming story to bring light to the holiday season. 

Neville Dance Theatre, a NY-based theatrical dance company with contemporary innovation, presents the works of Brenda Neville and guest choreographers Billy Blanken and Ursula Verduzco. The program, titled EXPOSED, will feature four world premieres-ensemble works Exposed and Blessed by Neville, Epidermis a duet by Verduzco, and Brahm's Double Concerto a quintet by Blanken. EXPOSED will have two performances on November 5 at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at The Actors Fund Arts Center in Brooklyn.

The Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY), New York's standard for grand choral performance, will mark its 2016-17 season with performances of symphonic choral masterworks of Handel, Mozart, Bruckner, and Britten, ending with Bach's monumental Mass in B Minor. Leading the OSNY for its 144th season will be Kent Tritle, in his 12th year as Music Director.

Neville Dance Theatre, a NY-based theatrical dance company with contemporary innovation, presents the works of Brenda Neville and guest choreographers Billy Blanken and Ursula Verduzco. The program, titled EXPOSED, will feature four world premieres-ensemble works Exposed and Blessed by Neville, Epidermis a duet by Verduzco, and Brahm's Double Concerto a quintet by Blanken. EXPOSED will have two performances on November 5 at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at The Actors Fund Arts Center in Brooklyn.

Festival Ballet Providence's (FBP) acclaimed Black Box Theatre series Up Close on Hope will feature one of the most popular works by iconic choreographer George Balanchine, in addition to two vastly different works by resident choreographer Viktor Plotnikov. The program will also include a pair of works by former Boston Ballet principal dancer Yury Yanowsky and a new collaboration between company dancer Ty Parmenterand storyteller Valerie Tutson. This popular Black Box series gives audiences a perspective on dance unlike any other, providing an experience that is both intimate and breathtaking. The first of two unique programs in the company's 2016-2017 Season runs November 4-6 and 11-12, 2016.

Ever since Tosca, Puccini's "shabby little shocker," premiered at Rome's Teatro Costanizi on January 14, 1900 critics have decided the work, yet begged the question - what gives Tosca its universal appeal?

Acclaimed Italian choreographer Caterina Rago will return to New York this fall with her company of eight female dancers in her new full-evening work, "Labir Into," October 6 though October 8 at New York Live Arts. Caterina Rago is the only female choreographer from Italy running a modern dance company in NYC.

The Museum of Modern Art has announced its film exhibitions for September 2016. Scroll down for details!

Acclaimed Italian choreographer Caterina Rago will return to New York this fall with her company of eight female dancers in her new full-evening work, "Labir Into," October 6 though October 8 at New York Live Arts. Caterina Rago is the only female choreographer from Italy running a modern dance company in NYC.