The French Maid - - Broadway Articles Page 8

The 86th year of the U.K.'s internationally renowned Glyndebourne Festival will offer six major opera productions from May 21 through August 30, including compelling new productions, rising stars and debuts, and the return of treasured Festival favorites, as well as an exceptional international roster of artists from more than 14 different countries from the United States, Australia and Russia to Finland and Croatia.

The Ensemble Company, the repertory company in residence at Penguin Point Productions located in the Oviedo Mall, will continue its 2020 season with the Central Florida premiere of Jane Anderson's Mother of the Maid.

'CLUE' is a stage play of murder and blackmail, based broadly on the Hasbro board game, and the Paramount motion picture of the same name, has gone through several adaptations. The latest, by Sandy Rustin, with additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price, is now on stage at Cleveland Public Theatre.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES owns a well-deserved place in theatre history. In its current run at Arizona Broadway Theatre, featuring Jamie Parnell as Georges and Michael Ursua as Albin, while the story has a fair share of charm, wit, pathos, and flesh, for a show famous for its flash and flamboyance, this production is pretty toned down ~ save for a statue of David with a boastful appendage and an over-the-top performance by Seth Tucker as Albin's a?oemaid!a?? Runs through February 28th at ABT's location in Peoria after which it takes the stage at the Herberger Theatre Center in Phoenix from March 6th through March 22nd.

Following a rousing October run of BLOODY, BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, Arizona Regional Theatre (ART) has mounted Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens' LUCKY STIFF -- a two-act, 17-song whodunnit which has been a favorite of Valley venues over the years.

How ripping! A saucy French maid doing the Charleston with a handsome chap in tennis whites sets the scene for the most delightful escapism in town: Matthew White's gossamer-light revival of Sandy Wilson's 1953 love letter to the Roaring Twenties. It was once the third-longest-running stage musical, and boosted Julie Andrews' career on Broadway.

BWW Review: MOTHER OF THE MAID at Marin Theatre Company is dramatization of the life of Joan of Arc as seen through the eyes of her mother.

Between the 4th and the 12th of October, the Grand Théatre of Luxembourg opened its doors to a modern and refreshing adaptation of Marivaux's A Game of Love and Chance. This renown romantic comedy was first presented to the public in 1730 and has since then been adapted over the centuries to entertain crowds around the globe.

The 32nd Annual Virginia Film Festival will feature a deep and diverse program of more than 150 films, including some of the hottest titles on the festival circuit today, and an array of special guests from throughout the industry, and from across the globe. This year's lineup includes award-winning actor, writer, and director Ethan Hawke, noted actor Ann Dowd, international bestselling author John Grisham, actor Dennis Christopher, acclaimed filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu - plus more than 100 filmmakers in all.

Two love stories. Two suicides. Padua Playwrights presents theNYC premiere of Mayakovsky and Stalin, written and directed by legendary poet/playwrightMurray Mednick (Theatre Genesis) opening at theCherry Lane Theatre for a four-week run beginningOct. 17.

Executive and Artistic Director, Keith Gerth and Associate Artistic Director, Stephen Smith of the Oil Lamp Theater in Glenview announce their next production, the gripping thriller Murder on the Nile by Agatha Christie. This tale of mystery and suspense is directed by Oil Lamp's Executive and Artistic Director Keith Gerth and will be performed from September 26th through November 10th 2019 at 1723 Glenview Road in Glenview. 

For it's 2019-2020 season, The Drama Studio will present performances of two Pulitzer Prize-winning plays by American playwright Thornton Wilder: Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth.

Are our destinies determined for us? Fifteenth century life is a struggle for Isabelle Arc. France is massing for war with England, she works eighteen hours a day, and her willful teenage daughter Joan is seeing visions of Saint Catherine. As Joan grows into the Maid of Orleans and her family's world turns upside down, Isabelle struggles with what it means to parent a saint. Pacific Theatre's 2019-2020 season opens with the Canadian premiere of Mother of the Maid, Jane Anderson's retelling of Joan of Arc's journey to the battlefields of France and her mother Isabelle's quest to follow her.

The Torrance Theatre Company's production of Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST features a live twelve-piece orchestra conducted to perfection by Bradley Hampton, and a cast of 44 actors from all over Southern California, who donate their time and talent to bring high-quality theatrical performances to Torrance and the South Bay. Assisted by a team of backstage wonder workers, from the stage hands to the costume and wig dressers, the cast is brilliantly led by brunette beauty Brianna Liddi as Belle and Christopher Tiernan who brings just the right mix of brutality and humanity to The Beast, highlighted during his Act 1 closing solo a?oeIf I Can't Love Her.'

GBS is often decried for his didacticism, but in SAINT JOAN, he allowed the story to carry him away from his usual soapbox. With some judicious pruning and an infusion of lively swordplay, Free Reign Theatre has made this masterwork even more agreeable and accessible.

The director has decided to look at the more giggle-worthy elements of PRIVATE LIVES, and has avoided some of the darker implications of this Noel Coward classic. Audiences should eat this one up like a buttered brioche with coffee the morning after a sordid affair.

The Barrow Group announces its 2019-2020 season, which consists of three timely productions that invite audiences to take a look deep within-inspiring positive change in action and awareness.

In 1920s Paris, aristocrats, artists, veterans, businessmen, workers, and peasants all gather for drinks and music at The Baron's Tavern. But business is still not good enough for the pair of owners, who plan to close up shop soon and leave the city. Their star singer, and one's former mistress, is sought after by many of the customers, including Charles, a wealthy heir and only child. To help the tavern, whose eclectic clientele is so greatly attached, avoid shutting down and to help her boss seduce the coveted singer, Charles's maid comes up with the idea of transforming it into a big cabaret. But this will require a huge investment. Despite initial resistance from his father, who is reluctant to provide financing, Charles manages to pull the plan off, hiring dancers, musicians, and staff for performances . . . every night.

Northlight Theatre announces casting for its 45th season, opening with Mother of the Maid by Jane Anderson, directed by BJ Jones and featuring Kate Fry (Isabelle Arc), Kareem Bandealy (Jacques Arc), Hayley Burgess (Moniqueus Joan), Ricardo Gutierrez (Father GilbertChamberlainGuardScribe), Casey Morris (Pierre Arc), Grace Smith (Joan Arc) and Penelope Walker (Lady of the Court).

Did you know that songs by Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse sound great when performed in a French accent and with an accordion? I certainly didn't, and so imagine my surprise when I walked into the theatre at the Mill at Sonning to find Celia Cruwys-Finnigan doing just that. To say it was an unexpected introduction to a production of Noel Coward's Private Lives would be an understatement.

Berowne gloomily foresees: 'Necessity will make us all forsworn Three thousand times within this three year's space.' And by 'necessity' we can be sure he means not simply the logistical necessity of dealing with women but what we might call Jurassic Park Necessity: Life finds a way. As Shakespeare himself wrote in a similar context: 'The world must be peopled.' And for peopling, you need relations between the sexes.

A slick delivery of operatic satires by students of the Royal College of Music challenges contemporary, outmoded conceptions about 'amateur' vs. 'professional'.

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, begins its 2019-2020 season with Mother of the Maid, written by Jane Anderson and directed by BJ Jones. Mother of the Maid runs September 12 - October 20, 2019 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie. The press opening is Friday, September 20, 2019 at 8pm.  

Peak Performances announces its 2019-2020 season, considering the vocabularies of the body, genre and form, artistic practices and legacies, cultures, and language itself-how they persevere, disappear, or shift over time with new influences and perspectives. This season, Peak Performances offers its state-of-the-art platform to artists who work with-and sometimes against-these established vocabularies in the creation of exhilarating new performance works and the reinvigoration of preexisting texts, compositions, and choreographies. All performances take place at the Alexander Kasser Theater (1 Normal Ave, Montclair, NJ 07043).

Despite the valiant efforts of the cast, a strikingly handsome set, and beautiful costumes, PRIVATE LIVES will not be (pardon the pun) everyone's cup of tea. The material is dated and generally appeals most to an older audience segment and those who long for the days of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (not that there is anything wrong with that). To be clear and fair, many audience members at the charming Dorset Playhouse where this production of PRIVATE LIVES continues through July 6th enjoyed the presentation thoroughly.