The Importance - 1984 - West End Articles Page 8

Since 2012 today's subject Lourdes Lopez has been living her theatre life as the Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet. The company is performing May 31st through June 2nd at the Kennedy Center as part of Ballet Across America. The May 31st performance is a shared program with Dance Theatre of Harlem who will be performing May 28th through the 30th.

On Friday, May 10 at 7:30 pm, the historic Sarasota Opera House will be filled with exquisite songs written by well-known opera composers. Soprano Elizabeth Tredent (the title roles in Rita and Susanna's Secret, Violetta in La traviata), tenor Matthew Vickers (Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut, Avito in The Love of Three Kings), and baritone Marco Nistico (Giorgio Germont in La traviata, Amonasro in Aida) will be accompanied on the piano by John F. Spencer IV. The program will represent a musical journey through time-from a Mozart song set to the words of Goethe to a song Richard Strauss composed as a gift to his wife the day before their wedding in 1894. The songs will be performed in their original languages of Italian, French, German, and Russian, with translations provided.

The highly anticipated season-closer of Billy Elliot the Musical has been a long-time coming for Theatre Calgary. With the promise of an all-Calgarian cast and more musical showcasing from emerging artists, there was a lot of excitement leading up to opening night. I left the Max Bell Theatre with the same excitement for all the things to come from this incredible production.

Hartford Stage announced today the last two plays of the 56th season. Incoming Hartford Stage Artistic Director Melia Bensussenwill stage the Eugene O'Neill coming-of-age comedy Ah, Wilderness! It will be Bensussen's first production as Artistic Director at Hartford Stage. Former Hartford Stage Artistic Director Michael Wilson will return to direct the original play that inspired the Oscar-winning film The King's Speech, written by its Oscar-winning screenwriter David Seidler.

The annual Molloy College Golf Classic will take place on Monday May 13, 2019, at both The Seawane Golf and Country Club in Hewlett, NY, and The Rockaway Hunting Club, in Cedarhurst, NY. The event benefits Molloy College student scholarships.

 In celebration of Stonewall's 50th Anniversary, Candid Theater Company, Judson Memorial Church, The Greenwich Village Orchestra, The West Village Chorale, MJP Theatrical, Metro Baptist Church, The NAMES Project Foundation/NAMES Memorial AIDS Quilt, and NYC Pride 2019 | WorldPride NYC | Stonewall50 have partnered to present a community-led professional presentation of QUILT, A MUSICAL CELEBRATION to benefit the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center and Frontline AIDS (formerly the International HIV/AIDS Alliance).

 In 1962, fifty-seven years ago, the magnificent TONY BENNETT recorded "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."  The song was honored with two Grammy Awards, including "Record of the Year" and gave Tony a signature tune that, as he delights in saying, has made him "A Citizen of the World."  Last March, the classic was entered into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress as "an aural treasure worthy of preservation." Now in 2019, and about to turn an ageless 93, the legendary performer -  himself a world treasure - continues to leave his heart in each song that he sings and in every aspect of his life.

The Sarasota Opera House, in conjunction with the Florida Holocaust Museum and the Tampa Jewish Community Centers & Federation, will present a reading of The Soap Myth, starring Ed Asner and Tovah Feldshuh on Tuesday, April 16th at 7:00pm. Originally presented off-Broadway in 2012, The Soap Myth, written by Jeff Cohen and directed by Pam Berlin, is set more than 50 years after the end of World War II, and dramatizes the warm friendship that develops between a young Jewish journalist and a cantankerous Holocaust Survivor on a crusade about including "soap" in Holocaust museums - Did the Nazis make soap from the corpses of murdered Jews? Along the way the play grapples with the pernicious evil of antisemitism masquerading as Holocaust denial. The Soap Myth asks provocative questions like "Who has the right to write history?" and "How does a survivor survive surviving?"

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Happy Friday! Finish off your week by catching up on the latest Broadway news!

On Friday April 5, 2019, Sarasota Opera will present a concert and dinner in commemoration of their 60th season of bringing world-class opera to Florida's Gulf Coast.

Red Bull Arts New York is proud to present Gretchen Bender: So Much Deathless, the first posthumous retrospective of the life and work of the influential, multi-disciplinary artist. Now open to the public through July 28, the ambitious exhibition returns the spotlight to one of contemporary art's most prescient figures, detailing her historic importance and contemporary relevance.

Syracuse Stage announced the shows that will make up the 2019/2020 season: six plays and musicals on subscription plus a special world premiere directed by TV, stage and film actor Taye Diggs. 

Amidst a setting of ancient times, Nabucco-king of Babylon-conquers the Hebrews, destroys their holy temple of Solomon and takes them into captivity. Meanwhile, his daughters Fenena and Abigaille both yearn for the forbidden affection of the Israelite Ismael. Her love unrequited, Abigaille is obsessed with vengeance. In the ultimate act of hubris, Nabucco declares that he is God and is struck mad by a thunderbolt. Will he regain his reason, repent, and return the Jews to their homeland?

Stages Theatre Company announces its 2019-2020 season, featuring a diverse blend of plays and musicals focusing on friendships, adventures, and discoveries. The Capture the Memories season's nine-show lineup includes four musical productions, four world-premieres, a dance collaboration with Escalate Dance & Theatre Studio, and a Theatre for the Very Young production for families to enjoy.

Executive Director Richard Russell and Artistic Director Victor DeRenzi have announced that bass baritone Kevin Short will return to Sarasota Opera this season to sing the role of Zaccaria in Sarasota Opera's production of Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco, opening Saturday, March 2, 2019.

The Original Theatre Company (OTC), under the Artistic Direction of Alastair Whatley, announces its most ambitious season yet, with an original commission (Caroline's Kitchen), a European premiere (Napoli, Brooklyn), a first revival (The Night Watch) and a 30th anniversary production and first revival (Valued Friends).

On Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 7:30pm, the curtain will rise on Rita (Two Men and a Woman) and Susanna's Secret, two one-act operas that are sure to bring a smile to the audience. The light evening of comic story lines and beautiful music is perfect for the first-time goer, while the rarity of the pairing and authenticity of the production will satisfy even the most sophisticated opera lover. A playful look at marital discord is at the heart of both Donizetti's Rita and Wolf-Ferrari's Susanna's Secret, but the conflicts resolve themselves in very different ways, both musically and dramatically. The darkly comic Rita (originally titled Two Men and a Woman) is about a mercurial and domineering woman who has re-married after mistakenly thinking her first husband has died. When he reappears unexpectedly, a showdown arises between her two husbands to decide the outcome-who has to remain married to Rita, and who gets to leave the exasperating situation. In Susanna's Secret, a jealous husband smells tobacco on his wife's clothes and is convinced that she is having an affair. He searches and searches but can't seem to catch her in the act. What could her secret be?

The Ensemble Theatre welcomes Ernestine Piña-Sandoval, Senior Director of Development & Foundations and Dr. Tiffany Bourgeois, Audience Development Director to their executive team. Each of them brings a range of skills and talents they will use to help implement the theatre's artistic vision and meet its strategic goals.

Amidst a setting of ancient times, Nabucco-king of Babylon-conquers the Hebrews, destroys their holy temple of Solomon and takes them into captivity. Meanwhile, his daughters Fenena and Abigaille both yearn for the forbidden affection of the Israelite Ismael. Her love unrequited, Abigaille is obsessed with vengeance. In the ultimate act of hubris, Nabucco declares that he is God and is struck mad by a thunderbolt. Will he regain his reason, repent, and return the Jews to their homeland?

Sarasota Opera announced its 2019-2020 Fall and Winter Festival Seasons today at a press conference held on the Sarasota Opera House main stage in Sarasota, Florida. Artistic director and principal conductor Victor DeRenzi and executive director Richard Russell presided over the event and were joined by principal artists performing selected arias from the upcoming seasons' works.

Three noble chords begin the Magic Flute, followed by a playful melody that frolics through the orchestra in one of Mozart's most popular overtures. Enchantment awaits as the noble Prince Tamino accompanied by only a magic flute and a bumbling birdcatcher is sent by the mysterious Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter, a princess held captive by a sorcerer. However, nothing is quite as it appears, and the dazzling musical adventure takes many twists and turns along its way to happily ever after. Last seen in 2010, The Magic Flute opens Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 7:30pm as the second opera in the Winter 2019 Festival.

Three riddles stand between love and death in Giacomo Puccini's last and most majestic opera, as Turandot returns to the Sarasota Opera House on Saturday, February 9, 2019 at 7:00pm. The passionate tale of intrigue and mystery is based on an age-old Persian fairy tale and set in legendary Peking. The Princess Turandot, sung by Kara Shay Thomson, is so desirable that men come from all over the world to win her love, and yet underneath her royal beauty beats a cold heart, turned bitter by desire to avenge the honor of an ancestor. The fearless prince Calaf, played by tenor Jonathan Burton, takes on the challenge posed by the three questions he must answer to win her hand in marriage. If he errs, he will lose his head just like countless princes before him. Will he outwit her, or will he face a gruesome death? Soprano Anna Mandina will play the faithful Liu, a slave girl loyal to Calaf's father Timur, sung by returning Sarasota Opera favorite, bass Young Bok Kim. The most outspoken of the three royal ministers, Ping, will be sung by baritone Filippo Fontana, returning after his celebrated performance as Figaro in Fall 2018's The Barber of Seville. Stephanie Sundine is the stage director of this critically acclaimed production of Turandot, which premiered in 2013, with Maestro Victor DeRenzi conducting. Turandot is one of the grandest operas to ever play the stage of the Sarasota Opera House, with 74 performers on stage and one of the largest orchestras assembled in opera house history.

On Saturday, February 2, 2019, Sarasota Opera will present the 2019 Opera Gala "A Jeweled Affair - An Evening of Glamour and Glitz," a jewel-themed event which kicks off the 2019 Winter Opera Festival. The black-tie evening at the Ritz Carlton-Sarasota will begin with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, during which two silent auctions will take place, featuring curated jewelry from donors' private collections and a selection of exotic travel packages. After the cocktail hour, there will be a performance by Sarasota Opera principal artists, followed by a four-course dinner created by the Ritz Carlton culinary team. The ballroom will be decorated in hues of gold, with towering jewel-toned flower arrangements. After dinner, guests will light up the dance floor to the music of the Scott Blum Band. Tickets for the event are $325 per person. All proceeds benefit Sarasota Opera.

On January 6th, 2019, Yoko Shioya, Artistic Director of the Japan Society, was awarded the 2019 Bessies Presenter Award for Outstanding Curating, an annual honor bestowed by The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies in recognition of achievement of the work of a presenter or curator of programming performed in the New York City area. The recipient is chosen jointly by the Bessies Selection and Bessies Steering Committees.

David R. Jimenez, President of the Board of Directors of Hartford Stage, announces that OBIE Award-winning director Melia Bensussen has been named the next Artistic Director of the Tony Award-winning theatre. She will assume the role in June.