The Little Show - 1929 - Broadway Articles Page 8

Orange County, Calif.-May 11, 2015-One of America's most versatile and prolific living composers, Andre Previn, joins Pacific Symphony as the honored guest and focus of the 15th American Composers Festival (ACF). Previn, who has been called one of America's least easily categorized musicians, began his remarkable career as a Hollywood "wunderkind" and a best-selling jazz pianist. Now 86, Previn has received four Academy Awards for his work in film, 10 Grammy Awards for his recordings (plus one more for his Lifetime Achievement), and he is also an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He's held a series of major conducting posts, including the L.A. Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra, but now exclusively composes. The concert is led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, whose great admiration for the legend shaped this year's ACF to reveal the scope of Previn's prowess as a composer. 

The Fugard Theatre's production of CABARET begins with a perfectly realised moment of theatre. Before long, the magic of that moment wears off, and this production of the classic John Kander, Fred Ebb and Joe Masteroff musical begins to flounder in Matthew Wild's directionless staging of the piece.

At a press conference held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel this morning, representatives from Legend River Entertainment (Beijing) announced that they will produce a theatrical show, entitled "Pearl", based on the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck. This show is also being co-produced by an American company, Studiomusica USA. This story, which is familiar to both the Chinese and Western audiences, will be brought to life through the art of dance, highlighting the blending of two cultures and "East meets West" in abstract form. The show will run from August 27-30, 2015 at Lincoln Center in New York City.

In a two-reviews-in-one column critiquing shows from last March, my esteemed editor, Stephen Hanks quoted the poet Robert Browning: “A man's reach should exceed his grasp. Or what's a heaven for?” Hanks pointed out that Browning's famous line is about setting goals, striving, and ambition, all of which are commendable desires. But, alas, in this particular review he felt the two singers in question “fell short.” One of those singers was Shana Farr and the show she has been performing throughout the past year, In The Still of the Night: Music of Noel Coward and Cole Porter. So here we are a year later, immersed in the revelry of the 2015 award season celebrating excellence in cabaret, and Farr's uniquely theatrical homage to Coward and Porter has recently won her the 2015 Bistro Award for “Outstanding Concept Show.” In spite of my editor's previous reservations about this show, he was open to hearing another perspective—whether positive or negative—so off to the Laurie Beechman Theatre I ventured on the last day of February to find out for myself whether Shana's show was truly award-worthy. Sorry, oh editor of mine, but you might have missed the boat on this one.

Marquee Concerts announces its first concert at Brooklyn's all-new Kings Theatre. The New Jack Swing 2015 line up includes Blackstreet featuring Teddy Riley and Dave Hollister, Guy, special guest El DeBarge, plus music by The Finisher Mister Cee

Kiss Me Kate -- Cole Porter's 1953 hit musical filmed with the most advanced 3D technology during the medium's "golden era" - will be released March 3 in a new restored Blu-ray edition by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

The Roundabout Theatre Company just welcomed Emma Stone in her Broadway debut as 'Sally Bowles'. Let's see what the critics had to say about her performance...

The 2014-2015 season of Broadway in San Antonio features six show-stopping productions, two market debuts and three season options.

Tony Award nominee Tony Sheldon (Priscilla Queen of the Desert) has joined the cast of the Encores! Special Event The Band Wagon in the role of Jeffrey Cordova, an egotistical British director. (Roger Rees, previously announced in the role, is no longer available.) The Band Wagon cast stars Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, seven-time Emmy Award winner Tracey Ullman, Academy Award nominee Michael McKean, Tony Award nominee Laura Osnes, Tony Award nominee Michael Berresse and Don Stephenson. The Band Wagon will open on Sunday, November 8.

This just in! Previously announced Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell will be joined by Tony Award winner Roger Rees, seven-time Emmy Award winner Tracey Ullman, Academy Award nominee Michael McKean, Tony Award nominee Laura Osnes, Tony Award nominee Michael Berresse, and Don Stephenson in The Band Wagon, an Encores! Special Event from November 6 - 16, 2014 at City Center. The Band Wagon will open on Sunday, November 8.

Skip E. Lowe, the comic, raconteur and perennial TV host whose weekly public access cable program has been airing in Los Angeles, New York and other major markets for more than 35 years--the longest in television history--and is generally credited as the inspiration for the Martin Short character “Jiminy Glick,” died in his home at Kingsley Manor Apartments in Hollywood on Monday, Sept. 22. He was 85 and had been suffering from emphysema and other respiratory ailments, though he never smoked, but blamed years of working as a comic in smoke-infested nightclubs. Lowe had conducted more than 6,000 interviews, often two a week, with guests that included Orson Welles and Bette Davis.

Houston Grand Opera's 2014–15 season, the company's 60th anniversary season, includes the world premiere of A Christmas Carol by Iain Bell—the company's 55th new commission —from award-winning Dickens authority Simon Callow; the continuation of HGO's first Ring cycle, with the American premiere of La Fura dels Baus's groundbreaking take on Die Walküre; the American premieres of Sir Nicholas Hytner's The Magic Flute and Lee Blakeley's Sweeney Todd; a 60th Anniversary Gala Concert featuring mezzo-soprano (and HGO Studio alumna) Joyce DiDonato; and a host of career-shaping role debuts that speak to Patrick Summers's gift for casting. Together with the company's first presentation of John Cox'sOtello, and the returns of Göran Järvefelt's beloved Così fan tutte and Michael Grandage's hit staging of Madame Butterfly, these rich offerings serve once again to illustrate some of the ways that HGO—still the only opera company with two Grammys, two Emmys, and a Tony—epitomizes “one model of what a forward-looking opera company could be” (Greg Sandow, Arts Journal).

The unofficial end of summer is here, as MTV brings its annual Video Music Awards back to Los Angeles after taking the show on the road to Brooklyn's Barclays Center a year ago. Though every VMA ceremony has a level of unpredictability, with last year's Miley Cyrus-Robin Thicke performance still disturbingly fresh in many people's minds, the question is, can anybody top it? The rumor is that Beyoncé is going to be addressing rumors about her marriage during her Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award performance. Is this going to be a good thing, or a bad thing for Jovah?

From September 4-14, 2014, Houston Ballet launches its 45th season with the company premiere of John Neumeier's three-act ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream. The ballet is based on Shakespeare's lighthearted play of the same name and follows the hijinks and hilarity that ensues when a well-intentioned plan with a love potion goes awry. Created in 1977, A Midsummer Night's Dream has served as Mr. Neumeier's calling card, being seen as one of his most joyous and popular creations. Houston Ballet is the first American ballet company to perform the famous work and it is the first piece by Mr. Neumeier to enter the Houston Ballet repertoire.

Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell will star in The Band Wagon, an Encores! Special Event based on the classic MGM movie of the same title, from November 6 - 16, 2014 at City Center. The show has a book by Douglas Carter Beane adapted from the screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, with music by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics by Howard Dietz. The Band Wagon will be directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall with music direction by Todd Ellison. The Band Wagon will run for 12 performances, by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.

As previews were wrapping up last week, Resnick chatted with BroadwayWorld about the impending opening, what it's like playing such a complex character, and much more. Check out the full interview below!

Black Coffee is the first play that Agatha Christie wrote for the stage back in 1929, when the show is set. Sir Claud Amory summons the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, and his trusted friend Captain Hastings to his London house to investigate who has stolen a formula from his safe. Upon arriving, Sir Claud is found dead in his library so the enquiry turns to into a murder investigation as well.

Quality Hill Playhouse in Kansas City, Mo. presents Rhapsody in Gershwin, a tribute to the works of brothers George and Ira Gershwin. Commissioned in the 1920s and 1930s the brothers wrote songs for Broadway, jazz clubs, concert halls, and films. Rhapsody in Gershwin opens on June 6 on the stage at Quality Hill Playhouse.

It's been rumored, talked about, discussed and we've been reporting on it for what feels like forever -- and now, it's official! Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that it will present Tony & Emmy Award winner Kristin Chenoweth as 'Lily Garland' and Golden Globe & SAG Award winner & Tony nominee Peter Gallagher as 'Oscar Jaffe' in a new Broadway production of the classic musical ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Warren Carlyle. ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY features music by Cy Coleman and book & lyrics by Betty Comden & Adolph Green.

BroadwayWorld.com is proud, and feels very privileged, to have been given EXCLUSIVE access to the evening's historic performance.

When Mark Nadler last performed a solo show at 54 Below, it was a very personal musical exploration of Germany's Weimar Republic of the 1920s, a place and an atmosphere that was dark, dangerous and decadent. I'm a Stranger Here Myself was such a compelling tour de force that it was expanded into a highly praised off-Broadway piece that Nadler staged at the York Theatre last Spring. Nadler's new 54 Below effort, Runnin' Wild: Songs & Scandals of the Roaring Twenties, (which opened last Sunday, ran last night, and will also play on May 7 at 9:30pm and May 14 at 7pm) is like a playful and debauched sequel to Stranger, only in this show—which would be more aptly titled “Reckless Abandon”--Nadler is clearly a gleeful member of the club. To this passionate piano man, America's big cities in the pre-Depression era 1920s were happy, hungry, and hedonistic. There was always a party filled with sex, drugs and booze looking for a place to happen. And goodness knows, Mark Nadler wishes he'd been invited to every one of them. But since he was born too late, all he can do is serve as congenial host in re-creating the speakeasy ambiance and in this show he manages to accomplish that--only without the sex and drugs. Damn!

Cabaret opened on Thursday, April 24 to rave reviews.

ANIMAL CRACKERS, with Book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, Music & Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, and Adapted by Henry Wishcamper with Original Orchestrations by Doug Peck, will run today, April 4 - May 11 in The Stage Theatre. Press night is Thursday, April 10 at 6:30pm.

Before his mother became the model for Blanche DuBois of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and his sister the inspiration for Laura Wingfield of 'The Glass Menagerie,' Tennessee Williams drew upon a college girlfriend — if only in name — to tell a story of desire, drunkenness and regret.