The Merry-Go-Round - 1914 - West End Articles Page 8

 Valley of the Moon Music Festival (VMMF), the first and only organization in the U.S. devoted to presenting the chamber music of the Classical and Romantic eras performed on instruments built when the music was written, today announced the program for its Fifth Anniversary Season next summer. The Festival will pay tribute to Europe's powerful 19th century salonnieres, women who worked to advance the careers and reputations of composers from Bach to Stravinsky. Returning to the Hanna Center Auditorium in Sonoma July 14 - 28, the Festival will make a musical tour of several salons including those of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel in Leipzig, Sara Levy in Berlin and Winnaretta Singer, "Princesse de Polignac," in Paris.

When San Diego Opera General Director David Bennett realized earlier this year that the scheduled Vancouver-derived production of Hansel and Gretel wouldn't fit comfortably on the Balboa Theater stage, All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 was an obvious holiday-season alternative. He'd already been thinking about it for the company's Detour Series of less traditional works.

Travel Channel is ringing in 2019 with a two-day marathon of its wildly popular, hit series 'Ghost Adventures,' featuring Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley and Jay Wasley - the paranormal investigative team who boldly go where most fear to tread. Beginning Monday, December 31, the lineup will feature some of the series' most terrifying and unforgettable episodes from recent seasons - including 'The Slaughter House' featuring superstar Post Malone, 'The Titanic Museum' and 'Return to Winchester Mystery House.'

Can a musical drama set on a grim WW I battlefield make an audience feel good? Those working on the San Diego Opera's staging of All Is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914 are certain it can. The work tells the true story of the spontaneous unofficial truce between WWI enemies who left their trenches and entered the no-man's land between them to join in a celebration of the Christmas holidays. Peter Rothstein wrote the drama for his Minneapolis-based company Theatre Latte Da, and based it on material from the period, the most important of which is the verbatim text of letters and war journals written by soldiers who participated in the truce.  The cast sings many songs popular during the war and a few traditional Christmas carols. All were arranged by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach, and are sung a cappella in the English, German and French languages of the soldiers. Vanessa Dinning has taken on the challenge of coaching in nearly 20 different dialects.

On opening night for the Minnesota Opera (MNOP), the audience in attendance became curiously quieter and quieter, silent, when the curtain rose at the Ordway Center on the company's contemporary award winning opera 'Silent Night.' Commissioned by MNOP in 2011, the music by Kevin Putts combined with a libretto by Mark Campbell transported the opera house to Christmas, 1914, the beginning of World War I, Based on Christian Carlson's screenplay for the film 'Joyeux Noel,' the opera travels to a small, bloodied war zone in a tiny Belgium village along the French boarder, which centers the attention while profoundly affecting those in the audience.

One hundred years after the armistice of The Great War, it is still crucial to honor the memory of all who fought to create a better world for the future. Washington National Opera's production of Silent Night, which opened on Saturday night at the Kennedy Center, is a glorious celebration of the brave soldiers who have risked their lives for their countries. The production is weakened by some questionable staging choices but serves as a suitable showcase for opera's rising stars.

As this year of 2018 draws to a close, a century since the end of the First World War, The Bach Choir of London will sing a 'Thank You' concert in support of the British Legion's 'Thank You' movement of Remembrance and Freedom at the Royal Festival Hall on November 8th.

Green Space has announced a diverse roster of artists for its signature programs this November. Take Root will present an evening of work by Catey Ott Dance Collective and David Appel on November 16th and 17th, and Fertile Ground will showcase works-in-progress by multiple dance artists on November 18th.

Serving as dramaturg for Falling Out, a provocative new performance piece from the New York-based Phantom Limb Company, which has its world premiere this weekend at Nashville's OZ Arts, has been unlike any other project Janice Paran has ever worked on.

Spring 2019 at Northern Stage features ambitious new productions made in Newcastle, alongside new shows from some of the UK's most exciting and innovative theatre companies and work made by and for children and young people. Plus comedy, dance and an eclectic programme in the intimate Stage 3 performance space.

Irish Repertory Theatre and Dot Dot Productions (Nina Korelitz Matza and Jean Hanff Korelitz), in association with The American Irish Historical Society are proud to announce the return of The Dead, 1904

Now in its tenth consecutive year, the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre presents Vibrant 2018 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, its annual explosion of new writing, running between 7-25 October 2018.

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre presents critical and audience favorite Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, original production staged by Albert Marre, originally produced by Albert W. Selden and Hal James, and based on Cervantes' Don Quixote. ANW Artistic Director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott directs. La Mancha performs August 16 - September 9, 2018 (Press Opening August 18).

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre presents critical and audience favorite Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, original production staged by Albert Marre, originally produced by Albert W. Selden and Hal James, and based on Cervantes' Don Quixote. ANW Artistic Director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott directs. La Mancha performs August 16 - September 9, 2018 (Press Opening August 18).

For the past several summers, I have attended the Festival of Arts and The Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. But this year, I also decided to also visit two other art festivals along Laguna Canyon Road rather than spend any time cruising the town as I had done before. The full-day of exploring all the artistic delights on display this year at all three locations left me dazzled by all the talent on display, while wishing I had lot of extra income to purchase and bring home many of the awe-inspiring items that caught my fancy. But the real highlight of the day was viewing the abundance of 'local color' on display in this summer's 'Under the Sun' themed Pageant of the Masters.

Musiqa, two-time winner of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, is proud to announce its 2018-19 season. Building on the bold, adventurous programming of previous years, Musiqa's seventeenth season features new, exciting interdisciplinary collaborations, commissions, world premieres, and community and educational programming.

Two love stories. Two suicides. Padua Playwrights presents the world premiere of Mayakovsky and Stalin, written and directed by legendary poet/playwright Murray Mednick (The Gary Plays), opening at the Lounge Theatre on July 21.

In 1914, Long Beach leaders hired two bounty hunters to entrap gay men so the city could essentially blackmail and remove them with fines and public humiliation. Most men paid the fine and quietly slipped out of town. One man - a banker - committed suicide and two others sued the city. Playwright Tom Jacobson turned that dark chapter in the city's history into a play entitled The Twentieth Century Way.

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre presents critical and audience favorite Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, original production staged by Albert Marre, originally produced by Albert W. Selden and Hal James, and based on Cervantes' Don Quixote. ANW Artistic Director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott directs. La Mancha performs August 16 - September 9, 2018 (Press Opening August 18).

The 3rd Official New Jersey Fringe Festival, a 3-day street fair and theatrical marathon, will take place in Downtown Hammonton from August 3d - August 5th.

Intensely beautiful, poignant and sublimely funny. Open Fist Theatre Company presents a revival of Under Milk Wood, the linguistic tour-de-force by the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Ben Martin directs for a July 27 opening atAtwater Village Theatre. 

Eagle Theatre's production of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years has received its share of critical acclaim and standing ovations, with audiences hailing from all over the Delaware Valley and beyond.

Two love stories. Two suicides. Padua Playwrights presents the world premiere of Mayakovsky and Stalin, written and directed by legendary poet/playwright Murray Mednick (The Gary Plays), opening at the Lounge Theatre on July 21.

Below, meet Melody Herzfeld, a teacher from Parkland, Florida, who will literally move from classroom to stage on Sunday night when she accepts the Excellence in Theatre Education Award.

On June 4, members of the Broadway community gathered at the Shubert Theatre of New Haven to celebrate excellence in high school musical theater at the first annual Stephen Sondheim Awards.