The Mother of Us All - 1976 - Regional (US) Articles Page 18

THE 2012 ALL FOR ONE THEATER FESTIVAL featuring 10 solo plays and musicals written and performed by 10 extraordinary artists, begins today, September 14th at The Cherry Lane Theatre/Mainstage, 38 Commerce Street, NYC, and continues through September 30th.

Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center will kick-off its 2012-2013 10th Anniversary season with its commission of the inaugural full-length program by L.A. Dance Project founded by acclaimed choreographer Benjamin Millepied. The L.A. Dance Project commission will have its premiere performances September 22 and 23, 2012 at The Music Center's Walt Disney Concert Hall.

THE 2012 ALL FOR ONE THEATER FESTIVAL featuring 10 solo plays and musicals written and performed by 10 extraordinary artists, begins Friday, September 14th at The Cherry Lane Theatre/Mainstage, 38 Commerce Street, NYC, and continues through September 30th.

Cellist Maya Beiser will see the New York premiere of her new production, ELSEWHERE, a "CelloOpera," in four performances from October 17 through 20 at 7:30pm, during the 2012 BAM Next Wave Festival in the inaugural season of the Fishman Space, part of BAM's new Richard B. Fischer Building which opens in September 2012 at 321 Ashland Place in Brooklyn. ELSEWHERE is produced by Beth Morrison Projects.

Source of Joy Theatricals, the producers of the Broadway smash hit THE COLOR PURPLE present the Las Vegas Theatre debut tonight, August 23 through August 26, 2012 as a special presentation in honor of National Women's Equality Month.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Casting news for ChiShakes' 'Sunday,' TATC's '42nd Street' and Paramount's 'Grease,' plus ALW and the eye-popping Marriott season, Chicago's first 'Q,' Super September along Belmont Avenue and much more!

Rehearsals began this week at Steppenwolf Theatre Company for the 2012/13 season opener, Good People, Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lindsay-Abaire's surprising, humorous and deeply moving tale of a modern American story set in economically opposed South Boston and Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Ensemble member K. Todd Freeman directs Lindsay-Abaire's Steppenwolf debut, featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas, Mariann Mayberry and Molly Regan.

Source of Joy Theatricals, the producers of the Broadway smash hit THE COLOR PURPLE have announced the Las Vegas Theatre debut August 23 - August 26, 2012 as a special presentation in honor of National Women's Equality Month.

Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The MusicCenter will kick-off its 2012-2013 10th Anniversary season with its commission of the inaugural full-length program by L.A. Dance Project founded by acclaimed choreographer Benjamin Millepied. The L.A. Dance Project commission will have its premiere performances September 22 and 23, 2012 at The Music Center's Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company Artistic Director Martha Lavey announced today additional casting for the 2012/13 Subscription and Steppenwolf for Young Adults seasons. Will Allan, Keith Kupferer and Lusia Strus join previously announced ensemble members Alana Arenas, Mariann Mayberry and Molly Regan, completing the cast of the season opener, Good People. The cast of the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of The Book Thief features ensemble member Francis Guinan with Patrick Andrews, Amy J. Carle, Rob Fagin, Rae Gray, Dennis William Grimes, Nikki Klix, Ian Knox, Anthony-Jon LeSage, Clancy McCartney, Andy Monson, Mark Ulrich and Nicole Wiesner. Other additions to the 2012/13 slate include Sandra Delgado, Sandra Marquez, John Ortiz and Gary Perez in The Motherf**ker with the Hat, and Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Glenn Davis and Jacqueline Williams in Head of Passes. Edward Torres has also signed on to direct the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of How Long Will I Cry?: Voices of Youth Violence (previously titled Oral Histories) with Artistic Consultant Kelli Simpkins.

THE 2012 ALL FOR ONE THEATER FESTIVAL, which begins September 14th at the 179 seat Cherry Lane Theatre/Mainstage, 38 Commerce Street, NYC, will feature 10 extraordinary solo performers presenting their own works.

On Thursday, three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Richard Adler passed away at the ripe old age of 90. Responsible for two of the biggest Broadway smash hits of the 1950s, THE PAJAMA GAME and GAMN YANKEES, Adler never quite managed to equal his career-high double-hitter of that era, yet his earlier work with Tony Bennett ('Rags To Riches'), Doris Day ('Everybody Loves A Lover') and Marilyn Monroe (the iconic 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President') surely shall solidify his place in the firmament of entertainment history along with his two classic musicals from the Golden Age. Winning both Best Score and Best Musical for both THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES, Adler's partnership with lyricist Jerry Ross - which began on Broadway in 1953 with JOHN MURRAY ANDERSON'S ALMANAC - was tragically cut short just months after the DAMN YANKEES premiere when Ross was diagnosed with lung disease and passed away soon thereafter. Yet, thanks to the beloved film versions of THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES and continued interest in the entities as expressed in the revivals and reappraisals of both onstage from Broadway to Biloxi to Bombay year after year, the snappy, snazzy tunes of Adler and Ross live on eight times a week all around the world - even now, more than fifty years after they premiered. Unfortunately, Adler's subsequent shows with other collaborators post-1955 failed to capture the early magic of his previous projects with Ross and his earlier musical and theatrical endeavors in the pop arena, with the racially charged KWAMINA flopping on Broadway in 1961 (though he took home a Best Composer Tony Award for his efforts anyway) and the awkwardly titled MUSIC IS failing to recreate the magic of its source material, Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT, in 1976. A MOTER'S KISSES, starring Bea Arthur and a young Bernadette Peters, died on the road, as well. In the intervening years, Adler attempted musical adaptations taken from a number of intriguing sources - OF HUMAN BONDAGE and others among them - though only his ballet scores seemed to reach an audience; particularly his last, commissioned for a new production of Lorca's THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA in 1998. Of course, THE PAJAMA GAME has had two Broadway revivals - most recently the rapturously received Kathleen Marshall-directed production starring Harry Connick, Jr. and Kelli O'Hara; and DAMN YANKEES famously returned to the Great White Way with much ado in 1994 starring Victor Garber. Now seems particularly ripe for remounting YANKEES, as we approach twenty years in its absence - especially given the musical's seriously smashing showing at Encores! in 2007. Who knows, perhaps some risky producer will even take a chance on a new production of KWAMINA, MUSIC IS, A MOTHER'S KISSES or one of the bottom drawer shows someday soon to see if they possess any of the limitless potential shown by Adler's earlier work. Or maybe a stage treatment of his TV musical GIFT OF THE MAGI (originally composed for then-wife Sally Ann Howes)? Or, better yet, how about a revue? What a stupendous songstack Adler created over the course of his career - 'Whatever Lola Wants' to 'Hey There' to 'Hernando's Hideaway' to 'You Gotta Have Heart' to 'Steam Heat' to the aforementioned Bennett, Day and Monroe standards and so many more chestnuts.

REBECCA, the new musical based on the classic novel by Daphne du Maurier novel, has found its male and female leads: Jill Paice will play the role of "I" and Ryan Silverman the role of "Maxim de Winter." REBECCA will open on Broadway Sunday, November 18 at The Broadhurst Theatre. Previews will begin Tuesday, October 30.

CYCLES, Robert Litz's funny and explosive new play, receives its world premiere as part of the 2012 Hollywood Fringe. Directed by Stefan Lysenko, CYCLES stars Emmy-nominated stage/screen veteran Alan Rosenberg opposite one of L.A.'s hottest young talents, Dominic Rains.

CYCLES, Robert Litz's funny and explosive new play, receives its world premiere as part of the 2012 Hollywood Fringe. Directed by Stefan Lysenko, CYCLES stars Emmy-nominated stage/screen veteran Alan Rosenberg opposite one of L.A.'s hottest young talents, Dominic Rains.

The legendary stage musical CARRIE will soon be available for licensing from R&H Theatricals, and its score will be published by Imagem Music, each a division of the Imagem Music Group. Based on Stephen King's best-selling novel, CARRIE features music by Academy Award winner Michael Gore (Fame, Terms of Endearment), lyrics by Academy Award winner Dean Pitchford (Fame, Footloose), and a book by Lawrence D. Cohen (screenwriter of the classic film).

In 1976, Coal Miner's Daughter, country star Loretta Lynn's autobiography (written with journalist George Vecsey) became a New York Times Bestseller; in 1980 the book was made into an Academy Award-winning film starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones. Now, it's headed for Broadway, with actress Zooey Deschanel playing Loretta Lynn.

Symphony Space's Gertrude Stein's Paris, a month-long, multi-disciplinary festival devoted to the vibrant cultural milieu of Gertrude Stein's Paris, continues tonight, April 27 with two fully staged productions devoted to the inspiration Stein's work had on vocal and operatic repertoire. Encompass New Opera Theatre will present two one-act operas based on texts by Stein, Virgil Thomson's Capital Capitals and Ned Rorem's Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters. Directed by Nancy Rhodes, this salute to Stein's work through American opera is a fresh examination of the influence Stein has had throughout the arts.

Today we are continuing BroadwayWorld's exclusive multi-part InDepth InterView series focusing on the New York Pops 29th Birthday Gala concert celebrating the music and musicals of Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, JOURNEY ON, that will take place at Carnegie Hall on April 30 at 7 PM, by talking to the musical half of the Tony Award-winning songwriting team, Stephen Flaherty.

In honor and celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater, The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Patrick Willingham) will hold a special one-night-only gala event on Monday, June 18, featuring Kevin Kline as Romeo and Meryl Streep as Juliet in a star-studded staged reading of ROMEO AND JULIET, directed by Daniel Sullivan. For information on tickets for The Public Theater's Anniversary Gala, please call (212) 539-8547 or visit www.shakespeareinthepark.org.

Ghostlight Records announced today that they will go into the recording studio with the cast of Carrie next week, April 17, to record the first-ever cast album. Release dates for the album will be announced at a later time.

Symphony Space's Gertrude Stein's Paris, a month-long, multi-disciplinary festival devoted to the vibrant cultural milieu of Gertrude Stein's Paris, continues on Friday, April 27 with two fully staged productions devoted to the inspiration Stein's work had on vocal and operatic repertoire. Encompass New Opera Theatre will present two one-act operas based on texts by Stein, Virgil Thomson's Capital Capitals and Ned Rorem's Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters. Directed by Nancy Rhodes, this salute to Stein's work through American opera is a fresh examination of the influence Stein has had throughout the arts.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (Frank Hentschker, Executive Director) has announced the rest of its Spring 2012 season, featuring 11 free events at the Graduate Center, including rarely-seen performances, premiere readings of international playwrights, and day-long symposia on everything from ecologically inspired performance (for Earth Day!) to the Group Theatre to innovative American women producers.

The April 2012 at the B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, NYC, has been announced, featuring Melanie and Oleta Adams.

Beautifully conceived by an ambitious, driven director and artfully brought to life by a stellar cast of actors, Pacific Overtures-the musical by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman-seems, at first, an unlikely choice for the sophomore season of Nashville's Blackbird Theater. Yet when you consider the company's prior offerings (which include Twilight of the Gods, an original play by Wes Driver and Greg Greene, the company's co-founders; Tom Stoppard's intellectually compelling Arcadia; and G.K. Chesterton's rarely produced Magic), it fits perfectly into the Blackbird canon. And, like those earlier productions, Pacific Overtures is another artistic triumph, the realization of a long-held dream by director Greene to bring his favorite work for musical theater to the stage.