The Power of Yes - 2009 - West End Articles Page 13

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'Hair,' the 'Hair' 'Be-In' at Sidetrack, the 'West Side Story' tour, 'Peter Pan,' Michael Mahler's week, radio Gershwin, Mandy Patinkin in Glencoe, two Evanston summer workshops, more....

The Yale Glee Club celebrates its 150th anniversary with a gala Carnegie Hall concert on Friday, April 8 under the direction of Jeffrey Douma and joined by the Yale Symphony Orchestra.

Comedic performer and Saturday Night Live alum Kevin Nealon will perform his stand up act at the Suncoast Showroom, April 2 and 3, each evening at 7:30 p.m.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Bohemian Theatre Ensemble season, a Stephen Schwartz world premiere, Alice Ripley in concert, the Chicago Symphony plays 'West Side Story,' 'Tomorrow Morning,' more.

When did the Pantages Theatre turn into a nostalgia rock concert venue? 2011 so far has featured 60's-set HAIR and the 1891 emo rockers of SPRING AWAKENING and now, it plays host to the national tour of ROCK OF AGES, the surprising yet undeniably hilarious Tony-nominated jukebox musical that features a conveyor belt of rock hits from the biggest hair bands of the 1980's. This affectionately low-brow but impressively entertaining show charms the leather pants of its audience thanks to its wicked humor, its self-effacing references, plenty of nostalgic sight-gags, and, of course, those ubiquitous 80's tunes most of us won't admit to really liking. Playing at the Pantages through February 27 (then at the Segerstrom Center of the Arts in Orange County, March 1-6), it's certainly a show chock-full of guilty pleasures.

Smuggler Films partners, John N. Hart & Patrick Milling Smith and film and theatre producers, Fred Zollo and Barbara Broccoli & Michael G Wilson have announced the creative team for upcoming stage adaptation of the 2007 Academy Award-winning film ONCE, coming to Broadway in Fall 2011. The musical will feature the Academy Award-winning music and lyrics of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, a book by award-winning Irish playwright & screenwriter, Enda Walsh (Penelope, Hunger, The New Electric Ballroom), direction by the acclaimed Scottish director of Black Watch, John Tiffany, design by five time Tony Award winner Bob Crowley (The Coast of Utopia, Mary Poppins). Steven Hoggett (American Idiot, Black Watch) will provide musical staging and Martin Lowe (Mamma Mia!) is the music director.

Given the odds, for one to have been involved with a singular Broadway success would be impressive. To have been involved with two would solidify one's status as a true Broadway 'player.' How about 4, running at the same time? Only two artists have been able to boast such an accomplishment, the first being Susan Stroman, whose productions of Contact, The Producers, The Music Man, and Thou Shalt Not all ran simultaneously for a short time in 2001. Last season, Broadway's go-to choreographer, Sergio Trujillo, joined her company with his superfecta of Next to Normal, Jersey Boys, The Addams Family and Memphis. It appears that like Jersey Boys, Memphis, and The Addams Family, Trujillo is showing no signs of breaking his streak, or going anywhere, with new projects in the pipeline incoming.

One of a kind musicals like Hair must be experienced first hand. It's the live, up-close, in-your-face tone that gives the musical its rare fervor. First produced in 1967 by Joe Papp at his Public Theatre, eventually opening on Broadway in 1968, Hair is about the hippie generation of the 60s, whose drugs and flower-power may have been a controversial mishmash then, but now make more sense than ever; the message rings loud and clear: stop the war! There's another message underneath: trust yourself and live the life you want to live, as long as you're not hurting others! Sad to say, 40+ years later, senseless war still rages and most people live by the status quo, even if its stress is so overbearing, it practically kills them. This new touring production, based on the 2009 Tony Award winning revival, is a powerful reminder and a powerhouse winner.

Today we are taking a look and a listen to the biggest and brightest Broadway beacons of the year that was, all amidst the dismal landscape of the Street as we now know it, though I won't name names or titles (hyphenated or otherwise). Between the ultimate diva triptych of Barbra, Liza and Cher each releasing not only new albums in 2010, but also DVDs of their work - and, in Cher's case, a smash-hit big-screen original movie musical, BURLESQUE, to the stars-on-the-rise of two leading men of far off shores - Stuart Matthew Price and David Campbell. In a year with far too few new cast albums, these solo albums certainly shine with lots of luster. On Broadway it might have been the year of epic disaster, but on record we may be able to find the Broadway we knew and loved once in any number of these highly-recommended releases. Oh, yeah - and Sondheim, too!

Horse Trade Theater Group presents THE SUBJECTIVE THEATRE COMPANY CORPORATE PERSONHOOD PLAY FESTIVAL

B.B. King Blues Club & Grill is located at 237 West 42nd Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues) New York, NY 10036 Tickets may be purchased via Ticketmaster - www.ticketmaster.com / 1-800-745-3000 or at the B.B. King's Box Office: 10:30am - Midnight ($2 per ticket service charge)

Horse Trade Theater Group presents THE SUBJECTIVE THEATRE COMPANY CORPORATE PERSONHOOD PLAY FESTIVAL

16th Street Theater announces its Season Four 2011 Season of Change at its Sneak Peek Season Preview on Saturday, December 4 from 5:00 - 6:30 PM at Berwyn Cultural Center, 6420 16th Street in Berwyn.

16th Street Theater announces its Season Four 2011 Season of Change at its Sneak Peek Season Preview on Saturday, December 4 from 5:00 - 6:30 PM at Berwyn Cultural Center, 6420 16th Street in Berwyn.

Kate Clinton The Lady HAHA Tour with Special Guest Roy Zimmerman will be coming to the Colonial on November 13, at 8PM. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased in person at the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street Monday-Friday 10AM-5PM, performance Saturdays 10AM-2PM, by calling (413) 997-4444 or online at www.thecolonialtheatre.org.

Horse Trade Theater Group presents THE SUBJECTIVE THEATRE COMPANY CORPORATE PERSONHOOD PLAY FESTIVAL

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998 and has quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance. With its genre-blind booking and vast diversity of interests, the stage at Joe's Pub gives voice to a world of varied and stellar artists.

Kate Clinton The Lady HAHA Tour with Special Guest Roy Zimmerman will be coming to the Colonial on November 13, at 8PM. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased in person at the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street Monday-Friday 10AM-5PM, performance Saturdays 10AM-2PM, by calling (413) 997-4444 or online at www.thecolonialtheatre.org.

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998 and has quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance. With its genre-blind booking and vast diversity of interests, the stage at Joe's Pub gives voice to a world of varied and stellar artists.

Cameron Mackintosh's current touring production of Les Miserables will run at London's Barbican Theatre, it's English-language birthplace in 1985, for 22 performances through October 2, 2010. A Queens Theatre staple for nearly 22 years in the West End, this new run will mark the first time in London that the same musical has run simultaneously.

This October, the Harris Theater for Music and Dance presents an exciting collection of culturally diverse performances featuring the Chicago premieres of exciting new works and internationally renowned young artists.

YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA/YALE REPERTORY THEATRE (James Bundy, Dean, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Deputy Dean, Managing Director) announce two events in connection with the 2010 YALE DRAMA SERIES, the annual playwriting competition jointly sponsored by Yale University Press and Yale Repertory Theatre and funded with generous support from the David C. Horn Foundation, on Monday, September 20.

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998 and has quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance. With its genre-blind booking and vast diversity of interests, the stage at Joe's Pub gives voice to a world of varied and stellar artists.

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998 and has quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance. With its genre-blind booking and vast diversity of interests, the stage at Joe's Pub gives voice to a world of varied and stellar artists.

B.B. King Blues Club & Grill is located at 237 West 42nd Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues) New York, NY 10036