Those Were the Days - 1990 - Broadway Articles Page 12

A locomotive whistle sounds out across the desert, long and lonesome, and the engine gathers steam. Men ride on the roof of the carriage, their laughter spilling out into the night. Curled up on the luggage rack, a young boy on his first train trip alone is too excited to sleep, listening to all the voices and watching the faces, the stunning bride returning from a trip to gather her dowry, a striking and friendly family of African-Iraqis. He knows he'll remember every moment of this journey from Baghdad to Basra. He did, and many years and miles away it became the bedtime story he told his daughter, and the inspiration for Salaam's new album, Train to Basra and Other Stories (release: October 29, 2013).

Hotel Nikko San Francisco and Michael Feinstein have announced the upcoming lineup at the all-new Feinstein's at the Nikko for the months of October, November and December. Artists include Emmy Award winning actress Megan Mullally ('Will and Grace) and actress Stephanie Hunt ('Friday Night Lights,' 'Californication') and their band Nancy & Beth; actress, producer and singer Rita Wilson; Broadway star and recording artist Linda Eder; soul and jazz vocalist Oleta Adams; and more!

2013 Interview with Larry Eisenberg by guest journalist Steve Peterson

Stephen Pier has achieved a uniquely rich and varied career as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer. His credits as a performer include many years with the Jose Limon Dance Company where the New York press hailed him as '...one of the most gifted dancers on the modern dance scene today.' He went on to become a leading soloist with the Hamburg Ballet in Germany, performing the title roles in John Neumeier's Othello and Saint Matthew's Passion, and creating numerous other major roles during his nine years with the company. As a member of the Royal Danish Ballet for six years, Mr. Pier had the privilege of dancing leading roles in works of Bournonville, Balanchine, MacMillan, Bejart, and collaborating with many of Europe's finest contemporary choreographers.

A locomotive whistle sounds out across the desert, long and lonesome, and the engine gathers steam. Men ride on the roof of the carriage, their laughter spilling out into the night. Curled up on the luggage rack, a young boy on his first train trip alone is too excited to sleep, listening to all the voices and watching the faces, the stunning bride returning from a trip to gather her dowry, a striking and friendly family of African-Iraqis. He knows he'll remember every moment of this journey from Baghdad to Basra. He did, and many years and miles away it became the bedtime story he told his daughter, and the inspiration for Salaam's new album, Train to Basra and Other Stories (release: October 29, 2013).

Today we are talking to a Tony Award-winning performer known around the world for her iconic original performance as Eponine in both the West End and Broadway editions of international stage sensation LES MISERABLES, copiously convivial chanteuse Frances Ruffelle. Discussing her legacy with the iconic mega-musical and her relationship with the show's director, John Caird, Ruffelle opens up about a life in the theatre, telling tales of her time spent treading the boards in the various incarnations of LES MISERABLES - winning the Tony for her Broadway performance - as well as working on the original London production of Stephen Schwartz's CHILDREN OF EDEN with Caird and fellow InDepth InterView participants Matthew Bourne and Ruthie Henshall in addition to shedding light on fascinating workshop experiences - STARLIGHT EXPRESS, SUNSET BOULEVARD and WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND among them - and her more recent roles, such as her run as the title character in PIAF and featured part making up the intricate ensemble of William Finn's entertaining revue MAKE ME A SONG. Ruffelle also discusses her solo album work and future recording plans and also comments upon the pop success of her daughter, UK star Eliza Doolittle. Most importantly, Ruffelle peels back the layers of the return engagement of her successful solo show BENEATH THE DRESS and clues us in on what we can expect from her upcoming dates at celebrated cabaret venue 54 Below. Plus, Ruffelle fills us in on her next cabaret piece and its inspiration, as well as shares the 411 about her new films coming out in the next couple of months. All of that, thoughts on Broadway versus the West End, sharing the screen with Anne Hathaway in the mega-hit big screen edition of LES MISERABLES, thoughts on some of her recent TV roles as well as much, much more in this all-access pass with a particularly lovely and lively star.

Yoshi's San Francisco announces updated calendar for club and restaurant through October 6, plus new shows through December 2013. Details below!

National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene will present for its 99th season the American premiere of the tender coming-of-age musical adapted from the 1975 Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe Award winning film Lies My Father Told Me based on the works of Ted Allan. Lies My Father Told Me begins previews Sunday, November 10, at 2:00pm for a press opening Thursday, November 21, at 7:30pm at the Nagelberg Theater, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue.

Hotel Nikko San Francisco and Michael Feinstein have announced the upcoming lineup at the all-newFeinstein's at the Nikko for the months of October, November and December. Artists include Emmy Award winning actress Megan Mullally ('Will and Grace) and actress Stephanie Hunt ('Friday Night Lights,' 'Californication') and their band Nancy & Beth; actress, producer and singer Rita Wilson; Broadway star and recording artist Linda Eder; soul and jazz vocalist Oleta Adams; and more! Additional artists will be announced at a later date.

Lincoln Center Festival, which runs from today, July 6 through 28, 2013 will unfold in six venues on and off the Lincoln Center campus. Music figures prominently in the 2013 Festival with international productions by an eclectic range of renowned composers, singers, musicians and directors. In addition to performances, a panel discussion on Lera Auerbach's opera, The Blind, is scheduled. A chronological listing follows.

The lack of the typical summer bombasity is only one of the many reasons that the beautifully simple 'Collected Stories,' currently running in Mad Cow Theatre's Black Box (which has surprising amounts of legroom), is a refreshing summer treat. Pultizer Prize-winner Donald Margulies' two-woman play is beautifully written, expertly directed by Denise Gillman, and elegantly acted.

As summer rolls through Houston, Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) is ready to kick the heat up a notch with their free summer production of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning musical A CHORUS LINE. Sure to be "one singular sensation," the production tells the story of seventeen dancers vying to make their dreams come true by earning a coveted spot on the chorus line of a Broadway show. TUTS is notorious for producing high quality entertainment, and this production of A CHORUS LINE will be no exception. TUTS is pulling out all of the stops, featuring a supremely talented cast that will be choreographed and directed by A CHORUS LINE alumna Mitzi Hamilton, making it one of the most anticipated shows this summer. Serving as the inspiration for the character Val Clark, Mitzi Hamilton has been involved with A CHORUS LINE since its inception. She has served as an actress and dancer in both the Original London Company and the New York Company. As a choreographer and director, she has played a fundamental role in keeping the iconic production alive by passing it on to future generations. Recently she took time out of her busy schedule to talk to me about what Houston audiences can expect from TUTS' production of A CHORUS LINE.

Erica Herd and L.E. Swenson's breakout comedic masterpiece, THE YEAR OF DEAD CATS, will have its World Premiere today, June 16th at Stage Left Studio (214 West 30th Street - between Seventh & Eighth Avenues - Sixth Floor) where it will play through Sunday, June 30th with the option to continue through September.

Lincoln Center Festival, which runs from July 6 through 28, 2013 will unfold in six venues on and off the Lincoln Center campus. Music figures prominently in the 2013 Festival with international productions by an eclectic range of renowned composers, singers, musicians and directors. In addition to performances, a panel discussion on Lera Auerbach's opera, The Blind, is scheduled. A chronological listing follows.

Erica Herd and L.E. Swenson's breakout comedic masterpiece, THE YEAR OF DEAD CATS, will have its World Premiere on Sunday, June 16th at Stage Left Studio (214 West 30th Street - between Seventh & Eighth Avenues - Sixth Floor) where it will play through Sunday, June 30th with the option to continue through September.

Deborah Boily is preparing for her cabaret performance of DEBORAH BOILY - ONE NIGHT ONLY.

Ocean State Theatre Company (OSTC), the not-for-profit which brought new life to the historic Theatre By The Sea for the past five years, and AIDS Care Ocean State (ACOS), which has been providing essential services to persons living with HIV/AIDS in Rhode Island since 1990, teamed up for a fundraising week which coincided with OSTC's recent production of Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical RENT.

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced its 2013-14 season. Music Director Franz Welser-Most will introduce a Fall Festival, pairing symphonies by Beethoven and Shostakovich, and an all-Brahms weekend with two programs featuring Brahms's Violin Concerto and his Second and Fourth Symphonies. Mr. Welser-Most brings opera back to Severance Hall, with a semi-staged production of Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen. Guest artists returning to Severance Hall include Leon Fleisher, Mitsuko Uchida, Radu Lupu, and conductors Christoph von Dohnanyi, Pierre Boulez, and Herbert Blomstedt. The Orchestra celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten with performances of his Spring Symphony, Violin Concerto, and Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings.

The 2013-2014 Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre season was announced today by CTG Artistic Director Michael Ritchie.

Now in the final stretches of its 25-week national tour before ultimately making its sit-down Broadway transfer later this Spring, the brand-new, revamped revival of JEKYLL & HYDE - THE MUSICAL has finally returned to Southern California for the next few weeks, this time playing performances at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood through March 3. Although this loud, Vegas-style reboot's changes are swathed in good intentions, very little---not even its trio of impressively talented lead singers---can truly eradicate the show's laughably grandiose histrionics, its weak book, and that inescapable cheese-factor.

Rehearsals are starting today for the first production in National Theatre Wales' third season, De Gabay [The Poem] - a one-day, site-specific exploration of the Butetown area of Cardiff, home of the largest Somali population outside Somalia.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame Committee has selected a distinguished group of television innovators and icons to be inducted into the 22nd Hall of Fame. Additionally, for the first time ever, this year's Hall of Fame ceremony will benefit the Television Academy Foundation's Archive of American Television.

Actress Cathy Rigby was the highest-scoring American gymnast at the 1968 Olympics and became a favorite with American television audiences. She was U.S. National Gymnastic Champion in 1970 and 1972. Her greatest accomplishment was to become the first American woman to win a silver medal for the balance beam at the 1970 World Championships. In 1974, retired from gymnastics, she was offered the role of Peter Pan, which she has gloriously played for over 40 years, including Broadway with a Tony Award nomination as Best Actress in a Musical in 1990. She is about to open Peter Pan once more at the Pantages on January 15, having done it here in 2004. In our chat she talks about how she keeps the role fresh and why it has remained a favorite all these years.

Amazon.com has just released their list of top selling books for the online marketplace as of today, 12/23: from children's stories to political assasination conspiracy theories, this week's Top 10 Reads includes a little something for any reader. Check out the list below!

Sundance Institute announced today the films selected for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions and the out-of-competition NEXT <=> section of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, January 17-27 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.