True West - 2000 - Broadway Articles Page 16

BWW Review: JAZZ at Marin Theatre Company is Nambi E. Kelley's ambitious adaptation of Toni Morrison's tribute to the musical genre and African-American culture.

This afternoon, I had the opportunity to speak with James Hayden Rodriguez, who is currently playing Luke/Ares in the national tour of THE LIGHTNING THIEF, based on the Rick Riordan novel of the same title. I reached him in beautiful, breezy Eugene, Oregon, where the weather was great and he was enjoying some time before his show this evening.

West End Eurovision does exactly what it says on the tin: casts of West End musicals compete by performing past Eurovision songs to win over juries of their peers and the live audience. But despite it being a one night only event, this isn't throwaway, or thrown together...

True Colors Theatre Company and Jujamcyn Theaters announce the panel of celebrity judges for the 11th Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition, taking place on Monday, May 6th at 7:00 p.m. at the August Wilson Theatre (245 West 52nd Street).  

Following a critically acclaimed West End Season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket last year, with celebrated productions of Uncle Vanya and Life & Fate (Critics' Choice Guardian, Financial Times, Telegraph, Sunday Times) the Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg return with a luminous retelling of Chekhov's masterpiece, Three Sisters. Playing in London for 10 performances only from June 19th at the Vaudeville Theatre, press nights will be held on June 19th and 20th.

Actress/director.producer Odalys Nanin presented her award-winning Frida: Stroke of Passion at Casa 0101 in February of this year to great acclaim. The play bowed originally in 2017 at the Macha Theatre and ran for 3 months. The Casa 0101 engagement was made possible by a grant from the Eastside Arts Initiative. Kahlo wrote the play and directs, produces and stars in it as Frida Kahlo. She will have a fundraiser in August and September so she and her team can continue their programming in 2020 and hopefully acquire a new space. In our interview she talks about her success and points to the difficulty in mounting good theatre in Los Angeles. How did your run of Frida go at Casa 101?

I grew up listening to West Side Story, studying its iconic choreography and performing these numbers myself in community theatre shows as young musical enthusiast. It was a dream to finally see this show performed in a professional capacity by an Australian cast and let me tell you, it was well worth the wait.

Numi Opera and its inaugural production -- Alexander Von Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg based on a story by Oscar Wilde -- is announced. Directed by Numi Opera Executive Director Gail R. Gordon with musical direction by Christopher Luthi, the rarely performed opera will have two performances on Thursday, May 30 at 7:30pm and Sunday, June 2 at 2:00pm at The Theatre at Ace Hotel, located at 929 South Broadway in downtown Los Angeles.

In Gabriel Jason Dean's endearing play Heartland, Ari Laura Kreith directs this heartfelt masterpiece rife with comedic brilliance and the triumph of the human spirit at Luna Stage in West Orange. The performing arts venue works to stage plays that demonstrate local and global experience meant to engender dialogue and change. In-line with its current theme of exploring conversations across cultural divides, the venue keeps its finger on the pulse on such topics for important discussion with Heartland.

Today, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts (LBC) announced the first 11 new shows to be added to its 2019 2020 season, continuing its tradition of showcasing a diverse lineup of chart-topping musicians, compelling dance companies, and groundbreaking storytellers. Tickets for all shows go on-sale to LBC members today, Friday, April 5 at 12 p.m., and to the general public on Friday, April 26 at 12 p.m. Tickets are available online at lutherburbankcenter.org, by calling 707-546-3600, or at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts ticket office (50 Mark West Springs Road in Santa Rosa), open Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.

Following a critically acclaimed West End Season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket last year, with celebrated productions of Uncle Vanya and Life & Fate (Critics' Choice The Guardian, Financial Times, Telegraph, Sunday Times) the Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg return with a luminous retelling of Chekhov's masterpiece, Three Sisters. Playing in London for 10 performances only from June 19th at the Vaudeville Theatre, press nights will be held on June 19th and 20th.

"Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough," says Peter Pan, and this month it definitely seems that BroadwayHD subscribers will be getting everything they've dreamed about and even more! In April, BroadwayHD, the premier streaming service for live theater, will be adding a number of standout productions to their service including the beloved family favorite Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby, remastered in high definition and available on streaming for the very first time, and an intriguing documentary Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. In addition, one of the most renown music festivals, the BBC Prom, will be coming to the service with the debut of BBC Prom: Dawn at Dusk and BBC Prom: Rogers and Hammerstein this month as well.

From Founding Artistic Director, Ari Roth: 'The eight amazing plays in Mosaic's 5th Anniversary Season offer up Stages of Awakening-urgent, exhilarating and humble-that hurtle our characters, and by extension, us, forward to new levels of awareness, puncturing bubbles of pretension along the way. To be 'woke' is to be no longer in the dark about what's happening around us; about the systems of oppression and persistence of racism that permeate daily life. But it can be tricky terrain, these states of 'wokeness,' leading to pats-on-the-back of self- congratulations and new forms of denial. Our extraordinary playwrights are hip to our follies and foibles, just as they're poised to wake us up to the realities of our moment and the relevance of history still knocking on our door.

RIOULT Dance NY's 2019 Spring Gala and Live Auction held on Wednesday, March 20, raised over $200,000 to benefit the creation of new Company works, a performance space and community arts programs.

'Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations' opened March 21, at Broadway's legendary Imperial Theatre. However, many fans of the Temptations music may not know the group's long and complicated history. 

As his production of Richard Hawley and Chris Bush's Standing at the Sky's Edge opens in the Crucible, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, Robert Hastie, announces programming for 2019.

County Durham indie-punks Martha release their new single 'The Void', the latest taste of their eagerly anticipated new album Love Keeps Kicking. The track is a sci-fi inspired, truly Martha-style take on the unstable state of the world at present. Of the single the band say: 

Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Artistic Director | Jim Bredeson, Managing Director) today announced a very special pop-up benefit event - Adam Gopnik: An Evening of Stories with guest appearance by comedian and author Mike Birbiglia. This will take place for one night only on Sunday April 7th at 7pm at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, between Bleecker and Hudson Streets).

The Public Theater and Onassis USA today announced additional FREE programming and participants for the ONASSIS FESTIVAL 2019: DEMOCRACY IS COMING, running April 10-28 at The Public Theater and also La MaMa. Actors Phylicia Rashad and Andre Holland, performer/singer-songwriter Diana Oh, architect Elizabeth Diller, author Siri Hustvedt, and Kostis Velonis' art installation Life Without Tragedy join the Festival lineup.

Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company and Jujamcyn Theaters announce that the 11th Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition will take place on Monday, May 6th at 7:00 p.m. at the August Wilson Theatre (245 West 52nd Street).  

Actress/singer/vocal coach Susan Edwards Martin, Lady Blues in Torch Song Trilogy on Broadway and star of many other musical shows, recently premiered her solo cabaret show at Upstairs at Vitello's. I reviewed the show and she was sensational.* She is taking the show to Feinstein's 54/Below in New York on March 23. Edwards Martin also has created an original show about the optimistic way she lives her life called, 'Unlimited! You'll Have the Time of Her Life!", that had a spectacular one night presentation and is currently waiting in the wings for a full production. Busy, busy, busy, Edwards also recently performed with Musical Theatre Guild as the lead in Minnie's Boys to rave reviews. Ms. Edwards Martin sat down and discussed her career thus far, and about the story behind Unlimited! You'll Have the Time of Her Life! and her latest cabaret show. Before we start to look back I always ask a few less relevant questions about musical theatre.

Off-Broadway's The New Group will honor Edie Falco and Serge Nivelle at the company's Annual Gala on Monday, March 11 at Tribeca Rooftop (2 Desbrosses Street between Hudson & Greenwich).  The event will feature a performance by Brandon Victor Dixon and appearances by Peter Dinklage, Warren Leight, Erica Schmidt and Tarik Trotter. The evening, 6:00-10:00pm, includes cocktails, dinner and live auctions.

Actress/singer/vocal coach Susan Edwards Martin, Lady Blues in Torch Song Trilogy on Broadway and star of many other musical shows, recently premiered her solo cabaret show at Upstairs at Vitello's. I reviewed the show and she was sensational.* She is taking the show to Feinstein's 54/Below in New York on March 23. Edwards Martin also has created an original show about the optimistic way she lives her life called, 'Unlimited! You'll Have the Time of Her Life!", that had a spectacular one night presentation and is currently waiting in the wings for a full production. Busy, busy, busy, Edwards also recently performed with Musical Theatre Guild as the lead in Minnie's Boys to rave reviews. Ms. Edwards Martin sat down and discussed her career thus far, and about the story behind Unlimited! You'll Have the Time of Her Life! and her latest cabaret show. Before we start to look back I always ask a few less relevant questions about musical theatre.

Here's what is coming and going to Hulu for March!

The Playthings Theatre, an LGBTQ+ Company in New York City, will be performing its gala concert PlayFresh on Monday, March 11th at 7:00pm. PlayFresh is an evening of new LGBTQ+ music performed by Broadway's finest. Playthings will be honoring Ricky Ian Gordon with The P.R.I.D.E. Performing Arts Award for his contribution to theatre and the LGBTQ+ community.