Two By Two - 1925 - Broadway Articles Page 19

The Jeff Awards celebrated their 50th anniversary on Monday, October 22,2018 during a spirited and nostalgic ceremony at Drury Lane Oakbrook.

The allure of magic and fantasy in books and films extends to the world of opera, as the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) announces its 2018-19 Opera Theater season. The season launches with two 20th-century one-act masterpieces in which human and non-human worlds meet in magical ways, continues with a groundbreaking masterpiece of the French Baroque, and concludes with its annual spring scenes program.

Lakewood Theatre Company continues its 66th season of live theatre with Inherit the Wind, an enduring courtroom drama by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (Auntie Mame, The First Monday in October). Based on the real-life 1925 Tennessee case known as the Scopes "monkey" trial, two famed attorneys, based on William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, go head to head in a small town courtroom. In an era where politicians and community leaders still clash over the separation of church and state in the classroom, this timely production shows us what can happen when courage takes the stand.

For the first time in six years, Goodman Theatre's Costume Shop hosts a costume sale today, October 20 from 9am - 2pm. More than 100 handmade items by the Goodman's costume shop artisans will be available for sale, priced starting at just $1. From couture gowns to fashionable headwear, attendees can pick selections from acclaimed Goodman productions including-hats and headwear from Artistic Associate Regina Taylor's gospel musical sensation Crowns (2004, 2012); uniforms from Artistic Director Robert Falls' celebrated production of King Lear (2006); the majorette costume from Sweet Bird of Youth (2012) with Academy Award-winning actress Diane Lane and Finn Wittrock; and more. The costume sale takes place today, October 20 from 9am - 2pm at Goodman Theatre (170 N. Dearborn). Admission is free and costume pieces range from $1 - $300+; both cash and credit is accepted. All sales are final and proceeds support the Goodman. Costume previews will not be available prior to the sale. 

Angela Lansbury has enjoyed a career without precedent. Her professional career spans more than half-a-century, during which she has flourished, first as a star of motion pictures, then as a four-time Tony Award-winning Broadway musical star, and most recently as the star of 'Murder, She Wrote,' the longest running detective drama series in the history of television.

This fall the Czech Philharmonic embarks on an 11-concert tour of the U.S. led by the Orchestra's Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov, who was appointed in October 2017 following the unanimous invitation of the Orchestra's musicians. The first two concerts of the tour are in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, marking the official beginning of Bychkov's tenure and showcasing the rich musical history and artistic influence of the Czech Republic.

Applications are now available for two Goodman Theatre Education and Engagement programs-Disney Musicals in Schools and Cindy Bandle Young Critics-offered at no cost to Chicagoland youth. Applications for Disney Musicals in Schools are available through Monday, October 15 and Cindy Bandle Young Critics through Friday, October 19 at GoodmanTheatre.org/Engage-Learn. For more information, call 312.443.5581.

The Jeff Awards will celebrate its 50th anniversary by presenting four Special Awards to theatres thriving after more than 50 years at the 50th Annual Equity Jeff Awards on Monday, October 22 at Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, IL.  These four award-winning theatres laid their Chicago foundations in drama, comedy, and musical theatre more than half a century ago and have endured to this day. The 2018 recipients are Goodman Theatre (1925), Drury Lane Productions (1949), Court Theatre (1955), and The Second City (1959). Collectively, they have received more than 1,400 nominations and 350 awards, dating back to the first ceremony.

A Halloween treat pairs live orchestra with the 1925 horror classic The Phantom of the Opera on The Soraya's large screen on Saturday, November 3 at 8:00pm. The original score ratchets up the spook factor with the world's foremost theater organ expert, Dennis James on the rare Allen theatre organ. CSUN alum Richard Kaufman returns to conduct the New West Symphony with the haunting score.

For the first time in six years, Goodman Theatre's Costume Shop hosts a costume sale on Saturday, October 20 from 9am - 2pm. More than 100 handmade items by the Goodman's costume shop artisans will be available for sale, priced starting at just $1. From couture gowns to fashionable headwear, attendees can pick selections from acclaimed Goodman productions including-hats and headwear from Artistic Associate Regina Taylor's gospel musical sensation Crowns (2004, 2012); uniforms from Artistic Director Robert Falls' celebrated production of King Lear (2006); the majorette costume from Sweet Bird of Youth (2012) with Academy Award-winning actress Diane Lane and Finn Wittrock; and more. The costume sale takes place on Saturday, October 20 from 9am - 2pm at Goodman Theatre (170 N. Dearborn). Admission is free and costume pieces range from $1 - $300+; both cash and credit is accepted. All sales are final and proceeds support the Goodman. Costume previews will not be available prior to the sale. 

On November 11, 2018, at 22 concerts around the world, 100 works by Polish composers will be performed to mark the 100th anniversary of Polish independence. “100 for 100: Musical Decades of Freedom,” presented in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, and PWM Edition, features the season-opening concert of the Oratorio Society of New York, at Carnegie Hall that Sunday at 2:00 pm.

On a lifelong quest to find a legendary empire of mythical giants, Amazon expedition leader James Lynch and navigator René Delmotte return to the jungles of Peru in the Travel Channel premiere of “Lost Amazon: Project Z” on Tuesday, October 16 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. In the hour-long special, the renowned adventure-seekers, joined by field scientist Marsh Mokhtari, journey deep into the mountains and uncover a remarkable lost civilization buried under a canopy of tropical forest. With the use of the latest drone-mounted LiDAR technology (laser light beams that penetrate layers of the forest canopy to generate a 3-D map of the surface), the team has mapped out an enormous city that is much larger than even the locals realized because most of it is hidden by the jungle.

An American icon comes home.  During the early years of his career, American composer, conductor and arranger Henry Mancini and his family lived not far from where California State University, Northridge campus now stands.  On Saturday, October 13 at 8pm, Mancini's music comes home to Northridge as The Soraya presents Moon River and the Music of Henry Mancini.  Starring Monica Mancini with special guest three-time Tony nominated Joshua Henry, Moon River and the Music of Henry Mancini features Gregg Field as Music Director and Chris Walden conducting the New West Symphony.  

Goodman Theatre's commitment to new works and emerging artists continues in its 2018/2019 Season. Today, the Goodman named four Chicago-based writers to its Playwrights Unit-Georgette Kelly, whose play Ballast was featured on The Kilroys List and received the Craig Noel Award for Outstanding New Play; Dianne Nora, a playwright, dramaturg, theater scholar and comedy writer who works in Chicago, Brooklyn and Dublin; Marisela Treviño Orta, semifinalist for the 2018 O'Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference and 2019 Kendeda Finalist (Alliance Theatre); and Stacey Rose, whose work has been presented at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, National Black Theatre and more. The Playwrights Unit, in partnership with Chicago Dramatists, meets bi-monthly to discuss their commissioned plays-in-progress with the Goodman's artistic team. The residency culminates in a public staged reading of each new play in Summer 2019. 

Show Time! The First 100 Years of the American Musical is created, written, and performed by Ben West, a 2017 recipient of Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award. Developed over the past four years from more than twenty archives in more than ten states, Show Time! features over two dozen songs in an electrifying live-action documentary, weaving music and performance through a narrative of world, cultural, and theatre history, telling the remarkable story of this uniquely American art form, charting its evolution from the mid-1800s through 1999. Show Time! will cover seven eras of the American musical: Cosmic Collisions (1866-1899), Birth of an Art Form (1900-1924), Rise of the Golden Age (1925-1930), Golden Age, Part One (1931-1950), Golden Age, Part Two (1951-1970), Fall of the Golden Age (1971-1980) and Growing Pains, or Identity Crisis (1981-1999).

Riverside Symphony will launch a new season of premieres, rarities, and beloved classics at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on Friday evening, November 16. Under the baton of founding Music Director, George Rothman, the orchestra's 2018-19 New York season will commence with a chamber orchestra program featuring the New York premiere of Stephen Hartke's Ship of State with pianist Xak Bjerken in his New York concerto debut. Hartke has been a mainstay of Riverside Symphony's contemporary programming over the years, a relationship memorialized in the orchestra's critically acclaimed recording of this distinguished American composer's Symphony No. 2 and Violin Concerto, "Auld Swaara." Franz Schreker's stunning Chamber Symphony-rarely performed despite its almost cult-like following-and Weill's Little Threepenny Music complete the program.

UnsungMusicals Co. announced today its plans for the 2018 season.

Obie Award-winning "spellbinding storyteller" (Los Angeles Times) David Cale returns to Goodman Theatre three decades after his debut (1988's The Redthroats) with his newest work, We're Only Alive For A Short Amount of Time-launching the Goodman's 2018/2019 Season.

As a Norwegian Production 'The Phantom of the Opera' is a triumphant success showcasing talents seldom seen on an Oslo stage.

Transport Group has announced casting for its world premiere musical, Renascence, which begins performances Friday, October 5 at 7:30pm, at the Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street. Renascence has music by Carmel Dean (musical director If/Then, American Idiot), book by Dick Scanlan (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Everyday Rapture), and lyrics from the poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay. The musical is directed by artistic director Jack Cummings III and Dick Scanlan. The opening is set for Thursday, October 25 at 7:30pm.

Academy Music Group Limited (AMG) has announced a new lease agreement with Manchester-based live entertainment venue, Victoria Warehouse.

Who ever thought a man's prostate problems could put audiences in stitches?  That's exactly what actor Ed Asner is doing in his new one-man show, "A Man and His Prostate," written by Ed. Weinberger.

It was an awkward show; a hodgepodge of funky contemporary dance, Broadway musical-like performances, and classic ballet performed in a clowning manner, all topped off with some of Isadora Duncan's typical dance movements.

This fall, Goodman Theatre presents its New Stages Festival-a free annual celebration and discovery of new plays by some of the country's finest established and emerging playwrights. Audiences experience a first look at seven new works-including three fully staged developmental productions (performed in repertory) There's Always the Hudson by Paola Lazaro-Muñoz; Felons and Familias by Sandra Delgado; Graveyard Shift by Korde Arrington Tuttle. In addition, four staged readings appear during the last weekend of the festival (October 4-7) including The Wizards by Ricardo Gamboa; Between Covers by Sarah Schulman; Birthday Candles by Noah Haidle; and Cressida on Top by Paula Vogel.

More than 60 Chicagoland students make their Goodman Theatre debut on the mainstage to conclude summer programming-PlayBuild Youth Intensive and Musical Theater Intensive-on August 10 and 11 at 7pm. The free programs were taught over a course of seven-to-eight weeks in the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement.