When We Were Twenty-one - 1900 - Broadway Articles Page 5

On New York's Upper West Side, General Manager Joe Stevens brings his vast hospitality experience and strong work ethic to Chef Daniel Boulud's casual French bistro, Bar Boulud. Broadwayworld had the pleasure of interviewing Joe Stevens about his career and the restaurant.

I used to hate Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim's "West Side Story". My only exposure was the movie and I found the story flat and unconvincing. I mean, an entire song just repeating her name? Geeze, learn how to write a lyric. But then a touring production came through town and they got it. They understood what they were singing about and knew how to convey it. And then I got it too. He only needs the one word because it's all he wants to hear. And I fell in love with the show but only when it's done well. Since then I've seen many productions of varying levels of quality. Now comes the current production from the 5th Avenue Theatre and Spectrum Dance Theatre and while it has some moments and some good dance sequences thanks to choreographer Bob Richards who did his darnedest to reproduce the original Jerome Robbins choreography, it lacks the ability to convey the story and the love thanks to some lackluster lead performances and staging and intent from director Bill Berry that just didn't get it.

Avner Dorman's Compelling Memorial to Victims of War, Letters from Gettysburg, Receives World Premier Recording.

BroadwayWorld has learned today the complete cast, design and production team for Guys and Dolls, the first show of its second century, June 10 - 16.

The Muny announced today that single tickets for the first season of their second century are now available. Tickets can be purchased online at muny.org, by phone at (314) 534-1111, or in person at The Muny Box Office, open 9am-5pm, Monday through Friday. Staring June 1, Muny Box Office hours will extend to 9am-9pm daily. The Muny proudly celebrates its 101st season in Forest Park this summer.

Dear Readers, I am not the intended audience for 'The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical', currently playing at the 5th Avenue Theatre, and if you're over the age of twelve and a musical theater aficionado like me, I suspect it's not for you either. However, if you are indeed a pre-teen or younger or a parent looking for something to thrill your kids or maybe even give them an introduction to theater, this may be perfect for you. Because of that, we're going to have two reviews in one here. One to point out why I think it appealed to kids and one to explain why I couldn't leave the theater fast enough.

Lauren Gunderson's play, Silent Sky, is based on the true story of astronomer Henrietta Leavitt. The play opens in 1900, when Leavitt is working in the Harvard Observatory in the 'woman's room.' These women 'computers,' are tasked with measuring and cataloging stars. They work from photographic plates because women were not allowed to touch the telescopes. The astronomer for whom they work calculates projects in 'girl hours,' has no time for the women's probing theories and has no problem taking credit for their ideas.

Performance Space New York in collaboration with Arika and the Whitney Museum of American Art presents I wanna be with you everywhere, a gathering of, by, and for disabled artists and writers and anyone who wants to join in a series of programs that refuse policies of individuation and inclusion in favor of (and in the flavor of) whatever disability aesthetics has in bodymind. Organized by Arika, Amalle Dublon, Jerron Herman, Carolyn Lazard, Park McArthur, Alice Sheppard, and Constantina Zavitsanos, the festival features performances and readings by Eli Clare, John Lee Clark, Kayla Hamilton, Johanna Hedva, Jerron Herman, Cyr e Jarelle Johnson, Camisha L. Jones, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Jordan Lord, NEVE, Akemi Nishida and Alice Sheppard.

From the 16th of March to the 9th of April 2019, the Nederlandse Reisopera (Dutch National Touring Opera) will be taking a new production of the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music around the country. This is an English-language version produced by an American artistic team. In this staging, Director Zack Winokur looks back to the film that the musical was originally based on, Ingmar Bergman's Smile of a Summer Night: 'What I found lacking in the musical, at least in the productions that I saw, was the bodily, sensual and erotic comedy which is at the heart of the film. Why are people continually trying to seduce each other and why are they continually failing? This work is about feelings that everyone deals with in daily life, which is comforting, alienating and disquieting at the same time.'

The Muny announced today that season tickets for their 2019 summer season will be available beginning at 9am Friday, March 8.

Broadwayworld.com had the pleasure of interviewing Chef Dieter about his career and Bar Boulud on the Upper West Side for our 'Chef Spotlight.'

Listening to ragtime means embracing music with patience and consideration, allowing the melodies to overwhelm you with the emotion of their story. To get a sense of this experience, one only has to see Music Theatre of Denton's production of RAGTIME.

The idea of stunt casting, the practice of taking a big name and putting them in a role just to get butts in seats, has always terrified me. And I've seen it result anywhere from the sublime such as Neil Patrick Harris killing it as "Hedwig" to the shudder inducing Molly Ringwald completely out of her depth as the world's oldest taxi dancer in "Sweet Charity". And while the 5th Avenue's couple of stunt casts, specifically rock royalty Micky Thomas of Starship as club owner Dennis and Galen Disston of the Seattle rock band Pickwick as the romantic lead Drew, in their current production of "Rock of Ages" were nowhere near the latter, when it came to delivering a line or executing some choreography, you could definitely tell the musical theater folks from the rockers. However, when it came to wailing out some amazing rock songs, those stunt casts had no equal, so all told, it amounted for a pretty awesome show. But we'll get to specifics in a minute.

Creators Jennifer Schwed and Doug Bradshaw teamed up with composer Charlie Barnett to produce a musical that is sweet, earnest, smart, and sensitive. It may be a lofty goal to hope that '19: The Musical' achieves 'Hamilton'-like heights, but, much like the women it portrays, it's certainly up to the task and should not be underestimated.

 On Wednesday, March 20, 2019, American Composers Orchestra (ACO) celebrates four individuals - true forces of nature - who have effected change in the American musical landscape at its annual Gala: Jon Deak, Founder & Artistic Director of New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers; violinist Jennifer Koh; composer and conductor Tania Leon; and Frederick Wertheim, ACO Board Chairman. 

Classic Stage Company devotes the beginning of 2019 to the timeless emotional and social resonance of August Strindberg, with new productions of two acclaimed adaptations-Yael Farber's Mies Julie and Conor McPherson's new version of The Dance of Death-presented in repertory.

You may say, Dear Readers, that it's impossible to have a bad production of the Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin classic "Annie". Throw some precocious kids on stage, belt out those recognizable tunes and you're gold. Well, I beg to differ as I've seen my share of "Annie" productions that missed the point, or the heart or maybe just didn't quite have the kids to pull it off well. (You know what they say, never work with kids or animals and this show has BOTH!) Well the current production at the 5th Avenue not only has the perfect tone for this boisterously fun old time musical, but they know exactly where the heart is in the show and in the audience and which buttons to push on both. Not to mention those precocious kids all seem to be consummate professionals with killer voices. So much so I'm suspecting they were actually just short adults. Maybe?

The Wizard of Oz has been delighting audiences since it first appeared as a 1939 movie starring Judy Garland as Dorothy. The story, first created by L. Frank Baum in 1900, has inspired a number of adaptations, and the most popular stage version frequently finds its way to the stage at high schools and community theatres. Even though many of you have probably seen The Wizard of Oz, you've likely never seen a production of it like the one that will open at The Eichelberger Performing Arts Center on November 16th. Why is this production so unique? Because it is being performed by actors from The Penguin Project of Gettysburg Community Theatre. This program gives youth with special needs an opportunity to perform with other youth, both with and without special needs, giving them a chance to focus on their abilities rather than their challenges. BroadwayWorld had an opportunity to hear from Gettysburg Community Theatre's Executive Director, Chad-Alan Carr, as well as from five of the actors who will be performing-Natalie Hurwitch and Maddie Greco, two of the peer mentors; Ella Scott, the actor playing Dorothy; Leah Watson, who portrays Glinda the Good Witch of the North; and TJ Williams, who plays the Wizard of Oz-about their experiences with this production of The Wizard of Oz.

Honoring one of the world's most revered artists, The Music Center celebrated Joni Mitchell on November 6 and 7, 2018, with two all-star concerts - JONI 75: A Birthday Celebration Live at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion - and an exclusive gala, co-hosted with Vanity Fair and its editor Radhika Jones, which feted her 75th birthday and raised funds for The Music Center's artistic programming, specifically free and low cost programming for underserved communities. The concerts featured performances by Brandi Carlile; Glen Hansard; Emmylou Harris; Norah Jones; Chaka Khan; Diana Krall; Kris Kristofferson; Los Lobos with La Marisoul, Cesar Castro & Xochi Flores; Graham Nash; Seal; James Taylor; and Rufus Wainwright. The artists lit up the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion stage performing Mitchell's songs, which spanned all stages of her career. Co-musical directors Brain Blade and Jon Cowherd provided the evenings' musical arrangements.  

Antaeus Theatre Company opens its 2018-19 season with an epic drama about a Southern family in crisis directed by Cameron Watson (award-winning Antaeus productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Picnic, Top Girls). Kristin Couture, John DeMita, Judy Louise Johnson, Mike McShane, Rob Nagle, Calvin Picou, Deborah Puette, Jocelyn Towne, Timothy Adam Venable and William L. Warren star in The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, opening Oct. 25 at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances will continue through Dec. 10. Low-priced previews begin Oct. 18.

Antaeus Theatre Company opens its 2018-19 season with an epic drama about a Southern family in crisis directed by Cameron Watson (award-winning Antaeus productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Picnic, Top Girls). Kristin Couture, John DeMita, Judy Louise Johnson, Mike McShane, Rob Nagle, Calvin Picou, Deborah Puette, Jocelyn Towne, Timothy Adam Venable and William L. Warren star in The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, opening Oct. 25 at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances will continue through Dec. 10. Low-priced previews begin Oct. 18.

Dear Readers, as many of you know, back in November of 2015 Seattle was blessed with being one of the first cities to see 'Come From Away' before it ventured on to be the hit it still is on Broadway. And if you recall my review you'll remember how I implored you to drop everything you were doing, including reading the review, and go get your tickets to catch this amazing show. And I'm sure many of my friends will attest to the constant nagging from me of 'have you gotten your 'Come From Away' tickets yet' so they wouldn't miss the show and the ones who succumbed still thank me to this day for said nagging. Well, Dear Readers, the first National Tour of 'Come From Away' has started and it's once again blessed our city to start in, this time at the 5th Avenue Theatre, and once again I must implore you to stop reading this immediately and go get tickets to this groundbreaking, heartfelt, stunner of a show (and then of course come back and read the rest of this) and my friends are all in for another round of nagging.

SILENT SKY at East Lynne Theater Company is brilliant look at the big picture fueled by one woman's impassioned curiosity. It is the story of Henrietta Leavitt who helped determine the vastness and depth of the universe in an age when women at Harvard College Observatory, where she worked, were not even allowed to look through the telescope.

Antaeus Theatre Company opens its 2018-19 season with an epic drama about a Southern family in crisis directed by Cameron Watson (award-winning Antaeus productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Picnic, Top Girls). Kristin Couture, John DeMita, Judy Louise Johnson, Mike McShane, Rob Nagle, Calvin Picou, Deborah Puette, Jocelyn Towne, Timothy Adam Venable and William L. Warren star in The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, opening Oct. 25 at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances will continue through Dec. 10. Low-priced previews begin Oct. 18.

For the past several summers, I have attended the Festival of Arts and The Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. But this year, I also decided to also visit two other art festivals along Laguna Canyon Road rather than spend any time cruising the town as I had done before. The full-day of exploring all the artistic delights on display this year at all three locations left me dazzled by all the talent on display, while wishing I had lot of extra income to purchase and bring home many of the awe-inspiring items that caught my fancy. But the real highlight of the day was viewing the abundance of 'local color' on display in this summer's 'Under the Sun' themed Pageant of the Masters.