When We Were Twenty-one - 1900 - Broadway Articles Page 8

There's this little subsection of musical theater from the 50's and 60's that are big crowd pleasers due to the fact they were just plain fun. Sure, sometimes they dealt with issues as well but for the most part they were toe tapping good times. One of those that falls into this category is definitely 'The Pajama Game' currently playing at the 5th Avenue Theatre. And while it may not be the best example of a solid show from that era, it's still a hell of a lot of fun and this production takes that fun and amps it up to 11 due in large part to some fantastic choreography from Bob Richard and a killer cast.

When German playwright Carl Sternheim set out to write his 1910 work, DIE HOSE, he intended to reflect a focus he knew all too well, the struggle to express and assert oneself within German bourgeois society. The result was the work being initially prevented from opening then later DIE HOSE, and his other works, were completely banned when the Nazis rose to power. All this because of Sternheim's indelicate views on German society. 

Rubicon Theatre Company celebrates Black History Month with THE DEVIL'S MUSIC: THE LIFE AND BLUES OF BESSIE SMITH, starring singer and actress Miche Braden of the original Off-Broadway production (named one of the 10 Best Off-Broadway productions of the year by the N.Y. Daily Times). Described by CBC as a, "bawdy, bluesy, boozy rollicking night out at the theatre," the show follows the life, loves and career of blues and jazz singer Bessie Smith, called the "Empress of the Blues."

Beginning February 12, families can follow the Yellow Brick Road in Jersey City.

This powerful production is one drop-everything-and-don't-miss-it show.

Celebrate the magic of the holiday season with the music of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's annual Highmark Holiday Pops December 9 through 11 and December 17 and 18 at Heinz Hall.

This morning, The Recording Academy and 2016 GRAMMY Best New Artist, Meghan Trainor, kicked off this year's GRAMMY Awards nominations by revealing nominees in the four General Field categories (Best New Artist, Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Album Of The Year) live on 'CBS This Morning.

The original animated film of "Disney's The Little Mermaid" is arguably one of the best of the Disney canon. With songs written by the incredible Alan Menken and Howard Ashman it marked the rebirth of the Disney animated musicals. The original conversion of it into a Broadway musical was not so great. With bad staging and flow, achieving the illusion of swimming by putting the actors on Heelys (shoes with wheels in the heels) so they would glide across stage, and additional songs from Menken and Glenn Slater (owing to the passing of the great Howard Ashman) the show lost much of it's core cleverness and heart in favor of the cliche and gimmicky. Now there's a new version with a reworked book and score and much improved staging which is currently being offered at the 5th Avenue Theatre and while it still may not have that magical greatness of the original film it does manage a magic of its own largely due to some new stage magic and a stellar cast including an Ariel (Diana Huey) who is the most layered, honest, real and still adorable Disney Princess ever.

Celebrate the magic of the holiday season with the music of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's annual Highmark Holiday Pops December 9 through 11 and December 17 and 18 at Heinz Hall.

Joe's Pub at The Public has announced its nightly performances from November 9-20. Scroll down for details!

Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh, and Joe Darion's "Man of La Mancha" is a bona fide classic. It's a sweeping epic filled with power, pathos, romance, and tragedy … when it's done right. The show is by no means bulletproof. I've seen incredible productions and I've seen mediocre productions. And after the current production at the 5th Avenue Theatre now I can say I've seen an atrocious production. Not only does it do no honor to the beauty of the original but it also does no honor to basic tenets of good musical theater. And for a musical theater nerd such as myself, that makes for an offensive evening.

As the leader of the free world ends his eight years in office, a black middle class family risk losing their beloved hotel and cherry orchard, where Martin Luther King once rested and Miles Davis played.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced the casting and schedule for the Company's summer 2018 presentations of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). The four-opera cycle of Das Rheingold,Die Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung-widely considered the greatest and most ambitious work ever conceived for the lyric stage-will be presented in three complete cycles from June 12 through July 1, 2018. 

Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East, Kerry Michael today announces the cast for the world premiere of Bonnie Greer's new play The Hotel Cerise, directed by Femi Elufowoju, jr. Inspired by Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard the production is a key part of the theatre's focus on commissioning new work and adaptations. Ellen Thomas leads the company, with El Anthony, Madeline Appiah, Michael Bertenshaw, Nicholas Beveney, Andrew Dennis, Abhin Galeya, Lacharne Jolly, Corey Montague-Sholay, Claire Prempeh, Alexis Rodney and Angela Wynter. The production opens on 25 October with previews from 20 October and runs until 12 November.  

Preeminent Actor, director and producer Robert De Niro, two-time Academy Award® winner, five-time Academy Award® nominee and Golden Globe® winner, will receive the first Honorary Heart of Sarajevo - Lifetime Achievement Award for his extraordinary contribution to the art of film

The Union Avenue Opera just keeps presenting wonders! Their current production, Puccini's 'Tosca', is among the very best of their best-musically, vocally and in production values.

The Orchestre symphonique de Montreal is proud to announce that its complete recorded performance of L'Aiglon has won the ECHO Klassik, Germany's most esteemed classical music award, in the category "Opera recording (20th/21st century music)." The world premiere recording of this lyric drama by Honegger and Ibert marks the renewal of a historic partnership between the OSM and the prestigious Decca record company.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director Tristan Wilson, announced today the creation of The Wolfson Theater Center, at 122 North Street, Pittsfield, MA.

When you're catching the touring production of a show you saw with it's original cast on Broadway, you hope that the folks on tour will be up to par at least somewhat. Such was my fear catching the touring company of the Tony Award winning Best Musical "A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder" currently playing at the 5th Avenue Theatre especially for one quite daunting role where the actor must play nine different people. Well, luckily the touring company was completely up to the task especially in that one role making for a hilarious and rousing evening that only did honor to my memory of the original.

Songs From Behind the Front was presented by State Opera as part of the Flanders Fields Poppy Trail commemorations.

Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East, Kerry Michael today announces the theatre's forthcoming season launching this September. The season opens with Counting Stars by award-winning playwright Atiha Sen Gupta which will transform the stage into a studio format nightclub installation for this funny yet heart-breaking tale directed by Associate Director at Stratford East, Pooja Ghai.

Theater professionals from across Michigan will gather Aug. 29 when The 2016 Wilde Awards are presented at The Berman Center for the Performing Arts in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield. Presented by EncoreMichigan.com, the most comprehensive resource for news and information about the state's professional theater industry, The Wilde Awards were established in 2002 to honor the excellent work produced by Michigan's professional theaters.

Rock 'n roll icons Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo join the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on stage for a night of symphonic rock at Heinz Hall today June 30 at 7:30 p.m.

PITTSBURGH – Rock 'n roll icons Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo join the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on stage for a night of symphonic rock at Heinz Hall on June 30 at 7:30 p.m.

The 5th Avenue Theatre presents an exciting new 'revisal' of the sweeping saga Lerner & Loewe's PAINT YOUR WAGON. Featuring an all-new book by Pulitzer Prize nominee John Marans, this show has taken an incredible journey over the last five years from developmental workshops to The 5th Avenue stage this season. And BroadwayWorld is happy to report that the company has just announced the full cast and creative team.