There’s no doubt about it: Onstage Atlanta, the area’s premier semi-professional theater company, chose an opportune moment to stage John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable. President Barack Obama’s recent statement in support of the concept of gay marriage (following the passage of an amendment in North Carolina defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman) has again raised the thorny issue of how we regard the gay …more…
Arts America Blog
Bessie Smith Lives at St. Luke’s
May 16, 2012 by
The great blues singer Bessie Smith is getting a revival at St. Luke’s Theatre, an intimate Off-Broadway venue on West 46th Street, thanks to a powerhouse performance by Miche Braden in The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith. With no more than a pointed look and a swish of the hips, the Drama Desk Award-nominated Braden commands the room the minute she enters. And it doesn’t hurt …more…
Community theater provides low-cost but high-impact performances
May 16, 2012 by
Although Detroit is known for drawing some high-end shows – especially some of the best of Broadway – there also are some amazing community theaters in the area.
One such group is the Grosse Pointe Theatre. Over the past 60 years, the small tribe of thespians who make up this local studio have put on a variety of productions from “Arsenic and Old Lace” to “Kismet” to “Little Shop of Horrors.” …more…
Old Globe Theatre set to launch ninth annual Summer Shakespeare Festival
May 15, 2012 by
“I stuck my neck out,” late Old Globe Theatre founding artistic director R. Craig Noel said in 2003, “and I’ve been terribly stubborn about it.” He was referring to the return of Shakespeare repertory at the Globe, which suspended in 1984 after 35 years—too many actors had been lured away by the considerable monetary prospects in television and film.
Since the Globe’s 2004 reopening of its Summer Shakespeare Festival, Noel’s gamble …more…
‘The Blessing of a Broken Heart’ to play at SD Jewish festival
May 15, 2012 by
Every May 8, Sherri Mandell and her family visit a desert cave in Tekoa, Israel, where they spend the night. In this case, “family” is only as real as a mother’s memories and as imaginary as the departure of a human soul—for on May 8, 2001, Mandell’s 13-year-old son Koby was murdered in that grotto in an act attributed to Palestinian terrorists. Life’s somewhat more manageable now, with Mandell a …more…
‘Time Stands Still’ at GableStage
May 15, 2012 by
Deborah L. Sherman and Steve Garland ( Pic by George Schiavone)
The GableStage presents the Southeastern Premiere of the play Time Stands Still from May 5th – June 3rd at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Donald Margulies, the 2010 Broadway production was nominated for two Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for Laura Linney.
The …more…
A Weekend in the Country: a Sondheim favorite @ Writers’ Theatre
May 11, 2012 by
It may not be the “country” but for city-dwelling Chicagoans, it’s close enough. Writers’ Theatre in Glencoe, just outside the city, concludes their twentieth season with Sondheim’s pastoral classic, A Little Night Music. Writers’ Theatre is one of the suburbs’ foremost theaters, recently notable for David Cromer’s successful revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. Though considerably lighter in subject matter, this new mounting of Night Music is still pretty revelatory, more so than the …more…
Bill Irwin Amazes San Francisco Audiences in Endgame
May 10, 2012 by
Bill Irwin stars in Endgame, photo by Mary Ellen Mark
There are Samuel Beckett fans out there who worship every word the brilliant playwright/author wrote, and there are Bill Irwin fans who have followed his career through the years as he’s intertwined clowning and serious acting with nothing short of pure genius. If you happen to be a fan of both of these fascinating men, you cannot miss the San …more…
Kristin Chenoweth at Paramount
May 8, 2012 by
Emmy and Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth will launch her debut world tour at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle this Wednesday, May 9th. Chenoweth will perform songs from her latest album Some Lessons Learned, as well as an array of her most memorable songs and Broadway show tunes, including music from Wicked, Promises, Promises, and Glee.
Chenoweth won a Tony Award for her role as Sally Brown in the Broadway musical …more…
Make Someone Happy with Will & Anthony Nunziata at the Colony Hotel
May 7, 2012 by
Will & Anthony Nunziata
Hailed as NYC’s hottest singing duo, Will & Anthony Nunziata, return for their fourth smash run in two years at The Colony Hotel’s Royal Room. The Colony Hotel, which The Palm Beach Post has hailed as “probably the best place for cabaret on the planet,” proudly presents the Nunziata brothers in their brand new show, Make Someone Happy, May 25th – June 16th.
Make Someone Happy features …more…
Once and Again
May 6, 2012 by
With good reason, Once has been one of the most buzzed-about new shows of the Broadway season. Based on the acclaimed 2006 indie movie musical of the same name, the show had a highly-praised production Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop before transferring to Bernard B. Jacobs Theater on Broadway in March. Now Once has snagged the most Tony Award nods this season, with 11 nominations.
Like many people, I was …more…
The lie of a pipedream: ‘The Iceman Cometh’ at Goodman Theatre
May 4, 2012 by
It’s difficult to find humor in a Eugene O’Neill play, but The Iceman Cometh was inspired by a vaudeville-era joke. In typical O’Neill fashion, the joke is mined down past the comedy to its tragic source in this nearly five-hour epic. From the same director that brought The Goodman’s production of O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms to Broadway in 2009, comes this star-studded revival of The Iceman Cometh. Featuring …more…
Choirs taking over the tri state!
May 1, 2012 by
In the upcoming months, choral groups all over will be converging on special locations throughout the city, sharing their voices and cultures with Cincinnati residents. ...more...
Michigan Opera Theatre: Preserve the Legacy
May 1, 2012 by
The month of May features the final opera performance of the Michigan Opera Theatres’ spring season: Ruggero Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci. The production, running from May 12th through the 20th, will feature Antonello Palombi and John Pickle splitting the famous tenor role of Canio, with Jill Gardner (Nedda), Gordon Hawkins (Tonio), Luis Ledesma (Silvio), and Phillippe Pierce (Beppe) rounding out the cast.
I Pagliacci rounds off the spring MOT “fate” season, …more…
Detroit’s Grand Old Dame glows in appreciative national review
May 1, 2012 by
Every now and again, it’s nice to have some pride in Detroit. And nothing gives me more pride than a national magazine giving some much-needed attention to the city. And that is especially true when it’s good news for the residents and our businesses in terms of bringing far-flung tourists to our beloved municipality.
I was grabbed recently by a heading out of the Atlantic magazine – its web site devoted …more…
Bollywood Comes to Austin
May 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment
May is the hottest month of the year in Mumbai, with highs typically topping 90 F. It’s likely the last time in the year when temperatures in India will top what Austin, Texas can anticipate. So what better time for a little Bollywood in the park?
Austin Shakespeare will put a Bollywood twist on the bard’s Twelfth Night Thursdays to Sundays at 8 p.m. from May 3 to 27. These free …more…
British Rock Tribute Bands In Las Vegas
April 30, 2012 by
I am not sure where my aversion to cover bands stems from, probably one too many ‘roll your eyes’ experiences of performers trying to be that which they are not and doing it badly. As a homeschooling family we are always looking for new ways to enhance our arts and cultural learning. Focusing on music appreciation and rock history I came across a series at the Las Vegas Hotel (formerly …more…
Georgia Shakespeare Returns with “Shakespeare in the Park”
April 30, 2012 by
Image courtesy of www.gashakepeare.org
On May 9, Georgia Shakespeare launches its 27th season with an open-air production of William Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest. That opening should have a special poignancy for the staff of one of Atlanta’s premier theatre companies; it wasn’t so long ago that Georgia Shakespeare was enduring a tempest of its own, and faced the sobering prospect that it might already have taken its final bow. …more…
DC Playwrights Plot to Take the Stage
April 29, 2012 by
Gwydion Suilebhan
Theater in DC seems to live in the shadow of New York. Many of the big theaters here cast actors out of New York, rather than casting from the talented local pool. And they readily introduce new plays to the area, as long as they’ve had a successful run elsewhere. Like New York. All of which frustrates DC’s playwrights.
Although the Washington, DC, area might not seem to be …more…
The 14th Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival returns to South Beach April 27 until May 6, 2012
April 28, 2012 by
The 14th Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival will take place from Friday, April 27 until Sunday, May 6, 2012. MGLFF, a critically acclaimed event, is based in the world-renowned, historic South Beach neighborhood with additional films screened at locations throughout Miami-Dade County.
The 14th Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival llevará a cabo del viernes, 27 de abril hasta domingo, 06 de mayo de 2012. The Miami Gay & Lesbian …more…
The Pitmen Painters
April 27, 2012 by
Great week downtown! I checked out the Belltown Pub’s sassy new edibles, which included this decadent fried mac n’ cheese with spicy marinara! Who says that the Paula Deen holds the patent on delish deep-fries?
At 6:30 pm on May Day, er, Dog Day, May 1st, the Pub will host a “Who Let the Dogs Out” canine social party to kick-off its specialty menu for dogs and their people. While the …more…
City Theatre’s Summer Shorts Festival
April 27, 2012 by
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County proudly presents City Theatre’s 17th annual Summer Shorts Festival, South Florida’s fast and furiously fun program of the nation’s hottest short plays, staged in the intimate Carnival Studio Theater (Ziff Ballet Opera House) from June 1-17, 2012. Under the new direction of Producing Artistic Director John Manzelli, the sizzling 17th season of the company’s acclaimed Summer Shorts Festival features …more…
A Living History Lesson: ‘The March’ @ Steppenwolf Theatre
April 27, 2012 by
In the grand tradition of historical reenactment, comes a stirring epic from the same team that brought The Grapes of Wrath to Broadway in the early 90′s. Steppenwolf company member Frank Galati adapted and directed E.L. Doctorow’s 2006 PEN/Faulkner award-winning novel about Sherman’s destructive march across the Confederate South. Like so many novels, movies and plays about the Civil War, The March is less about the battlefields and more about the …more…
13 A New Musical
April 26, 2012 by
The Main Street Players presents Tony Award Winning Jason Robert Brown’s 13 The Musical. With a book by Dan Elish and an unforgettable rock score, 13 The Musical is a hilarious, high-energy musical for all ages about discovering that cool is where you find it, and sometimes where you least expect it. A grown-up story about growing up!
When his parents get divorced and he’s forced to move from New York to a …more…
Two Philadelphia companies take Medea in new directions
April 24, 2012 by
The story of Euripides’s third place finish in the 431 B.C. Athens Dionysia festival is one to warm the hearts of unsung writers everywhere. The great Greek tragedian finished behind two now-forgotten playwrights for his telling of the older myth of Medea, wife of Jason (of Argonaut fame). In Euripides’s version, Medea kills her own children in revenge after being spurned by her husband. The Athenian audience may not have been ready …more…
