People Be Heard 2004 - Articles Page 21

Acclaimed television, stage and movie actor Neil Patrick Harris ('How I Met Your Mother,' Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Assassins) has been named the host of the 7th Annual 'TV Land Awards,' it was announced today by Larry W. Jones, president, TV Land. 'The TV Land Awards' will be taped on Sunday, April 19th at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City and air in TV Land PRIME on Sunday, April 26th at 9pm ET/PT.

Girl Crazy, with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book by Guy Bolton and Jack McGowan, will open New York City Center's 2009-2010 Encores! season on November 19, 2009. The season will continue with Fanny, with music and lyrics by Harold Rome and book by S. N. Behrman and Joshua Logan, on February 4, 2010. Fanny will be the 50th Encores! production presented by City Center since 1994. The season will conclude with Anyone Can Whistle, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' legendary 1964 musical, on April 8, 2010.

On March 12, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., The Collegiate Chorale appears with The New York City Opera Orchestra at the newly renovated Alice Tully Hall in a performance of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin's 1945 Broadway operetta The Firebrand of Florence. The performance, led by guest conductor Ted Sperling, stars baritone Nathan Gunn, soprano Anna Christy, baritone Terrence Mann, and soprano Victoria Clark. Krysty Swann, David Pittu and Patrick Goss complete the cast, and narration will be provided by Stage Director Roger Rees. Boasting a score by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and a book by playwright and screenwriter Edwin Justus Mayer, The Firebrand of Florence had a short run on Broadway in 1945. The work was subsequently not heard for over a half-century until three presentations - Ohio Light Opera (1999), the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London (2000) and the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna (2000) - shed new light on the relatively obscure work. The performances were not only accepted, but widely acclaimed, thus giving hope for a new life in a new century. Variety's theater critic Steven Suskin says 'I have long believed that Firebrand in concert should be a dazzling delight.' Benvenuto Cellini, the great Florentine artist, is sentenced to hang, but he is pardoned when the duke realizes that he has not completed a previously commissioned sculpture. Freed, he is able to turn his attention to his favorite model (and object of his affections), Angela. The Duke also is interested in Angela. In a typical operetta plot, Cellini swashbuckles around the stage, keeping the Duke away from Angela, keeping himself away from the Duchess, and escaping yet another death sentence by fleeing to Paris, as the end of the show recapitulates the beginning.

Acclaimed television, stage and movie actor Neil Patrick Harris ('How I Met Your Mother,' Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Assassins) has been named the host of the 7th Annual 'TV Land Awards,' it was announced today by Larry W. Jones, president, TV Land. 'The TV Land Awards' will be taped on Sunday, April 19th at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City and air in TV Land PRIME on Sunday, April 26th at 9pm ET/PT.

Ren?e Fleming reprises one of her most renowned portrayals when she sings the title role of Dvoř?k's fairy-tale opera Rusalka, which opens March 9. Stephanie Blythe sings the role of the witch Je?ibaba for the first time at the Met. Rusalka's beloved Prince will be played by tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko, in his Met debut. Christine Goerke returns to the company for the first time in four years, adding the role of the Foreign Princess to her Met repertory. Kristinn Sigmundsson sings Rusalka's father, the Water Gnome, also a Met role debut. Noted Czech conductor Jiř? Belohl?vek leads Dvoř?k's best-known opera for the first time at the Met. The production is by Otto Schenk; G?nther Schneider-Siemssen designed the sets; Sylvia Strahammer created the costumes; the lighting design is by Gil Wechsler, and the choreographer is Carmen de Lavallade. Laurie Feldman directs this revival, which runs through March 21.

On February 18 and 19, La MaMa will host an open house, 'New Voices Heard,' featuring a sampling of eight plays that were developed during the summer of 2008 in the La MaMa Umbria International Playwrights Retreat. This free event will take place at La MaMa La Galleria, 6 East First Street, Manhattan (between Second Avenue and Bowery), Manhattan. Admission is free. Excerpts of eight plays will be presented. Seven will be staged readings and one will be fully acted.

A cast of internationally most acclaimed Verdi singers is showcased in the Met's new production of the Italian master's melodic tour de force, Il Trovatore, which opens February 16. Renowned director David McVicar makes his Met debut, and Gianandrea Noseda conducts a cast that includes Marcelo ?lvarez in his first Met performances of the heroic title role, and three singers who are celebrated interpreters of their parts: Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora, Dolora Zajick as Azucena, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Count di Luna. Kwangchul Youn makes his Met role debut as Ferrando. In later performances, Marco Berti is Manrico; Hasmik Papian is Leonora; Luciana D'Intino is Azucena, ?eljko Lučić is di Luna, and Burak Bilgili is Ferrando, conducted by Riccardo Frizza. Performances run through May 8.

A cast of internationally most acclaimed Verdi singers is showcased in the Met's new production of the Italian master's melodic tour de force, Il Trovatore, which opens February 16. Renowned director David McVicar makes his Met debut, and Gianandrea Noseda conducts a cast that includes Marcelo ?lvarez in his first Met performances of the heroic title role, and three singers who are celebrated interpreters of their parts: Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora, Dolora Zajick as Azucena, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Count di Luna. Kwangchul Youn makes his Met role debut as Ferrando. In later performances, Marco Berti is Manrico; Hasmik Papian is Leonora; Luciana D'Intino is Azucena, ?eljko Lučić is di Luna, and Burak Bilgili is Ferrando, conducted by Riccardo Frizza. Performances run through May 8.

On February 18 and 19, La MaMa will host an open house, 'New Voices Heard,' featuring a sampling of eight plays that were developed during the summer of 2008 in the La MaMa Umbria International Playwrights Retreat. This free event will take place at La MaMa La Galleria, 6 East First Street, Manhattan (between Second Avenue and Bowery), Manhattan. Admission is free. Excerpts of eight plays will be presented. Seven will be staged readings and one will be fully acted.

Van Hill Entertainment is proud to announce that the Off-Broadway premiere of ROOMS a rock romance, starring Leslie Kritzer and Doug Kreeger, will begin performances on Friday February 27th at New World Stages/Stage 2 (340 West 50th Street). Opening Night is set for Monday March 16th (7 PM). ROOMS a rock romance has music and lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman (Bright Lights Big City) and book by Goodman and Miriam Gordon, and will be directed by Scott Schwartz (Golda's Balcony, Bat Boy: The Musical, tick, tick... BOOM!, Jane Eyre).

Acclaimed Singer and Songwriter ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY Finds true love on new CD from Telarc Jazz 'AT LAST'

Starry Night Entertainment has announced that performances of the New York premiere of White People, written by J. T. Rogers and directed by Gus Reyes, will begin Wednesday, January 28, at 8pm, at the Atlantic Stage 2, 330 West 16 Street. The opening night is Tuesday, February 3, at 8pm.

On March 12, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., The Collegiate Chorale appears with The New York City Opera Orchestra at the newly renovated Alice Tully Hall in a performance of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin's 1945 Broadway operetta The Firebrand of Florence. The performance, led by guest conductor Ted Sperling, stars baritone Nathan Gunn, soprano Anna Christy, baritone Terrence Mann, and soprano Victoria Clark. Krysty Swann, David Pittu and Patrick Goss complete the cast, and narration will be provided by Stage Director Roger Rees. Boasting a score by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and a book by playwright and screenwriter Edwin Justus Mayer, The Firebrand of Florence had a short run on Broadway in 1945. The work was subsequently not heard for over a half-century until three presentations - Ohio Light Opera (1999), the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London (2000) and the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna (2000) - shed new light on the relatively obscure work. The performances were not only accepted, but widely acclaimed, thus giving hope for a new life in a new century. Variety's theater critic Steven Suskin says 'I have long believed that Firebrand in concert should be a dazzling delight.' Benvenuto Cellini, the great Florentine artist, is sentenced to hang, but he is pardoned when the duke realizes that he has not completed a previously commissioned sculpture. Freed, he is able to turn his attention to his favorite model (and object of his affections), Angela. The Duke also is interested in Angela. In a typical operetta plot, Cellini swashbuckles around the stage, keeping the Duke away from Angela, keeping himself away from the Duchess, and escaping yet another death sentence by fleeing to Paris, as the end of the show recapitulates the beginning.

Tchaikovsky's romantic masterpiece Eugene Onegin, based on the Pushkin poem, returns to the Met on Friday, January 30, with a superb international cast. American baritone Thomas Hampson returns to the role of Onegin, the haughty aristocrat who acknowledges love too late, opposite the Finnish soprano Karita Mattila making her Met role debut as Tatiana, who grows from a love-struck young girl to an aristocratic woman. Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk is her sister, Olga; Polish tenor Piotr Beczala is Lenski, Onegin's doomed friend; and Russian bass Sergei Aleksashkin is Gremin, the elderly prince who marries Tatiana. Aleksashkin will sing the first two performances and American bass James Morris, taking on the role for the first time at the Met, does the remainder of the run. Czech maestro Jiř? Bĕlohl?vek conducts all performances, through February 21. The production is by Robert Carsen, sets and costumes are by Michael Levine, Jean Kalman is the lighting designer, and the choreographer is Serge Bennathan.

Marni Nixon has joined the upcoming Encores! presentation of Music in the Air, she replaces Sally Ann Howes who had to drop out due to an illness. Marni Nixon, is known in the popular world as the singing voice behind the stars of West Side Story, The King and I and My Fair Lady. An accomplished singer in her own right, she has has sung opera, classical song and appeared on Broadway. Ms. Nixon worked with Lehmann in a production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Music Academy of the West and considered her a friend. Besides her singing career, Marni Nixon is also an actress, recently nominated for an Ovation award. She gives master clases throughout the country in musical theater and classical song. She was last seen on Broadway in NINE and The Dead. Music in the Air, a rarely seen 1932 musical, will be directed by Gary Griffin with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Michael Lichtefeld. The production runs for five performances at City Center, West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues). Production dates are February 5th through the 8th.

Van Hill Entertainment is proud to announce that the Off-Broadway premiere of ROOMS a rock romance, starring Leslie Kritzer and Doug Kreeger, will begin performances on Friday February 27th at New World Stages/Stage 2 (340 West 50th Street). Opening Night is set for Monday March 16th (7 PM). ROOMS a rock romance has music and lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman (Bright Lights Big City) and book by Goodman and Miriam Gordon, and will be directed by Scott Schwartz (Golda's Balcony, Bat Boy: The Musical, tick, tick... BOOM!, Jane Eyre).

New York City Center Presents Encores! Music In The Air with tickes avaliable for as low as $20.00. Music in the Air, a rarely seen 1932 musical, will be directed by Gary Griffin with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Michael Lichtefeld. The production runs for five performances at City Center, West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues). In addition to Kristin Chenoweth, the cast includes Douglas Sills, Dick Latessa, Tom Alan Robbins, Sierra Boggess, Walter Charles, Anne L. Nathan, David Schramm, Ryan Silverman, Robert Sella and Sally Ann Howes. Music in the Air, with music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett, has been restored by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and not been seen in New York in its original form since its premiere Broadway engagement at the Alvin Theatre in 1932. Opening on November 8th of that year, it played for 342 performances in a production directed by the authors. A revised version had a brief revival at the Ziegfeld Theatre in 1951. Music in the Air is a musical romance, with the wit and elegance of an Ernst Lubitsch film. It's the story of a Bavarian music teacher (Robbins), his beautiful young daughter (Boggess), and the daughter's suitor, who travel to the big, bad city of Munich where they encounter a cast of self-involved, egotistical theater folk who promise them fame, fortune and romance. Marin Mazzie and Douglas Sills play a Diva (Mazzie) and an operetta librettist (Sills) who take the young couple under their wings (and claws). Songs include 'I've Told Ev'ry Little Star' and 'The Song Is You.'

Evolve 2009 is a San Francisco city-wide celebration honoring the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF) will be one of more than 20 local institutions participating in the celebration by hosting performances, lectures and activities.

Starry Night Entertainment has announced that performances of the New York premiere of White People, written by J. T. Rogers and directed by Gus Reyes, will begin Wednesday, January 28, at 8pm, at the Atlantic Stage 2, 330 West 16 Street. The opening night is Tuesday, February 3, at 8pm.

South Coast Repertory starts off the New Year with the World Premiere of You, Nero, a comedy by Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Freed. Commissioned by SCR, You, Nero imagines a meeting during the declining years of the Roman Empire between Scribonius, a put-upon playwright, and Emperor Nero, the all-powerful, narcissistic arbiter of art. The Roman romp stars Danny Scheie as Nero and John Vickery as Scribonius. Produced in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and directed by Sharon Ott,You, Nero will run from Jan. 4 through Jan. 25, 2009 on the Julianne Argyros Stage. Low-priced previews are available from Jan. 4 through Jan. 8. Opening night is Jan. 9. Press night is Saturday, Jan. 10 at 7:45 p.m. Tickets to You, Nero may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its 2008-09 season with John Guare's Rich & Famous, directed by John Rando (Urinetown, The Musical and Wedding Singer on Broadway) in its first major revival since its 1976 New York debut. From the ingenious mind of John Guare, who brought Six Degrees of Separation and The House of Blue Leaves to the American stage, this delicious dark comedy springs to life with twisted humor, rapid-fire dialogue, and outrageous plot twists. The revival script includes significant rewrites to the original text, as well as hilarious songs freshly scribed by Guare himself. In Rich and Famous, playwright Bing Ringling yearns to savor the sweet taste of celebrity, and he's hoping play number 844 will be his lucky break. But on opening night, he slips into a nightmarish phantasmagoria that shows him just how wrong things can go.

Jeffrey Finn Productions announces a special return holiday engagement of THE MUSIC OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER for two weeks only at the Kennedy Center's newly-renovated Eisenhower Theater, Tuesday, December 23, 2008 through Sunday, January 4, 2009. The engagement marks the first return of the special concert since a sold out holiday run at the Kennedy Center Opera House in December 2004.

Daniel Barenboim Makes his Met Debut conducting Tristan and Isolde on November 28 Katarina Dalayman and Peter Seiffert sing the title roles for the first time at the Met, and René Pape reprises his acclaimed portrayal of King Marke

Marin Mazzie, Douglas Sills, Dick Latessa, Tom Alan Robbins, Sierra Boggess, Walter Charles, Anne L. Nathan and Sally Ann Howes have been cast in Kern and Hammerstein's Music in the Air, the second Encores! production of New York City Center's 2008 - 2009 season, playing for five performances, February 5 - 8 at City Center, West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues). Music in the Air, a rarely seen 1932 musical, will be directed by Gary Griffin with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Michael Lichtefeld.

Evolve 2009 is a San Francisco city-wide celebration honoring the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF) will be one of more than 20 local institutions participating in the celebration by hosting performances, lectures and activities.