Leonard Foglia News

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop) has announced that it will produce Intimate Apparel, a new opera with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and a libretto by Lynn Nottage, based on her critically acclaimed play.  The production, which will be directed by Bartlett Sher, will begin previews Thursday, February 27 and open on Monday, March 23 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street). 

Was the pairing of Iain Bell and Mark Campbell--respectively, composer and librettist of New York City Opera's (NYCO) world premiere STONEWALL--'love at first sight”? I asked them. We were at the workshop in New York earlier this month that allowed them and director Leonard Foglia to cross the t's and dot the i's (and hear their new work performed).

The Playthings Theatre, an LGBTQ+ Company in New York City, will be performing its gala concert PlayFresh on Monday, March 11th at 7:00pm. PlayFresh is an evening of new LGBTQ+ music performed by Broadway's finest. Playthings will be honoring Ricky Ian Gordon with The P.R.I.D.E. Performing Arts Award for his contribution to theatre and the LGBTQ+ community.

The New York City Opera has announced that Andrew Bidlack, Liz Bouk, Lisa Chavez, Michael Corvino, Jessica Fishenfeld, Mark Heller, Brian James Myer, and Jordan Weatherston Pitts have been cast in its world-premiere production of the new opera STONEWALL, with music by Iain Bell, libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winner Mark Campbell, and direction by Leonard Foglia.   STONEWALL will open Friday, June 21 and run for five performances only through Friday, June 28 at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center (in the Time Warner Center at Broadway and 60th Street).

Jeffrey Horowitz announces that TFANA will extend its current four-play season to five plays and present Soho Rep.'s production of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview, staged by Sarah Benson. Fairview will play June 2-30, 2019, on the Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, TFANA's state-of-the-art home in the Brooklyn Cultural District. The return engagement marks the first opportunity for New York audiences to experience this bold, innovative work since its sold-out, thrice-extended world premiere at Soho Rep. Fairview is currently only on sale as part of TFANA's two-play subscription package of Fairview and Julius Caesar.

Austin Opera today announces its 2019-2020 Season of programming at the Long Center, which includes Verdi's Rigoletto; the company premiere of Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer's Everest, the tale of one of the worst years in the famous mountain's history; and Puccini's final opera, Turandot.

A season filled with unforgettable music, riveting stories, thrilling singers from around the world, and stirring productions goes on sale by subscription Friday, January 25, at 10am. Six new and new-to-Chicago productions including three Lyric premieres and three performances of the Ring cycle will engage and entertain audiences from late September 2019 through June 2020.

Theatre for a New Audience is currently staging the world premiere of About Alice, a new play by Calvin Trillin, inspired by his 2007 memoir of the same name. The production, directed by Leonard Foglia, plays January 8-February 3, 2019 at Polonsky Shakespeare Center.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present its 2019-20 season with a broad repertoire of operas in productions that have never been seen by Houston audiences. The 65th season will open October 18, 2019, with Verdi's classic Rigoletto. Tomer Zvulun returns to direct the season opener after successfully opening the 2018-19 season with his production of The Flying Dutchman. American baritone Brian Mulligan sings his first Rigoletto leading an outstanding cast filled with renowned HGO Studio alumni, including Mexican tenor Arturo Chacon-Cruz as the Duke of Mantua and Armenian soprano Mane Galoyan as Gilda. Paired with Rigoletto is the North American  premiere of the dramatic oratorio Saul in a much-lauded and imaginative production by Barrie Kosky. Christopher Purves returns to the title role after his celebrated performance at the Glyndebourne Festival and is joined by countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and Korean soprano Pureum Jo, both HGO Studio alumni.

To those who knew her, Alice Trillin was highly regarded as an educator, author and film producer. But to millions more who never met her, she was the women that her husband, humorist Calvin Trillin, so obviously adored and admired with all of his heart.

Theatre for a New Audience presents About Alice, the world premiere of a new play by Calvin Trillin, inspired by his 2007 memoir of the same name. The production, directed by Leonard Foglia, plays January 8-February 3, 2019 at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn). 

Theatre for a New Audience presents About Alice, the world premiere of a new play by Calvin Trillin, inspired by his 2007 memoir of the same name. The production, directed by Leonard Foglia, plays January 8-February 3, 2019 at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn). 

Fort Worth Opera is delighted to announce today that renowned soprano Jennifer Rowley will headline the company's Southern Soiree Gala on May 4 at The Stonegate Mansion, as part of the 2019 Fort Worth Opera Festival. Praised by The New York Times as "a singer of enormous gift and promise," a "force of nature" by OperaWire, and called "spectacular" by The Wall Street Journal, Ms. Rowley continues to garner critical praise for her exceptional voice, arresting stage presence, and richly varied repertoire. Her triumphant Metropolitan Opera role debut as Roxane in Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac was universally acclaimed, and she returned to the hallowed stage during the 2018 season to perform the title role in Puccini's Tosca and Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore.

San Francisco Opera presents the West Coast premiere of It's a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer in nine holiday-season performances from November 17 through December 9. The two-act work, a co-commission and co-production between San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, is based in part on Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life and The Greatest Gift, a story by Philip Van Doren Stern.

Fort Worth Opera (FWO) proudly announced today the news that legendary Mexican ensemble Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlan will be prominently featured in the company's 2019 production of El Pasado Nunca se Termina (The Past is Never Finished). Called "The Best Mariachi in Jalisco," this phenomenal group from Guadalajara, Mexico, was founded in 1965 by Jose 'Pepe' Martinez, the late director of Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, and his brother Fernando Martinez.

San Francisco Opera announces updated casting for its 96th Season, which opens Friday, September 7, with the double bill of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and two galas, Opera Ball 2018: ¡Viva La Noche! and the BRAVO! CLUB Opening Night Gala. The 2018-19 Season features eight productions that are new to the War Memorial Opera House stage, including a new staging of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca and the West Coast premiere of Jake Heggie's It's a Wonderful Life. Highlights also include Placido Domingo in Concert on October 21 and a roster of returning artists, debuting soloists and conductors.

Fort Worth Opera (FWOpera) announced today the casts and creative teams for the 2019 Festival season, including the world premiere of composer-librettist Rachel J. Peters's delightfully wicked opera, Companionship. Adapted from the short story by internationally bestselling author Arthur Phillips, this delicious dark comedy about an obsession with dough, mirrors our modern world, where what we consume becomes all-consuming. Selected as a winner of the 2018 FWOpera Frontiers showcase, the work will receive a fully staged production next spring at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, as part of FWOpera's alternative venue series, Opera Unbound.

The New York City Opera has announced two new productions which will premiere during its 75th Anniversary season at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater.

Schimmel Center will present Tony and Pulitzer Prize nominee Anna Deavere Smith's Obie Award-winning solo performance, Notes From the Field, for one weekend only on Friday, June 1 at 7:30 p.m. and Today, June 2 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in preparation for a two week run at the Royal Court in London. The production is directed by Leonard Foglia and features original music composed and performed by bassist Marcus Shelby who joins Ms. Smith on stage.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announced at its annual meeting today that its 2017-18 season, dramatically relocated after Hurricane Harvey, closed on a strong financial footing despite nearly $15 million of losses due to the storm and related costs. Lower sales income than in previous seasons was significantly offset by a Harvey recovery fundraising campaign that has raised more than $9.5 million to date. HGO presented its entire 63rd season in the HGO Resilience Theater, a temporary venue the company built in Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center after its home in the Wortham Theater Center was seriously damaged by flooding. The company will return to the Wortham in the fall with a gala benefit concert featuring Placido Domingo and Ana Maria Martinez on September 26.