Susan Froemke News

ACT has announced some of the casting for the first half of the upcoming Mainstage season. ACT's own Artistic Director Kurt Beattie gets back on the boards alongside Jeff Steitzer, Marianne Owen, Julie Briskman, and Laura Kenny in Assisted Living. In Other Desert Cities the critically acclaimed Marya Sea Kaminski makes her ACT debut going head to head with television actress Pamela Reed (Parks and Recreation, Kindergarten Cop) who is a UW Drama alumni and Washington resident. Many other notable local actors will be returning to ACT or making their debut including Jessica Skerritt, Matt Owen, Lori Larsen, Suzy Hunt, Aaron Blakely, and Kirsten Potter to name a few. See the current listing of committed artistic and production talent below.

This December, the Met will present an all-new holiday presentation: an abridged, English-language version of Rossini's classic comedy The Barber of Seville. Bartlett Sher returns to direct this adaptation of his hit 2006 production, which will have a running time of approximately two hours. Yves Abel conducts a cast led by Isabel Leonard as the feisty heroine Rosina, Alek Shrader as the handsome Count Almaviva, Rodion Pogossov as the local jack-of-all-trades Figaro, John Del Carlo as the wicked Dr. Bartolo, and Jordan Bisch as the music teacher Don Basilio. The new English-language libretto is by J. D. McClatchy, the American poet who also provided the translation for the Met's holiday production of Mozart's The Magic Flute. In keeping with the Met's recent tradition of family-oriented holiday programming, The Barber of Seville will feature sharply discounted tickets and a special weekday matinee performance.

Thomas Ades will conduct the Metropolitan Opera premiere of his opera The Tempest in a series of performances beginning October 23. Robert Lepage directs a new production of the critically heralded English-language opera, with a libretto by Meredith Oakes based on Shakespeare's play. Simon Keenlyside stars as Prospero, with Audrey Luna in the stratospheric coloratura role of Ariel; Isabel Leonard as Prospero's daughter Miranda;Iestyn Davies as the jester Trinculo; Alek Shrader in his Met debut as the shipwrecked nobleman Ferdinand; Alan Oke as the gentle-hearted monster Caliban; William Burden as the King of Naples; and Toby Spence as Prospero's usurper brother, Antonio.

Watch the trailer for the documentary 'Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare,' to be released theatrically and opening nationally on October 5th, 2012, plus an interview with directors Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke, in which they reveal some interesting and surprising facts about the U.S. healthcare system, below!

Tonight, September 29th at 7:30pm, the Ridgefield Playhouse Film Society - DOCUMENTARY FILM SERIES presents ESCAPE FIRE: THE FIGHT TO RESCUE AMERICAN HEALTHCARE a film that tackles one of the most pressing issues of our time. The award-winning documentary, produced and directed by filmmakers Matt Heineman and Susan Froemke.

A distinguished panel of medical experts - Erin Martin, M.D., Pamela Ross, M.D., and Richard C. Niemtzow, M.D., Ph.D - physicians featured in the documentary 'Escape Fire', will be on hand for the Q&A along with Victoria Veltri, JD.LLM, Health Advocate for the State of Connecticut. The hosts for the film are Morton Dean, EMMY Award winning television journalist and Dr. Mitchell Prywes. Check out photos of the doctors on the panel below!

On Saturday, September 29th at 7:30pm, the Ridgefield Playhouse Film Society - DOCUMENTARY FILM SERIES presents ESCAPE FIRE: THE FIGHT TO RESCUE AMERICAN HEALTHCARE a film that tackles one of the most pressing issues of our time. The award-winning documentary, produced and directed by filmmakers Matt Heineman and Susan Froemke.

Robert Lepage's acclaimed new production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, will air on Great Performances at the Met, September 11-14 in primetime each night on PBS stations (check local listings), as a major television event.

The Met: Live in HD presents the cinematic premiere of Wagner's Ring Cycle and the behind-the-scenes documentary Wagner's Dream. The two-week event begins today May 7 across the U.S. and Canada. See photos from each of the operas below!

The Metropolitan Opera will present worldwide movie theater screenings of Robert Lepage's new production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, as well as Wagner's Dream, a new documentary chronicling the creation of this ambitious new staging. In the United States and Canada, the series will begin tonight, May 7, with a screening of the documentary, directed by award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke, and continue on May 9 with Das Rheingold, the first opera in the cycle. The entire four-part Ring cycle and documentary will be screened in many countries this spring and summer, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The Met: Live in HD presents the cinematic premiere of Wagner's Ring Cycle and the behind-the-scenes documentary Wagner's Dream. The two-week event begins May 7 across the U.S. and Canada. See photos from each of the operas below!

From renowned director Susan Froemke and award-winning editor Bob Eisenhardt comes the new documentary, WAGNER'S DREAM.

5th Avenue Theatre Executive Producer and Artistic Director David Armstrong yesterday announced the seven productions making up the celebrated Seattle musical theater's 2012-13 season. The program features a mix of contemporary musicals and timeless classics, plus Seattle's first peek at some of Broadway's greatest new hits.

Soprano Angela Meade has been named the recipient of the seventh annual Beverly Sills Artist Award for young singers at the Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera's 2011-12 season will feature the world's leading singers, conductors, and stage directors in seven new productions, including a world premiere, a Met premiere, and the first complete performances of a new Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle conducted by Music Director James Levine and directed by Robert Lepage.

Metropolitan Opera Radio on Sirius XM (Channel 74) will celebrate the 40th anniversary of James Levine's Metropolitan Opera debut with a full week of Levine performances. Fifteen historic performances, three of which join the archival rotation on Sirius XM for the first time, will air in rotation for an entire week, beginning May 30 and ending June 5. The broadcasts will be introduced by Levine and other artists, some of whom will also pay tribute to the Met Music Director's extraordinary career in special segments between operas.

To celebrate Maestro James Levine's 40 years at the Metropolitan Opera, American Masters presents James Levine: America's Maestro, premiering nationally Wednesday, June 1 at 8 p.m.