I started this blog with one daughter, kept it up with the other, to spend time together doing something we enjoyed.
However, things change and people evolve. My daughters are older, busier, and not as interested in writing.
From now on this blog will be mostly mom with occasional contributions from my daughters and maybe even my husband.
Nothing else will change. We'll still focus on sharing fun places to go, fun things to do, and more, and we would  still love to hear your views too

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Saturday Special- 2017/2018 Season Announcements Roundup

Now is the time that many groups begin announcing their 2017/2018 schedules. Below find a roundup of schedules that have already been released. We will post more in the future if and when we receive them. A regular weekly Sunday Scoop post will follow tomorrow.


The Barrow Theatre Group

NEW YORK PREMIERE
“MUSWELL HILL”
BY TORBEN BETTS
NOVEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 16, 2017

WORLD PREMIERE
“THE THING WITH FEATHERS”
BY SCOTT ORGAN
JANUARY 13 - FEBRUARY 10, 2018

REVIVAL
“A WALK IN THE WOODS”
BY LEE BLESSING
MARCH 17 – APRIL 15, 2018

ONE-NIGHT ONLY SPECIAL EVENT
“THE TRICKY PART”
BY MARTIN MORAN
OCTOBER 16, 2017

New York Premiere
Muswell Hill
A play by Torben Betts
a co-production with The Pond Theatre Company
Directed by Shannon Patterson
November 11 - December 16, 2017
Opening Night is set for November 14, 2017
 The Barrow Group Mainstage Theatre (312 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor)
Following their sold-out run of Abigail’s Party last fall, The Barrow Group Theatre Company and The Pond Theatre Company present the New York premiere of Muswell Hill by Torben Betts.  Set in a leafy north London suburb, this black comedy chronicles an evening in which a number of friends gather over dinner, discussing their day-to-day worries while halfway around the world a natural disaster is occurring.  
Torben Betts is a multi award-winning British playwright, described by Alan Ayckbourn as “one of the most exciting theatre writing talents I have come across in many a year.”

* * * 
World Premiere
The Thing With Feathers
A play by Scott Organ
Directed by Seth Barrish
January 13 - February 10, 2018
Opening Night is set for January 16, 2018
The Barrow Group Mainstage Theatre (312 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor)
A world premiere with a cast of four, The Thing With Feathers feels almost like a thriller as Scott Organ masterfully spins the tale of an underage teenager who is seduced by an older man on the internet.  Things are not as they seem, however.
The Barrow Group Theatre Company has produced a number of Mr. Organ’s plays (PhoenixAfraid. Yes. Of.; The Mulligan, The Faithful).

* * *
Revival
A Walk in the Woods
A play by Lee Blessing
Directed by Donna Jean Fogel
March 17 - April 15, 2018
Opening Night is set for March 20, 2018
The Barrow Group Mainstage Theatre (312 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor) 
A Walk in the Woods, Lee Blessing’s insightful two-character play set during the end of the Cold War, tells the tale of a series of meetings between two diplomats, American and Russian.  The play raises deep questions, “What can we do to heal the world?” “What is the value of human connection?” “How can we best bridge fundamental differences?” 
Blessing’s story has chilling resonance in today’s political climate.
* * *
Subscription memberships and single tickets are available by visiting the website at www.barrowgroup.org  or by calling OvationTix at 866-811-4111.
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The Jewish Museum

ADVANCE SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS

FALL 2017-SPRING 2018

The Jewish Museum's upcoming schedule includes a diverse array of exhibitions. This fall the Museum will present an exhibition that focuses on Amedeo Modigliani's early work, as well as the first comprehensive exhibition in the United States drawn from The Israel Museum's world-renowned collection of Jewish costumes. In January, for the first time in 25 years, the Museum will open its new, major collection exhibition that will feature more than 650 works from antiquities to contemporary art. Finally, the spring sees the first survey in the United States of the work of Marc Camille Chaimowicz, one of the first artists to merge performance and installation art. 

Information is subject to change 2017
Fall 2017

Modigliani Unmasked 

September 15, 2017 February 4, 2018Press Preview: September 12, 2017, 10 am to 1 pmThis exhibition will feature early drawings by Amedeo Modigliani (Italian, 1884-1920)acquired directly from the artist by Dr. Paul Alexandre, his close friend and first patron. These works - many of which are being shown for the first time in the U.S. - will illuminate how Modigliani's heritage as an Italian Sephardic Jew is pivotal to understanding his artistic output. The exhibition will include approximately 150 works, those from the Alexandre collection as well as a selection of Modigliani's paintings, sculptures, and other drawings from collections around the world. Modigliani's art will be complemented by work representative of the various multicultural influences - African, Greek, Egyptian, and Khmer - that inspired the young artist during this lesser-known, early period. The exhibition is organized by Mason Klein, Senior Curator, The Jewish Museum.


Veiled Meanings: Fashioning Jewish Dress from the Collection of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
November 3, 2017 - March 18, 2018
Press Preview: November 1, 2017, 10 am to 1 pmThis exhibition is the first comprehensive U.S. exhibition drawn from The Israel Museum's world-renowned collection of Jewish costumes. It showcases over 100 articles of clothing from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, arranged as complete ensembles or shown as stand-alone items. A sumptuous array of apparel from over 20 countries on four continents offers an exceptional opportunity for American audiences to view many facets of Jewish identity and culture through rarely seen garments. The extraordinary range of textile designs and clothing in the exhibition illuminates the story of how diverse global cultures have thrived, interacted, and inspired each other for centuries. Jewish communities from Afghanistan, Algeria, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Georgia, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Israel, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, Uzbekistan, and Yemen are represented. Showcasing color, texture, function, artistry, and craftsmanship, the exhibition also offers an incisive and compelling examination of diversity and migration through the lens of fashion. Veiled Meanings: Fashioning Jewish Dress, from the Collection of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem is organized by The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. The exhibition is organized by The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. The Israel Museum's curatorial team includes Curator in Charge, Daisy Raccah-Djivre; Exhibition Curator, Efrat Assaf-Shapira; and Scientific Advisors, No'am Bar'am Ben-Yossef and Esther Juhasz; Head of Traveling Exhibitions, Sivan Eran-Levian. Claudia J. Nahson, Morris & Eva Feld Curator at the Jewish Museum, is Supervising Curator for the New York presentation.

Math Bass
November 3, 2017 - March 18, 2018
Press Preview: November 1, 2017, 10 am to 1 pmLos Angeles-based artist Math Bass (b. 1981) works across video and performance as well as painting and sculpture, which she executes in a distinctly graphic style. In Bass's ongoing series Newz!, which she began in 2012, zigzags, smoke plumes, and architectural shapes collide on canvases and translate into sculptures that feel rooted in the language of advertising, yet indicate that something more personal and mysterious is at play. The installation she has created for the Museum's lobby will show traces of the symbols and ceremonies of her Jewish upbringing; Decalogue-like forms appear in the paintings, while the sculpture invokes a cloaked figure. The exhibition is organized by Kelly Taxter, Associate Curator, The Jewish Museum.

Winter 2018


Scenes from the Collection

New, major installation of the Museum's collection
Opens January 2018
The Jewish Museum's unparalleled collection spans 4,000 years of Jewish culture through nearly 30,000 objects, including painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, ceremonial objects, antiquities, works on paper, and media. Scenes from the Collection will transform the Museum's third floor and feature over 650 works from antiquities to contemporary art  many of which have rarely, if at all, been on view at the Museum. The new exhibition will be divided into different sections, or scenes, highlighting the diversity and depth of the collection. The stories the works of art tell will illuminate multiple perspectives on being Jewish in the past and present, how Jewish culture intersects with art, and how it is part of the larger world of global interconnections.

Sections in the exhibition include a scene featuring over 50 of the most significant works in the collection - from antiquities to the twenty-first century; a section examining the Museum's large and rich collection of portraits and the nature of portraiture; and a contemporary Wunderkammer (Cabinet of Wonders) crowded with works of art and artifacts of various origins and materials arranged in unusual juxtapositions, among others. Several scenes will change annually, and one will change every six months, so that different subjects can be examined while more of the collection is on view.


Scenes from the Collection is organized by a Jewish Museum curatorial team headed by Susan L. Braunstein, Senior Curator, and Jens Hoffmann, Director of Special Exhibitions and Public Programs, and including Shira Backer, Assistant Curator; Stephen Brown, Neubauer Family Foundation Associate Curator; Mason Klein, Senior Curator; Claudia Nahson, Morris and Eva Feld Curator; Rebecca Shaykin, Leon Levy Assistant Curator; Kelly Taxter, Associate Curator; and Aviva Weintraub, Associate Curator.


27th Annual New York Jewish Film FestivalJanuary 10-23, 2018The New York Jewish Film Festival, presented by the Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, is one of the oldest and most influential Jewish film festivals worldwide, unique in New York City, and one of the longest-running partnerships between two major New York cultural institutions. The films included in the festival will be announced in the fall 2017.


Spring 2018


Marc Camille Chaimowicz: Your Place or Mine ..
.
March 16 - August 5, 2018
Marc Camille Chaimowicz (b. post-war Paris) established himself in the 1970s London art scene as an artist who merged performance and installation art in a manner as playful as it was critical and sensual. This large-scale survey is the artist's first solo museum exhibition in the United States. It will present Chaimowicz's cross-disciplinary work in sculpture, painting, video, collage, installation, and design made over his nearly 50 year career, including commissions newly created for the occasion. The exhibition is organized by Kelly Taxter, Associate Curator, The Jewish Museum. 

For more information call 212.423.3200 or visit TheJewishMuseum.org
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Master Voices

MASTERVOICES ANNOUNCES 2017-2018 SEASON
George and Ira Gershwin’s OF THEE I SING
November 2, 2017 at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Featuring Bryce Pinkham, Phillipa Soo, and Elizabeth Stanley

OUR AMERICA
A program of diverse works celebrating our immigrant roots
Wednesday, March 7, 2018 at The Great Hall of The Cooper Union

ORPHIC MOMENTS
Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice & Aucoin’s The Orphic Moment
May 6 and 7, 2018 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater
Featuring countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, soprano Kiera Duffy,
and violinist Keir GoGwilt

Marisa Michelson and Royce Vavrek’s NAAMAH’S ARK
Part of River To River Festival 2018
June 17, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in Lower Manhattan
Featuring Victoria Clark

MasterVoices opens its season on Thursday, November 2, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. with a revival of George and Ira Gershwin’s satirical musical Of Thee I Sing performed at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, just days before the New York City mayoral election. An additional performance is held on Saturday, November 4, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. at the Tilles Center at LIU Post. Leading the cast are Tony Award nominees Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) as John P. Wintergreen and Phillipa Soo (Hamilton) as Mary Turner, together with Elizabeth Stanley (On the Town) as Diana Devereaux, and David Pittu as the French Ambassador, joined by the MasterVoices Chorus and Orchestra. With a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, written during the time of their famed association with the Marx Brothers, Of Thee I Sing skewers electoral politics with lines that could be ripped from today’s headlines, and was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize (1931). In addition to the title song, it features such hits as “Love is Sweeping the Country” and “Who Cares.”

Our America celebrates the ways immigrants have shaped American music, merging voices and traditions to fuel the invention of new musical genres. The one night only concert on Wednesday, March 7 at 7:00 p.m. puts the MasterVoices Chorus in the forefront, showcasing the wide range of stories and sounds that have defined American music through a combination of newly commissioned work, American premieres, and new arrangements of classic works. Conceived by Artistic Director Ted Sperling, Our America takes place at the historic Great Hall of The Cooper Union—the site of the birthplace of the NAACP, the woman’s suffrage movement, and some of the earliest workers’ rights campaigns, as well as the place where many presidents gave historic speeches prior to their elections.

MasterVoices presents two performances of a new production of Orphic Moments on Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 8:30 p.m. and Monday, May 7, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, pairing trailblazing composer and librettist Matthew Aucoin’s dramatic cantata The Orphic Moment together with an innovative staging of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. The program—starring countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo(Orfeo), soprano Kiera Duffy (Euridice in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice), violinist Keir GoGwilt (Eurydice in Aucoin’s The Orphic Moment), together with the MasterVoices Chorus and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s—explores the traditional Orpheus myth through the lens of artistic ego and moral sacrifice and the role of hubris in moral choice. MasterVoices’ production builds upon the original performance that premiered in March 2016 at National Sawdust and re-imagines it in a bigger space and for a larger chorus. Orphic Moments is directed by Zack Winokur with scenic design by Douglas Fitch.

MasterVoices’ season concludes on Sunday, June 17, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. with a free public performance of Marisa Michelson and Royce Vavrek’s oratorio Naamah’s Ark in Lower Manhattan, presented in partnership with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council for the 2018 River to River Festival. The dramatic oratorio tells the story of Noah’s Ark, from the perspective of Noah’s wife, Naamah—a strong woman who must guide all the diverse species of animals as the ark reaches dry land, after forty days of co-existence during an environmental cataclysm. Community members from Lower Manhattan join Victoria Clark (Naamah) and the MasterVoices Chorus in shared music-making to create this new version of the MasterVoices commissioned piece, exploring themes of diversity, the role of women in society, and the possible devastation of climate change.

Program Information for MasterVoices’ 2017-2018 Season
OF THEE I SING
Music by George Gershwin
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
Musical staging by Andrew Palermo
Featuring:
Bryce Pinkham, John P. Wintergreen
Phillipa Soo, Mary Turner
Elizabeth Stanley, Diana Devereaux
David Pittu, French Ambassador
MasterVoices Chorus and Orchestra
Ted Sperling
, Conductor
Thursday, November 2, 2017 at 7:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
57th Street and Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019
Ticket Information: Single tickets for the Carnegie Hall performance are available for purchase at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, at 57th and Seventh, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website at carnegiehall.org, beginning on September 11.

OUR AMERICA
Featuring:
MasterVoices Chorus
Ted Sperling
, Conductor
Wednesday, March 7 at 7:00 p.m.
The Great Hall of The Cooper Union
7 East 7th Street (between Third and Fourth Avenues)
New York, NY 10003
Ticket Information: Tickets will be available at mastervoices.org beginning October 30.

ORPHIC MOMENTS
Zack Winokur, Director
Douglas Fitch, Scenic Design

Orfeo ed Euridice
Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck and libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi
The Orphic Moment
Music and lyrics by Matthew Aucoin
Featuring:
Anthony Roth Costanzo, Orfeo
Kiera Duffy, Euridice
Keir GoGwilt, Eurydice
MasterVoices Chorus
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Ted Sperling
, Conductor
Sunday, May 6 at 8:30 p.m.
Monday, May 7 at 7:00 p.m.

Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center
10 Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10023
Ticket Information: Tickets can be purchased at www.jazz.org, by calling Center Charge (212-721-6500) or by visiting the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office, within the Time Warner Center, at Broadway and 60th, beginning on November 20.

NAAMAH’S ARK
Music by Marisa Michelson
Lyrics by Royce Vavrek
Featuring:
Victoria Clark, Naamah
MasterVoices Chorus
Ted Sperling
, Conductor
Sunday, June 17, 2018 at 7:00 p.m.
Lower Manhattan, exact location to be announced
Namaah’s Ark is co-presented by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council as part of the River To River Festival 2018. Please visit LMCC.net for additional information.
Ticket Information: Free and open to the public.

For more details, please visit mastervoices.org
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Opera Saratoga
2018 Summer Festival Program

THE MERRY WIDOW
Music by Franz Lehár; Libretto by Victor Léon and Leo Stein
 
THE CONSUL
Music and Libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti
 
ROCKING HORSE WINNER - American Premiere
Music by Gareth Williams; Libretto by Anna Chatterton
 
VINKENSPORT, or THE FINCH OPERA - World Premiere of Chamber Version
Music by David T. Little; Libretto by Royce Vavrek

Opera Saratoga's Artistic and General Director Lawrence Edelson announced that the company's 2018 Summer Festival will feature new productions of four operas at The Spa Little Theatre in Spa State Park, along with a wide variety of free and ticketed concert events from May 26 through July 15 at venues throughout the region.

One of the most popular operettas across the globe, THE MERRY WIDOWreturns to Opera Saratoga for the first time in thirty years next summer. Hanna Glawari, the Merry Widow, is beautiful and rich... and she's captivated every man in the country. But Hanna is looking for true love. Will she be able to find a suitor that is not only after her wealth? Will the nation of Pontevedro slip into economic collapse if she marries a foreigner? Will all those dancing girls prove too distracting for the audience?! Franz Lehár's magical score features the famous "Vilja" song, the "Merry Widow Waltz," and many more beloved melodies. The Merry Widow, which was composed in 1905, ushered in a new era of operettas in which the waltz was used for romantic plot purposes, and was danced as much as sung. Opera Saratoga's new production continues the company's Opera-in-Motion initiative, in which dance is prominently integrated into one production each summer. The Merry Widow will be directed and choreographed by John de los Santos, and conducted by Anthony Barrese, both making their company debuts. Soprano Cecilia Violetta López (Beatrice in Il Postino, 2016) returns to star in the title role, alongside the company debut of baritone Jonathan Beyer as Danilo.

Winner of both the New York Drama Critic Circle award as the Best Musical Play and the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1950, THE CONSUL is an American masterpiece that ran on Broadway for eight months before premiering at La Scala, followed by productions at opera houses around the globe. Olin Downes hailed the Broadway premiere in The New York Times as "a smash hit" and "an opera of eloquence, momentousness, and intensity of expression...written from the heart, with a blazing sincerity and a passion of human understanding... It is torn out of the life of the present-day world, and poses an issue which mercilessly confronts humanity today. And this is done with a new wedding of the English language with music in a way which is singable, intensely dramatic and poetic by turns, and always of beauty."Almost 70 years later, Gian Carlo Menotti's riveting opera still delivers a punch as powerful and timely as its subject matter - the struggle for freedom against oppression, and the maddening nature of unrelenting bureaucracy. Set in an unnamed European city, political dissident John Sorel is on the run from the secret police. After he escapes the country, his devoted wife Magda clashes with the bureaucracy at the Consulate while trying to obtain an exit visa for her family. The emotional high point of the opera comes when Magda, thwarted in her quest for a visa, addresses the Consul's secretary in "To this we've come," a stirring lament over the world's indifference to inhumanity and suffering. The suspenseful narrative surprises with several magical touches and is buoyed by a melodic score in which love, hope, and redemption all play their part.  Last seen at Opera Saratoga (as Lake George Opera) in 1984, The Consul remains as timely as when it was written, taking on renewed relevance for contemporary audiences. Artistic and General Director Lawrence Edelsondirects this new production, conducted by Andrew Bisantz (Le nozze di Figaro, 2016). The production will feature soprano Meghan Kasanders, a distinguished alumna of Opera Saratoga's Young Artist Program, as Magda Sorel, alongside baritone.

Wes Mason as John Sorel, and mezzo soprano Deborah Nansteel as John's Mother, both in their company debuts.

The third production of the season will be a double-bill of contemporary operas that revolve around themes of obsession, desire, competition and the need to win as seen through the lens of two very different sports - Thoroughbred Horse Racing, and Finch Sitting! 

The first half of the double-bill will be the American Premiere of ROCKING HORSE WINNER. This critically acclaimed chamber opera by Gareth Williams and Anna Chatterton received its world premiere last season at Tapestry Opera in Toronto.  A modern adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's short story,Rocking Horse Winner explores the relationship between Paul and his emotionally distant mother. Paul becomes dangerously obsessed with solving the "bad luck" of his family in order to win his mother's love. His pursuit awakens a strange magic that connects him not only to luck, but also to powerful voices only he can hear - voices that tell him which horses will win at the track. Rocking Horse Winner is an intimate, psychological look at love, "luck", and greed. The second half of the double-bill will feature the World Premiere of a new chamber version of VINKENSPORT, or THE FINCH OPERA. Originally commissioned by Dawn Upshaw for the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at the Bard Conservatory, where it premiered in February of 2010, this opera was one of the earliest collaborations between David T. Little and Royce Vavrek, whose critically acclaimed works also include JFK and Dog Days. Vinkensport is a bittersweet comedy in one act that explores the nature of competition and the need to win through the frame of an obscure folk sport, Finch-Sitting. We see a motley assortment of contestants battle to see who has the most melodious bird. As they compete, the joys, sorrows, delusions and all-too-stark realities of their trainers are revealed. Principal roles in both operas will be cast from members of Opera Saratoga's nationally acclaimed Young Artist Program - the second oldest mentorship program for emerging opera singers in the country, under the leadership of Laurie Rogers. The production will prominently feature these gifted singers as part of Opera Saratoga's commitment to providing emerging professional artists important performing opportunities to advance their careers. The production will be directed by Michael Hidetoshi Mori in his company debut, and will be conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya (Zémire et Azor, 2017).
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Polk and Co. Season Preview


Upcoming Broadway Projects Include



Upcoming Off-Broadway Projects Include





UPCOMING BROADWAY PRODUCTIONS...    

TIME AND THE CONWAYS
Starring Elizabeth McGovern, Steven Boyer, Anna Camp, Gabriel Ebert, Charlotte Parry and Matthew James Thomas
A Play by J. B. Priestley
Directed by Tony Award Winner Rebecca Taichman

September 14, 2017                        First Preview
October 10, 2017                          Opening Night
Limited Engagement through November 26, 2017
On Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre (227 W 42nd Street)

In 1919 Britain, Mrs. Conway (Downton Abbey’s Elizabeth McGovern) is full of optimism during her daughter’s lavish twenty-first birthday celebration. The Great War is over, wealth is in the air, and the family’s dreams bubble over like champagne. Jump nineteen years into the future, though, and the Conways’ lives have transformed unimaginably. This time-traveling play by J.B. Priestley (An Inspector Calls) takes place at the crossroads of today and tomorrow—challenging our notions of choice, chance and destiny. Tony winner Rebecca Taichman (Indecent) directs.

Time and the Conways will star McGovern as “Mrs. Conway,” Steven Boyer as “Ernest,” Anna Camp as “Hazel,” Gabriel Ebert as “Alan,” Charlotte Parry as “Kay,” and Matthew James Thomas as “Robin,” with Anna Baryshnikov as “Carol,” Brooke Bloom as “Madge,” Alfredo Narciso as “Gerald,” and Cara Ricketts as “Joan.”
  
M. BUTTERFLY
Starring Academy Award Nominee & Golden Globe Winner Clive Owen
And Introducing Jin Ha
A Play by David Henry Hwang
Directed by Tony Award Winner Julie Taymor
Original Music by Academy Award Winner Elliot Goldenthal
Choreography by Ma Cong

October 7, 2017                                First Preview
October 26, 2017                              Opening Night
On Broadway at the Cort Theatre (138 W 48th Street)

M. Butterfly charts the scandalous romance between a married French diplomat and a mysterious Chinese opera singer – a remarkable love story of international espionage and personal betrayal.  Their 20-year relationship pushed and blurred the boundaries between male and female, east and west – while redefining the nature of love and the devastating cost of deceit. For the Tony Award-winning play’s first Broadway return, David Henry Hwang will introduce new material inspired by the real-life love affair between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Chinese opera singer Shi Pei Pu that has come to light since the play’s 1988 premiere.


THE BAND'S VISIT 
Starring Katrina Lenk and Tony Shalhoub
Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek
Book by Itamar Moses
Based on the Screenplay by Eran Kolirin
Directed by David Cromer
October 7, 2017                                First Preview
November 9, 2017                           Opening Night
On Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 W 47th Street)

After a mix-up at the border, an Egyptian Police Band is sent to a remote village in the middle of the Israeli desert. With no bus until morning and no hotel in sight, these unlikely travelers are taken in by the locals. Under the spell of the desert sky, their lives become intertwined in the most unexpected ways. The Band’s Visit celebrates the deeply human ways music, longing and laughter can connect us all.

The musical was named BEST OF THE YEAR by The New York TimesDeadlineNewsdayNew York PostThe Hollywood ReporterHuffington PostThe RecordThe Wall Street JournalThe WrapTime Out New York and BuzzFeed.


ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY
IN ASSOCIATION WITH CHOCOLATE FACTORY PRODUCTIONS AND SONIA FREIDMAN PRODUCTIONS
PRESENTS THE MENIER CHOCOLATE FACTORY PRODUCTION OF
TRAVESTIES
With Tom Hollander
A Play By Academy and Tony Award Winner Tom Stoppard
Directed by Olivier Award Winner and Tony Award Nominee Patrick Marber

March 29, 2018                                 First Preview
April 24, 2018                                    Opening Night
Limited engagement through June 17, 2018
On Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre (227 W 42nd Street)
Travesties returns to Broadway in a “near-miraculous” production of “mind-blowing” splendor (New York Times). In 1917 Zurich, an artist—Tristan Tzara, a writer – James Hoyce, and a revolutionary—Lenin, collide in a kaleidoscopic thrill-ride that’s “wickedly playful, intensely entertaining, infectiously theatrical” (Time Out London).

Roundabout reunites with playwright Tom Stoppard (Indian Ink, The Real Thing) and director Patrick Marber (Howard Katz, After Miss Julie) for a dazzling revival from London’s Menier Chocolate Factory (Sunday in the Park with George).


SECOND STAGE THEATER PRESENTS
AS PART OF ITS INAUGURAL BROADWAY SEASON AT THE HAYES THEATER
LOBBY HERO
Starring Michael Cera and Chris Evans
A Play by Kenneth Lonergan
Directed by Trip Cullman

Performances begin March 2018
On Broadway at the Hayes Theater (240 W 44th Street)
Lobby Hero is the inaugural production in Second Stage’s new Broadway home, The Hayes Theater. This production kicks off Second Stage’s mission of creating and building a permanent home on Broadway dedicated exclusively to American plays and living American playwrights. 

What happens when emotions come in conflict with principles, and how do choices under pressure define who we really are? The lobby of a Manhattan apartment building is much more than a waiting area for four New Yorkers involved in a murder investigation. It’s a testing ground for what happens when personal and professional personas find themselves at odds. A young security guard with big ambitions clashes with his stern boss, an intense rookie cop and her unpredictable partner in a play from the 2017 Oscar-winning writer of Manchester by the Sea.


UPCOMING OFF-BROADWAY PRODUCTIONS...

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS
TOO HEAVY FOR YOUR POCKET
A Play by Jiréh Breon Holder
Directed by Margot Bordelon

September 15, 2017                        First Preview
October 5, 2017                                Opening Night
Limited Engagement through November 19, 2017
Off-Broadway at the Black Box Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street)

Roundabout Underground hosts the premiere of 2016 Yale School of Drama graduate Jiréh Breon Holder's award-winning work. Tennessee-born Holder takes us back to Nashville in the summer of 1961. The Freedom Riders are embarking on a courageous journey into the Deep South. When 20-year-old Bowzie Brandon gives up a life-changing college scholarship to join the movement, he’ll have to convince his loved ones—and himself—that shaping his country's future might be worth jeopardizing his own. 

Too Heavy for Your Pocket will feature Eboni Flowers as “Evelyn Brandon,”  Hampton Fluker as “Tony Carter,” Brandon Gill as “Bowzie Brandon” and Nneka Okafor as “Sally-Mae Carter.”


TORCH SONG
Starring Michael Urie and Mercedes Ruehl
A Play by Harvey Fierstein
Directed by Moisés Kaufman

September 26, 2017                        First Preview
October 19, 2017                              Opening Night
Off-Broadway at the Tony Kiser Theater (305 W 43rd Street)

It’s 1979 in New York City and Arnold Beckoff is on a quest for love, purpose and family. He’s fierce in drag and fearless in crisis, and he won’t stop until he achieves the life he desires as a doting husband and a Jewish mother. Now, Arnold is back…and he’s here to sing you a torch song. The Tony Award-winning play that forever changed the trajectory of Broadway returns for a new generation.


THE LAST MATCH
A Play by Anna Ziegler
Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch

September 28, 2017                       First Preview
October 24, 2017                              Opening Night
Limited Engagement through December 24, 2017
Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 W 46th Street)

It’s the semifinals of the U.S. Open, and two tennis greats are facing off in the match of their lives. Tim Porter, the aging all-American favorite, wants to prove to the world, his wife and himself that he’s still a champion. Hot-headed rising star Sergei Sergeyev struggles to believe he truly deserves to beat his lifelong hero. Set against the high-stakes backdrop of professional sports, this New York premiere, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, serves up a richly theatrical look at what keeps us striving and why.


PETER PAN
Directed by Eric Tucker

November 11, 2017                         First Preview
November 19, 2017                         Opening Night
Limited Engagement through December 23, 2017
Off-Broadway at the Duke on 42nd St (229 W 42nd Street)

Bedlam returns with a new production of J.M. Barrie’s 1904 play about the Darling children who follow Peter Pan and Tinker Bell to Neverland, where children never grow old. Bedlam’s cast of six starring Kelley Curran, Edmund Lewis, Susannah Millonzi, Zuzanna Szadkowski and Eric Tucker will inhabit Barrie’s 25 characters including Pirates, the Lost Boys, Indians and the maniacal Captain Hook.


ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS
With Jamie Brewer
A Play by Lindsey Ferrentino
Directed by Scott Ellis

February 1, 2018                              First Preview
March 1, 2018                                    Opening Night
Limited Engagement through April 22, 2018
Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 W 46th Street)

After their father’s death, two unhinged siblings reunite with Amy, their movie-loving sister who has Down syndrome. Together, they careen down the Great American Long Island Expressway, navigating strip malls, traffic jams and some serious (and not-so-serious) family drama. An unexpected turn reveals the moment that changed their lives…and the fact that Amy may be the only one who knows her own mind. Written by Lindsey Ferrentino, who made her New York debut at Roundabout with the world premiere of Ugly Lies the Bone, and directed by Scott Ellis (The Elephant ManShe Loves Me), Amy and the Orphans is a rollicking ride that proves it’s never too late to follow a new road.

BOBBIE CLEARLY
A New Play by Alex Lubischer
Directed by Will Davis

March 8, 2018                                   First Preview
April 3, 2018                                       Opening Night
Limited Engagement through May 20, 2018
Off-Broadway at the Black Box Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 W 46th Street)

Bobbie killed Casey in the middle of a cornfield in Milton, Nebraska. Two years later, Milton’s residents are ready to tell you their side(s) of the story. This comedy-about-a-tragedy pushes the boundaries of Roundabout’s Black Box Theatre, with a sprawling cast of eccentric characters and an ambitious narrative that pulls back the husk of rural life. Written by Nebraskan Alex Lubischer, who is currently attending the Playwriting Program at Yale School of Drama and the newest playwright discovered by Roundabout Underground.


ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS
SKINTIGHT
With Tony Award Winner Idina Menzel
A Play by Joshua Harmon
Directed by Daniel Aukin

May 31, 2018                                    First Preview
June 21, 2018                                     Opening Night
Limited Engagement through August 26, 2018
Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 W 46th Street)

Roundabout reunites writer Joshua Harmon (Bad JewsSignificant Other) and director Daniel Aukin (Bad Jews) for Skintight, a scorching examination of beauty, youth and sexReeling from her ex-husband’s engagement to a much younger woman, Jodi Isaac turns to her famous fashion-designer dad for support. Instead, she finds him wrapped up in his West Village townhouse with Trey. Who’s 20. And not necessarily gay. But probably an adult film star. At least, according to Jodi’s son. Who’s also 20. And definitely gay. Skintight assays the nature of love, the power of attraction, and the ways in which a superficial culture persists in teaching its children that all that matters is what’s on the inside.


CARDINAL
A New Play by Greg Pierce
Directed by Kate Whoriskey

Performances begin Winter 2018
Off-Broadway at the Tony Kiser Theater (305 W 43rd Street)
Paint it red. So begins Lydia’s wild idea to invigorate her Rust Belt town. But when a whip-smart entrepreneur co-opts her scheme, a precarious rivalry is born. A battle for the town’s soul ensues, causing its obsessive mayor, its defiant matriarch, and the rest of its residents to question who they are and where they're headed.
  

UPCOMING FILM & TELEVISION PROJECTS…

FOX TV PRESENTS
A CHRISTMAS STORY
Starring Maya Rudolph
Airing Live on FOX on Sunday, December 17 (7:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed)

FOX’s next live musical event, A Christmas Story, will air Sunday, Dec. 17 (7:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) LIVE on FOX. From Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, the three-hour live television event, inspired by the holiday classic feature A Christmas Story and the Tony Award-nominated Broadway production A Christmas Story: The Musical, will be executive-produced by award-winning film, television and theater producer Marc Platt (Grease: LiveLa La Land). The epic adaptation will be filmed at the historic Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.

Emmy Award nominee Maya Rudolph (“Saturday Night Live,” Bridesmaids) will star as the mother of nine-year old Ralphie Parker. Additional casting information to be announced soon.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, recent Tony Award winners for the musical Dear Evan Hansen, and lyricists of La La Land’s Academy Award-winning song, “City of Stars,” also scored A Christmas Story: The Musical, and will compose several new songs for the LIVE television event, with Jonathan Tolins and Robert Cary (Grease: Live) adapting the book.


THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
Starring Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson and Zendaya
Directed by Michael Gracey
Screenplay by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon
Story by Jenny Bicks
Produced by Laurence Mark, Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping

Opening in Cinemas Nationwide on December 25, 2017

The Greatest Showman is a bold and original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and the sense of wonder we feel when dreams come to life. Inspired by the ambition and imagination of P.T. Barnum, “The Greatest Showman” tells the story of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a mesmerizing spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. The Greatest Showman is directed by exciting new filmmaker, Michael Gracey, with songs by Academy Award winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land) and starring Academy Award nominee Hugh Jackman. Jackman is joined by Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams, Zendaya, Zac Efron and Rebecca Ferguson.
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Symphony Space
Announces Just Kidding 2017/2018 Season

Symphony Space Announces the 2017-18 Season
of Just Kidding’, Featuring Saturday Performances
Designed with Kids, Families and Maximum Fun in Mind

The acclaimed Upper West Side institution provides a boredom-busting venue for eclectic, all-ages live experiences, most Saturdays from
October 2017 to March 2018

Featuring a wide-ranging mix of live performance for its family-favorite series, the 2017-18 Just Kidding performing arts season launches on Saturday, October 7 at 11 am and 2 pm with two sketch comedy performances by The Story Pirates, an uproarious experience for the whole family. The troupe features actors who take original stories submitted by children and create outlandishly funny sketches and mini-musicals that leave kids and their parents howling in the aisles.

Filled with exciting, interactive live performances -- from swashbuckling pirate puppetry to Grammy nominated family music stars -- the Just Kidding season runs most Saturdays through March 2018.  Tickets to Just Kidding performances are available online now.

Additional Fall 2017 Just Kidding performances include:
  • October 14 at 11 am – The Moonlights (Rachel Loshak and Dean Jones)
  • October 21  at 2 pm –  National Dance Institute (NDI) Celebration Team presents "Harlem Night Song."
  • October 28 at 11 am –  Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights
  • November 11  at 11 am and 2 pm – Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers: "Everybody Loves Pirates"
  • November 18 at 11 am – Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower
  • December 9  at 11 am and 2 pm – National Marionette Theatre: “Pinocchio”
  • December 16 at 11 am – Billy Kelly (comedy)
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The Theater at the 14th 
Street Y

The Theater at the 14th Street Y continues to honor the edgy, diverse, and rich history of innovative culture making in the East Village with their 2017-2018 Season.

Each year, the company presents a provocative season of theater and dance from independent New York artists in dialogue with the residency program of LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture. The goal is to provide a big picture narrative focused on social awareness and change that transcends cultures and borders. The Theater supports the creation of new art and culture by placing artists at the heart of the 14th Street Y community, and providing the space, time, and resources needed to create new work.

The Theater at the 14th Street Y welcomes artists of all backgrounds, seeking to create an inclusive and open cultural experience for all

Highlights of the season include:
●  Flux Theatre Ensemble's AM I DEAD? The Untrue Narrative of Anatomical Lewis, the Slave by Kevin R. Free
●  New Yiddish Repertory presents Awake and Sing by Clifford Odets, in the original Yiddish. 
●  Shamel Pitts and Mirelle Martins perform Black Velvet, a dance/multi-media piece developed through an art residency at São Paulo Dance Company and Escola de Dança de São Paulo in Brazil. 
●  Based on the children's book by Keren Ann Zeidel, The Invisible Book
introduces audiences to invisible characters in an invisible world, whose surroundings slowly become visible through their love for each other. 
●  14th Street Y continues the ground-breaking series by LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture, which pushes the boundaries of what Jewish art can be and what Jewish texts can teach.  LABA is a program of the 14th Street Y.  Each year, LABA Fellows share works in process partnered with a teaching in the LABAlive Series. The LABA 10th Anniversary season kicks off with DRUNK, an evening of wine tasting with renowned sommeliers, revelry, and new work inspired by ancient Jewish text.

$14@14Y Flex Pass
Subscribe to the 14th Street Y and save with Flex Pass. 
Now, you can create your own subscription series to our season!  For the low price of $42, choose any 3 shows from our upcoming season themed, OTHER. 

2017-2018 Season:
 
Addy & Uno / Realabilities
Original Concept & Book by Nava R. Stilton Ph.D.
Music & Lyrics by Bonnie Gleicher
August 28-September 24, 2017
Addy & Uno
is a new puppet musical about kids with disabilities. Told through unforgettable music, humor, and heart, this show celebrates the wondrous abilities within disability, empathy, and the understanding that it's "nice to be nice."
 
Committed / Altruistic Theater Company
Written by Natalie Menna and directed by Brock Hill
August 28-September 24, 2017
Committed examines the final days of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gough's life before his murder. The play explores the collision of an artist's unyielding vision with modern political realities and the inevitable tragedy when uncompromising values clash.
 
The Curly Monologues / Jonathan Pillot and Project Curly
September 25-28, 2017
What happens when you get twelve women, girls, and even some guys performing original Monologues that speak to the essence of who they are? This show is about way more than hair, or even the Tribe of Curls.
 
AM I DEAD? The Untrue Narrative of Anatomical Lewis, the Slave / A Flux Theatre Ensemble
Written by Kevin R. Free and directed by Heather Cohn
October 6-22, 2017
In the 1830s, the University of Virginia owned a slave called "Anatomical Lewis" who was tasked with the maintenance of its students' dissection chamber. Now, four strangers find themselves trapped forever in the purgatory of Lewis' anatomical theater - unless they can find a way to reassemble his body.
 
House on Poe Street / Yonder Window Theatre Company
Written by Fengar Gael and directed by Katie McHugh
October 27 - November 12, 2017
Two sisters inherit the house where Edgar Allen Poe penned
The Raven, only to find it haunted. This play shows how the power of poetry can affect emotions and visions of a spectral afterlife.
 
DRUNK / LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture
November 18, 2017
The 2017-18 LABA fellows kick off the season with an evening of wine, revelry and new work inspired by ancient Jewish text on the theme, WAR + PEACE.
 
Awake and Sing / New Yiddish Repertory
Written by Clifford Odets and directed by Johanna Gruenhut
November 20 - December 24, 2017
New Yiddish Rep brings an American Classic to new life in Yiddish. In this play, Clifford Odets claimed that he was writing not about individuals so much as about a whole social class being sundered by economic problems beyond their control. One solution he offers is particularly chilling and ironic.
 
Black Velvet / Shamel Pitts, Mirelle Martins and Lucca del Carlo
January 8-14, 2018
Black Velvet
is a 45-minute dance/multi-media piece performed by Shamel Pitts and Mirelle Martins, developed through an art residency at São Paulo Dance Company and Escola de Dança de São Paulo in Brazil.
 
LABAlive I
January 18, 2018
First in the new work series by 2017-2018 fellows as they present their work in progress on the theme, WAR + PEACE.
 
Y Cabaret / Bearded Ladies Productions
January 19-21, 2018
Get up close and personal with some of the hottest new choreographers in town. Experience dance outside of the boundaries of traditional performance.
 
The Invisible Book
Book created by Keren-Ann Zeidel and Elinor Milchan, adapted by Gina Bonati and Ronit Muszkatblit, music by Keren-Ann Zeidel, directed by Ronit Muszkatblit and produced by Adi Ezroni.
January 22-February 11, 2018
An invisible boy and an invisible girl wander through an invisible town - but in this invisible world, there is no sound. Then one day, a sound begins: a beating, a drumming, a thumping calling out to the invisible friends. The audience is led into a parallel world of sound and visual poetry.
 
Everything you have is yours? / LABA 2nd Stage
By Hadar Ahuvia with Mor Mendell and multimedia by Gil Sperling.
February 8-10, 2018
Everything you have is yours? is a darkly humored, evening length performance that deconstructs instructional videos of Israeli
folk dance to uncover the Arab origins of Israeli identity.
 
The Art of Loss / Bryn Cohn + Artists
February 12-18, 2018
Bryn Cohn + Artist presents their first evening of repertory,
The Art of Loss - a collection of notable works from 2014-2017 that examine isolation, intimacy and a return to the self within a universal community.
 
Tap & Tom / Felipe Galgani & Company
February 21-25, 2018
Using Tom Jobim's compositions, Felipe Galganni's
Tap & Tom is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the creation of bossa nova and Jobim's 90th birthday with an evening of tap dance, live music, and singing with music direction by award-winning Carlos Bauzys.
 
A Footnote in Ballet History / From the Horse's Mouth
March 12-18, 2018
The life and times of Magda Saleh, Prima Ballerina of Egypt, in celebration of Egyptian Dance in all its forms and traditions.
 
LABAlive II
March 22, 2018
The second showing in the new work series by 2017-2018 fellows as they present their work in progress on the theme, WAR + PEACE.
 
Y Cabaret / Bearded Ladies Productions
March 23-25, 2018
Get up close and personal with some of the hottest new choreographers in town. Experience dance outside of the boundaries of traditional performance.
 
We Are A Masterpiece / Retro Productions
Written by Gina Femia and directed by DeLisa M. White
April 6-22, 2018
During the AIDS crisis, patchwork families were formed; friends and co-workers becoming brothers and mothers, stepping into the holes that their family members left. When a nurse, Joan meets John, who has been abandoned by his partner and family, an unlikely friendship blossoms between them.
 
In[heir]itance Project
April 23-May 13, 2018
Five Cities. Three Years. One Book.
The Genesis Plays, inspired by five unique narratives were devised between 2015-2017 in Minneapolis, Charleston, Austin, Seattle, and Kansas City. The
In[heir]itance Project uses a community-driven process of theatrical tools and educational programming to create original performance events inspired by common sacred stories.
 
LABAlive III
May 31, 2018
The third and final showing in the new work series by 2017-2018 fellows as they present their work in progress on the theme, WAR + PEACE.
 
Full Season Tickets and detailed information on shows available at: www.14streety.org/tickets.
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Tune in tomorrow for this week's Sunday Scoop.

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