Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: April 23, 2006
By: Laura Deni
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THE JOYNTS ARE JUMPIN' - JAZZ FESTS

A little thing that like Katrina mess can't keep a good musician from blowing their horn.

Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band will make their first-ever Jazz Fest appearance on Sunday, April 30.

The annual New Orleans based Jazzfest will take place on its traditional last weekend in April and first weekend in May, April 28 through May 7. The festival will be held Friday-Sunday on each weekend. Missing this year is the Thursday date of the second weekend, which is no big deal since typically it's least-attended day of the festival.

Jazzfest will be held at the New Orleans Fairgrounds -- its usual location -- despite the closing of the facility for the 2005-2006 racing season due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Performers participating include; Etta James, Herbie Hancock, Dave Bartholomew, Warren Haynes, Bonerama, Red Stick Ramblers, Spencer Bohren, Darius Brooks & SDM Choir, John Rankin, Ingrid Lucia, New Orleans Jazz Vipers, Wess “Warm Daddy” Anderson, Topsy Chapman, New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra, Walter Payton & Snapbeans, Bonerama, Bobby Lounge, Bill Summers with members of Los Hombres Calientes, Mighty Chariots of Fire, Danza featuring Evan Christopher & Tom McDermott, Kirk Joseph’s Backyard Groove, Pinettes Brass Band, Olympia Brass Band, Carrollton Hunters Mardi Gras Indians and others have also been added to the lineup.

New Orleans R&B legend Fats Domino will perform and is also the subject of the annual poster, painted this year by James Micholopoulas.

Collectors of this poster series know the name Michalopoulos very well. Acclaimed as the premier artist of and in New Orleans, his studies of the architecture and people that make the City unique are remarkable for their technical prowess and for their emotional verity. His iconic Jazz Fest series has defined legends in compelling works of definitive visual mastery. His 1998 portrait of Dr. John is a recognized classic and his 2001 portrait of Louis Armstrong remains the most sought-after (and valuable) print produced in this series in over a decade.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. is the non-profit institution that oversees the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell. The Foundation uses proceeds from the Festival to develop and support special projects designed to preserve and perpetuate the area’s rich music and cultural heritage.

Stick around the neighborhood and mosey on down to Atlanta for The 29th Atlanta Jazz Festival - a 31-day schedule of events that features internationally renown jazz artists and activities throughout the Metro Atlanta area. It culminates with a 3-day festival of showstopping performances at Piedmont Park. Produced by the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, a majority of events are free and open to the public.

One of the premier jazz events in the country, The 31 Days of Jazz gives Atlantans the chance to get a taste of jazz, in every form and in many diverse venues, every day in May. From the Nightlife Series to Dinner and Jazz and Eclectic Jazz, there is ample opportunity to experience one of this country’s oldest and purest music forms.

Described by Mayor Shirley Franklin as “one of the city’s proudest traditions,” the Atlanta Jazz Festival brings legendary performers, up-and-coming talent, artists, vendors and Atlanta’s finest restaurants, as well as youth ensembles and high school performers, together for one of the largest jazz festivities in the country.

“The Atlanta Jazz Festival is one of Atlanta’s finest traditions,” said Camille Russell Love, Director of the Bureau of Cultural Affairs for the City of Atlanta. “As the largest free jazz festival in the country, we want people to experience and really get to know jazz and its rich heritage.” The 29th Annual Atlanta Jazz Festival May Events Include:

Nightlife Series: All month long enjoy the renowned sounds of live jazz nightly at bars and nightclubs throughout the metro Atlanta area including; Churchill Grounds, Apache Café, Eye Drum Art & Music Gallery, FunkJazz Kafe and more.

Jazz Etc.: Special events and concerts around the city at venues including the High Museum of Art, Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, Rialto Center for the Performing Arts and Hammonds House Museum.

Dinner and Jazz Series: A perfect combination of live jazz and delectable cuisine will be offered at restaurants including; C’est Bon, Camille’s Sidewalk Café, City Grill, Dailey’s, Justin’s, Two Urban Licks and others.

Eclectic Jazz: Experience jazz in diverse places such as the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, The High Museum of Art, The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, Callanwolde Fine Arts Center and Rialto Center for the Performing Arts.

Memorial Day Festival: Three days of pure fun over Memorial Day Weekend at Piedmont Park featuring a Jazz Education and Workshop Series, artist market, food vendors, and the Main Stage featuring live performances from world-renowned jazz performers all weekend long. In addition to the main stage, this year’s festival will feature the Future of Jazz stage, a second stage featuring Atlanta’s one-and-only Future of Jazz competition. The winner of this year’s competition will perform on the main stage the last evening of the festival.

Jazz Jams Late Night: Jazz music will be offered at the 2006 Atlanta Jazz Festival Host Hotel, the Sheraton Atlanta.

ART AND ABOUT

BROADWAY BACKERS PROMOTE DEAD PEOPLE no, not another stage mounting of Dracula doomed to death-knell reviews and an early demise. Nothing quite so pretend. We mean the real thing. Dead bodies on display - brought to you by the same folks who have given us Spamalot and The Wedding Singer.

Dead sells tickets - lots of them.

It's Bodies ... The Exhibition.

People getting their "15 minutes of fame" although they had to wait until they were deceased and dipped in plastic. Nothing seems to be more popular than those plastinated flesh and bone corpses. Spooky is in. While the first thought is that it's a concept from The House of Wax and a Vincent Price character should have been at the opening - upon inspection the impression is one of surreal, beautiful, inspiring, significant.

A sell out everywhere it's set up shop. The presentation, which opened March 4 in Atlanta has been extended to Labor Day while dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones opened April 12 at Earls Court Exhibition Center in London.

In all four venues - Atlanta, New York, Tampa or London - Bodies ... The Exhibition showcases anywhere from 20-22 whole-body specimens (dead people) and each venue has 250 organs and partial body specimens that give visitors the opportunity to see their own bodies in a fascinating way they never have before.

Painstakingly dissected through a revolutionary process of polymer preservation, where human tissue is permanently preserved using liquid silicone rubber, this remarkable specimen allows for unique observation of the internal human body while visually illustrating its amazingly complex systems.

Bodies…this exhibition enables the public to witness a world that has been taboo and off-limits for centuries. This controversial exhibition also teaches children and adults about their own bodies – in a way far more powerful than any textbook.

Teachers are encouraged to book class visits.

It offers an insider's view of the systems that keep us alive and that carry out the activities that we take for granted every day. The exhibition also serves as a wake-up call reminding us that our own decisions directly affect our health and our lives and includes powerful side by side comparisons of a healthy lung and a black lung ravaged by smoking. The exhibition encourages healthy lifestyle choices. Both fascinating and beautiful, this eye-opening exhibition is an unforgettable experience for inquisitive minds of all ages. There is no question that the exhibition changes the way people see themselves - and achieves it's goals to enlighten, empower, fascinate, and inspire.

At Earls Court in London Bodies...The Exhibition feels almost like step back in time to a Victorian freak-show.

Once people get past the "I'm looking at dead people" feeling, the creepiness disappears and one starts to enjoy this incredible exhibition.

Like any innovative work of art, there tends to be controversy and this presentation has courted it since day one.

First, there were those who thought dead bodies on display made a mockery out of resting in peace. Then the more sinister allegation came to life - that the bodies used include those of Chinese political prisoners. Nobody is sure of their political persuasions but the exhibits are made up of bodies that were taken from the Dalian Medical School in northern China. The controversy is because the Dalian Medical School gets unidentified or unclaimed corpses.

The exhibition in London is running until the end of July - the one in Atlanta until Labor Day.

The controversial exhibition, which broke all attendance records for touring exhibitions in Tampa, Florida at the Museum of Science & Industry, in New York City at the South Street Seaport, as well as Atlanta, is expected to do the same in London.

Promoters of the exhibition are Premier Exhibition, Inc. and Jam Exhibitions both experts in knowing what the people want.

Premier Exhibitions, Inc. is a major provider of museum quality touring exhibitions throughout the world, including Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, and Bodies Revealed. CPI is a multi-faceted entertainment entity with expertise in all areas of live concert and event production including tour marketing, merchandising, sponsorship, broadcast, home entertainment, as well as theatrical productions, including Broadway's smash hit Spamalot and the new Lord of the Rings stage production, and has promoted 5 of the 6 top grossing concert tours of all time including tours by the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, U2 and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

The exhibition is managed by Jam Exhibitions, a division of Jam Theatricals, a Chicago-based entertainment company that presents and produces Broadway engagements throughout North America.

Founded in 1977 by Arny Granat, Jerry Mickelson and Steve Traxler, Jam Theatricals manages subscription seasons in more than 30 cities, produces on Broadway, is the recipient of two Tony Awards for Spamalot and Glengarry Glen Ross and is currently producing the Broadway musical The Wedding Singer.

( For some body fun facts click here)

GOTHIC NIGHTMARES it's not even close to Halloween but the current exhibit at The Tate Museum in London is credited with creating a few.

Gothic Nightmares explores the work of Henry Fuseli (1741–1825) and William Blake (1757–1827) in the context of the Gothic – the taste for fantastic and supernatural themes which dominated British culture from around 1770 to 1830.

Featuring over 120 works by these artists and their contemporaries, the exhibition creates a vivid image of a period of cultural turmoil and daring artistic invention.

The central exhibit is Henry Fuseli’s famous The Nightmare 1781. Ever since it was first exhibited to the public in 1782, this picture has been an icon of horror. Showing a woman supine in her boudoir, oppressed by a foul imp while a ferocious-looking horse glares on, the painting draws on folklore and popular culture, medicine, concepts of imagination, and classical art to create a new kind of highly charged horror image. This is the most extensive display of Fuseli’s art seen in Britain since 1975 and includes around sixty of his most important canvases and drawings including Titania and Bottom c1790, The Three Witches 1783 and The Shepherd’s Dream.

A selection of works by Fuseli’s contemporaries and followers, dealing with themes of fantasy, horror and perverse sexuality, complement his work. This includes over twenty-five exceptional watercolors and paintings by the visionary artist William Blake, among which are The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy, The House of Death c1795; his vampire-like Ghost of a Flea, The Whirlwind: Ezekial’s Vision c1803–5; The Witch of Endor Raising the Spirit of Samuel 1783 and Death on a Pale Horse c1800.

The exhibition is further enriched with works on Gothic and fantastic themes by, among others, Joseph Wright of Derby, George Romney, James Barry and Maria Cosway, John Flaxman and Theodore von Holst, and features a large group of caricatures by James Gillray, whose satirical works incorporate some of the most inventive cosmic and fantastic imagery of the era. A special section of the exhibition presents a recreation of a Phantasmagoria show - a kind of animated slideshow with sound effects and shocking images - giving visitors to the exhibition a chance to experience at first hand the same chills and thrills as their forebears in the 1800s.

As a literary phenomenon, the Gothic has had an enduring influence. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), and the novels of Matthew ‘Monk’ Lewis, William Beckford and Ann Radcliffe are still widely read. Modern Gothic novelists including Angela Carter, Patrick McGrath and Toni Morrison are highly regarded, and the Gothic continues to influence film and TV - from classics like Nosferatu (1922) through to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2002) – and visual artists like Glenn Brown and the Chapman brothers. This exhibition is the first to explore the roots of this phenomenon in the visual arts of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.

The exhibition is curated by Martin Myrone and accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue featuring essays by Professor Sir Christopher Frayling on The Nightmare and the heritage of horror, and Professor Marina Warner on Fuseli’s fairies.

The exhibition closes on May 1.



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SWEET CHARITY

HAY FEVER penned by Noël Coward in just 72-hours, had it's first four previews canceled because its star, Dame Judi Dench, had the flu - not hayfever. Fully recovered, the Oscar and seven-time Laurence Olivier Award winner steals the show.

Hay Fever is one of Noël Coward’s best-loved social farces. The classic comedy of bad manners about a flamboyant family have characters named Judith and David Bliss - based on real life friends of the playwright, American actress Laurette Taylor and her husband Hartley Manners. The eccentric couple were renowned for their table manners, surprised guests would often endure shrill arguments - waged entirely among the family - which often ended with them storming out of the room, leaving their bewildered guests to make what they could of the rest of the evening.

Judi Dench plays Judith Bliss, a flighty retired actress who lives a melodramatic whirl of a life with her husband and two grown-up children in their country home. When each of the quartet invites a guest to stay, none of the four invitees quite knows what they’ve let themselves in for. Peter Bowles plays Dench’s stage husband David, and the cast also includes Belinda Lang, Kim Medcalf, William Chubb, Charles Edwards and Dan Stevens.

This revival is directed by Sir Peter Hall.

On Monday, April 25 a Gala Evening takes place with all proceeds supporting the theatre's Masterclass Trust and its program of free workshops, vocational events and projects for young people. There is a champagne reception with more champagne served during intermission followed by a post-show dinner at nearby Mint Leaf, with celebrity guests, hosted by the Chairman of the Theatre Royal Haymarket, Arnold Crook.

Hay Fever has performances at the 888 seat Haymarket Theatre in London's West End through August 5.

YEAR OF THE MAMMOTH Woolly Mammoth Theatre's Annual Benefit Bash where attendees are encouraged to "dress to get lucky." The event begins with Cocktails & Silent Auction, followed by Dinner, Live Auction, Entertainment and Dancing. Last year's event was a huge success, raising over $175,000 to support Woolly's artistic and education & outreach programming.

Saturday, April 29 at the Fairmont in Washington, DC.

SYMPHONY SPACE DELIVERS A CELEBRATION IN STORY AND SONG In keeping with our tradition of honoring artists, supporters and longtime friends of Symphony Space, we will be honoring the actress Marian Seldes, musical genius Peter Schickele.

Honorary Chairs: Alec Baldwin, Stephen and Evelyn Colbert. Chairs: Steven and Evelyn Alden, Saul and Carole Zabar, Stanley and Judith Zabar.

The event will begin with a pre-dinner cocktail reception and silent auction. Dinner will follow with an entertaining program of awards, readings, songs, and a live auction.

Monday, May 1 at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, NYC.

SPREADING THE WORD

INTERNSHIPS AT NEW YORK STATE THEATRE INSTITUTE College Students and Selected High School Seniors are Eligible.

For more than 30 years, NYSTI has been on the cutting edge of training students with individualized internships that truly educate and prepare them for advanced study or the profession.

Since 1974, more than 1,300 interns from more than 80 colleges and universities, 14 foreign countries, and dozens of high schools have interned at NYSTI which is located in Troy, New York.

Participants will be assigned an individual mentor from NYSTI's experienced staff of actors, educators, and technicians. Interns earn academic credit from their home campus. Every intern's academic requirements are assessed by NYSTI's Intern Program Director, and a program is developed to insure your requirements are fulfilled. Academic programs are designed so that high school seniors will graduate with their class at their home campus.

Those lucky enough to be selected are assigned to work in one of the many areas of theatre during each production: performance, costumes, tech, arts management, education, and so on. Interns may audition for NYSTI's productions and in the past interns have frequently been cast.

There are also a variety of theatre classes and workshops. In addition, some academic classes are offered to insure that interns fulfill their school's graduation requirements.

AN EVENING WITH STEPHEN SCHWARTZ From his time at Juilliard, to his grand success on Broadway, follow the path of Stephen Schwartz, the composer/lyricist of such legendary works as Godspell, Pippin, and his most recent Broadway hit, Wicked. Moderated by ASCAP Director of Musical Theater Michael Kerker, this discussion/demonstration invites you into the world of one of the American theater's most talented artists. May 1 in the Atrium Rehearsal Room.



JAMES HOUGHTON has been named the new director of drama for The Juilliard School. His appointment begins with the 2006-7 academic and performance season. Houghton the founding artistic director of the nonprofit Signature Theater Company in New York, will remain with the company - which is celebrating its 15th anniversary and is known for its single-playwright seasons. Houghton succeeds Michael Kahn, who will conclude a 14-year tenure as director of the drama division at the close of the academic term. A member of the drama faculty at Juilliard since the creation of the division in 1968, Kahn will continue as a teacher.



THREE DAYS OF RAIN starring Julie Roberts, Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd. Paid full price to see the show prior to the press previews. I once dropped everything and flew across the country to accept the opening night invitation when Nicole Kidman opened in The Blue Room. I left the theatre vowing that I would never again be sucked in just because a production touted a movie star on the bill. Enough time passes and promises made to oneself can be forgotten.

Julie Roberts sold tickets based, not on the promise of seeing a classic play or great acting - or both - but on the opportunity to spent a couple of hours within a few yards of the superstar. Then be able to go home and talk about whether Roberts is as beautiful in real life as she is in on screen.

The last time a high wattage female icon waded into the Broadway pool was Kidman in The Blue Room. People bought tickets then because of the promise to see Kidman strip down to all her skinny nakedness. Now there is Julie Roberts. Her nakedness is more profound - stripped down to no second takes, no director constantly telling her how to say a line and repositioning her should she miss a mark. No six weeks to shoot one movie. No post edit. The stage is a naked world. You're just out there. A great stage star makes it look so easy that they are taken for granted and, compared to the rest of the profession, grossly underpaid.

To Roberts' absolute credit is her courage to try Broadway. She is a shinning star bonus. No PR firm or ad campaign could have brought the attention to Broadway that the magnet known as Roberts pulled. Broadway used her - she didn't use Broadway. Putting Three Days of Rain on her resume will not generate one new movie part and last we heard she doesn't really need to work.

The fact that she is miscast in Three Days of Rain isn't her fault. More relaxed during previews, it shouldn't have been a jaw dropper that she appeared terrified on opening night.

Casting against type is always risky. An awestruck audience needed to first get used to gawking at her before attention was paid to the production. Hindsight is great - it would have been glorious to see her in a frothy comedy where her mega watt smile and delightful personality could have been exploited. Then, after the newness of Julia on stage had worn off, cast her in a drama. Or, if the drama had to be the first choice - in a well known property - where her performance wouldn't be subject to microscopic dissection. When Paul Newman narrated Our Town it's too bad Roberts wasn't in the cast.

If you already have tickets, don't give them to the babysitter. If it was a familiar Broadway actress on stage, rather than an icon whose image spawned unrealistic expectations, the reviews wouldn't have been so dreadful.

MARTIN SHORT: FAME BECOMES ME Martin Short's uproarious Broadway extravaganza, with huge and unnecessary set changes, stampeding livestock, unpatented pyrotechnics and a live birth at select matinees. Filling the stage with unforgettable characters (along with a brilliant troupe of top Broadway performers and musicians, who upstage Mr. Short whenever he lets them), and co-written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (who don't need the money because they wrote Hairspray), Short brings over 20 years of comic genius to the Broadway stage, and leaves it there.

April 25 through May 21 at the Curren Theatre in San Francisco.

RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET by Bob Carlton - a hilarious send-up of sci-fi B movies that plays riotous havoc with Shakespeare's The Tempest while rockin' with 50s & 60s favorites including Good Vibrations, Great Balls of Fire, Teenager in Love, Young Girl, Only the Lonely and the Monster Mash.

Return to the Forbidden Planet first appeared in the West End in September 1989 and clashed with the opening of Miss Saigon. Many thought that this would be the end of the show, but far from it. In April, 1990 it won the Laurence Olivier Award for the Best Musical. and during its New York run was nominated for two Outer Critics Circle Awards.

Return to the Forbidden Planet lands at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, Ireland April 25 to May 6.

BRUNDIBAR & BUT THE GIRAFFE a program of two short works. Renowned children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, and Tony Kushner one of the most important voices in American theater, team up to create an extraordinary theatrical event. Showcasing the power of the human spirit, Sendak's colorful stage designs are the vibrant setting for Kushner's adaptations.

Brundibar, an opera that was composed during the turbulent years preceding World War II is about a brother and sister who join forces with some talking animals and brave kids to outwit the town's sinister organ grinder and earn enough money to buy milk for their sick mother. Brundibar became a powerful protest against the Nazis, after being performed 55 times by the children of the Terezin concentration camp. Its companion piece is Tony Kushner’s But the Giraffe, a Curtain Raiser to Hans Krasa’s Brundibar, a new work of imagination based very loosely on an actual event: the smuggling of the score of Brundibar into Terezin by its conductor, Rudolph Freudenfeld.

Production designed by Maurice Sendak with Kris Stone. Music composed by Hans Krasa. English adaptations by Tony Kushner, from Adolf Hoffmeister. Directed by Tony Taccone.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre / Yale Repertory Theatre from Berkeley, CA / New Haven, CT present the production April 28 - May 21 at the New Victory Theatre in NYC.

STRIP SEARCH written and performed by Adria Tennor. Melora Hardin, who currently stars with Steve Carrell in NBC’s The Office will make her directorial stage debut with this new comedy about a woman who unveils her discoveries about sex and love and a twelve-foot pole. The seven-week limited engagement opens Tuesday, May 9 at the Acme Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles.

Strip Search follows the adventures of Adria Tennor, who, in her quest for bliss, finds herself heartbroken and at her wit’s end with her Midwestern parents’ morals, men (drunk ones in particular), and her hypochondriac, bored, blond boss. Disillusion, but not without moxie, she follows the advice of her former math teacher, and takes a break from sex, dating, therapy and pilates, and instead gives strip dancing classes a go. Through her dancing she discovers a whole lot more than just a pole in her studio apartment.

First-time stage director Melora Hardin portrays Jan Levinson, corporate boss and love interest of Steve Carrell's character, Michael Scott, on NBC's mockumentary, The Office.

In addition to numerous television and feature film roles she has appeared on stage in The Old Globe's production of All's Well That Ends Well, Richard III at the Mark Taper Forum, and My Children of Africa! for the Los Angeles Theatre Center and the Henry Fonda Theatre.

She makes her stage directorial debut with Strip Search, and later this month, will also make her feature film directorial debut with You, written by her husband, Gildart Jackson. The film stars the couple, as well as Ned Beatty, Amy Pietz, Jerry Hardin, Allison Mack, Joely Fisher, and Michael Reilly Burke.

Hardin’s creative team includes: lighting and technical designer Brett Sheridan and costume designer Danielle Morrow.

The seven-week limited engagement opens Tuesday, May 9 at the Acme Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles.

THE LARK By Jean Anouilh.

The Lark tells the story of the life of one of history’s greatest women, Joan of Arc. “The Maid of Orleans” describes how heavenly voices came to her, urging her to leave her home and family to lead France’s army to victory against the occupying English armies during the Hundred Years War in the 15th century. "The Lark" follows Joan’s journey as she grows from an innocent, devout child to lead an army with the same faith and devotion, and save her homeland. It is also the story of her imprisonment, trial for heresy, and ultimately her death at the hands of her accusers.

Set Design by Victor A. Becker. Costume Design by Robert Anton. Lighting Design by John McLain. Sound Design by 100% Sound. Production Stage Manager Michael A. Bartuccio.

April 28 – May 13 at NYSTI in Troy, NY.

COMPANY The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's landmark musical Company, directed by John Doyle, will be presented on Broadway this November at a theatre yet-to-be-named.

The show will be produced by the New York co-producers of Doyle's current Broadway hit Sweeney Todd.

Most of the cast of the Cincinnati production are expected to reprise their roles on Broadway. The same is true for the show's creative team, which also includes musical supervision and orchestrations by Mary-Mitchell Campbell, set design by David Gallo, costume design by Ann Hould-Ward and lighting design by Thomas C. Hase. Confirmed casting and theatre information will be announced shortly.

According to Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Edward Stern, "This is a thrilling announcement for the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and for the Cincinnati arts community. What excites me most is that Cincinnati audiences enjoyed the opportunity to see the premiere of this remarkable stage event prior to its presentation on Broadway"

THE STORY by Tracey Scott Wilson. Prize-Winning Drama about Race, Reporting, and the Truth gets West Coast premiere. The sometimes elusive nature of truth is explored in the West Coast premiere of The Story at International City Theatre. Tracey Scott Wilson’s award-winning examination of journalistic integrity, social politics and race relations stars Rachel Avery, Judyann Elder, Adria Madison, Jeff Marlow, Tann Moore, Michael Craig Patterson, Toi Perkins, Jennifer Shelton and Tippi Thomas, and is directed by caryn desai [sic].

The Story begins previews at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, where ICT is the resident professional theater company, on April 25.

A young, ambitious African American newspaper reporter (Shelton) investigates the brutal murder of a white man in a black neighborhood. In her eagerness to break the story, the boundaries between reality and fiction become dangerously blurred.

Jayson Blair, Stephen Glass and Jack Kelley recently made headlines for fabricating news stories. But Wilson's play was inspired by a much earlier incident - the disgrace of Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke, who returned the 1980 Pulitzer Prize upon the discovery that the subject of her award-winning feature, an 8-year old heroin addict, was sheer invention.

"I was always fascinated by the Janet Cooke story," Wilson said in an interview. "The problem is, once you start lying, especially on a large scale, it becomes addictive and second nature, but you have to maintain it. Imagine the stress of living a lie. Janet Cooke had headaches; she couldn't sleep."

"Controversies surrounding journalistic ethics are more volatile now than ever," comments desai. "To what lengths should a reporter go to get a story, and at what cost? Should journalists be forced to reveal their sources, even if that means their investigations may be compromised? If not, how are facts verified?"

Wilson's The Story premiered at New York’s Public Theater in a joint production with the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven (where it later played), garnering her both the 2004 Kesselring Prize for Playwriting and the 2004 Whiting Award.

The Story is produced by Shashin Desai; set design is by Dan Wheeler; lighting design is by Jeremy Pivnick; and casting is by Michael Donovan Casting.

ICT will be hosting a Symposium on Ethics in Journalism in conjunction with the production of The Story. This free panel discussion will be held on Sunday. April 30 and will be moderated by Larry Allison, Editorial Page Editor at the Press-Telegram.

THE MERRY WIDOW by Franz Lehár. Librettists Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story - concerning a rich widow, Hanna Glawari, and her attempt to find a husband - on an 1861 comedy play, L'Attache d'ambassade (The Ambassador's Attache) by Henri Meilhac.

The operetta was first performed at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on December 30, 1905. Well-known music from the score includes the songs Vilja, You'll Find Me at Maxim's, and The Merry Widow Waltz.

The cast includes; Keither Phares, Diane Alexander, John Stephens, Amy Lynn Grable, Ryan MacPherson, Daniel Erbe, Jonathan Thomas, Robert Gibby Brand, Michael Zhang, Jennifer Powell, Elizabeth Bennett, Margaret Hauber, David Lara, Jeff McEvoy and Dorothy Danner.

Opens April 29 at The Lyric Opera of Kansas City.

TROIKA: GOD, TOLSTOY AND SOPHIA by Peter Levy. Directed by Karen Raphaeli. Troika tells the story of the final days of Leo Tolstoy, one of the world's great novelists, best known for his literary masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina.

Troika uncovers the personal and private side of the venerable Russian author, giving us a glimpse into the troubled life of one of the 19th century's major literary figures. Socialist ideals and family loyalty clash as an ill and aging Tolstoy renounces his possessions while Sophia, his desperate and angry wife, tries to prevent the loss of her inheritance.

Levy's well-researched account of Tolstoy's life, work, and death creates a complex and revealing portrait of a man who Virginia Wolfe once dubbed, "The greatest of all novelists."

Opens April 27th with performances through June 17th, at The 13th Street Repertory Theater in Manhattan.

LI'L ABNER winner of two Tony awards is a fun-filled, foot-stompin' extravaganza. Book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank. Based on the characters created by Al Capp. Lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Music by Gene de Paul. Directed by Scott Schwartz. Choreographed by Patti Colombo.

Trouble begins in the cornseed town of Dogpatch, USA when the government decides to wipe it off the map. Hilarious protests and a riotous Sadie Hawkins Day chase ensue. Based on the classic comic strip, Li'l Abner is packed with one showstopping dance after another - pure entertainment for the whole family.

Li’l Abner features: Curt Buckler, Trent Armand Kendall, Glenn Lawrence, William McCauley, Christeena Riggs, John Shuman, Andrea Wolff, and Michele Ragusa. The cast also includes: Paul Aguirre, Jennifer Balagna, Adriene Couvillion, Larry Daggett, Dick Decareau, Ryan Donovan, Jeff Hiller, Krista Kurtzberg, Nick Locilento, Kate Marilley, Eddie Rabon, Shane Rhoades, Mark Roland, Sarrah Strimel, Shorey Walker and Christopher Windom. Ginger Child Smith, Dante Russo and Marcellus Waller are credited as swings for this production.

Opened April 21 with performances through July 2 at Goodspeed in East Haddam, CT.

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WHO'S WHERE

ERIN BODE performs Saturday, April 29 at the Cedarburg Cultural Center in Cedarburg, WI.

BELLA FLECK AND THE FLECKTONES on stage Wednesday, April 28 at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, WI. On Friday the show is at the Grand Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Saturday they perform at the State Theatre in Cleveland.

DIANE SCHUUR stars at the Stephens Auditorium in Ames, Iowa on April 23.

PETER FRAMPTON opens a two night gig Friday, April 28, at the Atlantic City Hilton.

RAVI SHANKAR'S FESTIVAL OF INDIAN III featuring Ravi Shankar, sitar Anoushka Shankar, sitar and Tanmoy Bose, tabla.

Sitar player and composer Ravi Shankar’s six-decade-long career holds the Guinness Record for longest international career. In 1999, the government of India honored Shankar by awarding him its highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna (“Jewel of India”).

Performance Wednesday, April 26, LA Philharmonic, Los Angeles.

CHICK COREA performs Monday, April 24, at the Tampa Theatre in Tampa, Florida. On Wednesday he can be enjoyed at the Theatre Du Casino in Gatineau, QC. Friday finds him at the Berklee Performance Centre in Boston. On Saturday the show is at the west Connecticut State University in Danbury, CT.

PETER, PAUL AND MARY entertain Friday, April 28, at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ.

CHRIS BOTTI opens a two night stand tonight, April 23, at the Arlene Schnitzer Hall in Portland, OR. Tuesday finds the musician at the Smith Auditorium in Salem, Oregon. On Wednesday he can be enjoyed at the Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah at Salt Lake City. On Friday he opens a two nighter at Pacific Symphony in Santa Ana, CA.

AL STEWART on stage Monday, April 24 at Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA. On Wednesday the show is at The Handlebar in Greenville, SC. On Friday he begins a two night stand at The Old Theatre in Oriental, NC.

PAUL ANKA on Thursday, April 27, performs at the Pakais De Congress in Paris.

AUDRA McDONALD sings classic songs from the musicals of Rodgers & Hammerstein (The Sound of Music), Lerner & Loewe (My Fair Lady), Stephen Sondheim (Merrily We Roll Along, Anyone Can Whistle, A Little Night Music), Bock & Harnick (She Loves Me), Harold Arlen, and others, with full orchestra conducted by Ted Sperling with special guest pianist Fred Hersch. Performance Saturday, April 29 at Isaac Stern Auditorium in NYC.

THE OAK RIDGE BOYS on stage Thursday, April 27 at the Community Theatre in Morristown, NJ. On Saturday the show is at the Bocyrus Middle School in Bucyrus, Ohio.

THE NEVILLE BROTHERS are in the spotlight Tuesday, April 25, at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, CT. On Thursday they are on stage at Sculler's in Allston, MA. Friday finds the group at the College of Staten Island in Staten Island, NY and on Saturday they perform at the Shell Showroom in Atlantic City.

WAYNE BRADY opens a two night gig at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas on Friday, April 28.

FINAL OVATION

HENDERSON FORSYTHE 88, who earned a 1979 Best Featured Actor in a Musical Tony Award for playing Ed Earl Dodd, the Texas sheriff perplexed about closing down a brothel in Broadway's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, died April 17 in Williamsburg, VA.

In the film version his role was played by Burt Reynolds.

Forsythe became known to television audiences as Dr. David Stewart on As the World Turns, a role he played for 33 years.

His Broadway credits included Some Americans Abroad (1990), A Texas Trilogy: The Oldest Living Graduate (1976), The Freedom of the City (1974), The Engagement Baby (1970), Harvey (1970), The Birthday Party (1967), A Delicate Balance (1966), Malcolm (1966), The Right Honourable Gentleman (1965), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962-64), Miss Lonelyhearts (1957) and The Cellar and the Well (1950).

Born in Macon, MO, on Sept. 11, 1917, he grew up in Monroe City, MO He transferred from Culver-Stockton College to the University of Iowa in 1938, where he appeared in university productions, earned two theatre degrees, and was a classmate of playwright Tennessee Williams. It was at the University that he met Dorothea Carlson, an actress, who became his wife in 1942. During World War II, he fought in the European Theatre, attaining the rank of Captain.

In addition to his wife he is survived by son Eric and daughter-in-law Kathryn; son Jason and daughter-in-law Anna; and four grandchildren; Grant, Gwyneth, Richard and Michelle. A memorial service was held April 21 at Williamsburg Landing, Williamsburg, VA. Donations in his memory may be made to The Actors' Fund of America, 729 Seventh Avenue (10th Floor), New York, NY 10019.

Next Column: April 30, 2006
Copyright: April 23, 2006. All Rights Reserved. Reviews, Interviews, Commentary, Photographs or Graphics from any Broadway To Vegas (TM) columns may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, utilized as leads, or used in any manner without permission, compensation and/or credit.
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Laura Deni

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