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Copyright: November 12, 2000
By: Laura Deni
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BARBRA STREISAND FINALLY
IS RECOGNIZED AS A DIRECTOR
The American Film Institute will present Barbra Streisand with their 29th annual AFI Life
Achievement Award making her the first female director to be so honored.
The AFI ceremony will be held Feb. 22 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA
BROADWAY'S NEW YOUNG
HEIRS APPARENT TAKE OVER
The New York Pops, led by Associate Conductor Charles Prince, will perform New Faces on
Broadway, a concert devoted to recent music written for the theater, on Friday, November 17.
Skitch Henderson will narrate.
BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL AND MARIN
MAZZIE in Kiss Me Kate PHOTO By: Joan Marcus
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The program features works by several young composers --Michael John LaChiusa, Jason Robert
Brown, Adam Guettel - the grandson of Richard Rodgers - and Ricky Ian Gordon -- as well as
favorites by Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, Richard Rodgers and George Gershwin. The
performers include Jason Danieley, Marin Mazzie, Billy Porter, and Emily Skinner.
Composer Michael John LaChiusa has premiered three shows at The Public Theater in New York,
where he was Artist-in-Residence for the 1997-98 season. LaChiusa has also served as the
Composer-in-Residence at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he has been commissioned to
compose and write an original opera. He has seen three of his works performed at The Lincoln
Center Theater, most recently Marie Christine, an 1890's adaptation of Euripides's
Medea.
In 1997, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, for which LaChiusa wrote the music and lyrics,
received a Tony nomination for Best Musical. His jazz-themed musical The Wild Party is
currently being performed on Broadway. Mr. LaChiusa is the recipient of the Obie Award for
Hello Again and First Lady Suite, the 1997 Gilman Gonzalez-Falla Award, and in 1989, was the
first recipient of the Stephen Sondheim Award in 1989.
PARADE with music and lyrics by Jason
Robert Brown
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Jason Robert Brown's first musical, Songs for a New World, directed by Daisy Prince,
made it's Off-Broadway debut at the WPA Theatre in New York in 1995, and was subsequently
recorded by RCA Victor.
For his work on that show and others in progress he was given the 1996 Gilman and
Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theatre Award. Shortly thereafter, he was commissioned to write the
music and lyrics for Parade, based on a book by Alfred Uhry and directed by Harold
Prince, which premiered at The Lincoln Center Theater in 1998 and subsequently won both the
Drama Desk and New York Drama Critic's Circle awards for Best New Musical.
He added another award to the mantle when he brought home a Tony Award for his work on
Parade.
Two of his songs were included on Audra McDonald's album Way Back to
Paradise.
His new musical, The Last Five Years, will be performed as part of the Chicago-area
Northlight Theater's 2000-2001 season. He has also worked as an arranger, orchestrator, or
musical director for such talents as: A New Brain, Dinah Was, Paul Robinson's All American,
When Pigs Fly, and Liza Minnelli.
Adam Guettel, grandson of the celebrated Broadway composer Richard Rodgers, is no stranger
to the world of musical theater.
ADAM GUETTEL Photo By: Kate
Raudenbush
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His most recent work includes Love's Fire, a collaboration with John Guare for The
Acting Company, and Saturn Returns, performed at The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New
York Shakespeare Festival.
The gifted composer also wrote the music and lyrics for Floyd Collins at Playwrights
Horizons, which went on to be presented at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego in 1999, the
Prince Music Theater (American Music Theatre Festival) in Philadelphia, and The Goodman
Theatre in Chicago, and was premiered in the U.K. at The Bridewell Theatre, London in July
1999.
Guettel also has a plate full of awards, including the Stephen Sondheim Award (1990), the Obie
Award (1996), the Lucille Lortel Award (1996), and the ASCAP New Horizons Award
(1997).
Composer Ricky Ian Gordon's work spans several genres, from music for the concert hall and
opera to dance, theatre and film. His recent credits include Only Heaven with Encompass
Music Theatre; Stonewall: Night Variations, a collaboration with writer/director Tina
Landau for En Garde Arts of New York; The Angel Voices of Men for the New York
City Gay Men's Chorus, and States of Independence - also with Landau - for the 1993
American Music Theatre Festival in Philadelphia.
His work has been featured on several recordings, and he has composed pieces for such
celebrated singers as Renee Fleming, Carol Vaness and Teresa Stratas.
Gordon is the recipient of several awards, including the 1989 National Institute for Music
Theatre Award, the 1991 Stephen Sondheim Award, the 1993 and 1994 Gilman and
Gonzalez-Falla Theatre Foundation Special Recognition Awards, and multiple awards from
ASCAP, the American Music Center, and Meet the Composer.
Now in his fourth season with The New York Pops, Associate Conductor Charles Prince -- son
of producer/director Harold Prince -- represents a stunning new, younger generation of
acclaimed American conductors.
Charles Prince studied with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Gustav Meier, and Kurt Sanderling,
after studying Music History and Theory from Oberlin College, where he worked with Robert
Page of The Cleveland Orchestra. He has also worked extensively with one of Europe's most
eminent conductors, Jorma Panula, in Helsinki.
The talented son has been a frequent guest conductor throughout the U.S. and Europe. He was
the Music Director of the Tony Award Winning Broadway production of James Joyce's
The Dead in New York and Los Angeles. He conducted The Brooklyn Philharmonic in their
Gala Concert Weekend for Stephen Sondheim at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and The City
of London Philharmonic Sondheim Tonight tribute at the Barbican.
He conducted the world premier performances of Ricky Ian Gordon's The Tibetan
Book of the Dead: A Liberation Through Hearing in Houston and Philadelphia,
the New York State Theatre Institute's world premier of Richard Peaslee's The Snow
Queen, and the Munich Radio Orchestra recorded performance of the Gala Concert for Hal
Prince. He has served as the Second Kapellmeister of Germany's Gorlitz Opera House.
The New York Pops, founded and directed by Skitch Henderson, is the largest independent pops
orchestra in the country. Now in its 18th season, its repertoire includes works by many favorite
composers of the 20th century, such as Cole Porter, Aaron Copland, Kurt Weill, Leonard
Bernstein, Irving Berlin, Igor Stravinsky, and George Gershwin. The New York Pops also
performs music from Broadway, Hollywood symphonic scores, jazz, and folk music. It has made
several recordings under the direction of Henderson, including From Berlin to Bernstein; The
New York Pops Goes to the Movies; The New York Pops Christmas in the Country, and
Magical Moments from Great Musicals. Strongly committed to music education, the Pops
participates in several programs to introduce young people to classical and symphonic pops
music. These include Salute to Music, providing junior high school students with free music
lessons, Kids in the Balcony, which brings hundreds of children to Carnegie Hall for The New
York Pops Birthday Galas, and Building Audiences for Tomorrow, which encourages music
appreciation in young ears
RADIO CITY MUSICAL HALL
ROCKETTES CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR
Fill your heart with the holiday spirit at The Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The
Rockettes, which has opened in New York at Radio City Music Hall.
It's a tradition that touches the hearts of young and old alike, and this year's show promises to be
more memorable than ever!
THE HIGH KICKING ROCKETTES WITH
SANTA
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America's #1 Christmas Show noted for those high kicking girls with the long legs has some long
legs of its own. The production is also in Branson, Mo. running through December 16, at The
Grand Palace for a for a seventh sensational season.
The Radio City Christmas Spectacular features all the grandeur of the original New York
production and is showcased at Branson's largest and most luxurious theater, The Grand
Palace, which is owned and operated by Syncor Entertainment, Inc.
This holiday extravaganza features a full cast of singers, dancers, colorful costumes and elaborate
sets including ice-skating snowmen on an ice rink, a New York skyline and a festive city street.
Dazzling production numbers by the Radio City Rockettes include favorites such as Carol of
the Bells, The Parade of Wooden Soldiers and The Living Nativity. These last two
scenes have been performed at Radio City Music Hall since 1933.
The Christmas Spectacular, in Branson, Missouri, is almost a homecoming for the Rockettes, as
the original "Missouri Rockets" made their stage debut in St. Louis in 1925, eight years prior to
kicking up their heels on the great stage at Radio City.
The Radio City Christmas Spectacular has become a beloved family tradition for visitors to Ozark
Mountain Christmas and the Branson Area Festival of Lights. More than 200,000 visitors from all
over the United States come to America's heartland to experience the Radio City Christmas
Spectacular.
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LAURA
LINDA HAMILTON
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starring Linda Hamilton as the captivating creature every man falls in love with. Vera Caspary
and George Sklar's romantic mystery of the same name, officially opened November 10 with
performances through December 17 at Los Angeles' Tiffany Theatre.
Hamilton best known as the beauty half in the CBS fantasy series, Beauty and the Beast
became interested in acting while still a child. After two years of college, she headed to New York
where she studied with the Lee Strasberg Theatre and with coach Nicholas Ray.
After some theater and a one day appearance on Search for Tomorrow where she had nine
lines, she headed to Hollywood where she began work in television.
The five foot four inch, size two actress who admits she got "too buff" pumping up for her role as
the muscular heroine in the Terminator films and has over come manic-depressive bouts, is
all feminine and glorious as Laura, based on the classic 1944 film noir - which was, in
turn, based on Caspary's novel.
David Raksin's haunting song Laura which was turned not only into a hit but a classic
originally written for the movie, is featured in this production.
Co-starring with Hamilton are Robin Thomas as Detective McPherson, Stanley Kamel as
wealthy journalist Waldo Lydecker, Tom Astor as Shelby Carpenter, Matthew Godfrey as
Danny Dorgan, Karen Tarleton as Mrs. Dorgan and Myra Turley as Bessie Clarey.
Lynette McNeil directs. John Iacovelli's sets, Monique L'Houreux in charge of lighting; Costumes
by Dick Magnanti.
THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE
UNIVERSE that Lily Tomlin delight, began previews last night at
the Booth Theatre for this return engagement. The solo show won Tomlin a Tony Award in 1985.
The play, in which Tomlin does what she does best - playing to our sensitivities through unusual,
heartbreaking, optimistic, absurd, and humorous characters, is directed by co-author Jane
Wagner. Klara Zieglerova in charge of the scenic design; Ken Billington lighting director, G.
Thomas Clark and Mark Bennett on sound. Official opening is Thursday Performances to
January 21.
ARMONK strange tales from a
strange town, by Sean Sutherland, directed by Eileen Myers, begins Nov. 14 at the Ensemble
Studio Theatre, NYC. Armon is a journey through one weird town- a cross between the
old Sid Caeaar Show of Shows, Saturday Night Live and The Marx Brothers.
Performing comedy material together for the past four years, the cast is made up of eight
comically inclined actors: Paul Bartholomew, Derrick McGinty, Heather Robinson, Sonya Rokes,
Sarah Rose, Eric Scott, Kevin Shinick and Sean Sutherland. This show is the best of the material
they've performed - combined together in one show for the first time. Through December 19. No
performance on November 21.
AUTO-TRAINS, FIRE ANTS and LESBIANS by Michael Garin has begun a limited engagment off Broadway at the
Flatiron Playhouse, NYC. Garin is the co-created and starred in the off-Broadway hit Song of
Singapore winning both the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama Desk Awards. In this
production Garin presents seventy minutes of theatre and nightclub songs and popular standards.
There are international hits from as far away as Argentina and Egypt featuring an Arabic
sing-a-long, odes to Fire Ants and Lesbians. Michael's entire score from the adobe theatres'
The Handless Maiden, and a look back to his first gig as Bar Car pianist on the Aut-Train.
The show is directed by Jeremy Dobrisli. Set design by Steve Capone, lighting design by Michael
Gottlieb and sound design by Chris Todd. The producers are Bill Miller and Stanley
Steinberg.
ANNIE GET YOUR GUN
TOM WOPAT and MARILU HENNER in
Annie Get Your Gun Henner had a fingernail polish faux pas
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starring Marilu Henner and Tom Wopat in the touring production of the Irving Berlin
musical.
Henner calls it her most favorite job since Taxi.
Henner also appeared in
Chicago on Broadway and in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay Resort.
Just because she's
experienced doesn't mean the talented star can't make a mistake - like the recent night when she
went on stage wearing bright pink nail polish - something Annie Oakley would never have done -
if they even had that shade back them. Now, Henner tacks a sign up her in dressing room
reminding her to remove all nail polish.
Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Jackson Hall, through Monday. The show then moves to
Sacramento for performances November 15-19 followed by a Cosa Mesa,CA run November
21-26
WHO'S WHERE
JOHN LITHGOW
JOHN LITHGOW
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that stage, screen and television series star returned to Carnegie Hall today as
guest artist
for the Carnegie Hall Family Concert titled Farkle and Friends.
The program, in which Lithgow
spoke, sang new and old zany songs, and played the guitar,
is based on his new - and first -
children's book, The Remarkable Farkle McBride. It's the story of a
musical child prodigy
who, after learning to play one instrument after another, soon loses
interest because he can't stand
how each instrument sounds by itself.
At age 10, Farkle discovers his true calling: conducting
the orchestra, where all of the instruments play together.
Lithgow wrote the book, he has said,
as a new way of introducing young people to the symphony orchestra. Guest Artist Bill Elliott,
Music Director Orchestra of St. Luke's. The concert was sold out
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN University
of Illinois @ Chicago- UIC Pavillion on November 13. Chicago.
KAREN MASON will be making a
special guest appearance with ALAN BERGMAN at the Algonquin Hotel from November 28th through
December 2nd. Mike Renzi will be on piano.
SARAH BRIGHTMAN round out her
American tour this week with performances November 14 in Grand Rapids, MI at
the Van Andel Arena November 15 in Milwaukee, WI at the Riverside Theatre.
Her tour then continues in Europe November 21 in Oslo at the
Spektrum.
SHIRLEY CAESAR performs
November 14 in Austin, Texas at the Frank Erwin Center and does the
same on November 16 in Hampton, VA at the Hampton Coliseum.
DIXIE CHICKS at the
Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado on November 17 and then take center stage November 19 in
Phoenix, AZ at the America West Arena.
OAK RIDGE BOYS
perform November 15 in Fairfax, VA at George Mason University. Then it's on to Burgettstown, PA
for a show at the Pepsi Cola Roadhouse November 16.
JUDY COLLINS tonight
November 12 in Atlantic, NJ at the Atlantic City Hilton.
KD LANG Universal City, CA in
the Universal Amphitheatre November 16-17.
THIS AND THAT
THE PRINCE OF WALES AKA PRINCE CHARLES
on November 22 will attend the premiere
of Charlie's Angels at the
Odeon Leicester Square, London H.R.H. is also throwing a Charlie's Angels dinner for
25 people that night. Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu are on the invite list. Don't
expect either Prince William or Harry. They are tied up with other matters and poor Prince Harry
is literally bound up. He had minor surgery Thursday after he chipped a bone in his thumb while
playing football. He's okay and was back in the classroom the next day with his hand in a sling,
probably winning that the stars of Charlie's Angels would kiss it and make it well.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL the
internationally acclaimed creator of Mystere at Treasure Island and O at Bellagio
in Las Vegas, will be conducting acrobatic auditions in Las Vegas on Nov. 19 and 20. They are
looking for: artistic and rhythmic gymnasts, acrosport athletes, trampolinists, tumblers, divers,
synchronized swimmers and circus acrobats.
BLUE MAN GROUP a zany group
on stage, have a heads on straight business research side. They hold focus groups so they can
keep a handle on what makes the show successful.
MOBY DICK by Herman Melville
was published on November 14, 1851.
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Next Column: November 19, 2000
Copyright: November 12, 2000. All Rights Reserved. Reviews, Interviews,
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