Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: September 1, 2019
By: Laura Deni
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LUSH ANNA CHRISTIE CD IS RELEVANT IN THE ME-TOO ERA

The rich, robust, sumptuous world premiere two-disc CD of Anna Christie, released by Broadway Records, possesses a myriad of reasons for you to want to own this recording.

Music by Edward Thomas, 94, with a libretto by Joseph Masteroff, who died on September 28, 2018 at age 98 shortly before the opera went into rehearsal, features: bass baritone Frank Basile as Chris Chrisopherson - Mike Pirozzi in a speaking part as Larry the Bartender - mezzo-soprano Joy Hermalyn as sassy Marthy Owen - mezzo-soprano Melanie Long as Anna Christie who can project both sarcasm and tenderness and baritone Jonathan Estabrooks as Mat Burke.

The official description is: "The last project of Broadway legend and Tony-winning librettist Joe Masteroff with Grammy-nominated composer Edward Thomas, Anna Christie brings to life, in music and words, this story of family, forgiveness and feminism long before its time. This new and vibrant musical interpretation is evocative of old New York, while straddling both the dramatic leitmotifs of opera and the immediacy and forward momentum of musical theatre writing, breathing new musical life into this Pulitzer Prize-winning play."

Set in an era when women's voices were hushed, Melanie Long's ability to emotionally connect to the role of Anna enables her voice to speak for the abuses women suffered. Abused as a child Anna Christie becomes a prostitute. Frank Basile, as Chris Christopherson, is a dysfunctional seafaring father. Worn out and weary he lives with guilt feelings about the daughter he sent away to live on a farm with her mother and cousins. Remourseful, he'd like to make it up to her, but he doesn't have the right coping skills.

In the era of MeToo this is the perfect CD listen.

As Psychology Today once pointed out: "Longing is painful, but vulnerability that may exist beneath such yearning is dreadful."

That is Anna Christie.

In an unusual strategy the musical numbers aren't named - rather referred to in their show placement. For instance:
Act 1, Scene 1: Inside Larry's Bar, Chris and Larry
by Frank Basile & Mike Pirozzi

Act 1, Scene 1: Marthy Enters
by Frank Basile, Joy Hermalyn & Mike Pirozzi

Act 1, Scene 1: Anna Enters
by Melanie Long & Joy Hermalyn

Act 1, Scene 1: Chris Re-awakens
by Frank Basile, Joy Hermalyn & Mike Pirozzi.

This is a full length opera. If you think you don't like opera, listen to Anna Christie and you'll change your mind. The singers are standing ovation worthy. Every word can be heard and understood. The fascinating arrangements incorporate light modern to powerful interpretations.

A poignant flute, a haunting clarinet - the wind instruments provide unique importance. The strains of a harp - tug, twist and pull at the emotions.

Opera singers can be overly dramatic. In Annie Christie Melanie Long, Frank Basile, Jonathan Estabrooks and Joy Hermalyn are perfection. Their voices don't overpower the meaning of the lyrics - rather elevate the book to a higher standard.

As you listen to the CD imagine - as the official description explains: You are in John the Priest's Saloon "a seedy waterfront bar, near the South Street Seaport, in New York City. It’s late afternoon of a fall day in 1919. (Prelude) Inside, the barroom is divided into two areas, one for men, and another towards the back for the “ladies,” with a few tables and chairs. In front of the bar mirrors are half barrels of cheap whiskey of the “nickel-a-shot” variety, drawn from spigots. A large window looks out onto the street. Larry the Bartender comes in from the backroom carrying a few bottles to restock the bar and begins to clean off the tables. Chris Christopherson, (Frank Basile) a coal barge Captain, staggers into the bar already tipsy from drinking with a fella on another barge, and cheerfully demands a whiskey. Larry tells him to go home and sleep it off. A bell rings and Chris’ middle-aged, live-in girlfriend arrives. Larry hands Chris a letter he’s been keeping for him. It’s from Anna, Christie's daughter who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. She writes that she’s coming to visit causing Chris to panic.

Anna's chip on her shoulder demeanor is a bandage for pain and anger. Sexually abused as a child she fled into prostitution and now arrives to reconnect with her father, who tells her she can stay with him.

After a shipwreck near Provincetown, Christopherson's crew rescues a young stoker, Mat Burke (Jonathan Estabrooks), and Anna nurses him back to health. Delirious and struggling to stand up Mat makes a play for Anna, almost raping her, but she fights him off. He apologizes and they begin talking. They make a volatile pair, especially when Anna reveals her past, which tests the limits of and possibilities for forgiveness and redemption. Mat announces he intends to marry Anna which causes Chris to become furious, ordering Anna to never again see Mat, which closes Act 1.

This recording will sweep you in and hold your attention.

NOVUS NY Orchestra conducted by Julian Wachner.

Violin 1 - Concertmaster: Ben Russell: Violin 2 - Melissa Tong: Viola - Luke Fleming: Cello - Michael Katz: Bass - Louis Levitt: Flue - Julietta Curenton: Oboe - Karen Kapferberg: Clarinet - Benjamin Fingland: Bassoon - Christopher Wickham: horn - Patrick Pridemore: Percussion - Greg Landes and Max Kanowitz: Harp - Ashley Jackson: Piano- Richard Pearson Thomas: Contractor - Melissa Baker.

Following the world-premiere production of Anna Christie by Encompass at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York (October 2018), conductor Julian Wachner, and the original cast gathered for two days at Bunker Studio in February 2019 to record the opera.

Produced by 12-time Grammy-winning producer Thomas Z. Shepard. Recorded by Bunke Studios ib Brooklyn , NY. Edited and mixed at Shepard Sonic Laboratories in NY. Engineer: David Merrill. Assistant recording engineer Alex Conroy. Recorded February 5th and 6th, 2019. Gorgeous booklet photography by Steven Pisano. Package design by Robbie Rozelle.

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

ART AND ABOUT

ROD STEWART'S housecleaning is being handled in an auction September 10-11, gaveled down by Stansted-based Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers, who also sold some of Sir Rod's furnishings last year when he and his wife Penny sold their Epping home.

Items up for bid include old furniture and a stuffed fox in a glass case, estimated to fetch between £200 and £300.

A stuffed gannet is estimated to go for between £250 and £350. But topping the price list of Sir Rod's cast-offs is a marble-topped gilt wood hall table with a tag of £4,000 to £6,000.

With estimates ranging from £60-£3,000, fans of the artist, who releases his 30th studio album Blood Red Roses on September 28, 2019 , could now be in with a chance to own their very own piece of rock star memorabilia. The collection of over 60 lots includes a pair of gilt bronze-mounted side tables, estimated at £2,000-£3,000, a teak lounge armchair, with a cane back and a faux leopard print cushion, estimated at £250-£350, a pair of late 19th century pier mirrors, estimated at £2,000-£3,000 and a set of four gilt bronze two-branch wall lights, estimated at £800-£1,200.

The total reserved price tag for all items is £37,000.

PLASTIC ENTANGLEMENTS: ECOLOGY, AESTHETICS, MATERIALS featuring an international array of emerging and mid-career artists, Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials explores the environmental, aesthetic and technological entanglements of our ongoing love affair with this paradoxical, infinitely malleable substance.

Organized around the curatorial concept of entanglement ­– which describes the literal entanglements of animals and plastic detritus as well as the plasticity of global networks – the exhibition assembles artistic investigations of humanity’s reliance on a material that is at once ubiquitous and, for that reason, virtually invisible.

Visitors will encounter a varied array of artwork, from meticulous drawings, photographs and video installations to 3D-printed objects and sculptures fabricated from found plastic.

Organized by the Palmer Museum of Art of The Pennsylvania State University, Plastic Entanglements at the Chazen is supported by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. September 13, 2019-January 5, 2020 at the Pleasant T. Rowland Galleries - The Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin.

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SWEET CHARITY

THE 90th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BRITISH DANCE COUNCIL will be celebrated by Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall at a celebratory tea dance on September 5. Her Royal Highness will watch a performance by the British Ballroom Champions and the British Latin Champions and meet guests including some associated with Strictly Come Dancing.

As President of The Royal Osteoporosis Society, the wife of Prince Charles will meet supporters who encourage dance as a means of keeping your bones healthy. The British Dance Council is the regulator and coordinating body for Ballroom, Latin, Classical Sequence and Freestyle Dancing.

SPREADING THE WORD

HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY Jules Feiffer. Today, Sunday, September 1, a celebration takes place at Guild Hall in The Hamptons, NY. The event celebrates the legendary cartoonist and playwright's 90th birthday with a concert reading of his play A Bad Friend, featuring F. Murray Abraham, Tedra Millan, Mercedes Ruehl, Harris Yulin, Josh Gladstone, and Dave Quay.

There will also be candid conversation, and birthday cake so Jules himself can blow out the candles.

THE 48th ANNUAL ALABAMA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL (ASF) takes place in the riverfront capital city of Montgomery. Among the ten largest Shakespeare festivals in the world, ASF puts on more than 400 performances each year and attracts more than 300,000 visitors from throughout the U.S. and more than 60 countries.

This season there will be performances The Cat in the Hat and Cinderella to William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Comedy of Errors. ASF is particularly excited to present the world premiere of Buzz, by Susan Ferrara directed by Emmy Award-winning actor Carrie Preston. Focusing on the charismatic, visionary director Mary Ann “Buzz” Goodbody, who was the first woman to direct at the Royal Shakespeare Company, this production will hit the stage September 4-15.

Goodbody was an English theatre director. Associated with the Royal Shakespeare Company for almost all of her short career, Goodbody is remembered for her sometimes politically charged experimental work, and for establishing the RSC's first studio theatre in Stratford, The Other Place.

One of only five women directing in the U.K. in the 1970's; in 1975, Goodbody famously directed Ben Kingsley in in the title role of Hamlet. The production won rave reviews referring to it as "one of the greatest anyone could remember." Not there was appreciate the accolades was Goodbody. According to The Guardian "she had taken a fatal overdose of sleeping pills in her London flat. She was just 28."

“Her production of Hamlet was the work of a burgeoning, developing director arriving at maturity and certainty. Buzz had become a major director of Shakespeare.” –Trevor Nunn, Artistic Director of the RSC, in RSC's Report of the Council 1975-1976.

JOSEPHINE HART POETRY HOUR returns to the Abbey Stage in Dublin, Ireland to celebrate the genius of Oscar Wilde. A rare opportunity to see author Merlin Holland – Oscar Wilde’s only grandson – speak about his grandfather and read Josephine Hart’s introduction to Wilde’s universally acclaimed and moving masterpiece The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Celebrated actor Simon Callow will read the ballad.

Produced and Directed by Shevaun Wilder for The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation. Sunday, September 8, 2019 on the Abbey Stage in Dublin, Ireland.

WORKS & PROCESS the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, NYC presents MCC Theater: Seared by Theresa Rebeck on Monday, September 9, 2019.

Prior to its New York premiere at MCC Theater this October, playwright Theresa Rebeck and director Moritz von Stuelpnagel take audiences into the kitchen of their fit-for-foodies comedy as cast members perform highlights. Harry, a brilliant and hot-headed chef, scores a mention in a food magazine, and his business partner sees profits finally within reach.The only problem is Harry refuses to serve his masterpiece for the masses. Mix in a shrewd restaurant consultant and a waiter with dreams of his own and it all goes to hell in this "hilarious and insightful new play" that asks us to consider where art ends and commerce begins.

The cast will star W. Tré Davis, four-time Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza, David Mason, and Krysta Rodriguez.

SIX FLAGS OIDDIYA theme park will include twelve record-breaking attractions and feature the world's fastest roller coaster. Last week in Riyadh, American theme park operator Six Flags unveiled the designs for its park in Qiddiya, which David McKillips, who manages development of the company’s parks outside the United States, said will be “the most unique Six Flags theme park ever built”.

The theme park broke ground on April 28 last year and the first of three phases is due to open in 2023. The park will include 28 rides and attractions across six themed lands including The City of Thrills, Discovery Springs, Steam Town, Twilight Gardens, Valley of Fortune and Grand Exposition.

Within The City of Thrills will be two of the major record-breaking rides: The Falcon’s Flight, inspired by the UAE's famous raptor, will be the longest, tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world, while the Sirocco Tower will be the world’s tallest drop-tower ride.

DISNEYLAND PARIS is set to host a fun-filled Frozen celebration early next year. The Disney event will offer fans of the hit film a chance to join Anna, Elsa and Olaf in a brand new celebration from January 11 until May 3. The new Frozen-themed adventure will include attractions based on the sequel to the original, due for release in the UK on November 22 and aptly titled, Frozen II.

THE 2020 EUROVISION SONG CONTEST has announced that the Dutch city of Rotterdam has been chosen as host city. The first and second semi finals will take place on May 12 and 14, 2020, with the Grand Final occurred on May 16.

2020 will mark the fifth time Holland has hosted the competition.

PSYCHOANALYSIS AND RELIGION: FREUD, JUNG, KRISTEVA is an intensive day course September 7, 2019 at the Freud Museum in London.

Freud is famous for portraying religion as a collective neurosis of mankind. He argued that religious beliefs give expression to wish-fulfilling illusions, serving the immature emotional needs of the child living on within the adult. Such illusions – he sternly maintained – should be cast aside and replaced by ideas corresponding to reality – namely, the materialistic world view that emerges gradually but inescapably from the cumulative process of scientific observation. 'This is one side of Freud – expressing his self-image as an ‘Enlightenment philosophe’ (in Peter Gay’s accurate phrase). But there is another side to Freud – unfortunately less widely known – for in the later works he develops a subtle and complex theory of society, in which religion plays a much more positive – even vital – role. Seen from this perspective, religion may be regarded as necessary for our psychological well-being – even for the survival of human kind."

This one day course will explore a range of psychoanalytic interpretations of religion, examining different views of its function and significance in the lives of human beings.

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ALMOST FAMOUS a new musical with book and Lyrics by Academy Award winner Cameron Crowe, based on His Iconic film; with music and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize and Two-Time Tony Award Winner Tom Kitt.

Directed by Tony Award Nominee Jeremy Herrin.

Led Zeppelin is king, Richard Nixon is President, and idealistic 15-year-old William Miller is an aspiring music journalist. When Rolling Stone magazine hires him to go on the road with an up-and-coming band, William is thrust into the rock-and-roll circus, where his love of music, his longing for friendship, and his integrity as a writer collide. Almost Famous is about a young man finding his place in the world and the indelible characters he meets along the way. This joyous world premiere is a celebration of community and the power of music.

The cast includes Matt Bittner as Larry Fellows, Chad Burris as Vic Nunez, Gerard Canonico as Dick Roswell, Julia Cassandra as Estrella, Rob Colletti as Lester Bangs, Brandon Contreras as Silent Ed Vallencourt, Colin Donnell as Russell Hammond, Drew Gehling as Jeff Bebe, Sam Gravitte as Dennis Hope, Van Hughes as David Felton, Katie Ladner as Sapphire, Anika Larsen as Elaine Miller, Storm Lever as Polexia, Casey Likes as William Miller, Solea Pfeiffer as Penny Lane, Emily Schultheis as Anita Miller, Daniel Sovich as Darryl, Libby Winters as Leslie, Matthew C. Yee as Ben Fong-Torres, and swings Danny Lindgren and Alisa Melendez.

The multiple award-winning design team, includes choreographer Lorin Latarro, scenic designer Derek McLane; costume designer David Zinn; lighting designer Natasha Katz; sound designer Peter Hylenski, Tom Kitt (Orchestrations and Arrangements; Bryan Perri (Music Director), AnnMarie Milazzo, Daniel Green (Associate Music Director), Campbell Young Associates (Hair, Wig, and Makeup Design; CSA (Casting), and Anjee Nero (Production Stage Manager).

Performances run September 13 – October 27, 2019 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, CA.

ON BECKETT a new work by master clown, Tony Award-winning actor, and MacArthur, Guggenheim, and Fulbright Fellow Bill Irwin.

Starring Bill Irwin in this one man show. Bill Irwin has spent a lifetime haunted by Samuel Beckett’s language. In this intimate 90-minute evening, Irwin explores a performer’s relationship to Beckett, mining the physical and verbal skills acquired in his years as a master clown and Tony Award-winning actor. Irwin’s approach to the comic, the tragic, to every side of Beckett’s work - including Waiting for Godot, Texts for Nothing, and more - allow audiences to experience the language in compelling new ways. Whether you’re encountering the Nobel Prize winner’s writing for the first time, or building on a body of Beckett knowledge, this dynamic showcase is not to be missed.

An Irish Repertory Theatre production September 13 – Oct 27, 2019 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre Downtown Culver City, CA.

FANGIRLS book, music and lyrics by Yve Blake.

Directed by Paige Rattray.

"The New Musical Comedy About A Poorly Understood Force Of Nature."

Meet Edna: She’s 14, chronically awkward,and everyone thinks she’s a serial liar. But none of this will matter when her real life starts. With Harry. There’s just one problem, Harry is in True Connection - the world’s biggest boyband.

When True Connection announce a tour stop in Edna’s city, she realizes that this is her one chance to meet Harry and convince him of their destiny. But just how far is she prepared to go in the name of love? Edna takes her obsession to unforeseen heights in this thrilling and hilarious musical comedy about first love, fan culture, and the danger of underestimating teenage girls.

Cast Includes Yve Blake.

Designer David Fleischer. Vocal Arranger/Music Director Alice Chance. Music Producer/Sound Design David Muratore. Sound Designer Michael Waters. Dramaturg Jonathan Ware. AV Designer Justin Harrison.

Queensland Theatre Premiere September 7 - October 5, 2019 at the Bille Brown Theatre, Queensland Theatre in South Brisbane, Australia.

LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS a one man show written and performed by John Leguizamo.

DirectorTony Taccone.

When his son gets a school assignment on heroes, John seizes the chance to teach him all about the great figures of the Latino world. But once he sets out on his irreverent crash course across three continents and 3,000 years of history - from conquistadores to cumbia, Montezuma to Menudo, and taking on the characters in all of it - uncovers provocative truths that shock even him.

September 5 – October 20, 2019 at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles, CA.

E-Book

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

WHO'S WHERE

THE WHO continue their tour with a performance Friday, September 6 in St. Paul, Minnesota at the Xcel Energy Center. Next Sunday, September 8, they are in the spotlight in Alpine Valley, Wisconsin at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre.

TOMMY DORSEY ORCHESTRA Tribute to Frank Sinatra on September 8 at the Kauffman Center in Kansas City, MO.

OAK RIDGE BOYS entertain Monday, September 2, at the Catlettsburg Labor Day Festival in Catlettsburg, KY. on Thursday they'll be singing their hits at Graceland Live in Memphis, TN. On Friday they performs at the WK&T Amphitheater in Martin, TN.

FLEETWOOD MAC on stage Monday, September 2, at the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, They can be found there again on Wednesday, September 4, 2019.

STRAY CATS entertain tonight, September 1, 2019 at Humphrey's By The Bay in San Diego, CA.

THE AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD SHOW brings their 2019 world tour to the Hard Rock Live, Orlando, FL on Tuesday, September 3. Wedneaday's stop is at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, FL. Friday finds the group at the Hard Rock Casino, Biloxi, MS. On Saturday they can be enjoyed at the - A Revention Music Center, Houston, TX.

FINAL OVATION

JESSI COMBS professional driver and TV host died Tuesday, August 27, 2019, after crashing her jet-powered car while trying to break her own land speed record. She was 39.

The crash occurred on a dry bed lake in Alvord Desert in Oregon. Combs, dubbed the fastest woman on four wheels, was pursuing a land speed record in the North American Eagle. The TV personality, who broke the 398mph record in 2013, joined the North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger team as driver that same year. She managed to hit 483 miles per hour in a shakedown run on the same 13-mile course in 2016 but it ended prematurely due to mechanical issues. Combs was driving the same North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger she has used in previous attempts.

Her family said she was surrounded by loved ones when she died, including her partner Terry Madden who was first on the scene.

VALERIE HARPER Emmy winning and Tony Award nominated television and Broadway actress who gained fame on The Mary Tyler Moore show and her own spinoff Rhoda died Friday, August 30, 2019 after a long bout fighting brain cancer. She turned 80 a week before her death.

She began her career as a dancer on Broadway, making her debut in the musical Take Me Along in 1959. Harper returned to stage work in her later career, appearing in several Broadway productions. In 2010, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Tallulah Bankhead in the play Looped.

Other Broadway productions included: Wildcat and Subways Are for Sleeping. In 2005 through 2006, Harper portrayed Golda Meir in a United States National tour of the one-woman drama Golda's Balcony. A film of this production was released in 2007.

She is survived by her second husband Tony Cacciotti and their daughter.

Next Column: September 8, 2019
Copyright: September 1, 2019 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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