Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

‘Charlie’ takes golden ticket to Broadway, and other theatre news

Thu, 22 Aug 2013 00:00:00 -0700

‘Charlie’ takes golden ticket to Broadway, and other theatre news

In honor of the new school year, check out the kid-friendly fare making theatre headlines this week. Plus, The GRID looks back on recent milestones in the world of arts education.

1. London's _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory _Eyes Broadway by Adam Hetrick and Mark Shenton [Playbill.com]
August 21, 2013

The London musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which features a score by Tony Award winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, will have a Broadway run following the completion of director Sam Mendes' upcoming "James Bond" film, according to the Washington Post. ...

2. Broadway's Matilda Gets Loud in the Recording Studio by David Gordon [TheaterMania.com]
August 19, 2013

The cast members of Broadway's Matilda spent their dark Monday laying down tracks for the musical's upcoming original-cast recording, set to be released this fall by Broadway Records and Yellow Sound Label. Produced by Michael Croiter and Christopher Nightingale ...

3. 'Newsies' Cast on the Best Part of Broadway by Robert Pace [ETOnline.com]
August 18, 2013

As their musical continues to prosper on Broadway, ET caught up with the cast of Newsies The Musical for the scoop on their show as well as an inside perspective on Broadway life.

The musical, which opened on Broadway at the Nederlander Theater in 2012 after making its world premiere in New Jersey in 2011, is based on Disney's 1992 musical film Newsies.

4. Bobby Cannavale Signs On for Will Gluck's "Annie" Film Remake, Starring Quvenzhane Wallis by Adam Hetrick and Michael Gioia [Playbill.com]
August 20, 2013

Tony Award nominee Bobby Cannavale has been cast in the upcoming film remake of the 1982 movie musical "Annie," which will star 2013 Academy Award nominee Quvenzhane Wallis ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), according to Deadline.com. ...

"The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation. None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn't know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do is spark the creativity and imagination of our people." –Barack Obama, State of the Union

Arts education helps students develop the creativity and imagination that President Obama says will lead us into the future. Here's a look at some of the programs ensuring more of us have access to the arts in our communities.

Theatre Arts Education Programs Create Innovative Thinkers and Workers by Bruce Whitacre [HuffingtonPost.com]
Arts for All: Accomplishments of the 2012-13 School Year [LACountyArtsForAll.org]
Southern California's cultural institutes pitch in on arts education by Marcia Adair [LATimes.com]
LAUSD Releases Plan to Invigorate Arts Education Districtwide [ArtsForLA.org]
CTG to Expand Its East LA Operations With MetLife/TCG Grant by LA Stage Alliance [LAStageTimes.com]

Icons take center stage

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Icons take center stage

From Kushner to Streisand, legends of the entertainment world dominated this week's theatre buzz.

1. Coeurage Contemplates Contemporary Evil Via Kushner's Bright Room by Jeremy Lelliott [LAStageTimes.com]
August 12, 2013

Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day looks at the rise of Adolf Hitler from the perspective of seven Germans, a ghost, and the Devil. None of the play’s characters is Jewish, which is one of the first signs that this isn’t a typical Nazi Germany story. ...

2. Felicia Boswell to Dazzle Audiences as Diana Ross in Motown for Six-Week Run [Broadway.com]
August 15, 2013

Boswell will take on the iconic role (and all the sequined gowns and gorgeous harmonies that come with it) through September 22; LeKae will return to Motown on September 23. There's no word yet on why LeKae is temporarily departing the production. ...

3. Stephen Sondheim honoured with Edward MacDowell Medal [BBC.co.uk]
August 12, 2013

The multi-award winning composer and lyricist said he felt both "flattered and gratified".

He added the award felt like a "sort of homecoming" because he spent much of his childhood playing pieces by the composer Edward MacDowell, after whom the award is named. ...

4. Playwrights Larry Kramer and Kirsten Greenidge Win 2013 PEN Literary Awards by Kathy Henderson [Broadway.com]
August 15, 2013

Playwrights Larry Kramer and Kirsten Greenidge have been named winners of 2013 PEN Literary Awards. Kramer received the Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for a Master American Dramatist, and Greenidge received the Pels Award for an American Playwright in Mid-Career. ...

5. Michael Urie conjures a 'taste' of Streisand in 'Buyer and Cellar' by Patrick Pacheco [LATimes.com]
August 11, 2013

NEW YORK — Michael Urie sits in a West Village restaurant making a few subtle gestures. A flutter of the hands and you imagine the fingernails. A squint of the eyes and the famously furrowed expression pops into view. A tilt of the head just so and there, like a line drawing from an artist's sketchpad, is Barbra Streisand. ...

All the world’s a stage

Tue, 06 Aug 2013 00:00:00 -0700

All the world’s a stage

From WikiLeaks to the Trayvon Martin case, real-life events have inspired many projects headed to the stage. Here's a look at some of the shows ripped from the headlines.

1. Festival of Short Plays Inspired by Trayvon Martin Case by Felicia R. Lee [ArtsBeat.Blogs.NYTimes.com]
August 5, 2013

The New Black Fest, which supports innovative plays by and about black people, has brought together seven playwrights to create six plays about race and privilege in the United States in the wake of the Trayvon Martin case.

The Alliance Theater in Atlanta, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Goodman Theater in Chicago, Center Stage in Baltimore, the Woolly Mammoth in Washington and the National Black Theater in New York are among those that have agreed to present the work, said Keith Josef Adkins, a co-founder and the artistic director of New Black Fest. ...

2. Whistle-Blower Has Inspired a Welsh Troupe: 'Radicalisation of Bradley Manning' Hits Home in Edinburgh by Roslyn Sulcas [Theater.NYTimes.com]
August 4, 2013

CARDIFF, Wales — “Bradley Manning is a traitor.”

“Bradley Manning is a hero.”

“Bradley Manning caused the Arab Spring.”

“Bradley Manning is innocent.”

The voices got louder and more argumentative, but they did not belong to commentators passing judgment on the court-martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the American soldier who has admitted releasing hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. ...

3. 'Laramie Project' sequel to make L.A. debut run in September by David Ng [LATimes.com]
August 1, 2013

"The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later" -- the stage sequel to the "The Laramie Project" -- will have its Los Angeles debut run in September at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center in Hollywood. The play revisits the citizens of Laramie, Wyo., where Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was beaten to death in 1998. ...

4. SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK: 'Scalia/Ginsburg' opera draws on writings of 2 justices by Mark Sherman [StarTribune.com]
August 6, 2013

WASHINGTON — He's a tenor stuck in the 18th century. She's a soprano who evolves over time.

They fight like cats and dogs at work, but somehow forge and maintain a beautiful friendship.

It's "Scalia/Ginsburg," the opera by award-winning composer Derrick Wang, who just graduated from the University of Maryland law school. ...

JUST FOR FUN

5. Pippin Circus Creator Gypsy Snider Shares the Moving Story of How Growing Up Under the Big Top Prepared Her for Life by Gypsy Snider [Broadway.com]
August 6, 2013

As a child, I performed in the Pickle Family Circus—the first alternative circus in the United States—alongside my mother and stepfather, the co-founders. My parents weren’t just people who made my lunches and told me to do my homework. ...

Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

‘Charlie’ takes golden ticket to Broadway, and other theatre news

‘Charlie’ takes golden ticket to Broadway, and other theatre news

In honor of the new school year, check out the kid-friendly fare making theatre headlines this week. Plus, The GRID looks back on recent milestones in the world of arts education.

Milestones in Arts Education

Icons take center stage

Icons take center stage

From Kushner to Streisand, legends of the entertainment world dominated this week's theatre buzz.

All the world’s a stage

All the world’s a stage

From WikiLeaks to the Trayvon Martin case, real-life events have inspired many projects headed to the stage. Here's a look at some of the shows ripped from the headlines.

JUST FOR FUN