Grass

I was ridiculously excited. Especially when I found out we were going to see Aladdin On Broadway. I had never seen a Broadway show before, what I didn’t know was how it was going to affect me

When Lorraine Hansberry Theatre announced last September that Bay Area theatre luminary Margo Hall had been appointed as its first female Artistic Director, it felt like a promise of good things to come. Six months later, the venerable company is back up and running full steam ahead with its first staged production since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s [hieroglyph], available to stream on-demand March 13th through April 3rd. Hall directed this as a co-production with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre’s long-time collaborator San Francisco Playhouse, and would seem to be the perfect director to bring it to life. Dickerson-Despenza is a Tow Playwright-in-Residence at New York’s Public Theater who centers her writings on Black women’s land legacies and distinct experiences of environmental racism. Telling the raw, honest story of a 13-year-old girl struggling Post-Hurricane Katrina, wrestling with being displaced to a new city while secretly coping with the PTSD of an assault at the Superdome, [hieroglyph] is part of Dickerson-Despenza’s 10-play Katrina cycle focused on the effects of Hurricane Katrina and its state-sanctioned, man-made disaster rippling in & beyond New Orleans. Hall describes the play as “tragically beautiful.” Patrons may support the organization of their choice by purchasing tickets from Lorraine Hansberry Theatre at lhtsf.org or from San Francisco Playhouse at sfplayhouse.org. BroadwayWorld spoke with Hall last week, just as she was preparing to meet her cast in person for the first time after weeks of Zoom rehearsals. Speaking to her, I got the distinct impression of someone who is exactly where she needs to be right now. This may be her first stint as an artistic director, but in so many ways she has been preparing for this role her entire life. Her decades of experience as an actor, director, playwright, professor and activist all coalesce to serve her in her new role. We talked about her hopes to expand Hansberry’s purview, the need to create culturally-specific theatre, and the exigencies of producing theatre and TV (she is also acting in the new “Blindspotting” series!) during Covid times. Throughout our conversation, I was struck by the sheer joy she exudes for making theatre and for finding herself in a place where she can create new opportunities for Black theatre artists.

Riverside is the place to be these April School Holidays. Take a trip down memory lane with much-loved children's entertainment legend Peter Combe, side splitting laughs and circus skills of epic proportion with Brass Monkeys and the greatest love story of all time is being retold in Just Romeo & Juliet. 

Be a part of the action as Wind River Hotel & Casino and the Northern Arapaho Tribe band together with Horse Nations Indian Relay Council to bring Casper, Wyoming the 2021 Championship of Champions Indian Relay races another year. 

Currently running as part of Florida Repertory Theatre's Outdoor Series is BROADWAY'S BEST: A CONCERT ON THE CALOOSAHATCHEE, directed by Florida Rep's Artistic Director Greg Longenhagen, starring Carolann Sanita, Gerritt VanderMeer, and the Bay Street Band.

Akram Khan Company and Leicester's Curve Theatre are pleased to announce that AKRAM KHAN'S JUNGLE BOOK REIMAGINED, the choreographer's brand-new work – a deeply personal interpretation based on the original story by Rudyard Kipling with an original score, will have its world premiere at Curve from 2 – 9 April 2022.

The Center for the Arts at George Mason University announced today an array of in-person outdoor performances for Mason Pond Lawn, the expanse of grass directly across from the Center for the Arts Concert Hall on Mason’s Fairfax campus.

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the 91 greatest Sondheim songs from stage, screen and beyond. See if your favorites made the cut! What's at #1?

Scotland's East Neuk Festival (ENF) will return 1-4 July 2021 with a bespoke offering of both live and recorded, digital and in-person festival experiences.

It's not every day that a stranger introduces themselves by barging into your room while quoting poetry, but it is how Anthony introduces himself to Caroline in MOXIE's I AND YOU. Despite this meet-cute moment, he comes bearing homework; a last-minute homework project that they've been assigned on a Walt Whitman poem. The play written by Lauren Gunderson follows their conversation and friendship as both deepen over the course of the assignment as they contemplate life, love, longing, and loneliness...you know, typical teenage discussions.

Available for pre-order currently, his new solo effort will be released on April 30th via Blow The Fuse Records. He also is announcing a virtual album launch scheduled for May 7th, 2021.

Courtney played her first ever show at an open mic night at The Lark Distillery in Hobart in 2007, she has since played almost 800 live shows ranging from solo sets through to 7-piece backing bands.

The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall has announced Bay Music Live! On Saturday, April 3, 2021, Rebel Heart will return to the Van Wezel for this socially distanced, outdoor show on the lawn and terrace. The event kicks off at 6 p.m. with music starting promptly at 6:30 p.m.

History At PlayTM, LLC (HAP, LLC) has garnered international applause for their Immersive Living History Experiences, chronicling the lives of influential and often forgotten figures. On Friday April 9th, 2021, HAP, LLC celebrates National Poetry Month by transporting viewers into the mind of Walt Whitman.

On Jan. 31, the Grammy award-winning Houston Chamber Choir, led by Founder and Artistic Director Robert Simpson, presents A Time to Lift Up, the third offering of the 2020-2021 virtual season, To Everything a Season.

Dweck Productions and Vanishing Angle announced today that they are teaming up for writer/director Jamil Muñoz's debut feature film MUSLIMAH, with actress Marin Ireland (Netflix's 'The Umbrella Academy', HELL OR HIGH WATER) attached in the lead role.

Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, will present its 46th annual Thunderbird American Dancers Dance Concert and Pow Wow live streamed from facility's Joyce and Seward Johnson Theater, on February 20, 2021 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM. 

The Naples Players' alternative, outdoor season of events comes to a close with the production of Footloose: The Musical live and outdoors in Naples' Baker Park from February 25 through March 7, 2021.

Broadway might be dark, but that doesn't mean that theatre isn't happening everywhere! Below, check out where you can get your daily fix of Broadway this weekend, January 23-24, 2020.

Today Blanketman have shared new track 'Leave The South', taken from their forthcoming debut EP National Trust, produced by Luke Smith (Foals, LIFE), that is due for release on March 19th, 2021 via [PIAS] Recordings.

The Blank Theatre's Living Room Series has announced a reading of Hard on Love by Scott Barry on Monday, January 25, at 8pm. Directed by Jonathan Cerullo, the cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Jesse Havea/Brita Filter (RuPaul's Drag Race) and Rob Nagle.  

If I could tell my high school self, and anyone in the midst of the process, anything, it would be this.

Need something new to read, watch, or listen to? Check out this week's list of new and upcoming releases! This week's list includes the film soundtrack for One Night in Miami..., volume two of the Jason Robert Brown musical collection songbook, the Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia, and more!

Jeremy Jordan, Ashley Spencer, Santino Fontana, and Christy Altomare are the latest Broadway stars to join Stephanie J. Block, Sebastian Arcelus, and Jessica Vosk on The Seth Rudetsky Concert Series!

After a year filled with fires, floods and a pandemic from hell, 2021 looks set to breathe some life back into live music and the festival scene and to kick it off, we’re pleased to announce a new, all-ages music festival set to light up the big southern sky in Deniliquin on Sunday, 7 March 2021.

“Somewhere in trying to figure out how to craft a good song, I figured out how not to just write a pile of sad songs,” Nashville-based singer-songwriter Nate Fredrick says about his new album, Different Shade of Blue, set for February 26 release. “

A training session for Estelle Cosmetics that threatens to go off the rails… Marilyn was once a celebrity, the original “Estelle Girl” of the Estelle Cosmetics line. Today she is an aged-out supermodel, giving lectures on cosmetics and demonstrating the various “Looks” and fantasy images that she inhabited as the “Estelle Girl”.

On Friday, February 12, 2021, GRAMMY-winning choir The Crossing, led by Donald Nally, releases its 23rd commercial album, THE TOWER AND THE GARDEN on Navona Records.

After a long hiatus and subsequent return, Australian legends, Children Collide have come roaring back with another single, “Trampoline” out today via Spinning Top Records.

Billy Blue Records announces the release of a new focus track from Carolina Blue's chart-topping album, Take Me Back.

The pandemic-related impact for the nonprofit arts community within the city of Dallas has reached $95,545,710 in financial losses, including 3,145,209 in lost or deferred attendance, and more than 1,000 jobs lost.

What was I getting myself into!? Well, now that I’ve had ample time to reflect on this experience, I can tell you exactly what I got myself into.

“A friend and I were running from the police one night, and I accidentally fell off a cliff,' Fredrick says. 'During the two-year recovery process, I started actually making music instead of just playing music. The first show I ever had, I played with my jaw wired shut.”

Need something new to read, watch, or listen to? Check out this week's list of new and upcoming releases!

Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts has today announced the appointment of Dame Rosemary Squire, the Joint Chief Executive of Trafalgar Entertainment, to be the next Chairman of Mountview when the current Chairman, Dame Vikki Heywood completes her eight-year term in October of this year.

LA Opera's newest digital short film, Death, unites the striking visuals of celebrated filmmaker Nadia Hallgren, the Emmy-nominated director of the Michelle Obama documentary Becoming, with the intriguing harmonies of composer Tyshawn Sorey, a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship.

Nancy Manocherian's the cell theatre will premiere the fourth installment of its ongoing online serial Tolerance Party, with The Signal Through The Noise, available to stream via their website February 26. This installment finds two of our heroes separated in a breakout room, assigned with an unwieldy task.

The interactive performance is connected with a movement, music and visual arts workshop with the artists. Children can try out movement and dance, learn about the animal kingdom, listen to music, create new music and sounds, and engage in artistic reflection.

All three virtuosic works were written for and premiered by The Crossing, which has commissioned over 110 works since its inception. The Crossing’s latest release on Navona, CARTHAGE, is nominated for a 2021 GRAMMY Award for Best Choral Performance.

Creed Bratton Originally slated to land in Australia for the very first time this March, American comedian, actor and musician Creed Bratton has unfortunately been forced to reshuffle his Australian tour dates to October in the wake of continued international border closures.

Ultimately, there are dozens of Disney movies that could be turned into fantastic musicals for Broadway.

The Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, February 18 at 7 PM, its first public performance since the pandemic shut down performance venues in March 2020.

Shoppers in the know head straight for ALDI for both quality and value. Our readers will like to know that many of their products have earned the distinction of “Product of the Year.”

Join Adventure Theatre this Sunday, January 3, at 2PM ET to celebrate the Three Kings tradition Puerto Rican style in a holiday episode in the new virtual series Contemos Nuestras Historias con Andrea Sarralde.

Boise Contemporary Theatre plans to produce Lauren Gunderson's I and You in 2021. The production is currently tentatively scheduled for March. 

Spread the word, Upper Eastsiders -- all six seasons of “Gossip Girl” are coming to HBO Max on January 1st.

Nancy Daly, Founder & National Captain of Actors & Artists Unite to End Alzheimer’s released a message about the funds raised in 2020.  “It is amazing to me...This team- Actors & Artists Unite- is so dedicated to finding a cure and honoring their loved ones- we hit the historic goal of over $300,000 raised in our 10th year- during a pandemic.'

Today, breakout artist Hope Waidley releases the cinematic music video for her recently released single, 'Stars,' directed by Steven “Phillyflyboy” Philip and produced by Hope Waidley herself. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​'

Producer Mark Cortale has announced that five award-winning stars of the stage and screen will join the January 2021 line-up of The Seth Concert Series, the live weekly series based on Seth Rudetsky’s international Broadway series that began at The Art House in Provincetown ten years ago.

The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the showcase of new independent work selected across the Feature Film, Short Film, Indie Series and New Frontier categories for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.