“How can the scrappy founders afford to get started? Can they avoid getting ripped off by the big record companies?” Those are the questions asked by The Washington Post theater critic Nelson Pressley in reviewing Soul: The Stax Musical. The Baltimore Center Stage production, which runs through June 10, was directed by erstwhile artistic director Kwame […]
Composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek have created a stage opera from the 1996 Lars von Trier film Breaking the Waves. The plot, about a woman whose sexual awakening is interrupted by her new husband’s sudden paralysis, is full of enough melodramatic twists and turns to earn opera cred. The New York Times praises the […]
Licensed To Ill is the new musical about white rappers the Beastie Boys, staging at the Camden People’s Theatre in London, Nov. 23-Dec. 12. Presented by Simon Maeder and Adam El Hagar present the story of “hiphop’s most notorious pranksters” using a combination of live music and DJ-ing. Audiences will journey with Mike D, MCA and AdRock – the […]
Former punk icon Courtney Love stars in composer Todd Almond’s stage musical “Kansas City Choir Boy,” which had its West Coast premiere Oct. 19 at the Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre at the Ahmanson. Almond wrote the music and lyrics and stars with Love in the story of small-town lovers separated by fate. The story unfolds […]
What started out as a warm fuzzy tribute to Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rent has turned into a bit of a musical tussle. The Harbor Lights Theater Company in Staten Island, which just began touting its September 18 through October 4 production was blindsided today by news of another production by the 5th Floor Theatre Company, whose […]
A musical about Apple founder Steve Jobs is coming to Los Angeles, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera. The show, with music by composer Mason Bates, is scheduled to open in 2017, and will focus on Jobs’ entrepreneurial activities as well as his private life. Bates, who is also a successful electronic DJ, will collaborate […]
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the musical team behind the mega-hit Frozen, raise the curtain on a new stage production, “Up Here.” The romantic comedy gets its world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse, where it runs through Sept. 6. Lopez co-wrote the music and lyrics for the “Book of Mormon” and “Avenue Q.” “Up […]
“Claudio Quest,” the musical inspired by video games — specifically the Nintendo “Mario Bros.” series — was the top achiever at the New York Musical Theater Festival Awards, taking six trophies, including Outstanding Direction for John Tartaglia (a Tony nominee for “Avenue Q”). Singing eggplants, snappy pirhana plants and up-tempo turtles are among the colorful cast members […]
