CityLightsRevue.com

   The American Ballet Theatre will be celebrating its 70th Anniversary Season with an Opening Night Gala on Monday, May 17, at the Metropolitan Opera House.  The special anniversary event starts at 6:30 pm with Mrs. Michelle Obama serving as Honorary Chairman, along with Caroline Kennedy and Blaine Trump. This year’s Spring Gala will honor David H. Koch for 25 years of service to ABT and its Board of Governing Trustees. 

   A special 70th Anniversary highlight program will feature American Ballet Theatre’s Principal Dancers in excerpts from Sir Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering, Swan Lake and Twyla Tharp’s The Brahms-Haydn Variations. The performance will include the Company Premieres of Ashton’s Thaïs Pas de Deux and Awakening Pas de Deux, as well as a pas de deux from John Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias. The evening will also feature the Spring Gala debut of ABT II, in the first movement of Edwaard Liang’s Ballo Per Sei. Set to music by Antonio Vivaldi, Ballo Per Sei was given its World Premiere at The Joyce Theater on April 13, 2010.

   The anniversary event will conclude with a Gala dinner under the Tent at Lincoln Center following the performance. Gala benefit tickets are priced at $1,500, $2,000 and $2,500 and include the performance and post-performance dinner. For Gala benefit ticket information only, call American Ballet Theatre’s Special Events office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3239.

   Performance-only tickets, priced $28 to $150, are available online, at the Metropolitan Opera House box office or by calling 212-362-6000. Visit the American Ballet Theatre website at www.abt.org for additional information.      

1 Mar 2010

On March 7th, the NYC & Company Foundation, a charitable organization that supports hundreds of nonprofit arts and cultural programs throughout NYC, will host their first Oscar Night and the City America Gala at Alice Tully Hall (1941 Broadway between 64th and 65th Sts), at Lincoln Center. The benefit gala starts at 7pm with a cocktail reception folllowed by an exclusive live-broadcast viewing of the 82nd Academy Awards in the grand concert hall. Tickets to the Oscar Night and the City Gala are $150.00 or premium seating for $225.00 that includes extra perks. Tickets are available at www.nycona.eventbrite.com

staff CityLightsRevue.com
2 Oct 2009

   The Town Hall has announced their lineup of three spectacular concert evenings as part of their fifth annual Broadway Cabaret Festival.

   On October 16th, the Town Hall kicks off with A Tribute to David Merrick. The song filled evening will include broadway tributes featuring an all-star cast of talent with Marc Kudisch (9 to 5), Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll & Hyde), Stephen Bogardus (Love! Valour! Compassion!), Lee Roy Reams (42nd Street), Carleton Carpenter (Crazy for You), Stephanie J. Block (9 to 5), Julia Murney (Lennon), and MAC Award winner Jim Caruso (Liza’s at the Palace) and more to be announced.

    On October 17th, the Town Hall will present Linda Edner with her new show Linda Eder: All of Me. Linda will be accompanied by a seven-piece orchestra led by Billy Stein and the show will feature some new arrangements to her signature songs.

   On October 18th, the festival concludes with Broadway Originals featuring Michael Rupert, Stephen Bogardus, Barbara Walsh, Chip Zien and Jonathan Kaplan—the five original Broadway stars of William Finn’s Falsettos—in a special tribute to that famous show. The show-stopping Stephanie J. Block (9 to 5),and Tony nominees Marc Kudisch (9 to 5), Celia Keenan-Bolger (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Sharon McNight (Starmites), join Julia Murney (Lennon), Kerry O’Malley (Iriving Berlin’s White Christmas), Manu Narayan (Bombay Dreams) and many more Broadway stars.

   Tickets for all the Town Hall Broadway Cabaret Festival events range from $50–$55 and may be purchased through a subscription or individually at Ticketmaster.com, 212-307-4100 or The Town Hall Box Office between noon and 6 pm (except Sundays), 212-840-2824. 

   The Town Hall is located at 123 West 43rd Street, New York, New York.

   The Metropolitan Opera is set to celebrated their 125th Anniversary in a spectacular Gala scheduled for Sunday, March 15th, 2009. The gala concert will also celebrate the 40th anniversary of Placido Domingo with the famed company. Maestro James Levine is set to conduct 26 fully staged scenes with a star studded powerhouse of Met Opera voices including: Placido Domingo, Roberto Alagna, Stephanie Blythe, Joseph Calleja, Natalie Dessay, Renée Fleming, Juan Diego Flórez, Angela Gheorghiu, Marcello Giordani, Maria Guleghina, Thomas Hampson, Ben Heppner, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Maija Kovalevska, Susanne Mentzer, James Morris, Rene Pape, Sondra Radvanovsky, John Relyea, Deborah Voigt, among others. The once-in-a-lifetime anniversary gala will feature the legendary Placido Domingo performing several scenes including arias from La Fanciulla del West, Parsifal, Simon Boccanegra, and his trademark Otello. The Gala will also incorporate the use of projections to showcase historic elements of memorabilia from the Metropolitan Opera both old and new including the proscenium of the old Met Opera House. Visit the Metropolitan Opera online for more information.

   The Amato Opera House is set to close its doors after 60 years of providing operatic entertainment in the Bowery building located in the East Village. The company is performing its final two productions of La Boheme, March 7 thru April 5, and The Marriage of Figaro, April 25 thru May 31. The quaint opera house that seats only 107 provided an intimate setting for the company’s productions as well as a venue for up and coming performers to experience the theatre setting. Visit the Amato Opera House online to purchase tickets for the last performances thru May 31, 2009.

   The American Ballet Theatre is set to perform five site-specific performances at Avery Fisher Hall, October 7–10 2009. Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie announced the limited engagement that will include world and company premieres from their repertory. The five performances are scheduled to be uniquely tailored to the Avery Fisher stage and will mark the first engagement of the American Ballet Theatre in performance at the Lincoln Center landmark concert hall. Performance and ticket information is scheduled to be announced during July, 2009. Visit the American Ballet Theatre online for more information or call 212–362–6000.

   The New York Philharmonic is set to celebrate the 65th Anniversary of Leonard Bernstein with the company in a grand concert event to be held at Carnegie Hall on November 14th, 2008. The one-night-only concert will feature an all-Bernstein program featuring the Symphonic Suite from On The Waterfront, Serenade, and Suite Nos. 1 and 2 from West Side Story. Maestro Alan Gilbert will be joined by guest soloists soprano Ana María Martínez and tenor Paul Groves as well as the New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow. The anniversary concert event will be held at 8:00 pm in the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Visit Carnegie Hall online for more information or call Carnegie Charge at 212-247-7800.

When I heard the news that this revival of the musical Gypsy had three Tony Award-winners in the cast, I had to venture over to the St. James Theatre and see it.
Gypsy tells the story of the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, otherwise known as Louise. Patti LuPone plays the indestructible Mama Rose and Laura Benanti plays Louise, her neglected daughter, both Tony Award-winners. The story goes on to tell how Mama Rose turns her daughter Louise into the highest paid burlesque star. Patti Lupone was perfect in her role and her powerful voice performed the well known numbers “Some People” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” that brought the audience to a standing ovation. She had another great moment when she performed the show stopper “Rose’s Turn”. She really was great and the audience loved her. Laura Benanti held her own as Louise and Boyd Gaines earned his Tony Award playing Herbie. Everyone in this revival of Gypsy was perfect. The costumes were also fitting while the staging and set designs added a vintage touch to this production. The dramatic show really felt like vintage theatre. The musical score was filled with so many hits. I would highly recommend Gypsy. It was a great production and Patti Lupone really gave the required energy and talent to make the show a hit. The audience gave Patti Lupone two standing ovations. She deserved both of them.
Gypsy has been on Broadway a total of five times with strong leading ladies playing the overbearing role of Mama Rose. Of course, we are all familiar with Ethel Merman as Mama Rose but Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daily, and Bernadette Peters all portrayed her as well. In the movie, Gypsy, Rosalind Russell and Bette Midler played the dominant Mama Rose.
The show is two hours and 30 minutes with one 15-minute intermission.

I’m not exactly an ABBA fan, nor do I own any of their cds, but I am aware of their many hits that have been played on the radio for years in between the songs that I really like. With that in mind, I decided to see the musical hit Mamma Mia! at the Winter Garden Theatre. Of course, my up close seating choice, gives me the best possible way of liking a show.
The Winter Garden Theatre is my favorite broadway house. It is simply beautiful with intricate ceilings, plush comfortable seats and fantastic acoustics. This is one of the classic broadway theatres to enjoy a play at.
Mamma Mia! turned out to be a clever ABBA concert of twenty something songs perfectly weaved into a simple story of a woman getting married and her journey to find her father because she wants him to give her away at her wedding. She finds three possible fathers in her mother’s diary and invites all three to her wedding without her mother or fiancee having a clue. The wedding takes place on a Greek island where her mother manages a taverna. The ABBA songs are carefully placed to move the story along and worked out well. I must say, not even being an ABBA fan, it was a cheerful and simple play that kept my attention and even gave me a few laughs. However, it’s not a play I would see twice but was glad to see once. ABBA fans will be in theatre heaven. Now, I have to see the movie with Meryl Streep….that should be great! Mamma Mia! is 2 hours 30 minutes long with one 15 minute intermission.

After missing the first 15–year run of the classic A Chorus Line on Broadway, I decided to venture to see this new revival of what so many critics are dubbing a vintage classic of musical theatre. Of course, your ticket location can make or break any show you are attending so I made sure to get a close and pricy seat for what everyone is calling a dancing spectacular.
Upon entering the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, I was amazed at the smallness of the place. Somehow, I thought this theatre would be larger. With nothing to look at in the lobby, I went off to my third row seat. The view of the theatre from my seat was pretty and the stage was nice and close. I was lucky enough to have two short people sitting in front of me so I had an ideal view. The show began with the lineup of dancers all auditioning for roles in a Broadway chorus. The show tells the story of 17 dancers and their ups and downs auditioning for the eight-members-only chorus line. Mario Lopez, the host of “Extra TV” was playing Zach, the director who chooses who’s in and who’s out of a chorus line. He was scheduled to play this role through September 7th, 2008 but the show is closing on August 17th, 2008. He was okay in his role and danced well but his acting was just so-so. A Chorus Line seemed very 1970’s. The last two dance numbers were the best part of the two hour show. The sets were on the boring side. It seemed like something was missing from this show. It’s too bad the show didn’t have more dancing like the ending numbers. Also, my seat became a weapon by the end of the two hours and I walked out with my knees hurting. It’s too bad the show wasn’t tweaked alittle….more dancing, better costumes, and a nice big star or two.