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.
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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.
Having seen the classic Disney movie so many times with the perfect performances of Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, it was hard to believe this new Mary Poppins could even come close to comparison. With that said, I ventured with my $110.00 ticket and my little friend and the song “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” stuck in my head for the evening up to the New Amsterdam Theatre to see the new Disney musical Mary Poppins.
Upon entering the New Amsterdam Theatre, my evening was already off to a great start, viewing the beautiful structure and getting some drinks and souvenirs for the two of us. The theatre is nice and large in the lobby area. We had front row center seats and enjoyed being able to see into the orchestra pit throughout the evening. The seats were comfortable and not has small as other theatres. The whole place was packed with happy families and tourists so the atmosphere was there.
Mary Poppins turned out to be a great musical show with many pleasing visuals, great dance numbers, and much better than I was expecting. I thought the chimney sweep scene was the best but there was alot put into this revival. The set designs by Bob Crowley were magical and very imaginative. It’s no wonder why Bob Crowley won the Tony Award for best scenic design for Mary Poppins. Bob Crowley also designed the costumes which were equally impressive and full of details. The special effects were really great like Bert walking up the wall and Mary Poppins even flies into the audience! Gavin Lee was great in the role of Bert and Ashley Brown played Mary Poppins to perfection! The cast were all great and the additional songs were surprisely good. This will be on broadway for a long time. I would even go see it again. I’m sure any child you take to this fantastic broadway show will remember it for a long, long time. It was almost three hours long with one intermission but the time flew by in this highly recommended musical.