Andrew Smith News

The musical The Spitfire Grill was first produced Off-Broadway at the Duke Theatre in 2001. Written by James Valcq and Fred Alley, the musical is based on the 1996 film. The show presents us with a moment in the life of Percy Talbot, a young woman recently released from prison, and the residents of Gilead, where the Spitfire Grill is up for sale. The Spitfire Grill is a beautiful show that requires a strong cast and creative direction to truly come alive. Under the direction of Laurie Riffe, the cast and crew at DreamWrights Center for Community Arts deliver an authentic, heartwarming production of The Spitfire Grill.

Theatre Tulsa will conclude its historic 96th Season with the award-winning play, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time."

Director David O'Hara has mounted one gorgeous-looking musical.

The internationally renowned saxophone quartet presents an exciting, spicy taste of the world of Argentinean Tango in a unique and inspiring performance of classic and new works. The much-awaited return concert from the colourful and hugely popular all-saxophone foursome will feature pieces by composers such as Astor Piazzolla, Carlos Gardel, Gerardo Rodriguez and Fernando Lerman.

BAFTA has revealed the intake of new members for 2018.

Theatre Tuscaloosa presents its third annual production of A Christmas Carol December 10-16 in the Bean-Brown Theatre on the Martin Campus of Shelton State Community College (9500 Old Greensboro Rd).

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) continues its 2018-19 season with the regional premiere of Tracy Thorne's, "Good Children." CRT Artistic Director, Michael Bradford, will direct. Performances will be held in the Studio Theatre from October 25th - November 4th, 2018. For tickets and information please visit crt.uconn.edu or call (860) 486-2113. "Good Children" continues Artistic Director Michael Bradford's commitment to producing new work.

Nickelodeon recently announced a partnership with publisher Abrams Children's Books to bring the world of its hit TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender to life with a series of Young Adult novels. The ATLAB series concluded in 2008, then spawned a companion series entitled The Legend of Korra set 70 years later. The series has lived on in graphic novel form and yesterday, it was announced that Netflix will be creating a live action series with the show's creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

The Las Vegas Philharmonic will start selling single tickets today, Wednesday, August 1, 2018, to its 13 performances from September 2018 - May 2019 through The Smith Center Box Office. This will be the orchestra's 20th anniversary concert season and Donato Cabrera's 5th season as Music Director for the Las Vegas Philharmonic.

New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) and Gala Co-Chairs Maurice Kelly and Stephanie Walker are proud to announce the 2018 annual season gala, Fete Fatale, honoring the award-winning icon, master of camp, and long-time friend of NCTC, Charles Busch.

The Las Vegas Philharmonic will start selling its FLEX PASS to patrons on Monday, July 2, 2018.  This will be the fourth concert season that the Philharmonic has offered the Flex Pass as an alternative to its traditional subscription packages.  FLEX PASS is a membership-based program that offers customization and flexibility for patrons to decide which concert(s) they want to attend at a later date.  The FLEX PASS offers 6 seats to any of the Philharmonic's Reynolds Hall performances in the upcoming 2018?2019 season.  The seats can be redeemed all at once or broken into any configuration, using up to a maximum of 6 seats.  

Broadway's Rob Bartlett, star of 'How to Succeed', 'The Odd Couple', Little Shop of Horrors,' and 'Chicago: The Musical' Is Now On the Internet in The Rob Bartlett Radio Comedy Hour.

The Las Vegas Philharmonic held its Cox Communications Young Artists' Concerto Competition on Saturday, May 12, 2018 at the College of Southern Nevada, Cheyenne Campus.  The annual competition provides young musicians the opportunity to showcase their talents in front of professional musicians.  This year's competition included a dozen student musicians from Las Vegas middle and high schools competing in piano, woodwinds, strings and brass. 

The Las Vegas Philharmonic and Music Director Donato Cabrera announced the 2018 - 2019 concert season today, which will include 13 performances from September 15, 2018 - May 11, 2019 at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.  This marks the orchestra's 20th concert season and Cabrera's 5th season as Music Director for the Las Vegas Philharmonic.  The upcoming season begins with works by Leonard Bernstein as part of a world-wide celebration of his 100th birthday and the orchestra performs selections from West Side Story and Candide.  Other composers featuring prominently in the new season include Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, John Williams and others. The critically-acclaimed horror film Psycho will be presented in full on the large screen with the orchestra performing the entire spine-tingling score live in a concert for film and music lovers alike in October.   In November, a piano concerto composed by Philip Glass and commissioned by the Las Vegas Philharmonic as part of a consortium of orchestras will be performed by pianist Simone Dinnerstein.  Two holiday concerts in December will delight with nostalgia and feature a special reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas as well as powerful vocal performances by Kristen Hertzenberg and Travis Cloer.  Once again, we dedicate an entire evening to epic film scores by John Williams and perform music spanning four decades of fan favorites from films including Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Harry Potter, and Memoirs of a Geisha in January.  The orchestra features two of its own principal musicians, De Ann Letourneau (violin) and Andrew Smith (cello), as guest soloists in February's An Evening of Brahms.  For the first time, the orchestra is joined by the group Time For Three, an American trio that boasts an uncommon mix of virtuosity and showmanship on music from Bach to Brahms in addition to originals and their own arrangements of everything from bluegrass to mash-ups of hits by the Beatles, Justin Timberlake and more at the March 2019 concert.  In April, the second installment of the Music Unwound initiative with the National Endowment for the Humanities explores Czech composer Antonin Dvo?ak and his New World Symphony.  The Philharmonic's chorus-in-residence, the Las Vegas Master Singers will perform at the holiday concerts in addition to May's presentation of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Marking the third year of the orchestra's American German Cultural Exchange Fellowship, violinist Thomas Reif will perform Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in May's season finale. In a finale befitting a 20th Anniversary celebration, acclaimed vocalists Felicia Moore (soprano), Kelley O'Connor (Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano), Sean Panikkar (tenor) and Raymond Aceto (bass) will also perform on Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) stages it's second Studio Theatre production of the 2017-18 season with "She Kills Monsters" by Qui Nguyen. Madeline Sayet will direct. Performances will be held in the Studio Theatre from March 22-31, 2018. For tickets and information, please visit crt.uconn.edu or call (860) 486-2113.

Amulet Books announced today that actor, singer, and songwriter Andy Mientus has written a middle-grade fiction series called The Backstagers. The first installment, The Backstagers and the Ghost Light, will publish on September 25, 2018. The series will follow the paranormal adventures of a high school stage crew and is based on the award-winning BOOM! Studios graphic novels created by James Tynion IV and Rian Sygh.

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) stages it's second Studio Theatre production of the 2017-18 season with "She Kills Monsters" by Qui Nguyen. Madeline Sayet will direct. Performances will be held in the Studio Theatre from March 22-31, 2018. For tickets and information, please visit crt.uconn.edu or call (860) 486-2113.

The Nexas Quartet and Emily Granger (Harp) evoke a journey back in time to the bustling streets of the French capital in "An American in Paris" - the latest tasty concert in the Independent Theatre's popular Prelude in Tea series - which always includes afternoon tea with refreshments and a mouth-watering array of cakes and fruits! This unique collaboration will provide fascinating new renditions of works by Gershwin, Brubeck, Ravel and Franck.

The U.S. production arm of China Global Television Network, won 15 awards in the White House News Photographers Association's 2018 'Eyes of History' Contest. In the Spot News category, CGTN Chief Photographer, Andrew Smith, won first place in Editing for 'Charlottesville Violence.' Smith also took home an editing first place for 'Detroit Hosts Alibaba's Gateway 17'.'