Love and Let Love Photos - Off-Broadway

IN CIRCLES is a feast for the eyes, even if Gertrude Stein's texts as lyrics seem nonsensical at times. Just go with the flow and let the atmosphere of the avant-garde 1968 theatre scene set your mind free! If only Stein's lover Alice B. Toklas was there to hand out her special recipe brownies to enhance the 80-minute experience!

Garry Marshall Theatre presents the West End and Broadway play The Mountaintop by Katori Hall.  The Mountaintop is directed by Gregg T. Daniel, who recently staged A Raisin in the Sun at A Noise Within (Ovation Award nomination for Best Director) and Her Portmanteau at Boston Court.

This quote is the opening sentence from the author of the book and the words that inspired, created and catapulted The White Album -- a theatrical representation in full of Didion's autobiographical, literary essays of the same name published in 1979 but focused on the tumultuous period of time between 1966 (though it was officially started in 1968) and 1971, which had an engagement as part of BAM's Next Wave Festival November 28 - December 1, through collaborators between Lars Jan/Early Morning Opera, Mia Barron (who portrayed Didion herself), and multiple commissioners and supporters including Center Theatre Group, arts centers at CalArts, UCLA, Ohio State University and the UCross Foundation, amongst others.

Geva Theatre Center presents Hair, with book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, music by Galt MacDermot, directed by Melissa Rain Anderson, with musical direction by Don Kot, and choreography by Liz Ramos in the Elaine P. Wilson Stage from September 4 through October 7.

The 3rd annual Hip Hop Film Festival was held, fittingly, at the historic National Black Theatre founded by Dr. Barbara Ann Teer who moved to Harlem in 1968 and saw that the once vibrant neighborhood was suffering from a sense of hopelessness after the losses of African American leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and desperately needed a community space and cultural arts institution that would 'be reflective of the power, grace and excellence of a people' (according to her daughter and current CEO Sade Lythcott).

DEAR JOHN, WHY YOKO? with music by Anzu Lawson and Joerg Stoeffel, book and lyrics by Anzu Lawson, tells the untold story of a love that changed the world and defined an era fraught with the same type of protests taking place now. It is my hope by sharing your story, we may all be lucky enough to live out our own dreams in a world where peace and love really exist between all people and war is dead. And we will have John Lennon and Yoko Ono to thank for that vision.

S/HE & ME chronicles the unvarnished, complex, desperate, and often hilariously wacky story of Billings' life, centering on the transition from the young Scott to the show-stopping Alexandra. She carries the story forward through story and plenty of songs, all of which represent the various life lessons she has learned along with way about herself, from learning to deal with feeling like a girl in a boy's body, falling in love at 16 with the woman who becomes her wife, to now living her life as an openly transgender woman. I learned more in this one evening's entertainment than I ever have leading any articles on the subject, especially when the fiercely flamboyant star stripped down to reveal her body as well as her soul to the audience.

Everything about them was a statement. Their clothes, a rejection of materialism. Their drugs, a quest to get closer to God. Their long hair, a flag of freedom. They were hippies, the social watch dogs of the 1960s, and they played a pivotal role in American pop culture.

Monday, January 23 was the Aquarius New Moon AND Chinese New Year (year of the Dragon) - it was also the 80th birthday of one of our national treasures - James Rado - co-author of the legendary musical HAIR. Rado celebrated this milestone at The Copacabana, with a crowd of over 125 - family and friends - including original Broadway HAIR cast members - Natalie Mosco, Marjorie LiPari, Robert I. Rubinsky (aka Bobby The Middle-Aged Celebrity); HAIR alumni including Heather MacRae, André De Shields, Ula Hedwig, Zora Rasmussen, Dale Soules. Other guests included Luther Creek (SPIDER-MAN, 25th Anniversary tour of HAIR, RENT) who performed excerpts from Rado's latest musical AMERICAN SOLDIER (written with brother Ted Rado) at the party along with Rosalind Brown, A.D. Coughlan, Ula Hedwig, Sean Jenness, Marjorie LiPari, Michael Lynch, Natalie Mosco, Cheryl Pepsii Riley, Gordon Ramsey, Robert I. Rubinsky, Sam Underwood and Alex York.

Three-time Tony Award winner Carol Channing visited Broders Book Store in New York yesterday, December 1 to discuss her career and newest album 'For Heaven's Sake.' Channing also signed copies of the disc. BroadwayWorld was on hand and brings you photo coverage below.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre greets the new year by proudly presenting its 50th world premiere, a new comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity from the creators of Eurydice. Celebrated playwright Sarah Ruhl and Obie Award-winning director Les Waters come together again for the debut of In the Next Room (or the vibrator play). Commissioned by Berkeley Rep and staged in the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre, this hotly anticipated play begins previews on January 30, opens February 4, and closes March 15. BART and Wells Fargo serve as season sponsors for Berkeley Rep's 41st year of fearless theatre, and the executive producer for this show is the Strauch Kulhanjian Family.

When HAIR, The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, opened on Broadway at the Biltmore theatre on April 29, 1968 the musical, with book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, music by Galt MacDermot and directed by Tom O'Horgan, broke new ground in musical theatre and the genre of the 'rock musical' was born.