Oh, Boy! 2003 - Articles Page 30

Long considered a 'songwriter's songwriter,' John Prine is a rare talent who writes the songs other songwriters would sell their souls for. With one of the most influential and unmistakable songwriting voices of today, Prine continues to cast his perceptive eye upon the subtle complexities of the human condition, delivering his observations in his uniquely concise, illuminating compositions. Some four decades since his remarkable debut, John Prine is ready to release In Person & On Stage, a new live album proving he's still at the top of his game, both as a performer and songwriter. Recently honored at the Library of Congress by US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, he's been elevated from the annals of songwriters into the realm of bonafide American treasures.

Oh, there were big goings-on in the Showtuneland of Chicago this past weekend! And a whole lot of talkin' goin' on. But before we get to that particular topic, I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you some Chicago-based highlights of my recent trip to New York: observations, thoughts and feelings that many of you may have had this spring or summer on a similar trip.

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the biggest Fringe Festival in the world, and Canada's Cabaret Superstar Sharron Matthew's is taking her show there for the first time ever. Once she arrived in Scotland she sat down to talk with BWW about the excitment of participating in EdFringe, Alan Cumming, Taylor the Latte Boy and WORLD DOMINATION!

With audiences around the world dancing in the aisles, this legendary production hits The Ivoryton Playhouse from July 7th - August 1, 2010. Oh Boy! Rave On! Peggy Sue, That'll Be The Day!... All smash hits of the golden days of rock ‘n' roll, when ‘doo-wops' & ‘ah hey, ah hey, heys' rang out from every Jukebox!

With audiences around the world dancing in the aisles, this legendary production hits The Ivoryton Playhouse from July 7th - August 1, 2010. Oh Boy! Rave On! Peggy Sue, That'll Be The Day!... All smash hits of the golden days of rock ‘n' roll, when ‘doo-wops' & ‘ah hey, ah hey, heys' rang out from every Jukebox!

On Tuesday night I had the privilege of conducting an InDepth InterView with legendary composer, conductor and musical director Marvin Hamlisch. The three-time Oscar-winner has also won a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony, Emmys and Golden Globes making him the only individual besides Richard Rodgers to accomplish as much in his forty-year-plus career. His scores for A CHORUS LINE, THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG and SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, along with his work on classic films like THE WAY WE WERE and THE STING surely cement his place in the pantheon of great American artists, a legend in his own time. On Monday night he also participated - accompanying Idina Menzel on a song from A CHORUS LINE - in the White House celebration of Broadway also starring Nathan Lane, Idina Menzel, Audra McDonald and the First Family themselves which will be airing on PBS in October. He also hosts the 70s music special THE WAY WE WERE, MUSIC OF THE SEVENTIES airing in August on PBS, as well.

With audiences around the world dancing in the aisles, this legendary production hits The Ivoryton Playhouse from July 7th - August 1, 2010. Oh Boy! Rave On! Peggy Sue, That'll Be The Day!... All smash hits of the golden days of rock ‘n' roll, when ‘doo-wops' & ‘ah hey, ah hey, heys' rang out from every Jukebox!

With audiences around the world dancing in the aisles, this legendary production hits The Ivoryton Playhouse from July 7th - August 1, 2010. Oh Boy! Rave On! Peggy Sue, That'll Be The Day!... All smash hits of the golden days of rock ‘n' roll, when ‘doo-wops' & ‘ah hey, ah hey, heys' rang out from every Jukebox!

With audiences around the world dancing in the aisles, this legendary production hits The Ivoryton Playhouse from July 7th - August 1, 2010. Oh Boy! Rave On! Peggy Sue, That'll Be The Day!... All smash hits of the golden days of rock ‘n' roll, when ‘doo-wops' & ‘ah hey, ah hey, heys' rang out from every Jukebox!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'Million Dollar Quartet,' 'Oh Boy!,' 'Low Down Dirty Blues,' 'Sugar,' 'The Drowsy Chaperone,' 'Sweet And Hot,' more....

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Dominic Missimi gala, Diana Ross, 'Fuerza Bruta,' 'Billy Elliot,' 'Legally Blonde,' 'Oh, Boy!,' more...

Today, in honor of the DVD release of Rob Marshall's film version of the 1982 Tony-winning Best Musical NINE, Maury Yeston was gracious and generous enough to grant me a few hours in which I could ask him intimate questions about his life, career and the future of theatre itself. Not one to mince words, Yeston is a veritable font of knowledge and it became clear during the interview that he may be as gifted and talented in his educational and mentorship skills as he is as a two-time Tony-winning composer and lyricist. His stage musicals include two Tony-winning Best Musicals, NINE and TITANIC, as well as: IN THE BEGINNING, GRAND HOTEL, PHANTOM, and the forthcoming DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY, as well as a full-length ballet of TOM SAWYER premiering later this year. From the handwritten letter sent by Katharine Hepburn to Frederico Fellini after seeing the workshop of NINE thirty years ago to this very day when NINE hits DVD, we will take a look at this magnanimous maestro's starry career in this inaugural InDepth InterView. Enjoy!

Today we are taking a listen to Stephen Sondheim's musicals of the 1980s, each a striking artistic achievement attempting to do something never done before in Broadway history and improving the very genre of musical theatre itself with his work on these three very different shows. MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and INTO THE WOODS...

The Artistic Home, near the corner of Byron and Clark on the outskirts of Chicago's Wrigleyville neighborhood, is directly across the street from a cemetery. Well, three cemeteries, I think. And that is so appropriate, because, as you may know, that's where you end up at the end of this 1891 German dramatic classic by Frank Wedekind, being performed now through May 9, 2010 by the Promethean Theatre Ensemble.

There is a sort of darling, cheerful innocence associated with youth in the 50's, which, by contrast, is ridiculously tame by today's standards. Mixing old-fashioned values, quirky fashions, and infectious pop music that is oh-so-cute and saccharine, it is no wonder that many wax nostalgic for an era that came before the rise of cynicism, mistrust, and a disenfranchised counter-culture took hold of a nation still fixing itself. So upon seeing the sparkly, prom-decorated gymnasium set for Musical Theatre West's regional production of Roger Bean's Off-Broadway hit THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES (continuing through May 2), one can't help but feel warm and fuzzy for what's about to happen. For a solid two hours-plus, it was certainly nice traveling back to pre-hardened times, and to be enveloped and shielded in the show's very cozy, comforting embrace.

'Oh What a Night' it will be when the original Jersey Boy Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons take center stage at the Fox Theatre on Friday, April 16 at 8:00 p.m.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Sondheim/Lloyd Webber Day, 'White Christmas,' The Glenwood, Tom Jones, 'Oh, Boy!,' 'The Original Grease,' more.....

This week we are taking a look at the just-released cast album of the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical sequel, LOVE NEVER DIES, which has proven to be among many phans and theatre fans, in a word, divisive. Be sure to check out last week's Phantom Round-Up for a rundown of the original PHANTOM OF THE OPERA as it stands on disc if only because it is beneficial to have at least a tertiary knowledge of that show‘s score in order to fully appreciate the music here... And what rich, rapturous music it is!

Seattle's Paramount Theatre is currently presenting the US tour of "Xanadu". And let me tell you the show is stupid, ridiculous, pointless, over the top and has no redeeming value what so ever. And boy will you have a good time at it!

Pandora Productions is ringing in 2010 with a certifiable hit on their hands and it's not even opening night yet!

Currently starring in South Coast Repertory's West Coast production of Adam Gwon's musical ORDINARY DAYS (ending January 24), David Burnham (Wicked, The Light in the Piazza) recently sat down with BroadwayWorld's Michael Lawrence Quintos to talk about his humble beginnings as a farm boy, his admiration for John Raitt, being a Broadway performer, and living his dream job.

'Oh What a Night' it will be when the original Jersey Boy Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons take center stage at the Fox Theatre on Friday, April 16 at 8:00 p.m.

Pandora Productions is ringing in 2010 with a certifiable hit on their hands and it's not even opening night yet!

A New Year filled with laughter, music, and entertainment galore is Pandora Productions' resolution as they ring in 2010 with the regional premier of Ron Lytle's award-winning musical Oh My Godmother!, a sassy, satirical spin on the classic tale of Cinderella and the show's first-ever performances outside its home city of San Francisco.

Pandora Productions is ringing in 2010 with a certifiable hit on their hands and it's not even opening night yet!