Today Features: 35MM: Musical Exhibition in Focus Podcast – Kleban Prize Winners – Amanda McBroom/Michele Brourman – Broadway Records, Randy Rainbow – The Silent Waiter, Metropolitan Playhouse – Julius Caesar, Radio Play – Mabel Mercer, Look to the Rainbow – Urban Stages, Eleanor & Alice Roosevelt – Scott Siegel, The WarHunter – Untold Stories of Broadway, Jennifer Ashley Tepper – Bucks County Playhouse, Wynton Marsalis – ArsNova, Vision Residency Program – Park Avenue Armory, Social Distance Hall – MTC, Stage Fright – Demakus Theatre Collection, Black Mary . . .
John Johnson and Very Intensive Productions are pleased to announce the release of 35MM: A Musical Exhibition in Focus, an album of commentary, original cast interviews, and track-by-track song breakdowns. The album is available now (March 9) via Spotify, Apple Music, and all streaming platforms. 35MM: A Musical Exhibition is a cult-hit musical written by Ryan Scott Oliver that has been performed hundreds of times all over the world, including Japan, Australia, Scotland, England, Canada and across the US. With a cast recording (by Ghostlight Records) that has been experienced more than 20 million times, the show is song cycle based on photographs by world-renowned Broadway photographer Matthew Murphy (Murphymade.com).
The podcast-style album is narrated by Ryan Scott Oliver and features interviews with original cast members Alex Brightman, Ben Crawford, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Lindsay Mendez and Betsy Wolfe, with additional commentary by Murphy. Every song (including transitions) receives a track-by-track breakdown, analyzing music and lyrics and digging deep into their origins and inspirations. Visit concordsho.ws/Perform35mm. To buy the vocal sections, visit concordsho.ws/Shop35mm.
First ever virtual presentation of the 31st annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre, Monday, March 15 at 7:00 PM ET at https://www.broadwayondemand.com/not-live/Ti4CEeGaKzeS-kleban-prize-awards-ceremony?channel=current-live-schedule.
As previously announced, the 2021 Kleban Prize for the most promising musical theatre lyricist has been awarded to lyricist Benjamin Scheuer. The Kleban Prize for the most promising musical theatre librettist has been awarded to librettists Melissa Li and Kit Yan. FREE to the public, hosted by Tony Winners Richard Maltby Jr. and Maury Yeston. If you can’t attend the premiere streaming event, it’s available to view Tues. March 16 at 10 am ET at www.NewDramatists.org/Kleban-Prize-Musical-Theatre.
Check out Amanda McBroom and Michele Brourman’s new song “My Headline for Today” – a March buried treasure. YouTube
Broadway Records announces today the release of a new song by Randy Rainbow titled “MR. BIDEN (BRING MY VACCINE)”, a satire of The Chordettes hit single, “Mr. Sandman (Bring Me A ream.)” Broadway Records released the parody’s digital single, and it is now available on www.BroadwayRecords.com with iTunes, Spotify and other digital retailers to follow shortly. The single features original cover art by beloved Broadway illustrator Justin “Squigs” Robertson. Watch Rainbow’s original music video on Randy Rainbow’s Youtube Channel HERE.
THE SILENT WAITER by Alfred Kreymborg – Seldom-seen and sinister play March 13, 2021, at 8 pm EST at Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse. Free “screened” reading, live-streamed at no charge, with talkback to follow. www.MetropolitanPlayhouse.org/watchsilentwaiter. The cast. Directed by LAURA LIVINGSTON, features KYLE MAXWELL and KEVIN MELENDEZ. The video will be available through Wednesday, 3/17/21 on the Playhouse webpage, the Metropolitan Playhouse YouTube channel, and the Metropolitan Playhouse Facebook page.
“Beware The Ides of March,” the soothsayer warned Julius Caesar. On March 15th, that historical day, Shakespeare@ Home will present the fourth and final episode of the ALL FREE radio play adaptation of Julius Caesar at 7PM EST. The production features acclaimed talent from Broadway, London’s West End and the New York stage. The actors include Tony Award Nominee Patrick Page (Hadestown) in the title role, Jordan Barbour (Broadway’s The Inheritance) as Brutus, Keith Hamilton Cobb (American Moor) as Cassius, Jamie Ballard (Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child UK) as Mark Antony, Sky Lakota Lynch (Dear Evan Hansen) as Lucius, James Howard (Harry Potter and Cursed Child UK) and the esteemed RSC and National Theater veteran David Hargreeves. Prior episodes are available and can be listened to and downloaded indefinitely at NO COST and are approximately 30-40 minutes long.To listen to Julius Caesar visit https://www.shakespeare-at.org/shakespeare-home
“Look To The Rainbow” – a St. Patrick’s Day celebration in song, Wednesday, March 17 at 7 pm EST, streaming at www.mabelmercer.org (no registration necessary). Hosted by KT Sullivan and Russ Woolley with Tim Connell, Eric Yves Garcia, Sean Patrick Murtagh with pianists James Followell and Bill Zeffiro. Special guest Julie Kurtzman on violin!
Eleanor (Trezana Bevereley) and Alice Roosevelt (Mary Bacon) – friends, cousins, and rivals – meet at eight crucial moments over the course of their lives, March 18-23, 7:30 pm – listen to the play. Donations suggested at www.UrbanStages.org .They feud, laugh, commiserate, and argue over their husbands, children, the nature of politics and the state of the world. One a Democrat and one a Republican, throughout 63 years of meetings they witness a changing world from their own unique vantage points as two of the most influential women of the 20th century. Eleanor and Alice, through their accomplishments, ultimately help build a foundation that benefits women in politics today.
Entrepreneur extraordinaire Scott Siegel has re-released “The Warhunter” (first book of his Western Series). Here’s the scoop! Warfield Hunter’s personal vendetta against the Farrel gang led him to the little town of Kimble – just in time to save the sheriff’s life in a shootout with two of those deadly killers.
But Hunter knew that Farrel would never stand for this, that Kimble was a doomed town unless everyone backed up the sheriff. What he didn’t know was that certain prominent citizens had decided it was to their advantage for Kimble to be destroyed – and how could even Hunter save a town that was bent on its own destruction? Available on:https://www.amazon.com/Warhunter-Killers-Council-War-Hunter-ebook/dp/B08F7WZ7DQ
Dress Circle Publishing has announced the release of THE UNTOLD STORIES OF BROADWAY, VOLUME 4, the latest in a series by acclaimed historian and producer Jennifer Ashley Tepper.The book is is now available to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the 2020-2021 Broadway shutdown. This landmark multi-volume series tells the stories of all of the theaters on Broadway; the new addition includes the beloved houses the Imperial, Jacobs, Studio 54, Minskoff, Friedman, and Golden, as well as the five Broadway theaters that were destroyed in 1982, changing the course of New York City history. To order THE UNTOLD STORIES OF BROADWAY, please visit www.dresscirclepublishing.com.
Launching April 2, The Spring Music Series At Bucks County Playhouse will offer new concerts each week featuring Craig Thatcher And Cliff Sharkey, Hot Club of Philadelphia with Phyllis Chapell, Swearingen and Kelli: The Music of Simon and Garfunkel and The Zmed Brothers – The marquee event of the series is the Playhouse debut of the legendary jazz artist, Wynton Marsalis with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Septet. This world-famous jazz ensemble will present concerts to benefit the Playhouse, April 17 – 3 and 7:30 p.m. and April 18 – 2 p.m. Tickets are currently on sale at BucksCountyPlayhouse.org.
The company known for pop-culture-savvy experimentation, Ars Nova, with a hipness that sets it apart” (New York Times), under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Jason Eagan and Managing Director Renee Blinkwolt, announces its fourth slate of 2021 programming including four events from Tuçe Yasak, Tislarm Bouie, L Morgan Lee, and Emily Wells, curated by Obie-winning choreographer and director raja feather kelly as part of the new Ars Nova Vision Residency program. All events take place on Ars Nova Supra, a streaming platform from Ars Nova that showcases some of New York City’s most promising emerging artists and currently serves as the online home for the majority of Ars Nova presentations the 2020-2021 Vision Residents are Starr Busby, nicHi douglas, JJJJJerome Ellis, Jenny Koons, David Mendizábal, and Rona Siddiqui. Ars Nova Supra Programming March 20 to April 9.
Park Avenue Armory today announced the launch of Social Distance Hall, a series of new performing arts commissions created by artists during the pandemic and designed to be experienced in a safe, socially distanced way. Leveraging the flexible and airy expanse of the Armory’s 55,000 square foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall, the Armory spent the last year working with artists to create new projects that respond to salient themes including isolation, community, public health, and social justice. The Armory has carefully curated every detail of the in-person experience to allow live audiences to safely immerse themselves in new music, dance, and movement works by Bill T. Jones; Steven Hoggett, Christine Jones and David Byrne; and Laurie Anderson and Jason Moran. The Social Distance Hall season opens on March 24 with Afterwardsness, an original composition by Bill T. Jones, with dates for the remaining productions to be announced soon. www.armoryonpark.org
MTC (Music Theatre of Connecticut) Virtual Fundraiser “Stage Fright” – interactive musical thriller March 18 at 7 pm and March 19, March 20. www.musictheatreofct.com
DEMASKUS Theater Collective in association with Post Theatrical present BLACK MARY, A U.S. Postal and Virtual Performance Event Honoring Mary Fields – an interactive theater experience. Mail Engagement: April 12 – May 7; Final Online Event: June 17 – 19 – Juneteenth Weekend. For tickets and more information please visit: https://www.posttheatrical.org/events.
