|
Tony Award nominations were announced on May 15, and the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY, which originated at the Cincinnati Playhouse, picked up three — best revival, best director (John Doyle, who won last year for his revival of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd) and best actor in a musical (Raul Esparza). Sondheim was in Cincinnati on May 14 for a recognition by the Fine Arts Fund; he sat down with me for an Around Cincinnati radio interview, set to air on WVXU (FM 91.7) at 7 p.m. Sunday. The Tonys will be awarded on June 10. If you can't make it to New York City, consider attending Ensemble Theatre's annual fund-raiser at Paul Brown Stadium, where you can watch the proceedings on the big screens in the East Club House. Info: 513-421-3555.
Speaking of awards and recognition, Miami University theater senior BRYAN W. SCHMIDT won a National Critic's Institute competition in late April, besting six other students from across the country. His recognition will enable him to spend two weeks this summer, all expenses paid, at the O'Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut, working with leading professional newspaper and magazine critics. The theater major is from Maineville, Ohio.
UC's COLLEGE-CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC (CCM) has announced its mainstage productions for 2007-08.
Tony Award nominations were announced on May 15, and the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY, which originated at the Cincinnati Playhouse, picked up three — best revival, best director (John Doyle, who won last year for his revival of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd) and best actor in a musical (Raul Esparza). Sondheim was in Cincinnati on May 14 for a recognition by the Fine Arts Fund; he sat down with me for an Around Cincinnati radio interview, set to air on WVXU (FM 91.7) at 7 p.m. Sunday. The Tonys will be awarded on June 10. If you can't make it to New York City, consider attending Ensemble Theatre's annual fund-raiser at Paul Brown Stadium, where you can watch the proceedings on the big screens in the East Club House. Info: 513-421-3555. ...
Speaking of awards and recognition, Miami University theater senior BRYAN W. SCHMIDT won a National Critic's Institute competition in late April, besting six other students from across the country. His recognition will enable him to spend two weeks this summer, all expenses paid, at the O'Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut, working with leading professional newspaper and magazine critics. The theater major is from Maineville, Ohio. ...
UC's COLLEGE-CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC (CCM) has announced its mainstage productions for 2007-08. Leonard Bernstein's Wonderful Town (Nov. 15-18) returns (CCM last presented the 1953 show in 1973); it's the story of two sisters from Ohio who go to New York in search of love and fortune. The year's second musical will be Little Women (Feb. 28-March 9, 2008), using the 2005 Broadway adaptation seen on tour at the Aronoff Center in 2006. Mainstage dramas will be Anon(ymous) (Oct. 25-28), Naomi Iizuka's adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey set in a multicultural America, and Rashomon (April 24-27, 2008), a stage version of Akira Kurosawa's classic 1950 film about divergent perspectives of a crime. Mainstage also includes opera: We'll see the Midwest premiere of a new — and very adult — opera, Miss Lonelyhearts (Feb. 8, 10), based on Nathaniel West's darkly comic 1933 novella. The production is directed by Ken Cazan from the University of Southern California; USC and CCM collaborated on this production with The Juilliard School from New York, which commissioned the opera for its centennial in 2006. The other half of the opera equation for 2007-08 is Puccini's La Bohème (May 15-18), one of the most popular works in the opera repertoire and the inspiration for the Broadway musical Rent. Subscriptions: 513-556-4183.
MINIREVIEWS
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's THE TEMPEST is a box of wonders — full of magic, sprites, monsters, young love at first sight, noble nobles and blithering idiots, lust and the lust for power, slavery and the hunger for freedom, attempted rape, the rage of revenge and, ultimately, the stillness of forgiveness. It's crowned with actor Bruce Cromer's insightful performance as Prospero; he delicately balances flights of intelligence, empathy and pure affection with the lowest, most visceral yearnings after bloody vengeance. This successfully makes it two in a row for director Drew Fracher, following his top-notch production of Opus at ETC. Through May 27. (Tom McElfresh) Grade: A
If you prefer light-hearted entertainment, New Stage Collective's THE GOAT, OR WHO IS SYLVIA? is not for you. But if you want to see a superbly acted, searing drama that you won't forget, call for tickets now. There's nothing easy about Edward Albee's award-winning play: A man wrecks his good marriage because of an irrational (and irresistible) attraction to a barnyard animal. Fearless director Alan Patrick Kenny has recruited strong actors for this electrifying production: Brian Isaac Phillips is a man adrift in middle age; Amy Warner is his angry, devastated wife. Their agonizing argument of revelation is one of the most horrendous and convincing I have ever seen onstage. The production has been extended through May 27. (Rick Pender) Grade: A
contact rick Pender: [email protected]
