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Tag Archives: Arthur Laurents

WEST SIDE STORY at Lauderhill Performing Arts Center November 14 – December 1

15 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by Carol Kassie in Clients, Lauderhill Performing Arts Center

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Alexa Lopez, Arthur Laurents, Broadway Palm, Fort Lauderdale Theatre, Jacob Tarconish, Jerome Robbins, Lauderhill Performing Arts Center, Lauderhill Theatre, Leonard Bernstein, LPAC, Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story

Lauderhill Performing Arts Center (LPAC) in Collaboration with
Broadway Palm presents
West Side Story

November 14 – December 1

“Pooling imagination and virtuosity, [they] have written a profoundly moving show that is as ugly as the city jungles and also pathetic, tender and forgiving.”
Brooks Atkinson ~ The New York Times, September 27, 1957

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

October 15, 2019

LAUDERHILL, FL:  West Side Story: Classic. Powerful. Groundbreaking. Heartbreaking.  All words that have been used to describe one of Broadway’s most memorable and iconic pieces of musical theatre.  The Lauderhill Performing Arts Center in collaboration with Broadway Palm will present West Side Story as the first production in their brand-new Broadway at the LPAC series.  The show will run from November 14th through December 1st.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is transported to modern-day New York City as two young idealistic lovers find themselves caught between warring street gangs, the “American” Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks.  The story of their struggle to survive in a world of hate, violence, and prejudice became one of the most innovative, heart-wrenching musicals of all time, and the subject matter is as relevant today as it was when the show opened in 1957.

West Side Story was written by Arthur Laurents. The musical’s score was composed by Leonard Bernstein, and the show was choreographed by Jerome Robbins, who won a Tony Award for his work.  West Side Story also marked the Broadway debut of a then unknown lyricist/composer – Stephen Sondheim.   Sondheim was contracted to write the lyrics for the show after composer Bernstein decided that he needed to concentrate solely on the music.  (Sondheim originally declined the offer, but his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein, convinced him to do it, telling him he would benefit from the experience.)

The production’s Artistic Producer, Brian Enzman, has cast Alexa Lopez and Jacob Tarconish as West Side Story’s star-crossed lovers, Maria and Tony.

Alexa Lopez

“West Side Story was the first piece of musical theater I had ever seen live, it was the first thing that sparked my passion for performing, and so it holds an extremely special place in my heart,” seventeen-year old Lopez, a senior at the American Heritage School in Plantation, explains. “Looking back, I remember how moved I was by the rich music, the actors, and the relevant story they were telling. I saw myself on stage that night, and was able to, as a Cuban-American, deeply identify with Maria. I’ve carried this show with me since and am truly amazed at how contemporary it remains today. It is a story that I am honored to be able to tell.

“My journey with West Side has been a long one,” she continues. “I auditioned for the role of Maria many times and at many levels. One of my most memorable experiences was this past year when I had the wonderful opportunity of making it to the final round of callbacks for the upcoming 2020 Broadway revival, auditioning for Ivo Van Hove, the director. In any case, I’m so ecstatic to finally play Maria and be able to share her story.”

Jacob Tarconish

Jacob Tarconish has given a lot of thought to the relevance of the play in today’s world, and to his character:  “The Sharks and Jets are in this world of divisiveness, racism and xenophobia, and then you have two people fall in love and realize “everything we’ve been told to believe is wrong. We’re all just people whose differences aren’t a reason to hate each other, they’re what make us exciting and magical”, and we see what happens when two people challenge those barriers and try to tear them down,” he says. “I think in our country today, there’s a lot of that same divisiveness and there’s also a sense of drastically changing beliefs, which makes West Side Story such a powerful and wonderful piece of theatre to be a part of.

“I think a lot of people have a side of Tony in them,” he continues. “He’s got a job, he’s at a point in his life where he’s grown past what his friends are still doing, but he’s kind of dissatisfied. He’s got all this energy and ambition, but nothing to really use it on. Then, he meets Maria, and his world instantly changes. He realizes “I’ve found someone who understands me, who sees me, and I would do absolutely anything and everything to be with her,” and suddenly he’s alive again, he’s using that drive again, and it makes him feel like he’s superhuman. I think people can absolutely identify with that sense of longing and passion.”

The rest of the West Side Story cast includes the Shark Girls – Katie Whittemore as Anita, Sandi Stock as Francisca, Emily Stys as Rosalia and Emilee Hassanzadeh as Margarita; The Jets Girls:  Sarah Rose Knoche as Anybodys, Laura Titus as Graziella, Lauren Cagnetta as Minnie and Bailee Cudmore as Velman; The Sharks:  Pasqualino Beltempo as Bernardo, Brandon Santos as Chino, Jermarcus Riggins as Pepe, Phillip Giandiletti as Luis and Richel Ruiz as Juan; The Jets:  Rhett Warner as Riff, Robert Ayala as Action, Michael Friedman as A-Rab, Clint Maddox Thompson as Baby John, Mason Lewis as Diesel and Derik Lawson as Snowboy.  Also in the cast are Peter Librach as Doc, Craig Smith as Lieutenant Schrank, and Justin Schneyer as Officer Krupke.

West Side Story will be directed by Dean Sobon, with musical direction by Eric Alsford, and the show’s Choreographer is Ron Hutchins.  Lighting Design is by Russell Thompson, Lighting Design is by Chris Young, and Costume Design is by John White.

West Side Story will run from November 14th– December 1st. Ticket prices range from $35 – $55 and are available online at https://lpacfl.com/or by calling 954-777-2055.  Performances are on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 pm, and Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 pm.  There will not be a performance on Thursday, November 28th – Thanksgiving Day.

Subscriptions for the Broadway in Broward series are also on sale, and various subscription packages are available. Subscriptions can be purchased by calling the LPAC box office at 954-777-2055.

The Lauderhill Performing Arts Center (LPAC) has hosted numerous theatrical events and productions since it opened its doors in January 2016 and has grown its audiences to include theatre patrons from not only Broward County, but Miami/Dade and Palm Beach counties as well. The theatre is located at 3800 NW 11th Place (33311), in the Central Broward Regional Park on the Northeast corner of Sunrise Boulevard and State Road 7.  For more information about LPAC visit https://lpacfl.com.

For more information about West Side Story please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

~

West Side Story
November 14 – December 1
Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Based on a Conception of Jerome Robbins
Performances:
Thursday, Friday, & Saturday at 7:30 pm (no Thanksgiving night performance)
Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday at 2 pm
Tickets:  $35 – $55
For tickets:  954-777-2055/ https://lpacfl.com/
All performances will take place at
The Lauderhill Performing Arts Center (LPAC)
3800 NW 11th Place,
Lauderhill, FL  33311
https://lpacfl.com/
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TO LIFE: STORIES & MUSIC CELEBRATING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF JEWISH COMPOSERS TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF BROADWAY – Jan 18 – Feb at the Willow Theatre

27 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by Carol Kassie in Clients, Hy Juter

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Tags

Alan Jay Lerner, Alan Menken, Alix Paige, Arthur Laurents, Black Box Booking, Boca Raton Theatre, Frederick Loewe, George Gershwin, Harvey Fierstein, Howard Ashman, Hy Juter, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jeffrey Bruce, Jerry Herman, Jodie Langel, Jule Styne, Leonoard Bernstein, Lorenz Hart, Mark Sanders, Musical Theatre, Oscar Hammerstein, Paul Reekie, Richard Rodgers, Shari Upbin, Sheldon Harnick, Stephen Sondheim, Wayne LeGette, Willow Theatre at Sugar Sand Park

Black Box Booking & Hy Juter
Present

To Life: Stories & Music Celebrating the Contributions of Jewish Composers to The Golden Age of Broadway

January 18 – February 3, 2019

 “Musicals are plays, but the last collaborator is your audience, so you’ve got to wait ’til the last collaborator comes in before you can complete the collaboration.” 
~ Stephen Sondheim

“I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn’t write anything without hope in it.”
~ Oscar Hammerstein”

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

December 27, 2018
BOCA RATON, FL:  From Irving Berlin to Leonard Bernstein, and from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Stephen Sondheim, not to mention Fanny Brice, Zero Mostel, Jerry Orbach, and Barbra Streisand, Jewish composers and artists have contributed tremendously to Broadway.   Black Box Booking and Hy Juter will present To Life: Stories & Music Celebrating the Contributions of Jewish Composers to The Golden Age of Broadway at the Willow Theatre in Sugar Sand Park from January 18th through February 3rd.

To Life: Stories & Music Celebrating the Contributions of Jewish Composers to The Golden Age of Broadway is chock full of fascinating narrative and charming anecdotes about some of the greatest Broadway artists of the 20th and 21st century.  The production features five of South Florida’s top actor singers:  Jeffrey Bruce, Broadway’s Jodie Langel, two-time Carbonell Award-winner Wayne LeGette, Alix Paige, and Carbonell Award-winner Mark Sanders.

Producers Jerry Seltzer of Black Box Booking and Hy Juter have tapped Shari Upbin to direct the show, and Paul Reekie to handle To Life’s musical direction.

“Jewish contribution to the Broadway musical has been phenomenal,” Upbin says. “In fact, Jewish composers and lyricists created the Broadway musical. Children of immigrants, called outsiders – people who struggled for acceptance in mainstream society – created the greatest American shows in history. Show Boat, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, Gypsy… and scores (pun intended!) more!

“Growing up in a household where my mother was a singer and my dad a writer for Jack Benny, I learned musical theatre songs early, and created dances for my parents to enjoy,” she continues. “I was encouraged by their enthusiasm for a good song, a good joke. Yes, my parents spoke Yiddish when they did not want me to understand what they were saying… but I always felt the warmth of the light in their eyes. I dedicate all the Jewish one-liners and the amazing songs heard in this show to my parents and grandparents. Immigrants who found their place in America urging me to continue their legacy. Tradition!”

To Life: Stories & Music Celebrating the Contributions of Jewish Composers to The Golden Age of Broadway was created and written by Scott Siegel.  Siegel is a well-known pop culture critic who covers film, theatre, and cabaret with his wife, Barbara, writing “The Siegel Column” for TheatreMania.com, and “The Two of Clubs” column for Talkin’Broadway.com. He has created more than 300 major concerts that have been performed worldwide, he has written/produced/directed concerts for Michael Feinstein, and has created scores of nightclub acts that have played at major clubs around the globe. However, he is perhaps best known as the creator/writer/director/host of New York City’s Town Hall Theatre’s signature series, Broadway by the Year® and Broadway Unplugged.

Nicole Stav is the production’s Stage Manager, and Jason Pierre will serve as Assistant Stage Manager.  Technical crew includes Laura Fulton (Lighting) and Andrés Alessandro Beuses Casasanta (Sound).

To Life will run from January 18 through February 3 at the Willow Theatre in Sugar Sand Park.  Tickets are $35; group rates (6 or more tickets purchased in one transaction) are $30.  Tickets can be purchased on line at www.willowtheatre.org or by phone at 561-347-3948.  The Willow Theatre is located at 300 South Military Trail, in Boca Raton’s Sugar Sand Park (33486).

For more information about To Life: Stories & Music Celebrating the Contributions of Jewish Composers to The Golden Age of Broadway please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.  To learn more about Black Box Booking please visit www.blackboxbooking.com, and for more information about Hy Juter please contact jupitertheater@yahoo.com.

To Life:  Stories & Music Celebrating the Contributions of Jewish Composers to The Golden Age of Broadway
January 18 – February 3, 2019
Created and Written by Scott Siegel
Directed by Shari Upbin
Tickets: $35 / $30 for groups of 6 or more
For tickets:  561-347-3948 or www.willowtheatre.org
Showtimes:
Friday & Saturday at 8 pm
Wednesday, Saturday, & Sunday at 2 pm
All performances take place at
The Willow Theatre at Sugar Sand Park
300 South Military Trail,
Boca Raton, FL 33486
www.willowtheatre.org

About The Willow Theatre:
The Willow Theatre, opened in 1998, is a beautiful 155-seat proscenium theater, located inside Sugar Sand Park Community Center and allows for a unique experience for theatre patrons. Before or after a show, you may wander the nature trails, visit the Children’s Science Explorium, look at the art exhibit on display, or picnic at one of our pavilions.

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Stage Door Theatre presents GYPSY November 20 – January 3

16 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by Carol Kassie in Clients

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ann Marie Olson, Arthur Laurents, Broward Stage Door Theatre, Dan Kelley, Gypsy, Jule Styne, Margate Theatre, Matthew Korinko, Musical Thatre, Stage Door Theatre, Stephen Sondheim

Stage Door Theatre
presents
Gypsy (mailer)
November 20 – January 3

Louise: You really would have been something, Mother.
Mama Rose: Think so?
Louise: If you had had someone to push you like I had.
Mama Rose: If I could’ve been, I would’ve been. And that’s show business.
~ Gypsy

November 16, 2015
MARGATE, FL:   Gypsy has been called “the greatest of all American musicals” (Ben Brantley, The New York Times), “arguably, in thematic terms, the quintessential American musical,” (The Hollywood Reporter), and “Broadway’s own brassy, unlikely answer to King Lear”. (Frank Rich, The New York Times). Stage Door Theatre’s production of Gypsy, directed by the company’s newly appointed artistic director Dan Kelley, and starring 2014 Carbonell Award-winner (Best Actress/Musical) Ann Marie Olson, will open on November 20th, and run through January 3rd.

Loosely based on the 1957 memoir of strip tease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, Gypsy focuses on the hopes, dreams, and gargantuan efforts of Mama Rose (“one of the few truly complex characters in the American musical….” Clive Barnes, New York Times), whose efforts to get her two daughters into show business makes her the archetypal picture of a ‘stage mother’ – a woman who will stop at nothing to make sure she gets what she wants – entirely disregarding the needs of everyone around her – including those very daughters whose lives she tries to direct and control.

Gypsy features songs that have become standards of musical theatre canon, including “Some People,” “Let Me Entertain You,” “Rose’s Turn,” and the show-stopping, “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”. Famous for helping launch lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s career, Gypsy’s book by Arthur Laurents is widely considered to be one of the classic examples of a traditional “book musical.”

“Rose is such a coveted, iconic role and I couldn’t be more honored to play her,” says Olson, who arrives at Stage Door directly from her critically acclaimed performance as Sandra Bloom in Slow Burn Theatre Company’s Big Fish.

Dan Kelley 3

Dan Kelley

“I’m so excited to be directing one of my favorite musicals of all time,” says Kelley, “Because of my great affection for this show I took special care in finding the perfect cast to bring Gypsy to life.” Kelley has cast Matthew Korinko as Herbie, and real life sisters Lola and Zoe McClure to play Baby June and Louise.

Ann Marie Olson

Ann Marie Olson

“Dan Kelley is such a delightful director and knows this famous “book musical” oh so well,” says Olson. “And after doing several shows with Matthew Korinko over the past few years, it will be fun to finally play opposite of him as a couple!”

Gypsy will run from November 20 – January 3 at The Stage Door Theatre.
Tickets for Gypsy are $38 – $42; $16 student tickets are also available. Tickets may be purchased at the Broward Stage Door Theatre box office at 954-344-7765 or on line at www.stagedoortheatre.com. Group and Subscriber Discounts are available for all Stage Door productions

For more information about Gypsy and/or The Stage Door Theatre, please visit www.stagedoortheatre.com , or contact Derelle Bunn Executive Producer/Artistic Director, at DerelleBunn@yahoo.com / 954-344-7765 or Carol Kassie (ckassie@gmail.com / 561-445-9244).

Gypsy
November 20, 2015 – January 3, 2016
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Arthur Laurents
Tickets: $38 – $2
Phone:  954-344-7765
Showtimes:
Wednesday, Saturday, & Sunday at 2 pm
Friday & Saturday at 8 pm
Stage Door Theatre
8036 W. Sample Road
Margate, FL  33065
www.stagedoortheatre.com
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