The first thing people always ask me is, ‘You’re an opera company, why are you doing a musical?’” said Michelle Krisel, General Director of Ash Lawn Opera, and the behind-the-scenes creative force in charge of casting, performance selections, fundraising, and community outreach for the company. We spoke with Krisel at Ash Lawn’s Downtown office during […]
The first thing people always ask me is, ‘You’re an opera company, why are you doing a musical?’” said Michelle Krisel, General Director of Ash Lawn Opera, and the behind-the-scenes creative force in charge of casting, performance selections, fundraising, and community outreach for the company. We spoke with Krisel at Ash Lawn’s Downtown office during […]
The 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Next to Normal goes deep. Deeper, in fact, than many social constructs deem comfortable. The production’s dialogue allows the audience to reflect upon the turmoil of a family whose members are struggling to come to terms with the worsening bipolar disorder of their mother. Addressing issues associated with severe mental […]
See the Gospels as you’ve never seen or heard them before in Four County Player’s revival of the hit musical Godspell, which tells Jesus’ life story with a dash of rock’n’roll. Based on the Gospel According to Matthew, the energetic and heartfelt retelling centers on a series of parables from the Bible interspersed with some […]
Paint the town pink with perky sorority girl-turned-law student Elle Woods and her lovable four-legged sidekick Bruiser in Legally Blonde: The Musical. Based on the novel by Anna Brown and the 2001 motion picture, the play showcases everyone’s favorite heroine as she sings her way through boyfriend woes, Harvard Law School, and the murder of the century, […]
Some people claim that Disney World is the only place where dreams come true. I beg to differ, Cinderella’s castle notwithstanding. My case in point: a broke intern, far from her hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia, forced to babysit on the side to finance her fanatical addiction to Nike running shorts, can, in fact, find herself interviewing […]
If you prefer passionate narratives to summer blockbusters, then the annual Ash Lawn Opera Festival is probably already on your radar. The arts community stronghold is kicking off another season with Giacomo Puccini’s beloved masterpiece La Bohème. Set in 19th-century Paris, the foundation for the popular Broadway musical Rent follows a group of struggling artists […]
The year is 1958, and abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko sits in a chair in his New York studio, smoking a cigarette and considering the audience. Or rather an invisible canvas that hangs between us. Aside from a coffee pot, a phonograph, and scotch, every surface is dedicated to artistic detritus. Rusty buckets, stained drop […]
Coran Capshaw is expanding his live-music footprint on the Downtown Mall, today announcing a new partnership with The Southern Café & Music Hall. Starr Hill, the concert promotion arm of Capshaw’s Red Light Management, released a statement today that confirmed the new relationship pairing the small venue on South First Street with the local industry giant, […]
The construction is complete, and Robert Chapel is ready to dig in. As Heritage Theatre Festival’s Producing Artistic Director, Chapel is eager to launch the company’s first full season in two years following the opening of UVA Drama’s new Ruth Caplin Theatre. “I’ll be doing five shows: two in the Caplin, two in the Culbreth, […]
While the summer sun beats down outside this weekend, the Paramount stage will be replete with winter wind workers, blizzard bringers, icicle sharpeners, and snow smoothers – all local children cast in the Missoula Children Theatre’s modern adaptation of The Princess and the Pea. From kings, queens and phony princesses to flower gardeners and dust […]