NYS Music 20​19

Category: Broadway/Musicals

  • Tony Award-Winning Musical ‘Bandstand’ Takes the Road

    The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Bandstand will roll out a coast to coast tour starting October 25 in Oklahoma City, OK. This tour comes after this smash- hit spent 2017 on Broadway. During the residency it was nominated for three Tony Awards and snagged the Tony for Best Choreography.

    “THE SHOW DEFIES YOU NOT TO BE MOVED”

    Time Out New York

    The vibrant musical, Bandstand, shows how one can heal through music and dance, written by Robert Taylor (book and lyrics), Richard Oberacker (music) and directed by three-time Tony winner Andy Blankkenbuelher (Hamilton choreography). The plot features World War II veteran Donny, fresh from the front lines, as he returns home to be a songwriter. When this proves difficult, he forms a group to compete in the NBC bandstand contest.  Using a peppy outlook and upbeat music, Bandstand delves into the challenges faced by our service men and women upon returning. This is a story that stretches across many decades.

    Photo by Michael Pool

    Along the way Bandstand will make stops in various New York cities. Included is The Stanley Theater in Utica, Proctors in Schenectady and the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Greenvale. Tickets are on sale now through the musicals website. Check out the additional tour dates below.

    BandStand Tour Dates: 2019-2020

    Oct.25-26 – OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater – Oklahoma City, OK

    Oct.29-30 – Rudder Auditorium – College Station, TX

    Nov.1 – Popejoy Hall – Albuquerque, NM

    Nov.2-3 – Civic Center Auditorium – Amarillo, TX

    Nov.4 – Bicknell Center for the Arts – Pittsburg, KS
    Nov.5 – Chapman Music Hall – Tulsa, OK

    Nov.6 – Abilene Convention Center – Abilene, TX

    Nov.7 – Cowan Center – Tyler, TX

    Nov.8 – Lutcher Theater – Orange, TX

    Nov.9 – The Grand 1894 Opera House – Galveston, TX

    Nov.11-12 – Washington Pavilion – Sioux Falls, SD

    Nov.13 – Civic Center – Bismarck, ND

    Nov.16-17 – Hult Center for the Performing Arts – Eugene, OR

    Nov.19-20 – Granada Theater – Santa Barbara, CA

    Nov.21-24 – Fred Kavli Theatre – Thousand Oaks, CA

    Dec.3-4 – Pikes Peak Center – Colorado Springs, CO

    Dec.6-8 – Orpheum Theatre – Phoenix, AZ

    Dec.11 – Orpheum Theatre – Sioux City, IA

    Dec.12 – Juanita K. Hammons Hall – Springfield, MO

    Dec.13-14 – Civic Center – Des Moines, IA

    Dec.15 – Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center – Cedar Falls, IA

    Dec.16 – River Center Adler Theater – Davenport, IA

    Dec.17 – Yardley Hall – Overland Park, KS

    Jan.3-5 – Von Braun Center Concert Hall – Huntsville, AL

    Jan.7 – Paramount Arts Center – Ashland, KY

    Jan.8 – Honeywell Center – Wabash, IN

    Jan.9-12 – Stranahan Theater – Toledo, OH

    Jan.14-16 – Century II Performing Arts Center – Wichita, KS

    Jan.17-19- Lied Center for Performing Arts – Lincoln, NE

    Jan.21 – Grand Theater – Wausau, WI

    Jan.22 – Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts – Bloomington, IL

    Jan.23 – Niswonger Performing Arts Center – Van Wert, OH

    Jan.24-26 – Morris Performing Arts Center – South Bend, IN

    Jan.27 – Emens Auditorium – Muncie, IN     

    Jan.29 – Givens Performing Arts Center – Pembroke, NC

    Jan.30 – Clayton Center for the Arts – Maryville, TN

    Jan.31 – Charleston Gaillard Center – Charleston, SC

    Feb.1-2 – Oxford Performing Arts Center – Oxford, AL

    Feb.4-5 – Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall – Sarasota, FL

    Feb.6 – Alan Jay Wildstein Center for the Performing Arts – Avon Park, FL

    Feb.7-8 – The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center – The Villages, FL

    Feb.9 – Mainstage Theater – Niceville, FL

    Feb.10 – Lafon Performing Arts Center – Luling, LA

    Feb.17 – King Center – Melbourne, FL

    Feb.18-23 – Moran Theater – Jacksonville, FL

    Feb.25-26 – Whiting Auditorium – Flint, MI

    Feb.28-29 – Hershey Theatre – Hershey, PA
    Mar.1 – Palace Theater – Waterbury, CT

    Mar.3-8 – National Theatre – Washington, D.C.

    Mar.10 – Stanley Theatre – Utica, NY

    Mar.12 – State Theatre – Easton, PA

    Mar.13-14 – Proctor’s Theatre – Schenectady, NY

    Mar.15 – Tilles Center for the Performing Arts – Greenvale, NY

    Mar.17-18 – Community Theatre – Morristown, NJ

    Mar.19-22 – Hanover Theatre – Worcester, MA

    Mar.27-29 – Pioneer Center – Reno, NV

    Mar.30-31 – Mary Stuart Rogers Theater – Modesto, CA

    Apr.2 – Idaho Falls Civic Auditorium – Idaho Falls, ID

    Apr.3-5 – Velma V. Morrison Center for the Performing Arts – Boise, ID

    Apr.7-12 – Memorial Auditorium – Sacramento, CA

    Apr.14 – Civic Center – Cheyenne, WY

    Apr.15 – Beach-Schmidt Performing Arts Center – Hays, KS

    Apr.17-19 – Lexington Opera House – Lexington, KY

    Apr.20 – Carson Center – Paducah, KY

    Apr.21 – Robinson Music Hall – Little Rock, AR

    Apr.22 – Community Center Auditorium – Bartlesville, OK

    Apr.24-26 – Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex – Birmingham, AL
    Apr.27-28 – Grand Opera House – Macon, GA

    Apr.29-30 – Koger Center for the Arts – Columbia, SC

    May 2 – Wilson Center – Wilmington, NC

    May 3 – Morganton Municipal Auditorium – Morganton, NC

    May 5-17 – Broward Center for the Performing Arts – Ft. Lauderdale, FL

    May 25 – Murphey Performance Hall – San Angelo, TX

    May 26-31 – Winspear Opera House – Dallas, TX

    Jun.3-4 – Count Basie Theatre – Red Bank, NJ

    Jun.5-7 – Shubert Theater – New Haven, CT

  • Joyce Carol Oates and Tony Trischka to collaborate for intimate performance in Washington Heights

    Famed author and Syracuse University alumna Joyce Carol Oates will join banjo virtuoso, songwriter and educator Tony Trischka on October 29 for a unique collaboration in Washington Heights. The evening will be recorded for Ben Arthur’s podcast SongWriter, which brings authors and musicians together to collaborate on storytelling and song-making.

    joyce carol oates tony trischka

    The performance, hosted by the black-owned Ethiopian micro-roastery Cafe Buunni, will feature Joyce Carol Oates reading her short story, “A Brutal Murder in a Public Place,” and songwriters Tony Trischka and Jennifer Marks will perform songs written in response to her story. SongWriter is hosted by Ben Arthur, and is released as a podcast and excerpted on the syndicated radio program Acoustic Cafe for 2M listeners.

    Cafe Buunni is located at 4961 Broadway between 207th Street and Isham. Take the A Train to the last stop at 207th Street. The show begins at 8pm, with a suggested donation of $10. More information can be found here.

    Listen to the first season of SongWriter here.

  • John Leguizamo’s one-man play ‘Latin History for Morons’ returns to NYC

    Following its Tony-nominated hit Broadway run seen by tens of thousands, Tony Award winner John Leguizamo’s one-man play Latin History for Morons will return to New York for one night only at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, NY on Saturday, November 9.

    Latin History for Morons is inspired by the near total absence of Latinos from Leguizamo’s son’s American History books. Leguizamo embarks on an outrageously funny, frenzied search to find a Latin hero for his son’s school history project. From a mad recap of the Aztec empire to stories of unknown Latin patriots of the Revolutionary War and beyond, Leguizamo breaks down the 3,000 years between the Mayans and Pitbull into 110 irreverent and uncensored minutes above and beyond his unique style.

    Ben Brantley of The New York Times called the show a “surprisingly poignant one-man play that slyly poses sharp and timely questions of what culturally defines American identity and who, in the nationalistic age of Trump, has ‘the right’ to be here.”

    Latin History For Morons

    Latin History for Morons concluded its successful run on Broadway on February 25, 2018. The original 16-week engagement was extended an additional three weeks on opening night, November 15, 2017. The production was the first play of the 2017-2018 season to recoup its entire capitalization.

    This marks theatre’s most prolific modern Latino playwright, John Leguizamo’s sixth one-man venture onto the stage, following success on Broadway with Ghetto Klown (Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award), Freak (Drama Desk Award), Sexaholix…A Love Story (Tony nomination) and Off-Broadway with Mambo Mouth (Obie Award) and Spic-O-Rama (Drama Desk Award). 

    Directed by Tony Taccone (Wishful Drinking, Bridge & Tunnel), the Tony-nominated production of  Latin History for Morons is written and performed by Leguizamo, featuring scenic design by Rachel Hauck, lighting design by Alexander V. Nichols, and original music and sound design by Bray Poor. Latin History for Morons is produced by THE WOW Agency, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and The Public Theater.  

  • Fela! The Concert brings the music of Afrobeat founder to SPAC

    The life of Afrobeat’s founder, Fela Kuti, was celebrated in the 2009 Broadway musical concert Fela!, and on Monday, July 29, the concert experience celebrating his music came to an enthusiastic, and curious, crowd at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Kuti used the Afrobeat sound to push back against the post-colonial government of Nigeria in the 1970s, a prime example of Kuti’s mantra “music is the weapon of the future.” As it was then and is now, new era protest music and this performance brought Kuti’s music to life for all to draw from.

    Fela The Concert
    Photo by Jim Gilbert

    With a 10-piece band on stage, including three percussionist and four horns, as well as an ensemble with five members (2 men, 3 women) who sang alongside Duain Richmond (Fela Anikulapo-Kuti), the stage was lit up through dance. One that had fervor and energy not seen at SPAC in ages. This was not dancing for the faint-of-heart, or hips, as Richmond said to the crowd throughout the show: “Everybody say Yeah Yeah.” Audience engagement that is a hallmark of Afrobeat concerts became coupled with some of the best on-stage dancing you’ll find anywhere.

    With the start of “Expensive Shit,” Richmond led the band to give the audience an introduction to Afrobeat. Starting with the drums, then guitar, then bass set the groove, and soon the horns came in. If you were not moving, you should check your pulse. The ensemble taught the crowd how to dance by moving their hips to the hours on a clock. “1 & 7,” “3-6-9” and “12 & 6” got the booties shaking and fans out of their seats. Dancing from ensemble members Oneika Phillips, Iris Wilson and Afi Bijou became more furious and fully engaging.

    “Zombie” found the crowd being invited into the covered orchestra pit, where each audience member shook what they had. From kids to parents, and grandparents, everyone was getting down to the beat of the band. As the show closed with “Colonial Mentality,” Kuti’s anti-colonial anthem, the crowd was back in the pit dancing with the ensemble, and Richmond, engaging in a form of protest that Kuti would surely look upon with a smile and hope for the future.

    Setlist: Everything Scatter, The Clock – Yellow Fever, Ikoyi Blindess, Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am, Expensive Shit, Water No Get Enemy, Zombie, Sorrow Tears and Blood, Opposite People, No Buredi.

    Encore: Colonial Mentality.

  • Fela! The Concert, to Electrify SPAC on July 29

    Full of energy in constant motion, Fela! The Concert will bring the award winning Broadway musical to Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) on Monday, July 29. The sensual, eclectic sounds and powerful lyrics of Fela Kuti, the founding father of Afrobeat, prove why he became one of the world’s most celebrated and rebellious music legends of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Set against a soaring canvas of projected images, Fela! The Concert is driven by the electrifying rhythms from a live Afrobeat band, with singers and dancers who bring to life Fela’s provocative spirit. Fela! The Concert features members of the original Broadway cast from the highly acclaimed Tony Award winning production Fela! This unique concert experience radiates joy and leaves audiences on their feet wanting more.

    Prior to Fela! The Concert, at 7 p.m. SPAC will present a high-energy, professionally choreographed final performance by 80 local children who have been participating in The Performance Project: Youth in Motion. Led by the award winning National Dance Institute and presented in partnership with the Capital District and Saratoga Regional YMCA’s, SPAC’s Performance Project is a two-week dance intensive designed to teach children dance skills while instilling in them a belief in their own abilities and capacity to achieve success.

    More information on Fela at SPAC can be found here.

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