Marie Christine
''Marie Christine'' is a musical with music, lyrics, and book by Michael John LaChiusa. It opened on Broadway in 1999. Set in 1890s New Orleans and then 5 years later in Chicago; the story is loosely based on the Greek play ''Medea'', and uses elements of voodoo rituals and practices. The title character was based in part on the historical figure of Marie Laveau – specifically, her daughter, who took the same name – and the myths surrounding them. Development Following the success of Michael John LaChiusa's 1993 musical '' Hello Again'', which premiered at Lincoln Center Theater directed by Graciela Daniele, LaChiusa and Daniele decided to develop a new musical work based on a classic text for Audra McDonald. McDonald won her first Tony Award in the acclaimed 1994 Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's '' Carousel'', produced by Lincoln Center Theater. The musical was workshopped a handful of times through 1996 and in development for three and a half years before its i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michael John LaChiusa
Michael John LaChiusa (born July 24, 1962) is an American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for musically esoteric shows such as '' Hello Again'', ''Marie Christine'', '' The Wild Party'', and ''See What I Wanna See''. He was nominated for four Tony Awards in 2000 for his score and book for both ''Marie Christine'' and ''The Wild Party'' and received another nomination in 1996 for his work on the libretto for ''Chronicle of a Death Foretold''. Biography LaChiusa grew up in Chautauqua, New York, the eldest of three boys in an Italian Catholic family. His parents had a " ry mentally abusive" relationship; Michael was not close to his father, but was encouraged by his mother to pursue his interest in music.Green, Jesse."So Many Musicals to Write, So Little Time" The New York Times, 2006-03-05. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. He taught himself to play piano at the age of seven and had little formal music training. LaChiusa was influenced early ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jason Robert Brown
Jason Robert Brown (born June 20, 1970) is an American musical theatre composer, lyricist, and playwright. Brown's music sensibility fuses pop-rock stylings with theatrical lyrics. He is the recipient of three Tony Awards for his work on ''Parade'' and ''The Bridges of Madison County''. Career Brown grew up in the suburbs of New York City, and attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York for 2 years, rooming with fellow student, and vocalist, Christopher Mooney.Weber, Bruc"If Only the Cool Kids Could See Him Now (at Least Hear His Songs)"'The New York Times'', October 1, 2008 During summer, he attended French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in Hancock, New York. He said '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' and '' Sunday in the Park with George'' were two of his biggest influences, and had it not been for them, he would have joined a rock band and tried to be Billy Joel. He began his career in New York City as an arranger, conductor, and piani ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tony Award For Best Orchestrations
The Tony Award for Best Orchestrations is awarded to acknowledge the contributions of musical orchestrators in both musicals and plays. The award has been given since 1997. Winners and nominees 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Award records Multiple wins ;3 Wins * Doug Besterman * Alex Lacamoire ;2 Wins * Ralph Burns * Stephen Oremus * Don Sebesky * Michael Starobin Multiple nominations ;11 Nominations * Jonathan Tunick ;9 Nominations * Larry Hochman ;7 Nominations * Harold Wheeler ;5 Nominations * Doug Besterman ;4 Nominations * Bill Brohn * Don Sebesky * Danny Troob ;3 Nominations * Larry Blank * John Clancy * Bruce Coughlin * Bill Elliott * Tom Kitt * Alex Lacamoire * Michael Starobin ;2 Nominations * Ralph Burns * Jason Carr * David Cullen * Simon Hale * Michael Gibson * Martin Koch * Stephen Oremus Stephen Oremus (born 1971) is an American musician who has worked on Broadway theatre productions as musical director and as orchestrator. His credits include arr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from west to east and from south to north. In descending order of area, the lake is located in parts of six Louisiana parishes: St. Tammany, Orleans, Jefferson, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, and Tangipahoa. The water boundaries were defined in 1979 (see list of parishes in Louisiana). The lake is crossed by the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the longest continuous bridge over water in the world. A power line also crosses the lake. Its towers stand on caissons in Lake Pontchartrain, and its length can be used to visually demonstrate the curvature of the earth. Toponymy Lake Pontchartrain is named for , . He was the French Minister of the Marine, Chancellor, and Controller-General of Finances during the reign of France's "Sun King", L ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Greek Chorus
A Greek chorus, or simply chorus ( grc-gre, χορός, chorós), in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, and modern works inspired by them, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action. The chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison, and sometimes wore masks. Etymology Historian H. D. F. Kitto argues that the term ''chorus'' gives us hints about its function in the plays of ancient Greece: "The Greek verb ''choreuo'', 'I am a member of the chorus', has the sense 'I am dancing'. The word ''ode'' means not something recited or declaimed, but 'a song'. The 'orchestra', in which a chorus had its being, is literally a 'dancing floor'." From this, it can be inferred that the chorus danced and sang poetry. Dramatic function Plays of the ancient Greek theatre always included a chorus that offered a variety of background and summary ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Arista Records, and Epic Records. The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop, classical, rock, hip hop, afrobeat, electronic, R&B, blues, jazz, and country. Its name is derived from the initials of its defunct parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). RCA Records was fully acquired by Bertelsmann in 1987, making it a part of Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) and became a part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment after the 2004 merger of BMG and Sony; it was acquired by the latter in 2008, after the dissolution of Sony/BMG and the restructuring of Sony Music. RCA Records is the corporate successor of the Victor Talking Machine Company, founded in 1901, making it the second-oldest record label in American history, af ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cast Album
A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the show's original cast. A cast recording featuring the first cast to perform a musical in a particular venue is known, for example, as an "original Broadway cast recording" (OBCR) or an "original London cast recording" (OLCR). Cast recordings are (usually) studio recordings rather than live recordings. The recorded song lyrics and orchestrations are nonetheless identical (or very similar) to those of the songs as performed in the theatre. Like any studio performance, the recording is an idealized rendering, more glossily perfect than any live performance could be, and without audible audience reaction. Nevertheless, the listener who has attended the live show expects it to be an accurate souvenir of the experience. History The British were the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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54th Tony Awards
The 54th Annual Tony Awards was held at Radio City Music Hall on June 4, 2000 and broadcast by CBS. "The First Ten" awards ceremony was telecast on PBS television. The event was hosted, for the 3rd time since 1997, by Rosie O'Donnell, with special guest Nathan Lane. The Ceremony The opening number was "A Tony Opening", performed by Rosie O'Donnell, Jane Krakowski, Jesse L. Martin, and Megan Mullally. Production numbers from musicals included ''Contact'', Boyd Gaines and the Girl in the Yellow Dress, Deborah Yates; ''Kiss Me, Kate'', "Too Darn Hot"; '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', "Superstar" and "Gethsemane"; ''The Music Man'', Craig Bierko in "Seventy-Six Trombones" ; '' The Wild Party'', medley from Mandy Patinkin, Eartha Kitt and Toni Collette; ''Swing!'', medley from company and Ann Hampton Callaway and Laura Benanti; and ''James Joyce's The Dead'', "Parnell's Plight."Lefkowitz, Davi"Putting It Together For PBS: How the First Tony Hour Is Created" playbill.com, June 2, 2000 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100. An "off-Broadway production" is a production of a play, musical, or revue that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Some shows that premiere off-Broadway are subsequently produced on Broadway. History The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting Broadway in Midtown Manhattan's Theater District, the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Previously, regardless of the size ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Contact (musical)
''Contact'' is a musical "dance play" that was developed by Susan Stroman and John Weidman, with its "book" by Weidman and both choreography and direction by Stroman. It ran both off-Broadway and on Broadway in 1999–2002. It consists of three separate one-act dance plays. Productions ''Contact'' premiered at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center, on September 9, 1999 (after 1999 workshop productions of parts of the show), then moved to Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center, on March 30, 2000 and played for 1,010 performances there."'Contact' on Broadway, Production and Awards" playbillvault.com, accessed October 17, 2015 The show was received with critical acclaim and won the 2000 [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mary Testa
Mary Testa (born June 4, 1955) is an American stage and film actress. She is a three-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's '' On the Town'' (1998), '' 42nd Street'' (2001) and'' Oklahoma'' (2019). Early life Testa was born in Philadelphia and has one sister. At age four, her family moved to Rhode Island.Buckley, Michael"Stage to Screens: A Chat with Mary Testa" Playbill, December 21, 2003, accessed December 19, 2014 She studied acting at the University of Rhode Island. Testa left school to move to New York in 1976 to pursue a performing career.Gans, Andrew"Diva Talk: Chatting with ''Xanadu's'' Mary Testa Plus News of Buckley, Kuhn and Callaway" Playbill, August 3, 2007, accessed December 19, 2014 Stage Testa made her debut Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons as Miss Goldberg in William Finn's one-act musical ''In Trousers'' (1979), part one of his "Marvin Trilogy." She next performed in Finn's ''March of the Falsettos'', and later in ''Compa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vivian Reed (musical Theatre Actress)
Vivian Reed (born June 6, 1947) is an American actor and singer. She is most known for her performances in the Broadway productions of '' Bubbling Brown Sugar'' for which she won a Drama Desk Award and received her first Tony Award nomination and for "''The High Rollers Social and Pleasure Club''" for which she received her second Tony Award nomination. Reed has also recorded several albums on the Epic Records and the United Artists Records labels. Early life and career Vivian Reed began formal voice training at the age of eight at the Pittsburgh Musical Institute, later continuing at New York's Juilliard School of Music, followed by years of extensive dance training. She became a polished performer under the guidance of Honi Coles and Bobby Schiffman of the Apollo Theater. In 1968, she had regionally popularized a Gerry Goffin and Carole King composed tune called " Yours Until Tomorrow", which achieved some success. She received critical acclaim for her work in '' Bubbli ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |