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Mark Berman
Mark Berman is a New York City pianist, composer, producer, conductor, music director and arranger. Music career Berman has performed with Aretha Franklin, Blood Sweat & Tears, Carole King, Gladys Knight, Hugh Jackman, Illinois Jacquet, Ben E King, Jackie McLean, Cornelius Bumpus, Buster Poindexter, Clark Terry, Lesley Gore, Richie Havens, Helen Reddy, Jennifer Holliday, Phil Ramone, Chita Rivera, Phoebe Snow, and Eartha Kitt. On Broadway, he conducted ''Rent'', ''Smokey Joe's Cafe'', and '' Blood Brothers'' and played lead piano in the orchestras of ''The Boy From Oz'', ''Hairspray'', ''Dreamgirls'', ''Brooklyn The Musical'', ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', '' 42nd Street'', '' The Life'', '' Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'', and others including the Public Theater of New York's production of ''Hair'' in Central Park in 2008 and its Broadway revival in 2009. He has also written additional music, a classical pas-de-deux, for '' Fame the Musical''. He was the assistant music director a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With global sales of over 75 million records, Franklin is one of the world's best-selling music artists. As a child, Franklin was noticed for her gospel singing at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was a minister. At the age of 18, she was signed as a recording artist for Columbia Records. While her career did not immediately flourish, Franklin found acclaim and commercial success once she signed with Atlantic Records in 1966. Hit songs such as "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", " Respect", " (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", "Chain of Fools", "Think", and "I Say a Little Prayer", propelled Franklin past her musical peers. Franklin continued to record acclaimed albums such as ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "San Francisco Bay Blues", "Poetry Man", "Harpo's Blues", and her credited guest vocals backing Paul Simon on "Gone at Last". She recorded "San Francisco Bay Blues" also. She was described by ''The New York Times'' as a "contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves." Snow also sang numerous commercial jingles for many U.S. products during the 1980s and 1990s, including General Foods International Coffees, Salon Selectives, and Stouffer's. Snow experienced success in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s with five top 100 albums in that territory. In 1995 she recorded a gospel album with Sisters of Glory. Early life, family and education Phoebe Ann Laub was born in New York City in 1950, and raised in a musical household in which Delta blues, Broadway show tunes, Dixieland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Life'', Da Capo Press, March 1, 1996. Led by JoAnne Akalaitis from 1991 to 1993 and by George C. Wolfe from 1993 to 2004, it is currently led by Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham. The venue opened in 1967, with the world-premiere production of the musical ''Hair'' as its first show. The Public is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in Lower Manhattan. The building holds five theater spaces and Joe's Pub, a cabaret-style venue used for new work, musical performances, spoken-word artists, and soloists. The Public also operates the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, where it presents Shakespeare in the Park. New York natives and visitors alike have been enjoying free Shakesp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turn Off The Dark
Turn may refer to: Arts and entertainment Dance and sports * Turn (dance and gymnastics), rotation of the body * Turn (swimming), reversing direction at the end of a pool * Turn (professional wrestling), a transition between face and heel * Turn, a quality of spin bowling in cricket Film and television * ''Turn'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''The Turn'' (film), a 2012 short film * '' Turn: Washington's Spies'', a 2014 television series on AMC, which takes place during the American Revolutionary War * "The Turn", an episode of ''One Day at a Time'' (2017 TV series) Games * Turn (game), a segment of a game * Turn (poker), the fourth of five community cards Literature * Turn (poetry), or volta, a major shift in a poem's rhetorical and/or dramatic trajectory * ''The Turn'' (novel), a 1902 novel by Luigi Pirandello * ''The Turn'', an epidemic in Kim Harrison's '' Hollows'' series Music * Turn (band), an Irish rock group * Turn (music), a sequence of adjacent notes in the sca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Life (musical)
''The Life'' is a musical with a book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman, music by Coleman, and lyrics by Gasman. Based on an original idea by Gasman, the show explores the underbelly of Times Square's 42nd Street, inhabited by pimps and prostitutes, druggies and dealers, and runaways and street people in the era prior to its Disneyfication. Background Ira Gasman recalls walking on 42nd Street (in New York City) and seeing an arrest: "What theatre, I thought, right there in the street! It got me thinking about this show." After the Off-Broadway production in 1990, in 1994 Coleman and Gasman asked David Newman to help rewrite the show. Newman: ""Whatever it was back when they did the workshop, it's totally different now ..." Coleman brought in the director Michael Blakemore, who "steered the show along a tightrope, careful not to fall into the seediness below, toward a common humanity to which audiences can relate." Productions The show was first produced at the Off-Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
42nd Street (musical)
''42nd Street'' is a 1980 stage musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin and Johnny Mercer and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production won the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Choreography and it became a long-running hit. The show was also produced in London in 1984 (winning the Olivier Award for Best Musical) and its 2001 Broadway revival won the Tony Award for Best Revival. Based on the 1932 novel by Bradford Ropes and the subsequent 1933 Hollywood film adaptation, the backstage musical show that follows the rehearsal process of a broadway show being put on during the height of the great depression. The show is a jukebox musical of sorts, in that, in addition to songs from the 1933 film ''42nd Street'', it includes songs that Dubin and Warren wrote for many other films at around the same time, including ''Gold Diggers of 1933'', ''Roman Scandals'', ''Dames'', ''Gold Diggers of 1935'', ''Go into Your Dance,'' ''Gold Digge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jesus Christ Superstar
''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with much of the plot centered on Judas, who is dissatisfied with the direction in which Jesus is steering his disciples. Contemporary attitudes, sensibilities and slang pervade the rock opera's lyrics, and ironic allusions to modern life are scattered throughout the depiction of political events. Stage and film productions accordingly contain many intentional anachronisms. Initially unable to get backing for a stage production, the composers released it as a concept album, the success of which led to the show's Broadway on-stage debut in 1971. By 1980, the musical had grossed more than worldwide. Running for over eight years in London between 1972 and 1980, it held the record for longest-running West End musical before it was overtaken by '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brooklyn The Musical
''Brooklyn the Musical'' is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson. It was acquired for licensing by Broadway Licensing Synopsis Using the play within a play structure, ''Brooklyn'' focuses on a group of five ragtag homeless musicians known as the City Weeds. The group periodically transforms a street corner under the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge into a stage where they present their play about a Parisian singer Brooklyn, named after the New York City borough from which her wayward father Taylor hailed. Orphaned when her depressed mother Faith hangs herself, the girl in quick succession is sent to live in a convent where she discovers her vocal talents, becomes a star, performs at Carnegie Hall, sets out in search of her father (who she discovers is a drug-addicted Vietnam War vet), and engages in a competition with local diva Paradice at Madison Square Garden. From the original Broadway souvenir program: Once upon a time, a famous young Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dreamgirls (musical)
''Dreamgirls'' is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. Based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Supremes, The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others,Grossberg, Michael " 'Dreamgirls' continues to spark questions about its Motown inspiration" ''The Columbus Dispatch'', March 6, 2015 the musical follows the story of a young female singing trio from Chicago, Illinois called "The Dreams", who become music superstars. Staged with a mostly African-American cast and originally starring Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Obba Babatundé, the musical opened on December 20, 1981, at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway. The musical was then nominated for 13 Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical, and won six. It was later adapted into a motion picture from DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures in 2006. The film sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hairspray (musical)
''Hairspray'' is an American musical with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, with a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on John Waters's 1988 film of the same name. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the production follows teenage Tracy Turnblad's dream to dance on ''The Corny Collins Show'', a local TV dance program based on the real-life '' Buddy Deane Show''. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight, leading to social change as Tracy campaigns for the show's integration. The musical opened in Seattle in 2002 and moved to Broadway later that year. In 2003 ''Hairspray'' won eight Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical, out of 13 nominations. It ran for 2,642 performances, and closed on January 4, 2009. ''Hairspray'' has also had national tours, a West End production, and numerous foreign productions and was adapted as a 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Boy From Oz
''The Boy from Oz'' is a Australian jukebox musical based on the life of singer and songwriter Peter Allen, featuring songs written by him. The book commissioned for the musical is by Nick Enright, based on Stephen MacLean's 1996 biography of Allen. Premiering in Australia in 1998 starring Todd McKenney, a revised version of the musical, written by Martin Sherman, opened on Broadway in 2003, with Hugh Jackman in the title role. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1998 the cast recording won the ARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album.ARIA Award previous winners. Plot (American Production) Act I The musical begins with Australian performer Peter Allen recalling his life story, coming to terms with who he was ("The Lives of Me"). Afterwards, we go back to Allen's childhood in Tenterfield, Australia, where a young boy named Peter Woolnough is performing in local bars for money ("When I Get My Name in Lights"). Peter grows up and joins with Chris Bell to become the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blood Brothers (musical)
''Blood Brothers'' is a musical with book, lyrics, and music by Willy Russell. The story is a contemporary nature versus nurture plot, revolving around fraternal twins Mickey and Eddie, who were separated at birth, one subsequently being raised in a wealthy family, the other in a poor family. The different environments take the twins to opposite ends of the social spectrum, one becoming a councillor, and the other unemployed and in prison. They both fall in love with the same girl, causing a rift in their friendship and leading to the tragic death of both brothers. Russell says that his work was based on a one-act play that he read as a child "about two babies switched at birth ... it became the seed for Blood Brothers." Originally developed as a school play, ''Blood Brothers'' debuted in Liverpool before Russell transferred it to the West End for a short run in 1983. The musical won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical and went on to a year-long national tour before r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
