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Rachel Rockwell
Rachel Rockwell (born Natalie Rachel Heyde; July 14, 1969 – May 28, 2018) was an American theater director, choreographer and performer. Early life Rockwell was born Natalie Rachel Heyde in Columbia, Missouri, the daughter of songwriter/teacher Gary Heyde ( Austin Gary) and actress/teacher Glory (Kissel) Heyde. Her brother is Jeremy Spencer (Heyde), the former drummer of heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch. Beginning at seven, she studied dance with Ricki Smith Newman, Sylvia Watters and Evansville Dance Theater. At 13, she won a scholarship to study ballet at the National Academy of Arts in Champaign, Illinois. In 1993, she directed her first musical, ''Tintypes'', at the New Harmony Theater in Indiana. After college, she moved to Chicago. Career Beginning in the mid-1990s, Rockwell directed and choreographed dozens of productions for such theaters as: Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook, Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire, Paramount Theatre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia, Missouri
Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth most-populous and fastest growing city, with an estimated 126,254 residents in 2020. As a Midwestern college town, Columbia has a reputation for progressive politics, persuasive journalism, and public art. The tripartite establishment of Stephens College (1833), the University of Missouri (1839), and Columbia College (1851), which surround the city's Downtown to the east, south, and north, has made the city a center of learning. At its center is 8th Street (also known as the Avenue of the Columns), which connects Francis Quadrangle and Jesse Hall to the Boone County Courthouse and the City Hall. Originally an agricultural town, education is now Columbia's primary economic concern, with secondary interests in the healthcare, insurance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miss Saigon
''Miss Saigon'' is a stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera ''Madame Butterfly'', and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover. The setting of the plot is relocated to 1970s Saigon during the Vietnam War, and ''Madame Butterfly''s story of marriage between an American lieutenant and a geisha is replaced by a romance between a United States Marine and a seventeen-year-old South Vietnamese bargirl. The musical premièred at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, on 20 September 1989, closing after 4,092 performances on 30 October 1999. It opened on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre on April 11, 1991 with a record advance of over $39 million, and was later staged in many other cities and embarked on tours. Prior to the opening of the 2014 London revival, it was said that ''Miss Saigon'' had set a world rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Merry Wives Of Windsor
''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a reference to the town of Windsor, also the location of Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England. Though nominally set in the reign of Henry IV or early in the reign of Henry V, the play makes no pretence to exist outside contemporary Elizabethan-era English middle-class life. It features the character Sir John Falstaff, the fat knight who had previously been featured in ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2''. It has been adapted for the opera at least ten times. The play is one of Shakespeare's lesser-regarded works among literary critics. Tradition has it that ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' was written at the request of Queen Elizabeth I. After watching ''Henry IV Part I'', she asked Shakespeare to write a play depicting Falstaff in love. Char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beauty And The Beast (musical)
''Beauty and the Beast'' is a Disney stage musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and a book by Linda Woolverton. Adapted from Walt Disney Pictures' Academy Award-winning 1991 animated musical film of the same name – which in turn had been based on the classic French fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont – ''Beauty and the Beast'' tells the story of an unkind prince who has been magically transformed into an unsightly creature as punishment for his selfish ways. To revert into his true human form, the Beast must learn to love a bright, beautiful young lady who he has imprisoned in his enchanted castle before it is too late. Critics, who hailed the film as one of the year's finest musicals, instantly noted its Broadway musical potential when it was first released in 1991, encouraging Disney CEO Michael Eisner to venture into Broadway. All eight songs from the animated film were reused in the musical, including a resurrected musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) is a non-profit, professional theater company located at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Its more than six hundred annual performances performed 48 weeks of the year include its critically acclaimed Shakespeare series, its World's Stage touring productions, and youth education and family oriented programming. The theater had garnered 77 Joseph Jefferson awards and three Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2008, it was the winner of the Regional Theatre Tony Award. Founded in 1986 in a pub, in 1999 the CST moved to a purpose-built seven-story theater complex on Navy Pier, where it has a main 500 seat space called the Courtyard, and the 200 seat Theater Upstairs. In 2017, it expanded on the pier into a connected three-theater-campus with the addition of The Yard, a flexible space that allows for versatile arrangements from 150 seats to 850 seats and from proscenium to in-the-round. Background The company's present artistic director Barbara Gaines found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Hill (author)
Brian Hill is a director and writer living in New York City. He is best known for writing the book for Disney's ''Bedknobs and Broomsticks'', '' The Theory of Relativity'' and the Broadway musical ''The Story of My Life'' with composer/lyricist Neil Bartram. For his work on that show he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for outstanding book of a musical. He served as associate director of Disney's ''The Little Mermaid'' on Broadway. He has also served in this position for the Toronto and Broadway productions of Disney's ''The Lion King'' and all three major Canadian companies of ''Forever Plaid''. He originated the role of Frankie, a role which garnered him a Dora Award for outstanding actor, in the original Canadian cast of ''Forever Plaid'' and has played Raoul in ''The Phantom of the Opera'' and Joe in ''Sunset Boulevard''. He also spent three seasons with the prestigious Shaw Festival. Works *''Bedknobs and Broomsticks'' with composer/lyricist Neil Bartram *'' The Theo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the landmark Harris and Selwyn Theaters property. History The Goodman was founded in 1925 as a tribute to the Chicago playwright Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, who died in the Great Influenza Pandemic in 1918. The theater was funded by Goodman's parents, Mr. and Mrs. William O. Goodman, who donated $250,000 to the Art Institute of Chicago to establish a professional repertory company and a school of drama at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The first theater was designed by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw (in the location now occupied by the museum's Modern Wing), although its design was severely hampered by location restrictions resulting in poor acoustics and lack of space for scenery and effects. The opening ceremony on October 20, 1925 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Misérables (musical)
''Les Misérables'' ( , ), colloquially known as ''Les Mis'' or ''Les Miz'' ( ), is a sung-through musical and an adaptation of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel of the same name, by Claude-Michel Schönberg (music), Alain Boublil, Jean-Marc Natel (original French lyrics) and Herbert Kretzmer (English lyrics). The original French musical premiered in Paris in 1980 with direction by Robert Hossein. Its English-language adaptation by producer Cameron Mackintosh has been running in London since October 1985, making it the longest-running musical in the West End and the second longest-running musical in the world after the original Off-Broadway run of ''The Fantasticks''. Set in early 19th-century France, ''Les Misérables'' is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his desire for redemption, released in 1815 after serving nineteen years in jail for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a bishop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brigadoon
''Brigadoon'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, and music by Frederick Loewe. The song " Almost Like Being in Love", from the musical, has become a standard. It features two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every 100 years. Tommy, one of the tourists, falls in love with Fiona, a young woman from Brigadoon. The original production opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway in 1947 and ran for 581 performances. It starred David Brooks, Marion Bell, Pamela Britton, and Lee Sullivan. In 1949, ''Brigadoon'' opened at Her Majesty's Theatre in the West End and ran for 685 performances; many revivals have followed. A 1954 film version starred Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse, and a 1966 television version starred Robert Goulet and Peter Falk. Background Lyricist and book writer Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe had previously collaborated on three musicals; the first, ''Life o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Magazine
''Chicago'' is a monthly magazine published by Tribune Publishing. It concentrates on lifestyle and human interest stories, and on reviewing restaurants, travel, fashion, and theatre from or nearby Chicago. Its circulation in 2004 was 165,000, larger than ''People'' in its market. Also in 2004, it received the National Magazine Award for General Excellence. It is a member of the City and Regional Magazine Association (CRMA). History In the second half of the 20th century, several magazines bore the name ''Chicago'' magazine. The current one also has the longest history. It was established in 1952 as the monthly ''WFMT Guide'' and was founded as the programming guide for the classical radio station WFMT. Starting in October 1970, the ''WFMT Guide'' began accepting paid advertising. The ''WFMT Guide'' changed its name to ''Chicago Guide'' with the December 1970 issue and became a full-sized magazine. Two other magazines titled ''Chicago magazine'' existed between the 1950s an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' (often referred to simply as ''Sweeney Todd'') is a musical play with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1973 play of the same name by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled ''The String of Pearls'' (1846-7). ''Sweeney Todd'' opened on Broadway in 1979 and in the West End in 1980. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Olivier Award for Best New Musical. It has been revived in many productions as well as inspiring a film adaptation. The original logo for the musical is a modified version of an advertising image from the 19th century, with the sign replaced by a straight razor. There is also a woman wearing a blood-stained dress and holding a rolling pin next to the man. Background The character Sweeney Todd originated in serialized Victorian popular fiction, known as penny dreadfuls. A story called ''The Strin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sound Of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Set in Austria on the eve of the ''Anschluss'' in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp. He is ordered to accept a commission in the German navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children. Many songs from the musical have become standards, including "Edelweiss", " My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "Do-Re-Mi", and the title song "The Sound of Music". The original Broadway production, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, opened in 1959 and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, out of nine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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