/* Mobile Menu Retract ---------------------------------*/

In the News: Josephine Baker Bio-Play to Be Presented Outdoors, Heartbeat Opera Announces New Season, More

by | Sep 3, 2020 | New Musical News Feed

Read on for some recent theatre headlines and videos you may have missed.

Josephine Will Be Presented Outdoors at The Morris Museum
Josephine: A Burlesque Cabaret Dream Play, a one-person musical play about the late Josephine Baker, will be performed on the Morris Museum’s outdoor Back Deck September 17–18 at 7 PM in Morris Township, New Jersey. Josephine, which continues the museum’s season of socially distant performances, was created by Tymisha Harris, Michael Marinaccio, and Tod Kimbro, with a book by music director Tod Kimbro. Harris stars in the piece, combining cabaret, theatre, and dance to tell the story of the first African-American international superstar who appeared in the Folies Bergère in Paris and became known as The Black Venus. For ticket information, click here.

Lauren Patten, Chantal Bilodeau, More Will Lead Broadway Green Alliance Panels
The Broadway Green Alliance is returning with a fall slate of #GreenQuarantine learning sessions, including programs led by Jagged Little Pill star Lauren Patten and The Arctic Cycle Artistic Director Chantal Bilodeau. All events take place at 1 PM ET on Zoom. Things kick off with “How to Succeed in Creating a Sustainable TV and Film Shoot” September 10, hosted by Emellie O’Brien, founder and CEO of Earth Angel. Charles de Segundo, founder of Impact Delta and Climate Reality Leader, leads “Money Makes the World Go ‘Round: Using Your Investments to Take Climate Action” September 17. Next month, Patten welcomes Anthony Oyakhilome Justice, Sarah Goody, and more young climate activists for “It’s Not a Moment, It’s a Youth Climate Movement” October 1. Bilodeau focuses on the narrative with “Why We Tell the Story: Climate Storytelling” October 8.

Girl From the North Country_Broadway_2020_Opening Night_Telly Leung_HR.jpg
Telly Leung Joseph Marzullo/Media Punch

Radio Free Birdland Presents Telly Leung September 3
The Radio Free Birdland concert series continues September 3 at 7 PM ET with a concert from Godspell, Allegiance, and Aladdin star Telly Leung. Featuring musical direction by Gary Adler and J.J. Johnson on viola, the evening will chart Leung’s musical journey from Brooklyn to Broadway. Expect songs by Kander and Ebb and Kelly Clarkson, plus tunes from The Lion King, Allegiance, Rent, and Aladdin. The pay-per-view concert series, presented Tuesday and Thursday nights, features a mix of Broadway, jazz, and cabaret performers. Each show is filmed with three cameras and socially distanced musicians. Longtime Birdland staffers Ryan Paternite produces and directs, and Jim Caruso serves as producer. Click here for more information.

Heartbeat Opera’s 2020–2021 Lineup
Heartbeat Opera will begin its upcoming season with a series of digital soirées. Dubbed The Secret Sauce, the seven streaming events will take place September 14–20 via Zoom and offer a retrospective look at the indie classic arts company through videos, interviews, sneak peeks, and more. Hosts will include Jeanine Tesori, Julia Bullock, and Liz Diamond. Breathing Free, a virtual song cycle featuring excerpts from Beethoven’s Fidelio and works by such Black artists as Harry T. Burleigh, Langston Hughes, and Anthony Davis, will premiere this winter. The lineup concludes in spring 2021 with Heartbeat’s first commission: The Extinctionist. Based on the play by librettist Amanda Quaid, the opera is composed by Daniel Schlosberg and follows a woman who comes to realize the only effective way she can save future generations from climate change is to sterilize herself. Louisa Proske will direct.

Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship Recipients Revealed
Violist Wilfred Farquharson, violist Jay Julio Laureta, horn player Malik Taylor, and cellist Myles Yeazell have been selected as the second class of the Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship, a partnership between Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and USC Thornton School of Music. The quartet of BIPOC musicians will receive a range of practical and in-the-field experience, mentorships, and compensation and housing benefits throughout the three-year training program. The Fellowship was developed in response to a 2016 report that indicated that less than 5% of America’s orchestra workforce is African-American, Hispanic, or Native American.

Costume Industry Coalition Launches Emergency Relief Campaign With $100K Matching Challenge

by | Sep 2, 2020 | New Musical News Feed

The Costume Industry Coalition, which includes over 50 independent businesses and artisans in the New York City area that create and supply costumes for the entertainment industry, has launched an emergency relief campaign with a matching challenge up to $100,000.

All donations received by September 25 will be matched dollar for dollar, with a fundraising goal set at $4.5 million.

The coalition’s fiscal sponsor is the Artisans Guild of America, a non-profit dedicated to perpetuating the American tradition of the artisan workroom. All donations will be tax-deductible through the AGA, with the majority of the CIC Relief Fund being used to cover rent, employee health insurance, and utilities.

Founding Coalition member John Kristiansen, owner of John Kristiansen New York, Inc., said in a statement, “On March 12th, I went to the emergency room with symptoms of COVID-19. When I was released on March 18th, not only was my shop closed, but my whole industry was shuttered indefinitely. We were compelled to get the CIC together to safeguard our livelihoods—as we are one tentacle of the entertainment industry that cannot pivot to a telecommuting model. We simply can’t build costumes via Zoom.”

Brian Blythe, also a founding member of CIC and Kristiansen’s business manager, added, “We have turned to private donations because in speaking to the Mayor’s office, State Senate and Lieutenant Governor, I kept being told they are waiting for federal relief. While the arts and culture sector adds $877 billion value added to the US economy, employs 5.1 million people and is 4.5 percent of the GDP, it is often overlooked in federal relief packages. And as arts organizations start to fold, the local restaurants, hotels, parking decks, gas stations, dry cleaners, fabric stores, hardware stores will all be impacted. We may be focusing our efforts on New York, but we can’t forget the arts and culture sector is hemorrhaging nationwide.”

New York City’s custom costume industry launched the CIC in June to advocate for its own survival in the wake of the ongoing pandemic. Members create and supply costumes for the stage, dance, television/film, opera, cruise ships, and concerts.

Tax-deductible donations can be made by visiting CostumeIndustryCoalition.com.