James Holmes News

The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music has announced the online release of Singing the Story: The Lotte Lenya Competition, a new documentary film about the prestigious international contest for singer-actors.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) has chosen Abrams Artists Agent Beth Blickers, OBIE and Drama Desk Award-winning actress Donna Lynne Champlin, Tony Award and Drama Desk Award-nominated actor Hunter Foster, Tony Award and Drama Desk Award-nominated composer and lyricist Amanda Green, Tony Award-nominated director Thomas Kail, Associate Producer of the Old Globe Eric Louie, Outer Critics Circle-nominated director and choreographer Josh Prince, Tony Award and Drama Desk nominated actor and writer Tony Sheldon, Tony Award-nominated and Grammy-winning composer Lucy Simon, and two-time Tony Award-winning actor Michael Cerveris to serve as the Grand Jury of this year's Next Link project.

It would be impossible to pick a favorite performance from this memorable evening, so BroadwayWorld.com brings you highlights from the concert below! But, evenings such as this one are ALWAYS welcome.

Symphony Space opens its 2013-14 Music season with 'Kurt Weill on Broadway,' tonight, October 7 (8 pm) at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Broadway opening of Weill's One Touch of Venus. Ted Chapin hosts a stellar cast featuring Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Judy Blazer, and Ron Raines, plus winners of the international Lotte Lenya Competition.

Some of Broadway's best will take the stage at New York's Symphony Space on 7 October 2013 to celebrate the American music of Kurt Weill. Hosted by Ted Chapin, the evening will highlight songs from Venus as well as favorites from other Weill shows, including Street Scene, Lady in the Dark, Love Life, Lost in the Stars, Knickerbocker Holiday, The Threepenny Opera, and Happy End. The starry cast features Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Judy Blazer, and Ron Raines alongside Lotte Lenya Competition winners Richard Todd Adams, Douglas Carpenter, Cooper Grodin, Justin Hopkins, Zachary James, Analisa Leaming, Jacob Keith Watson, and Maren Weinberger. Weill specialist James Holmes, who conducted a fully staged production of Venus at England's Opera North in 2004, music directs, and Richard Jay-Alexander directs.

Krzysztof Penderecki, acclaimed as Poland's greatest living composers, headlines what promises to be an exciting season at Symphony Space.

Some of Broadway's best will take the stage at New York's Symphony Space on 7 October 2013 to celebrate the American music of Kurt Weill. Hosted by Ted Chapin, the evening will highlight songs from Venus as well as favorites from other Weill shows, including Street Scene, Lady in the Dark, Love Life, Lost in the Stars,Knickerbocker Holiday, The Threepenny Opera, and Happy End. The starry cast features Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Judy Blazer, and Ron Raines alongside Lotte Lenya Competition winners Richard Todd Adams, Douglas Carpenter, Cooper Grodin, Justin Hopkins, Zachary James, Analisa Leaming, Jacob Keith Watson, and Maren Weinberger. Weill specialist James Holmes, who conducted a fully staged production of Venus at England's Opera North in 2004, music directs, and Richard Jay-Alexander directs.

Symphony Space will open its 2013-14 Music season with 'Kurt Weill on Broadway,' Monday, October 7 (8 pm) at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. The show takes place on the 70th anniversary of the Broadway opening of Weill's One Touch of Venus. Ted Chapin hosts a stellar cast featuring Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Judy Blazer, and Ron Raines, plus winners of the international Lotte Lenya Competition.

Symphony Space, New York's home for innovative and diverse cultural programming on the Upper West Side, celebrates its 35th season of Music programs in 2013-14 with a stellar array of artists in imaginative, thought-provoking presentations. Curated by Artistic Director Laura Kaminsky, the offerings range from marathon celebrations to intimate recitals, encompassing a rich variety of musical styles. Highlights include a visit from Krzysztof Penderecki, October 25; the fifth THE MUSIC OF NOW MARATHON, with the dream-inspired theme of 'REM: Rapid Ear Movement,' February 1; and appearances by Dar Williams, Tom Paxton, Christine Lavin, and other icons of folk/acoustic music. Capping the season is SLEEPING AROUND, a multidisciplinary festival celebrating the culture, history, art, scene, and scandal of New York's most famous hotels, highlighted by WALL TO WALL SLEEPING AROUND on May 3.

Douglas Carpenter, baritone, of New York, won the $15,000 First Prize in the finals of the 15th annual Lotte Lenya Competition, held on April 13, 2013, at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. Maren Weinberger, soprano, of New York, received the Second Prize of $10,000, and two Third Prizes of $7,500 each were awarded to Alison Arnopp, soprano, of County Cork, Ireland, and Lauren Roesner, soprano, of Cincinnati. Founded in 1998 to celebrate the centenary of Lenya's birth, the Lotte Lenya Competition is an international theater singing contest that recognizes talented young singer/actors, ages 19-32, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of repertoire.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Big doings at Broadway In Chicago, 'Othello: The Remix,' world premieres from Pride Plays, The Second City and two from composer Kevin O'Donnell, 'Spamalot,' 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale' and so much more!

Twelve exceptionally talented young singer-actors, with previous stage experience ranging from roles on Broadway to the Metropolitan Opera House, have been named finalists in the 2013 Lotte Lenya Competition. They will compete for top prizes of $15,000, $10,000 and $7,500 on Saturday, April 13, 2013, at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Acclaimed soprano and 2010 Opera News Award winner Patricia Racette, British opera and musical theater conductor James Holmes, and Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization President and American Theater Wing Vice-Chairman Theodore S. Chapin will serve as judges.

Today at the Television Critics Association meeting, PBS announced that, in the wake of the Newtown tragedy, it will broadcast a series of specials that continue the public conversation on gun laws, mental illness and school security. The 'After Newtown' programming airs on PBS stations February 18-22 (check local listings).

Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical Carousel comes to London in August 2012, for just 35 performances, prior to appearing at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in 2013. Voted best musical of the 20th century by Time Magazine, Carousel features breathtaking dancing, and some of the most moving music ever written for the stage, including If I Loved You, June is bustin' out all over and You'll Never Walk Alone.

BP Marty Markowitz has just released a statement on the Aurora shooting during the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises and one of its victims, who was from Brooklyn.

Some of the nation's biggest theater chains have issued statements on the tragic events which occurred on Friday in Aurora, CO.

A statement was just been released by the National Association of Theater Owners, the exhibition trade group regarding the horrific tragedy which occurred in an Aurora, CO movie theater on Friday.

The LA Times reports that a heavily armed gunman entered the midnight showing of Warner Bros' THE DARK KNIGHT RISES on Friday outside of Denver and went on a shooting rampage, reportedly killing 12 people and wounding 38 others. This morning, Warner Bros released a statement regarding the tragedy.

The Lotte Lenya Competition, celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2012, seeks exceptionally talented young singer/actors who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of musical theater styles for the 2012 competition. Contestants will compete for top prizes of $15,000, $10,000 and $7,500; additional special prizes will be awarded.

RELAX is set in the Gemini Lodge Guesthouse, near Weston super Mare, where the kinky guest house owner has a habit of seducing his unsuspecting male guests, but the next morning blaming it on his supposed identical twin brother.