Michael Cooper News

This June, the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) celebrates the life and work of Serge Gainsbourg with a virtual talk with Jane Birkin and Charlotte Gainsbourg and a special musical presentation by Comédie-Française.

Excitement is in the air as The Winter Park Playhouse announces the six winning selections for the 4th annual Florida Fesival of New Musicals now scheduled for June 24 - 27, 2021. The Festival, which showcases new musical theatre works, is one of very few in the nation and certainly the only one of its kind in the Southeast region.

Milton is an original production and biography in motion created and directed by Kaylin Horgan and set to the original score of local pop artists;Treble NLS and Brittney Chantele. Premiering April 8th at 8 pm followed by two more showings on April 9th at 11 am and 8pm at the New Hazlett Theater in Pittsburgh, PA.

This week's list includes a new limited edition orange vinyl of the 2017 revival cast recording of Once on This Island, as well as a purple vinyl edition of the 1964 cast recording of My Fair Lady. Plus, the latest volume of The Untold Stories of Broadway by Jennifer Ashley Tepper is now available!

This week's list includes The Wellsongs Project, featuring Kate Baldwin, Ethan Slater, and more. Plus, check out Don't Lose Your Head: Life Lessons from the Six Ex-Wives of Henry VIII, which has been described as 'An Unofficial Survival Guide for Fans of the Musical Six.'

Broadway Records announced today the release of MARGUERITE, a new musical starring Tony, Drama Desk & Outer Critics' Circle Award winner Cady Huffman.  Pre-orders for the CD of MARGUERITE are available today.

David Sisco and Laura Josepher, owners of ContemporaryMusicalTheatre.com, are launching a new radio show on MusicalTheatreRadio.com on Saturday, January 16 at 10 AM (EST).

Like so many other awards presentations, the Young Entertainer Awards (YEA) in Hollywood are going virtual this year.

Today, Wondery and Universal Music Group (UMG) announced that Oscar® Nominee and Golden Globe® Award-winner Taraji P. Henson will host and also serve as a producer on “Jacked: The Rise of New Jack Swing” with Barry Michael Cooper serving as consulting producer.

Over a million people around the world have fallen in love with The Doo Wop Project and now you can too, right from your living room. Ken Davenport will present The Doo Wop Project: Live In Your Living Room, a virtual theatrical concert, broadcast live from Shubert Studios, on Sunday, October 25th at 7:00PM.

Theater composer and lyricist Michael Cooper releases a new album of electronic music, written, produced, and recorded during the COVID-19 quarantine.  Centre Road begins streaming for free, exclusively on SoundCloud, Monday, August 10th, 2020.

A STAR IS BORED, an IGTV podcast, will release a series called THE PRIDE PODCASTS for the month of June. New episodes come out twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays at Noon.

The Winter Park Playhouse announced the six winning selections for the 4th annual Florida Festival of New Musicals now scheduled for June 24 - 27, 2021.

The Greenville News has reported that MAC Endowment for the Arts has awarded $275,000 in relief funds. 

In today's Quarantine Qs, we check in with Lorin Latarro- choreographer of Mrs. Doubtfire.

Following its critically acclaimed 2019 season which included Mary Page Marlowe, The Waverly Gallery and Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory, The Alchemy Theatre once again brings their unique and powerful storytelling to the musical MACK & MABEL, directed by Michael Cooper, musically directed by Adam Roberts, choreographed by Josh Sallerson and produced by Marnie Near and Christopher Shea.

Keen Company presented a benefit reading of Arsenic & Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring, directed by Mr. Silverstein. The one night only event in celebration of Keen's 20th anniversary took place last night, Monday, February 24th at Theatre Row. 

The Canadian Opera Company's HANSEL AND GRETEL, directed by Joel Ivany, is a spectacularly detailed production; unfortunately, the sheer amount of things happening at every moment overwhelms the gorgeous music and talented cast.

The Canadian Opera Company's remount of THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, last performed in 2015, is a visually striking and pitch-perfect adaptation of one of opera's most well-known works. With staging by Spanish theatre troupe Els Comediants, director Joan Font beautifully blends 19th century sensibilities, modern architecture, and clownish costumes for an opera experience that defies any one genre.

Based on the beloved 1956 classic by the same title, The Alchemy Theatre's production of A Christmas Memory (at the Mastrogeorge Theatre) is a lovely adaptation of what is in my opinion, Truman Capote's finest masterpiece. Although Capote published far fewer books than his contemporaries, his body of work is extraordinary with accolades for works the caliber of Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood, Capote always insisted that this short story was his personal favorite. A tribute to his distant cousin, Nanny Rumbley Faulk, nicknamed 'Sook', A Christmas Memory tells us the story of 'Buddy' (Capote's nickname) and his last Christmas with cousin Sook and their beloved dog, Queenie. Capote's shattered childhood had a profound effect on him; He suffered from multiple neuroses (including separation anxiety), fueled by alcohol and drug addiction. Capote was so terrified of abandonment that he reportedly refused to travel without his most treasured possession, a baby blanket handmade by Sook. When he died at the Bel Air home of Joanne Carson one month shy of his sixtieth birthdate, (per Carson), he held the blanket and uttered his final words, 'It's me, it's Buddy... I'm cold'.