Kelsey Denette - Page 200

As part of Hyatt Community Grants, a philanthropic program that empowers Hyatt associates to guide charitable giving, Hyatt Regency O'Hare announced today that it has awarded Proviso Leyden Council for Community Action with a $12,500 grant to further the organization's efforts in promoting community development in the Chicago metropolitan area and empowering people through education, training and supportive services.

Tony Award-winning actress, singer and songwriter Idina Menzel, star of Broadway's Wicked and the original stage production of Rent, will ring in the new year at Walt Disney Concert Hall with two performances on December 31, 2012, at 7:00 PM and 10:30 PM. Menzel will be unveiling a brand-new show which will include new, original material and New Year's Eve-style songs and surprises.

Landmark on Main Street Roots Rock Series continues on Saturday, January 5 with David Wax Museum. Landmark thanks our Roots Rock Series Sponsors Bethpage Federal Credit Union and WFUV. Landmark also gratefully acknowledges our Season Sponsor Pall Corporation and our Partners in Performing Arts: Harding Real Estate, Town of North Hempstead, Bank of America, The Peter & Jeri Dejana Family Foundation and Winthrop University Hospital for their support of our full season of programming. The program will be hosted by WFUV Radio's John Platt.

The African American experience is not represented solely by one voice or one style. For the fourth year in a row Horse Trade Management Group will present The Fire This Time Festival, providing a platform for talented early-career playwrights of African and African-American descent to explore new voices, styles, and challenging new directions for 21st century performing arts in order to move beyond common misconceptions of what's possible in 'black theater.' The festival's core production is a 10-minute play festival, presenting new work written by featured playwrights. Other festival programming will include a panel discussion and fully staged readings of new plays in development.

The New York Philharmonic has announced that actress Beth Behrs, of CBS's 2 Broke Girls; actress Lilla Crawford, currently starring in Annie on Broadway; and star of Broadway and television Brian d'Arcy James will join the Orchestra for One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch, a special New Year's Eve concert saluting the late composer-conductor.

Dicapo Opera Theatre and Opera Moderne will present the world premiere of Marrying Mozart with four performances beginning Thursday, December 13, 2012. Subsequent presentations take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 14, 15 & 16, 2012. Thursday performances begin at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and the final performance on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Workshops and classes in schools are the most common form of arts education programming, according to the surveyed theatres in the Special Report on Education 2011: Indispensible Resources. Released by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the report compiles the essential arts education resources from the past year, along with the results from the TCG Education Survey 2011. Since 1999, TCG's education reporting has provided theatre professionals with the latest research, statistics and evolving methodologies in arts education.

The League of Chicago Theatres, in partnership with Choose Chicago, announces the first annual Chicago Theatre Week, celebrating the rich tradition of theatre-going in Chicago and encouraging residents and visitors alike to attend a live show. Chicago Theatre Week will be held February 12-17, 2013 and will include discounted tickets and added incentives.

Tickets to the 2013 St. Louis Arts Awards, set for January 21, 2013, at the Chase Park Plaza, are now on sale. Legendary St. Louis singer and songwriter Chuck Berry is one of seven honorees who will be honored that night in what is the kick-off to the Arts and Education Council's 50th Anniversary.

Today, the critically acclaimed troupe PigPen Theatre Co. released an original Christmas carol titled "Father Hare" for download through the following link: http://pigpentheatreco.bandcamp.com/track/father-hare. PigPen will premiere the carol live tonight at 7:30 PM during their "Un-Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting and Concert" at The Gym at Judson (243 Thompson Street, NYC) leading into their performance of The Old Man and the Old Moon, which has been chosen as a Critic's Pick and hailed by The New York Times as "charming and smartly staged…words play second fiddle to the giddy feelings it inspires".

The hit that ran away with hearts last winter comes back for a honeymoon engagement in 2013: today Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced 26 hot dates with The Wild Bride. A splendid reception of ovations and rave reviews ensured that this enchanting Bride enjoyed a three-week extension of its original run. Now Kneehigh Theatre comes back to America for a three-week encore - 26 performances only - from January 26 to February 17, 2013. Don't miss this devilish mix of vivid music and sweet romance from Britain's extraordinary theatrical troupe.

Kenny Rogers is teaming up with the Bergen Performing Arts Center and the Englewood Fire Department in Englewood, New Jersey, with the help of sponsors Fisher-Price and Mattel, to collect toys this holiday season for children in need in Bergen County, New Jersey, including areas severely hit by Hurricane Sandy. Always an important event in the community, the annual holiday toy drive will carry special significance this year taking into account the devastation Hurricane Sandy caused throughout the state of New Jersey.

n the last few months, Judy Garland memorabilia has earned record-high prices at auction; The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences acquired a pair of the iconic ruby slippers from 'The Wizard of Oz' for their forth-coming museum at a price of more than $2 million dollars and Dorothy's signature blue gingham dress fetched nearly a half million dollars.

York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) presents Broadway's Marc Kudisch (9 to 5; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and Jeffry Denman (Irving Berlin's White Christmas; Yank! at the York) in the Off-Broadway premiere of a new holiday variety entertainment, The Holiday Guys in Happy Merry Hanu-Mas, under the music direction of Timothy Splain with Mitt Henn (Bass) and Mike Croiter (Drums/Percussion), for a limited two week engagement, December 18 - 31, 2012 at The York Theatre at Saint Peter's (Entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue).

Golden Globe and Emmy Award® nominated Singer, Actress, Producer and Writer Lorna Luft along with Broadway's Constantine Rousouli and Kate Rockwell join the previously announced Tony Award® winner Harvey Fierstein as part of the star-studded cast for the New York City debut of SPARKLE: An All-Star Holiday Concert at XL Cabaret (XLCabaret.com) on Monday, December 17th, 2012 at 7:30pm with proceeds benefiting the programs and services of The Actors Fund (www.actorsfund.org).

Earlier this year, an unlikely series of events led two of the world's most gifted sleight-of-hand artists, Derek DelGaudio (2011 Close-Up Magician of the Year) and Helder Guimarães (2011 Parlour Magician of the Year), to share a stage. Now, due to unprecedented single ticket sales, DelGaudio and Guimarães' Nothing to Hide directed by Neil Patrick Harris has been extended through Janurary 20, 2013 in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse. Abandoning the antiquated notions of a traditional magic show, Nothing to Hide takes the audience on an imaginary journey through a series of diverse and engaging vignettes brought to life solely from the words and hands of the two masterful magicians.

Scott Morfee, Jean Doumanian, and Tom Wirtshafter, producers of the acclaimed Off-Broadway hit play Tribes, have announced a two-week extension of the award-winning production. It was previously announced Tribes had officially recouped its entire investment and would end its monumental run on January 6, 2013. But, due to popular demand, the final performance will now be Sunday evening, January 20, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. at The Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow Street) where performances began February 16, 2012. Tribes opened to rave reviews on March 4, 2012 and at closing will have given 19 preview and 391 regular performances.

The Chicago Commercial Collective and The Fine Print Theatre Company are proud to announce the return of Christmas in Chicago, December 13 - December 23, at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave. Opening night for Christmas in Chicago is Thursday, Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. and runs Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased at thefineprinttheatre.org.

Society for the Performing Arts (SPA) will present three performances of SPANK! The Fifty Shades Parody on Thursday, Jan. 17, Friday, Jan. 18, and Saturday, Jan. 19 at 8 p.m., in the Cullen Theater at the Wortham Theater Center (501 Texas Ave.).

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce that Feld Entertainment Inc., the world's largest producer of live family entertainment, has partnered with us as a major member. Its membership to the Brooklyn Chamber comes after Feld Entertainment plans to bring several family events to the world-class Barclays Center in Brooklyn over the coming years.