Theatre Reviews Limited has published a profile of CCM’s Distinguished Chair of Musical Theatre Aubrey Berg.
Berg discusses his career at length with Rafael de Acha and provides a preview of what audiences can expect from CCM Musical Theatre during the 2013-14 performance season!
Electronic Media Division Head Marjorie Fox joined the faculty in 1988. She retires this summer.
CCM Electronic Media Division Head Marjorie Fox has announced that she will retire this June. Fox joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati in 1988 as an adjunct instructor.
After getting her start as a TV reporter in Peoria, Illinois, Fox spent the early part of her career in television with the Chicago NBC affiliate WMAQ-TV, working as a writer, field producer, newscast producer, assignment editor and eventually executive producer.
Although she did not have plans to become a professor initially, Fox became acquainted with longtime E-Media Division Head Manfred Wolfram through their mutual friend the late Henry Meyer, who was himself a distinguished professor of violin at CCM and founding member of the world-renowned LaSalle Quartet.
Fox explains, “I met with Dr. Wolfram and he arranged for me to teach a journalism class as an adjunct and I loved it. I felt that this is what I should be doing.” Fox soon became a visiting assistant professor and was hired for a tenure-track position in 1990.
Sophomore Hannah Zazzaro as Sukey Tawdry and junior Max Clayton as Macheath. Photography by Mark Lyons.
Someone sneaking ’round the corner. Is the someone Mack the Knife? Find out for yourself when CCM presents The Threepenny Opera, Feb. 28 through March 10, 2013!
With The Threepenny Opera, composer Kurt Weill and playwright Bertolt Brecht weave the riveting story of notorious bandit and womanizer MacHeath (“Mack the Knife”) and his seedy companions in London’s underworld, inventing a new form of musical theatre in the process!
Influencing shows like Chicago and Cabaret, this jazz-infused musical comes to life in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater for two consecutive weekends courtesy of CCM’s stars of tomorrow!
Directed by Robin Guarino, with musical direction by Roger Grodsky, choreography by Patti James and set designs by Tony Award-winning guest artist John Arnone, The Threepenny Opera is the must-see theatre event of the year! Learn more here.
Theatre composer Kurt Weill in New City, ca. 1945 (photo: Engel). Image courtesy of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.
Anne Arenstein discussed CCM’s year-long celebration of Kurt Weill with faculty members Robin Guarino and bruce mcclung on the latest edition of WVXU’s Around Cincinnati.
If you missed the broadcast, you can listen to audio of the entire interview here.
CCM’s Kurt Weill Festival resumes this month with the Mainstage Series production of Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera (running Feb. 28 – March 10). This spring’s festival events will also include concert performances of Weill’s Kiddush (Prayer of Sanctification) and the a capella madrigal “Ho, Billy, O!” from the Weill musical Love Life. View a full schedule of festival events here. Learn more about The Threepenny Opera after the jump.
The Cincinnati Enquirer recently featured CCM’s upcoming Mainstage Series production of The Threepenny Opera (Feb. 28 – March 10) as one of “13 Performances that Promise to Melt Your Heart” this winter.
Jackie Demaline writes, “Before there was Cabaret or Chicago, there was Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s ‘opera’ that is intent on setting opera on its ear. Also a jabbing political satire of its era, The Threepenny Opera is all about wicked bandit and womanizer Macheath (Mack the Knife) and his adventures in London’s underworld. Expect CCM Musical Theatre to sing the show to the rafters under the direction of CCM Opera department chair Robin Guarino.”
A part of CCM’s year-long Kurt Weill Festival, The Threepenny Opera is set in an anachronistic Victorian London envisioned by Tony Award-winning guest scenic designer John Arnone and brought to life by CCM’s theatre design and production students.
The Threepenny Opera is directed by Guarino with musical direction by Roger Grodsky and choreographer Patti James. This production includes mature subjct matter.
You can read Demaline’s full roundup of “hot” winter performances here.
CCM alumna Ashley Brown. Photography by Jimmy Asnes.
CCM alumna Ashley Brown (BFA in Musical Theatre, 2004) will star as Laurey Williams in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s new production of Oklahoma!, to be presented in May under the direction of Gary Griffin. Brown previously played Magnolia in Lyric Opera’s production of Show Boat and was seen in the title role of the original Broadway production of Disney’s Mary Poppins.
The new production of Oklahoma! includes the original choreography by Agnes De Mille. Learn more here.
Congratulations to the following winners of the Metropolitan Opera District Council Auditions, which were held on Oct. 20 at CCM:
These singers will progress to the Regional Auditions in Chicago on Nov. 4.
CCM’s month-long Beethoven Festival resumes this evening with a performance by the Philharmonia Orchestra at 8 p.m. in Corbett Auditorium.
Above, you can view an excerpt of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 performed at the festival opening concert on Friday, Sept. 14.
Tonight’s concert will open with Richard Strauss’ Don Juan, Op. 20 and will also include a double-bill of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major and the famous and recognizable Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67. Jing Huan and Mark Gibson conduct.
Rick Pender takes a look back at Cincinnati’s 2011-12 theatre season in the current issue of CityBeat and singles out CCM’s Into the Woods as “the season’s best musical.” Congratulations to everyone involved with this production, which also received a record number of awards from the League of Cincinnati Theatres!
CCM presents INTO THE WOODS, Feb. 23 - March 4, 2012. Photography by Mark Lyons.
CCM’s production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods has earned nine awards from the League of Cincinnati Theatres (LCT)! The fairytale adventure turns traditional stories of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk and others upside down, examining the “after” in these happily-ever-after tales.
LCT panelists praised nearly every aspect of the production, which was described as “fitting CCM like the golden slipper on Cinderella’s foot.” Awards were given in the following categories:
