CCM and Carnegie Co-Production of ‘Parade’ Continues April 19-21

Local audiences have only three more opportunities to experience CCM and the Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center‘s critically acclaimed co-production of Parade! Don’t miss your chance to see this transformational story of a country at odds with its declarations of equality, brought to life by the remarkable talent of CCM Musical Theatre!

The 1999 Tony Award winner for “Best Book” and “Best Score,” Parade‘s run concludes this weekend with performances April 19 – 21. Ed Cohen and Dee Anne Bryll direct, with musical direction by Stephen Goers.

CityBeat’s Annual ‘Best of Cincinnati’ Issue Spotlights CCM

We are delighted to be named “Best Place to Catch a Rising Star” in CityBeat‘s annual Best of Cincinnati issue, which is on newsstands (and available online) now! CityBeat‘s editors write:

UC’s College-Conservatory of Music is one of the top three musical theater programs in the nation. Every year hundreds of aspiring high school kids audition for one of 20 or so slots in the freshman class. (That’s more selective than most Division I sports teams.) Following graduation, they head straight for Broadway where multiple productions typically feature CCM alumni. It’s not unusual for one or two to be nominated for Tony Awards, such as Karen Olivo as Anita in the recent revival of West Side Story.

We are equally thrilled to report that CCM student Kris Rucinski was recognized for performing the year’s “Best Piano Concerto” during last November’s American Voices XV concert. Again, CityBeat‘s editors write:

At a November American Voices concert honoring great American Modernist composers, UC College-Conservatory of Music first-year graduate student Kris Rucinski wowed and thrilled an audience with his performance of Lou Harrison’s challenging, complicated Piano Concerto. The late Harrison wrote it for Keith Jarrett, an indication of just how demanding a work it is. By turns fiery and meditative, developing through four challenging movements, it is as much Cecil Taylor-ish eruptive Jazz as it is calm Classical, but Rucinski showed himself more than up for the task and ready to be Jarrett’s successor – or anyone’s. One only hopes there are more chances to see him while he is a student here and before he becomes an in-demand concert soloist.

We would like to congratulate all of our friends and partners also featured in this special issue of CityBeat, too!

High Praise for CCM’s Kurt Weill Festival

CCM presents ‘The Threepenny Opera.’ Photography by Mark Lyons.

This weekend is your last chance to catch CCM’s acclaimed productions of both The Threepenny Opera (March 8 – 10) and the brand-new Kurt Weill revue Into a Lamplit Room (March 10).

The critics have had high praise for both productions, with CityBeat’s Rick Pender calling The Threepenny Opera “authentic,” “compelling” and “visually stunning” and Seen and Heard International‘s Rafael de Acha calling Into a Lamplit Room “heavenly!”

See what the critics have said for yourselves here:

• Cincinnati Enquirer: “CCM’s Threepenny Challenging, Bold”
• Talkin’ Broadway: “The Threepenny Opera Review”
• CityBeat: “Threepenny Opera: CCM Shines with Historical Tale of Corruption, Greed”
• Seen and Heard International: “Heavenly Sampler of Kurt Weill”
  

CCM Slideshows: The Threepenny Opera

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

CCM proudly presents The Threepenny Opera, running tonight, March 1, through Sunday, March 10, in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets are on sale now. This production contains mature subject matter.

Learn more The Threepenny Opera here.

“[Stage Director Robin] Guarino fearlessly goes back to the musical satire’s socio-political roots in 1920s Berlin,” Jackie Demaline writes in her review for the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Everything about The Threepenny Opera carries out Guarino’s vision, as the cast prowl scenic designer John Arnone’s industrial set of catwalks, with the small orchestra (in costume) perched at the top. Musical director Roger Grodsky as always asks much and gets all from singers and musicians.”

Read Demaline’s full review here.

CCM Alumna Featured on Good Morning America

CCM alumna Mia Gentile on the set of ‘Good Morning America.’

The buzz continues to grow around CCM alumna Mia Gentile‘s recent YouTube video “The Stanley Steemer Variations!” A 2011 graduate of our Musical Theatre program, Gentile created the viral video with local musician/producer/CCM Beatles expert extraordinaire Roger Klug.

CityBeat’s Rick Pender featured the video on his blog last month – you can read his original post here – and Gentile has since been featured on Good Morning America in support of the video! Experience “The Stanley Steemer Variations” for yourself after the jump!

CityBeat’s Stage Door Blog Reviews ‘Chess’

“Chess” runs Oct. 25 – 28 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. Photography by Mark Lyons.
Tickets on sale now! Visit ccm.uc.edu for more information. Photography by Mark Lyons.

Theatre critic Rick Pender reviews Chess in today’s CityBeat Stage Door blog: “The story is set in Bangkok and Budapest during a mid-1970s world chess championship — and it’s driven by gamesmanship between nations, between lovers and, of course, between chess players. I saw the opening on Thursday, and it’s a BIG show with a gigantic cast. Several leading roles are double cast (with more juniors than seniors, in fact, which bodes well for CCM productions for this season and next). In particular, Matthew Paul Hill, playing the Russian grand master Anatoly, lifted the roof of Corbett Auditorium with his powerful baritone voice singing the stirring ‘Anthem,’ the Act 1 finale.”

Read more here. 

Chess tickets are still available by calling 513-556-4183, visiting CCM’s E-Box Office here!

Directed by Aubrey Berg with musical direction by Stephen Goers, choreography by Diane Lala, scenic design by Mark Halpin and costumes by Rebecca Senske, Chess runs Oct. 25-28 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium.

CCM Slideshows: Chess

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Featuring music by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson with lyrics by Tim Rice, CCM’s Mainstage Series continues with the must-see musical Chess, running Oct. 25-28 in UC’s Corbett Auditorium.

CityBeat’s Rick Pender writes, “Our local theater scene is enhanced considerably by works presented on the stages at universities: Tonight through Sunday, CCM’s esteemed musical theater program is offering CHESS, with music by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. The story is set in Bangkok and Budapest during a 1972 chess championship — which is about conflict between nations, between lovers and, of course, between chess players. Director Aubrey Berg says, “The action plays out in a world of spies, counter-agents and superpowers vying for supremacy.”

Tickets are still available for this acclaimed rock musical!

Learn more at http://ccm.uc.edu.

Check out the original music video for “One Night in Bangkok” from the 1984 Chess concept album below:

CityBeat and Express Cincinnati Spotlight CCM Fall Performances

CityBeat and Express Cincinnati both published their Fall Arts Previews this week and several upcoming CCM performances made their lists of “must see” events!

CityBeat paid special attention to this fall’s Opera Fusion workshops, produced in collaboration with Cincinnati Opera, along with our Mainstage production of the rock musical Chess. Read the previews here.

Express Cincinnati singled out the Ariel Quartet’s debut performance as CCM quartet-in-residence (Sept. 11), along with our Beethoven Festival (Sept. 14 – Oct. 12) and our presentation of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor collaboration with the Constella Festival (Oct. 28). Read the full issue online here.

CCM proudly presents over 100 performing arts events this fall. Stay tuned for a full list of events next week!

CCM Season Presenting Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Rick Pender Hails CCM’s ‘Into the Woods’ As ‘The Season’s Best Musical’

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 Slideshows: Into the Woods

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The reviews are in and CityBeat‘s Rick Pender calls Into the Woods a “remarkably mature and thoroughly entertaining production,” while the Cincinnati Enquirer‘s Jackie Demaline writes: ”Delights include first-rate work from graduating seniors and a show of great promise from freshmen in the wonderful storybook world created by the design team.”

Find out for yourself what happens after “happily ever after” when CCM presents Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning Into the Woods, running this Thursday through Sunday, March 4, 2012 in CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater.