Renee Robinson News

Here are our suggestions - our choices, as it were - for the shows to catch, the people to see, before Monday morning rolls around. Again. When work beckons, we promise you'll have so much more interesting water cooler chatter to share that you'll be the envy of everyone at the office:

Perhaps it's a case of perfect timing - or maybe it's simply the fact that a revival of a much-beloved Tony Award-winning best musical is enough to attract a strong ensemble of men to the project - but make no mistake about it, Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts succeeds where so many companies have fallen short in bringing a superbly mounted production of Sherman Edwards' and Peter Stone's 1776 to vibrant life onstage!

Segerstrom Center for the Arts' dance season continues with the return of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from April 6 – 10 featuring Southern California premieres, new productions and beloved Ailey classics. Before members of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater take to the Segerstrom Hall stage, members of the community will have the opportunity to enjoy a fun-filled afternoon outdoors on the Arts Plaza at the Revelations Celebration! Guests of all ages and experience levels will join together to celebrate the joy of dance and learn movement from one of the most acclaimed works of choreography. Led by former Ailey dancers Nasha Thomas (Director of AileyCamp and Ailey Arts In Education) and Renee Robinson, along with Ailey Arts in Education Teaching Artist Roderick Jackson, participants will learn movement from the “Wade in the Water,” “Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel,” and “Rocka My Soul” sections of Alvin Ailey's American masterpiece Revelations.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts' dance season continues with the return of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from April 6 – 10 featuring Southern California premieres, new productions and beloved Ailey classics. Before members of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater take to the Segerstrom Hall stage, members of the community will have the opportunity to enjoy a fun-filled afternoon outdoors on the Arts Plaza at the Revelations Celebration! Guests of all ages and experience levels will join together to celebrate the joy of dance and learn movement from one of the most acclaimed works of choreography. Led by former Ailey dancers Nasha Thomas (Director of AileyCamp and Ailey Arts In Education) and Renee Robinson, along with Ailey Arts in Education Teaching Artist Roderick Jackson, participants will learn movement from the “Wade in the Water,” “Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel,” and “Rocka My Soul” sections of Alvin Ailey's American masterpiece Revelations.

Thus, we are happy to present one of our most popular features: The Nashville Theater Calendar, a comprehensive - maybe even exhaustive (lord knows we're exhausted from putting it together, gathering all the info from all over the interwebs!) - listing of theatrical openings for the 2016 season. We'll update the calendar every Monday, clearing out the shows that have closed and adding additional information on the shows still to come.

Produced in association with Temple University, and now in its second year, Main Street Festivals, is a national initiative that presents annual readings of new musicals in cities across the United States over the course of a year. Temple is hosting the 2015 plays January 16 and 17 in the Randall Theatre, Temple University School of Theater, Film and Media Arts, 1301 W. Norris St. Tickets cost $15 and are available online at www.mainstreetfestivals.org/philadelphia.html.

It's Halloween weekend and every dramatic personage and theatrical type we've ever encountered is caught up in the annual rush to find just the right costume for their holiday revelries (we confess we've never had the knack for coming up with Halloween get-ups - not since we went in drag to a party at the First Baptist Church as the age of 12…tongues were wagging, we are certain, but we lived to tell about it, so it couldn't have been that bad). In the meantime, there are all sorts of onstage happenings this weekend to keep you otherwise engaged should the difficulty of selecting your costume prove to be too much.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

There's the definite feeling of autumn in the air that makes you want to gut a pumpkin or at least have a pumpkin spice latte, chances are you are definitely going to need a sweater in the early morning hours, and it's past the perfect time for you to pick out a Halloween costume. Luckily, theater companies are well into their new seasons and there's plenty of shows to entertain you while you take time off from berating yourself for wearing that same tricked-out Star Wars costume you wore the past fwo-and-one-half years.

We're back! After an extended absence due to The Last Five Years (we directed it to boffo notices from our critical colleagues), The 2015 First Night Honors (which played to SRO crowds at Chaffin's Barn in September) and a sense of overwhelming malaise and ennui (we are ever so dramatic at times), BWW Nashville's Critic's Choice is back on the interwebs, offering you our insights and advice on the shows that are coming up and what you should try to find time to see - or to avoid at all costs, depending on our perspective.

Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts presents The Addams Family, A New Musical - the Broadway musical by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (Jersey Boys) and Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party) - October 16 through November 1.

The Victory Dane Project celebrated its first anniversary on May 11, 2015, with a program that, if not stirring or original, at least caught my interest to see the well trained and very passionately committed young dancers.

Choreographer Amy Jordan's company, The Victory Dance Project, will celebrate its first anniversary this week with an evening of dance entitled People, Power and Possibility on Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at 7 pm at The Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 West 55th Street (at 9th Avenue). The evening will honor former Ailey star Principal Dancer Renee Robinson, who will receive the company's First Annual Artist for Peace Award and will feature five works choreographed by Jordan.

The Victory Dance Project will celebrate its first anniversary with an evening of dance entitled People, Power and Possibility on Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at 7 pm at The Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 West 55th Street (at 9th Avenue).  The performance will feature five works choreographed by Company Director Amy Jordan, including Big Fun, and the premiere of an excerpt from Thru the Looking Glass and Human Revolution, a contemporary ballet in five sections. The evening will honor former Ailey star Principal Dancer Renee Robinson, a renowned dance artist who will receive the company's First Annual Artist for Peace Award. 

Last night's Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's ODETTA premiere performance was star studded with guests including Harry Belafonte, Laverne Cox, Jessye Norman, Carmen de Lavallade,Bevy Smith, Suzanne Vega, Ruben Santiago Hudson, Michela Angela Davis, Khalil Kain, Rochelle Aytes, Pastors Michael A Walrond Jr., and Reverend LaKeesha Waldrond attending the world premiere of Matthew Rushing's. Fittingly, ODETTA, which celebrates the legendary singer known as the "voice of the Civil Rights Movement." premiered on National Human Rights Day. Fans can catch ODETTA seven more times this season: Dec 13 Mat, 14 eve, 18 eve, 20 eve, 26, 28 eve, 31 mat.

Last night's Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's ODETTA premiere performance was star studded with guests including Harry Belafonte, Laverne Cox, Jessye Norman, Carmen de Lavallade, Bevy Smith, Suzanne Vega, Ruben Santiago Hudson, Michela Angela Davis, Khalil Kain, Rochelle Aytes, Pastors Michael A Walrond Jr., and Reverend LaKeesha Waldrond attending Matthew Rushing's world premiere. Fittingly, ODETTA, which celebrates the legendary singer known as the "voice of the Civil Rights Movement," premiered on National Human Rights Day. BroadwayWorld has photos from the premiere below!

The New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies), NYC's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announces Arthur Mitchell, founder of Dance Theatre of Harlem, as the recipient of the 2014 NY Dance and Performance Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance and Dr. Chuck Davis of DanceAfrica! for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. These awards will be presented at the 30th Annual Bessie Awards ceremony at the legendary Apollo Theater on Monday, October 20.

Dance Against Cancer raised more than $200,000 for the American Cancer Society on Monday, May 5, 2014. Proceeds from the evening will benefit research initiatives and patient and family service programs. More than 500 guests attended the fourth annual Dance Against Cancer. VIP guests enjoyed cocktails, preferred seating, and a gift bag in addition to the performance and post-event reception. The performance featured new work by Brian Reeder created for American Ballet Theatre's Isabella Boylston with New York City Ballet's Chase Finlay and Amar Ramasar, Paul Taylor Dance Company in its first appearance at the benefit, Charles 'Lil Buck' Riley performed with students from National Dance Institute, and included the NYC premiere of Justin Peck's Sea Change. Scroll down for photos from the performances!

In conjunction with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's current holiday season at New York City Center, the celebration of the new year, and The January 5th season finale on what would have been Alvin Ailey's 83rd birthday; The Ailey Extension will offer special programs now through January. Starting tonight programs will include Revelations workshops taught by leading dancers from the Company's 55 year history, and the all new 'Get Fit in '14' challenge beginning today, January 2nd.