Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Anthony Nuccio in Next to Normal ~ The Tony & Pulitzer Prize Winning Musical

Anthony Nuccio is a Philadelphia native who has found a home and career in Florida thus far! Past Shows: Les Miserables (Riverside Theatre), Funny thing...Forum (Theatrezone), Jesus Christ Superstar (Entreacte Theatrix). Catch him next at the Showpalace in Hudson in The Book of Love: Doo wop Dreams. Special thanks to the Sanders for putting up with him (literally) and Jake for using him in the closing of his inaugural season.
http://www.lyrictheatre.com/show/4729-next-to-normal-the-tony-pulitzer-prize-winning-musical

Friday, April 26, 2013

Edgar Winter

Rock & Roll Legend, Edgar Winter, live on The Lyric Stage!  From his critically acclaimed debut release, Entrance, he has demonstrated his unique style and ability to cross the genre lines and do the unexpected. Creating the #1 hit “Frankenstein” and the ever popular “Free Ride”, They Only Come Out at Night was released in 1973, peaked at the #3 position on the Billboard Hot 200 and stayed on the charts for an impressive 80 weeks. It was certified gold in April 1973 and double platinum in November 1986. 

Edgar invented the keyboard body strap early in his career, an innovation that allows him the freedom to move around on stage during his multi-instrument high-energy performances. He was also the first artist to feature a synthesizer as the main instrument in a song. “Frankenstein” revolutionized rock and roll and opened up a whole new world of possibilities with experimentation and sound. Edgar Winter’s live shows consistently receive rave reviews. His music is always evolving and he is a master at stretching his skill and imagination to produce amazing results. He continues to thrill audiences with his live performances, always remaining on the cutting edge of music and style.


The Lyric Theatre is voted Best Performing Arts Theatre by 2013 Scripps Readers!

After tallying the nearly 100,000 votes from online and paper ballots, Scripps Newspapers has annoumced the 2013 readers Choice Winners & Favorites.  The winners in each category are the business that received the top nomber if readers votes.  Runners-up are listed as "favorites".

The historic Lyric Theatre, the anchor of downtown Stuart and Cultural center point of the Treasure Coast, was voted Best Performing Arts Theatre, followed by the Kravis Center & Barn Theatre as "favorties".  

SInce the rebirth of The Lyric, in 1997, the hometown theater has been ever expanding its programming choices to fulfill the desires of Treasure Coast residents.  Each year over 50 national headliners perform on the Lyric Stage. and it is clear from the Scripps Readers votes, that The Lyric is doing it right! 

The Lyric Theatre kicked off a $3 million capital campaign, and this award serves as confirmation that The Lyric is a cause worth supporting and celebrating.  For information on the Capital Campaign or programming, please call the Lyric at 772-286-7827 or online at lyrictheatre.com.

 “Frankenstein” itself went all the way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. What made this even more unusual was that the song was an instrumental, one of only 19 instrumental pieces ever to top the Billboard list. As a trivia moment, the last time an instrumental piece topped the Hot 100 was over a quarter of a century ago, when Jan Hammer‘s “Theme to Miami Vice” took top honors in 1985. See him Live at The Lyric Theatre in Stuart, April 26th, 2013!



Edgar Winter - Free Ride (Live)

Edgar Winter!  See him Live at The Lyric Theatre in Stuart, April 26th, 2013!  Music video by Edgar Winter performing Free Ride (Live). (C) 2006 CenterStaging Musical Productions, Inc., All Rights Reserved


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The Alison Brown Quartet

Grammy award-winning banjo player Alison Brown and her Quartet are making their Lyric Theatre Debut!  

The Alison Brown Quartet (banjo, piano, bass and drums) offers up an astonishingly original instrumental sound that blends jazz, bluegrass, Latin and folk music, pushing the banjo out of its familiar Appalachian settings and into new musical territory. 

 "Like James Taylor’s voice or B.B. King’s guitar, Alison Brown’s banjo is an instrument possessed of a unique sonic signature and an inescapable beauty....An artist who never ceases to delight."-- Billboard Magazine

"Banjo music is seldom thought of as 'mellow' or, dare we say 'pretty,' but Alison Brown makes it so in the jazz-classical-pop-folk-Latin mix of the Alison Brown Quartet. As a true ground-breaker, [she's] opening up whole new vistas for an instrument once solely associated with  pickin' 'n' grinnin'."  -- USA Today

*   *   *   *   *

Alison Brown (banjo/guitar): Alison began playing the guitar at age 8 and picked up the banjo 2 years later.  As a teenager in San Diego, she honed her skills performing around Southern California as a member of several different bluegrass bands.  At 16, she won the Canadian National Banjo Championship and, before heading off to college, recorded an instrumental album with fiddler Stuart Duncan.  Alison earned an AB from Harvard University in History and Literature, an MBA from UCLA in Finance and spent 2 years working as an investment banker before deciding to return to music full time.  After touring extensively as a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station and later as band leader for Michelle Shocked, she formed the Alison Brown Quartet in 1993.  Alison has recorded 7 critically-acclaimed solo albums (including the Grammy-nominated Simple Pleasures and Replay, which features the Grammy-winning track “Leaving Cottondale) and has toured with the Quartet throughout the US and abroad.  She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR's All Things Considered, NPR's Weekend Edition, UPI's Radio Network and on the cover of Dirty Linen, Sing Out! and Bluegrass Now Magazines.  In addition to her work as a recording artists, Alison is also the co-founder of Compass Records.

John R. Burr (piano/keyboards): John R. was first drawn to the piano at the age of 10 when he heard Vince Guaraldi's playing on the Peanut's animated TV specials.  Born in Erie, Pennsylvania and raised in northern California, John R. developed an original, lyrical style that taps a variety of blues, gospel and modern jazz influences.  In addition to his work with the ABQ, John R. has recorded and toured with Paul McCandless, Michael Manring, Maria Muldaur and Jeff Beal, among others.  He is also featured on Windham Hill's Piano Sampler II.  Burr's highly acclaimed instrumental solo album Piedmont Avenue  released on Compass Records in 1998 to rave reviews

Garry West (bass): Garry was raised in Atlanta where he began his musical studies at age 11 on the saxophone.  He graduated to the bass 4 years later.  After attending the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Garry moved to Nashville and toured with country artists Patty Loveless and Mark Collie before signing on with rhythm and blues legend Delbert McClinton and folk/pop songstress Michelle Shocked.  He has also performed with The Band, Duane Eddy and Taj Mahal.  In addition to his work as a bassist, Garry is also a busy producer and has been featured in Bass Player Magazine.  When he's not on the road, (and even when he is), Garry runs Compass Records, the independent record label which he and Alison co-founded.

Kendrick Freeman (drums):  Bay Area drummer and percussionist Kendrick Freeman is one of the most versatile drummers in acoustic music.  His jazz studies have included work with Eddie Moore and George Marsh; with Marsh, he received a National Endowment Grant for Jazz Studies in 1980.  Kendrick has enjoyed a parallel career in traditional drumming and dance, having studied with accompanied artists from Ghana, Congo, Haiti and Cuba.  From 1989 to 1993, he was musical director for San Francisco's premiere Haitian dance company, Groupe Petite la Croix, performing at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival in 1989, 1992 and 1993.  Currently a resident of Petaluma CA, Kendrick teaches a Latin jazz ensemble at Sonoma State University and has taught at the California State Summer School for the Arts.  He has recorded with acoustic marvel Joe Craven and cutting-edge dobroist Rob Ickes among others.  Kendrick joined the Alison Brown Quartet in 1999.


http://www.lyrictheatre.com/show/4852-the-alison-brown-quartet

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Alison Brown Quartet

Grammy award-winning banjo player Alison Brown and her Quartet are making their Lyric Theatre Debut!  

The Alison Brown Quartet (banjo, piano, bass and drums) offers up an astonishingly original instrumental sound that blends jazz, bluegrass, Latin and folk music, pushing the banjo out of its familiar Appalachian settings and into new musical territory. 

 "Like James Taylor’s voice or B.B. King’s guitar, Alison Brown’s banjo is an instrument possessed of a unique sonic signature and an inescapable beauty....An artist who never ceases to delight."-- Billboard Magazine

"Banjo music is seldom thought of as 'mellow' or, dare we say 'pretty,' but Alison Brown makes it so in the jazz-classical-pop-folk-Latin mix of the Alison Brown Quartet. As a true ground-breaker, [she's] opening up whole new vistas for an instrument once solely associated with  pickin' 'n' grinnin'."  -- USA Today

*   *   *   *   *

Alison Brown (banjo/guitar): Alison began playing the guitar at age 8 and picked up the banjo 2 years later.  As a teenager in San Diego, she honed her skills performing around Southern California as a member of several different bluegrass bands.  At 16, she won the Canadian National Banjo Championship and, before heading off to college, recorded an instrumental album with fiddler Stuart Duncan.  Alison earned an AB from Harvard University in History and Literature, an MBA from UCLA in Finance and spent 2 years working as an investment banker before deciding to return to music full time.  After touring extensively as a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station and later as band leader for Michelle Shocked, she formed the Alison Brown Quartet in 1993.  Alison has recorded 7 critically-acclaimed solo albums (including the Grammy-nominated Simple Pleasures and Replay, which features the Grammy-winning track “Leaving Cottondale) and has toured with the Quartet throughout the US and abroad.  She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR's All Things Considered, NPR's Weekend Edition, UPI's Radio Network and on the cover of Dirty Linen, Sing Out! and Bluegrass Now Magazines.  In addition to her work as a recording artists, Alison is also the co-founder of Compass Records.

John R. Burr (piano/keyboards): John R. was first drawn to the piano at the age of 10 when he heard Vince Guaraldi's playing on the Peanut's animated TV specials.  Born in Erie, Pennsylvania and raised in northern California, John R. developed an original, lyrical style that taps a variety of blues, gospel and modern jazz influences.  In addition to his work with the ABQ, John R. has recorded and toured with Paul McCandless, Michael Manring, Maria Muldaur and Jeff Beal, among others.  He is also featured on Windham Hill's Piano Sampler II.  Burr's highly acclaimed instrumental solo album Piedmont Avenue  released on Compass Records in 1998 to rave reviews

Garry West (bass): Garry was raised in Atlanta where he began his musical studies at age 11 on the saxophone.  He graduated to the bass 4 years later.  After attending the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Garry moved to Nashville and toured with country artists Patty Loveless and Mark Collie before signing on with rhythm and blues legend Delbert McClinton and folk/pop songstress Michelle Shocked.  He has also performed with The Band, Duane Eddy and Taj Mahal.  In addition to his work as a bassist, Garry is also a busy producer and has been featured in Bass Player Magazine.  When he's not on the road, (and even when he is), Garry runs Compass Records, the independent record label which he and Alison co-founded.

Kendrick Freeman (drums):  Bay Area drummer and percussionist Kendrick Freeman is one of the most versatile drummers in acoustic music.  His jazz studies have included work with Eddie Moore and George Marsh; with Marsh, he received a National Endowment Grant for Jazz Studies in 1980.  Kendrick has enjoyed a parallel career in traditional drumming and dance, having studied with accompanied artists from Ghana, Congo, Haiti and Cuba.  From 1989 to 1993, he was musical director for San Francisco's premiere Haitian dance company, Groupe Petite la Croix, performing at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival in 1989, 1992 and 1993.  Currently a resident of Petaluma CA, Kendrick teaches a Latin jazz ensemble at Sonoma State University and has taught at the California State Summer School for the Arts.  He has recorded with acoustic marvel Joe Craven and cutting-edge dobroist Rob Ickes among others.  Kendrick joined the Alison Brown Quartet in 1999.


http://www.lyrictheatre.com/show/4852-the-alison-brown-quartet

Monday, April 22, 2013

The Alison Brown Quartet live at Lyric Theatre - video: Alison Brown with Andrea Zonn "Apalachian Celtic Medley"

The Alison Brown Quartet live at Lyric Theatre Stuart Florida April 28, 2013
www.lyrictheatre.com

Alison Brown with Andrea Zonn "Apalachian Celtic Medley"
Alison Brown with Andrea Zonn performing "Apalachian Celtic Medley" at Music City Roots live from the Loveless Cafe on 8.22.2012


http://www.lyrictheatre.com/show/4852-the-alison-brown-quartet

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Alison Brown Quartet with Joe Craven - Live at Blair (DVD)

The Alison Brown Quartet live at Lyric Theatre Stuart Florida April 28, 2013
www.lyrictheatre.com

Filmed at Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music, LIVE AT BLAIR showcases the virtuosic Alison Brown Quartet on a riveting set of the group's best-loved compositions. Filmed in HD, recorded in high-end audio and featuring a guest appearance from multi-instrumentalist and David Grisman Quintet alum Joe Craven, this is the GRAMMY-award winning artist's first live DVD recording in a 15 year career that spans eight albums, countless tours, appearances on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR's All Things Considered and in the Wall Street Journal.http://www.youtube.com/user/veritas67http://theveritasmediagroup.com/http://theveritasmediagroup.com/&...


http://www.lyrictheatre.com/show/4852-the-alison-brown-quartet

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Colleen Broome in Next to Normal ~ The Tony & Pulitzer Prize Winning Musical

Colleen Broome is 15 years old and thrilled to be returning to Curtain Call Productions as part of this profound current musical & outstanding cast.  Her past professional theatre credits include Curtain Call’s Florida premiere of ORDINARY DAYS (Deb), The Maltz Jupiter Theatre's THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE (Ensemble), SOUND OF MUSIC (Louisa), EVITA, A CHRISTMAS STORY , Starstruck Performing Art’s LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Chiffon) GYPSY (Young Louise).  Other recent theatre performances include Starstruck’s LEGALLY BLOND (Paulette), HAIRSPRAY JR (Penny), RENT, SE (Maureen). 
http://www.lyrictheatre.com/show/4729-next-to-normal-the-tony-pulitzer-prize-winning-musical

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Esperanza Spalding

Since upsetting Justin Bieber fans everywhere after winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2011, Esperanza Spalding has swept the nation with her cool, controlled jazz riffs and earthy vocals. The Oregon native is a celebrated prodigy, recognized by her teachers and her audience as a powerful upright bassist in tune with her own rhythm. Esperanza’s music has impressed and inspired listeners all over the world, including President Barack Obama, who chose the young musician as the sole artist to perform in his honor at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony. 

Esperanza Spalding was raised in Portland, Oregon in a nurturing musical environment. Although her mother’s dedication to music inspired the young girl, Esperanza credits her interest in performing to YoYo Ma’s performance on an episode of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood that Spalding watched when she was 4. Esperanza had taught herself the violin a year later and played with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon until she left as a concertmaster at the age of 15. In high school, Esperanza dabbled with a variety of instruments including the oboe and clarinet, but found her true love when she picked up a bass for the first time. The aspiring musician left high school when she was 16 and enrolled on a music scholarship at Portland State University. Shortly after, Esperanza received a full scholarship to Berklee School of Music and became an instructor by the age of 20, the youngest instructor in the institution’s history. 

Despite her academic involvements as a Berklee instructor, Esperanza Spalding continued to record and produce critically-acclaimed albums over the next few years, slowly rising in popularity. Her Grammy win in 2011 has only further inspired and encouraged Esperanza’s artistic creation. As she insists, “the spotlight can actually directly serve the music.” And, the spotlight is certainly shining. Spalding has released 4 solo albums over her career, impressing audiences with her multi-lingual vocal performances and smooth, soulful bass playing. Esperanza’s album Chamber Music Society was the best selling contemporary jazz album of 2011 and the jazz artist had the honor of performing at the 84th Academy Awards, singing “What a Wonderful World” with the help of the Southern California Children’s Chorus. 
 
Thank you for supporting The Lyric Theatre, see you at the show!

http://www.lyrictheatre.com/show/3679-esperanza-spalding

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Next to Normal ~ The Tony & Pulitzer Prize Winning Musical

Winner, 2009 Tony Awards
Winner, 2010 Pulitzer Prize
Winner, Critics Choice for "One of the Year's Ten Best Shows"

The most talked about new show on Broadway is a “brave and breathtaking musical” according to The New York Times and a show that “pushes Broadway in new directions” says Rolling Stone. With a thrilling contemporary rock score, Next to Normal is an emotional powerhouse about a family trying to take care of themselves and each other amid the humor and turmoil of mental illness. 

Winner of three 2009 Tony Awards including Best Musical Score and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, Next to Normal was also chosen as “one of the year’s ten best shows” by critics around the country, including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone and The New York Times.

Starring:
Karin Leone*,
Robert Dawson, Anthony Nuccio, Colleen Broome
Xander James, Michael Hurst II

Director: Jared Walker
Musical Director:  Evan Ferrar    Lighting & Scenic Design:  Marc Clark

*   *   *   *   *   
 
The Story:  NEXT TO NORMAL tells the story of a mother, Diane Goodman, who struggles with bipolar disorder and the effect that her illness has on her family. This contemporary musical is an emotional powerhouse that addresses such issues as grieving a loss, ethics in modern psychiatry, and suburban life. With provocative lyrics and a thrilling score, this musical shows how far two parents will go to keep themselves sane and their family’s world intact.

“The best musical of the season — by a mile. It’ll pin you to your seat.” – Rolling Stone

“It is much more than a feel-good musical. It is a feel-everything musical." - The New York Times 

This production contains adult language and adult content. 
*member of Actors Equity Assiciation

http://www.lyrictheatre.com/show/4729-next-to-normal-the-tony-pulitzer-prize-winning-musical