Best Bets: July 20th – July 26th

Cultural Attaché’s Best Bets: July 20^th – July 26^th leans heavily on musicals. There’s also contemporary classical music and a rare opera on tap.

SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET – Birmingham Rep – Birmingham, England – Now – August 15^th

It is no secret that Sweeney Todd is my favorite musical of all time. That doesn’t mean, however, that I get excited by every production. This one makes me wish I were in England to see it.

Ramin Karimloo (Nicky Arnstein in Funny Girl) plays Sweeney and Meow Meow plays Mrs. Lovett. That right there is reason enough to see them tackle Epiphany, By the Sea, A Little Priest and more.

David Bedella is Judge Turpin; Shem Omari James is Anthony Hope, Jo Stephenson is Johanna, Julius D’Silva is Beadle, Jack Gibson is Tobias, Florence Andrews is the Beggar Woman and Silas Wyatt-Barke is Adolfo Pirelli.

Interestingly for a show that has a Greek chorus as part of its structure, there are only two ensemble members: Hadrian Delacey and Emly Ivana Hawkins.

Wait, what’s your rush, what’s your hurry? Tickets are going fast.

Joe Murphy directs.

For tickets and more information, please go HERE.

AN ENCHANTED EVENING WITH PAULO SZOT  – 54 Below – New York, NY – July 20^th, 22^nd, 26^th and 27^th – Streaming Option July 27^th

Szot won a Tony Award for his performance in the musical South Pacific as Émile de Becque. One of the songs from that Rodgers & Hammerstein musical is Some Enchanted Evening which gives this concert its name.

All four performances are at 7:00 PM ET. Szot will be accompanied by members of the American Pops Orchestra led by Luke Frazier.

The final performance on July 27^th stands out for two reasons: that performance can be livestreamed and it also features a special guest, Kate Baldwin. She was so memorable in Hello, Dolly! and Finian’s Rainbow.

For in person tickets, please go HERE. For streaming tickets, please go HERE.

CITY OF ANGELS – Ogunquit Playhouse – Ogunquit, Maine – July 23^rd – August 22^nd

I’m so glad someone is breathing new life into this Tony Award winning musical by Cy Coleman, David Zippel and Larry Gelbart. When I saw it in 1991, I was immediately taken by how audacious it was.

The musical takes its cues from film noir of the 1940s and takes place in two worlds.

One is the world of Stine, a write attempting to turn his most recent book into a screenplay. The other is the film itself. Stine’s world is in color. The film sequences are all in black and white.

City of Angels won Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Score. London has been kinder to the show with a West End production in 1993 and a revival in 2014.

Ben Jacoby plays Stine. Tony Yazbeck plays Stone, the lead character in the movie. Alysha Umphress plays Gabbi, Stine’s wife and Bobbi who is Stone’s former girlfriend. Stephen DeRosa plays Buddy, the producer of the film and he also plays Irwin, a studio head.

It sounds a bit confusing, but it’s a wonderfully entertaining musical well worth seeing.

Hunter Foster directs.

For tickets and more information, please go HERE.

FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC – Tanglewood – Lenox/Stockbridge, MA – July 23^rd – July 27^th

Composer/conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen curated this five-concert series of contemporary music. They are:

Those We Have Lost Too Soon (July 23^rd) – Featuring music by Oliver Knussen, Kaija Saariaho, Salonen and Steven Stucky.

Meta Music: Music About Other Music (July 24^th): Featuring music by Peter Maxwell Davies, Nico Muhly and Salonen.

The Next Generation (July 25^th): Featuring music by Anna Berg, Alisson Kruusmaa, Gabriella Smith and Lisa Streich.

Gen Z Paired with Iconic Works (July 26^th): Featuring music by Jessie Cox, Delfin Demiray, Hannah Ishizaki, Maya Miro Johnson, György Ligeti and Witold Lutoslawski.

Nordic Boomers (July 27^th): Featuring music by Hans Abrahamsen, Anders Hillborg, Magnus Lindberg and Salonen.

The first four concerts are free. Nordic Boomers is the only requiring the purchase of tickets. For tickets and more information, click on the name of each concert above.

HADESTOWN: THE MUSICAL  – In Theaters – July 24^th – July 28^th

When this Tony Award-winning musical had its West End production, five of the original cast came together for the show. The production was filmed and now you can see Reeve Carney, André De Shields, Amber Gray, Eva Noblezada and Patrick Page in the roles they originated on Broadway.

I saw the show on Broadway and loved this telling of Orpheus and Eurydice and King Hades and Persephone and how those stories overlapped.

Brett Sullivan directed the film.

For tickets and more information, please go HERE. Note that these dates are for the US and Canada only. Other countries to be announced later.

THE EGYPTIAN HELEN – Fisher Center at Bard – Annandale-on-Hudson – July 24^th – August 2^nd

This rarely performed opera by Richard Strauss had its world premiere in 1928.  The libretto is by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

Here’s the synopsis: After the fall of Troy, the sorceress Aithra (Jana McIntyre) shipwrecks Menelaus (John Matthew Myers) and Helena (Hailey Clark), using magic potions and illusions to convince him that his wife never committed adultery.

Helen ultimately rejects the magical deception, choosing to restore his true memory and face his wrath, which moves Menelaus to genuinely forgive her and restore their marriage.

That Helen is getting quite a rise in popularity what with Christopher Nolan’s film and this production.

Christian Räth directs this production which features the American Symphony Orchestra led by Leon Botstein.

For tickets and more information, please go HERE.

That’s all for Best Bets: July 20^th – July 26^th.

Enjoy your week and go see a show (or two)!

Main Photo: Ramin Karimloo in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Photo by Manuel Harlan/Courtesy Birmingham Rep)