Toledo Opera gets national grant
11/29/2012The Toledo Opera has received a $12,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support its upcoming production of the Mozart masterpiece Don Giovanni.
The performances will be Feb. 15 and 17 at the Valentine Theatre. The sets and costumes, created for Glimmerglass Opera, place the opera in the 1950s. Singers, a chamber chorus drawn from Toledo Opera's volunteer chorus and the Toledo Symphony led by Stefan Sanderling will perform.
"This production... is a visually compelling new look at Don Giovanni, challenging the traditional approach to Mozart's great work," James Meena, Toledo Opera principal artistic adviser states in a news release.
"It will allow our audiences to view this great masterpiece through a new lens. It will also move the company forward in the direction of innovation and creativity, and is viewed as important to establishing a new character for Toledo Opera -- a company that respects the traditions of opera, but which is not afraid to challenge those traditions in an artistically satisfying way."
The grant is one of 832 Art Works grants totaling $23.3 million in funding across the country.
Kravitz to star in biopic
NEW YORK -- Lenny Kravitz has signed on for his first leading film role, playing singer Marvin Gaye in a biopic that will be shot next year.
Kravitz, 48, has played supporting roles in the past, including a small part in The Hunger Games.
The magazine says the "Are You Gonna Go My Way" singer will portray Gaye during the 1980s when he was fighting his addictions and attempting to restart his career. Gaye died in 1984 after being shot by his father.
'Girl Meets World'
LOS ANGELES -- Disney Channel confirmed Tuesday that it's developing a spinoff of the '90s ABC comedy Boy Meets World -- and that the original show's central couple will be back.
The network acknowledged that it is working on a pilot called Girl Meets World, a sequel to the popular sitcom that aired from 1993 to 2000.
Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel will reprise their roles as Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence. More than a decade later, they'll be the parents of a 13-year-old daughter named Riley, the protagonist of the new show. A nationwide casting search to fill that role is under way.
The pilot is being produced by Michael Jacobs, who was the executive producer of Boy Meets World -- in addition to Charles in Charge, and My Two Dads.