Music News Australia: 12/28/11

Wednesday, 28 December 2011

St. George Openair Cinema Celebrates Its Opening Night With The Sydney Premiere Of My Week With Marilyn

Sydney will get a bit of the Hollywood glam treatment when the premiere screening of 'My Week With Marilyn' opens the 2012 season at St. George OpenAir Cinema on 11 January.

The Oscar® buzz has continued on Michelle Williams' due to her impressive portrayal of Marilyn Monroe.

The flick covers matters such as her charm, sexiness, daring, challenges and Monroe's trip to England for 'The Prince and the Showgirl' with Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh).

Movie Summary...

Colin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier's, documents the tense interaction between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during production of The Prince and the Showgirl.

St. George Openair Cinema...

Also announced as features of the 2012 season are preview screenings of THE ARTIST, a gorgeous homage to silent films that proved a sensation at Cannes earlier this year where it was awarded best actor, J. EDGAR directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the FBI’s infamous boss, and GOODBYE, FIRST LOVE a poignant French film which explores our lasting attachment to first love.

The 2012 OpenAir program will also include blockbusters such as MONEYBALL, which stars Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, and the hilarious comedy THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE, which follows on from the edgy UK TV series about the over-imagined sexual ambitions of a group of young males.

The 2012 St.George OpenAir Cinema program will feature fourteen premiere or preview screenings, all the major summer releases, and a selection of the year's best indie films.

The full program will be announced on Friday 9 December with tickets on sale from 9am on 15 December. Last year more than 30,000 tickets and over a dozen screenings were sold out in the first half hour alone, so be quick.

The full 2012 program will be available online from Saturday 10 December, visit www.stgeorge.com.au/openair

Where:

Mrs Macquaries Point, Sydney - adjacent to Royal Botanic Gardens

When:

January 11 to February 18 2012

Gates, bar and restaurant open from 6.15pm

Films commence shortly after nightfall (approx. 8.30-8.45pm)

Tickets:

Tickets on sale from Thursday 15 December via the event website www.stgeorge.com.au/openair

Advance Bookings*: General $30 / concession $28 + booking fee Door Sales*: General $35 / concession $32 *additional costs may apply for special presentations.

My Week With Marilyn: The Cast...

Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe

Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier

Eddie Redmayne as Colin Clark

Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike

Emma Watson as Lucy

Dougray Scott as Arthur Miller

Dominic Cooper as Milton H. Greene

Julia Ormond as Vivien Leigh

Derek Jacobi as Sir Owen Morshead

Zoë Wanamaker as Paula Strasberg

Richard Clifford as Richard Wattis

Philip Jackson as Roger Smith

Simon Russell Beale as Admiral Cotes-Preedy

Studios: The Weinstein Company, BBC Films, Lipsync Productions

Directed by Simon Curtis

Produced by David Parfitt and Harvey Weinstein

Box Office to date: $11,106,287

Websites

St. George Openair Cinema

http://www.stgeorgeopenair.com.au/

My Week With Marilyn official website

http://www.myweekwithmarilynmovie.com/

NIX Co.

http://www.nixco.com.au/

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr

www.flickr.com/evarinaldiphotography

Eva Rinaldi Photography

www.evarinaldi.com

Media Man News

www.mediamannews.com

Music News Australia

www.musicnewsaustralia.com

The Star Lyric Theatre To Open Annie The Musical In Sydney

The Star, owned and operated by Echo Entertainment, has organised a media call for this coming Tuesday 3rd January at the Lyric Theatre.

We will be attending to cover the ever-popular Broadway musical Annie prior to the official opening night of the show at 7pm on Thursday January 5, 2012.

Three musical numbers from the show will be performed, and afterwards producer John Frost and lead cast members Anthony Warlow, Nancye Hayes, Todd McKenney, Chloe Dallimore, Julie Goodwin and Alan Jones will be giving interviews and be available for photograph opportunities and more.

The musical numbers will be:

It’s the Hard Knock Life – featuring the children’s cast

Easy Street – featuring Nancye Hayes, Todd McKenney and Chloe Dallimore

A New Deal for Christmas – featuring Anthony Warlow, Julie Goodwin, Alan Jones and the ensemble cast.

Based on the popular Harold Gray comic strip “Little Orphan Annie”, the musical Annie burst into popularity in 1977 when it opened on Broadway. After running there for nearly six years, it has played in over 22 countries worldwide including the UK, Argentina, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Australia. Annie became a smash-hit movie musical in 1982 starring Aileen Quinn, Albert Finney and Carol Burnett that is adored worldwide and a fixture of popular culture references.

Annie is full of toe-tapping hits which have become staples of musical theatre repertoires worldwide and now, 34 years on, it remains one of the most loved and universally appealing musicals of all time.

Annie plays in Sydney until March 25 before a national tour.

It all marks another interesting development in the Australian casino wars, as agency, Media Man has been calling it for a few years now, and it will be interesting to see how Melbourne based competitor of The Star, Crown Casino, responds with their entertainment line up, which is also ramping up on the west coast on Australia with the newly named Crown Perth (formally Burswood Entertainment Centre).

The battle for the Australian entertainment dollar continues, and certainly Sydney's The Star is going full speed ahead and betting that world class entertainment will remain paramount in the quest to bring more punters to land based casinos and entertainment complexes.

Media blurb we secured...

The timeless tale of Little Orphan Annie is back, giving a whole new generation the chance to experience this classic musical about never giving up hope. Boasting one of Broadway's most memorable scores, including It's the Hard-Knock Life, Easy Street, N.Y.C. and the ever-optimistic Tomorrow, Annie is one of the most awarded and loved musicals of all time. Reprising one of his all-time favourite roles as the charismatic and sophisticated New York ‘zillionaire' Daddy Warbucks, is Anthony Warlow. He will be joined by the ever-popular Nancye Hayes playing everyone's favourite villain, Miss Hannigan. Todd McKenney, Chloë Dallimore and Julie Goodwin also bring their talents to this delightful musical. And in a special treat, radio star Alan Jones will join the cast in the role of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

A MESSAGE FROM PRODUCER JOHN FROST

It gives me great pleasure to bring ANNIE back to Australian audiences. When I produced this show 12 years ago I was overwhelmed by the response it received. ANNIE is such a well known, well loved production that appeals to so many different age groups. Its popularity means that it is staged once a year in many countries around the world, and I have no doubt that the Australian audiences are well and truly ready to see it again.

This time around, I am especially delighted to be able to work once more with Australia's favourite leading man, Anthony Warlow and theatrical legend Nancye Hayes.

To be taking this wonderful show and the star studded cast on tour in 2012 presents a unique and exciting opportunity to reach a new generation of Australians and it gives me enormous pleasure to think that people Australia wide will again be able to experience this special production.