Bessie Smith News

The Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony Award-winning triumph, “Into the Woods,” will play a series of exclusive engagements across the U.S. in 2023, including Center Theatre Group / Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

Tony and Grammy Award winner Jennifer Holliday makes her highly anticipated return to 54 Below with a show featuring Broadway love songs to celebrate Valentine’s Day week.

Get ready for “A Very Postmodern Christmas”! The famed time-twisting musical collective, Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, is heading back to The Ridgefield Playhouse for a vintage-style Christmas celebration! They'll take the stage on Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 7:30pm.

Billie! Backstage With Lady Day, the award-winning show with music and written and performed by Synthia L. Hardy. Directed by Bryan Rasmussen, presented by Sierra Madre Playhouse, running January 13- January 22, 2023.

BIRDLAND THEATER will present acclaimed vocalist Carole J. Bufford in the New York debut of her concert “Vintage Pop!” for a special six-show run from Friday, December 9 through Sunday, December 11, with performances each night at 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM.

With her All Hallows Eve show, Carole J. Bufford sets Birdland on delicious fire.

The Black Box has announced its next main stage show, an under-produced masterwork: Edward Albee's The Play About The Baby. The show opens on November 10 at The Black Box, 49 East Palisade Avenue in Englewood, NJ with tickets on sale now.

The Boch Center has re-introduced the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame (FARHOF), an education initiative located inside the iconic Wang Theatre in Boston.

BLUES IS A WOMAN's inception was first workshopped at the Freight & Salvage in 2016. It made its theatrical debut in San Francisco in 2017, with a month long, sold out run and fantastic reviews. Now following a two year post-pandemic hiatus, show creator Pamela Rose is Re-launching BLUES IS A WOMAN – In Concert.

Get a FIRST LOOK at one of the most popular musical revues of all time, the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Ain’t Misbehavin’ The Fats Waller Musical Show, running September 23 – October 8, 2022 at The California Center for the Arts, Escondido!  Check out photos here!

Past secrets and traditions are remembered, present feelings and resentments are exposed, and future plans collide when the death of a beloved matriarch (of a Jamaican -British family) shatters the strictures of daily life for the celebration of Nine Night (a celebration of family/friends, food, and music for the departed).

The Palm Beach Institute for the Entertainment Arts invites you to get up close and personal with south Florida born and raised Avery Sommers. For two nights only – October 28th and October 29th at 7:00 pm – the star of some of Broadway's most popular shows will entertain lucky audiences with some of her favorite stories and songs from her career.

Guitarist/vocalist Shemekia Copeland was literally born into blues royalty and founded her own kingdom of artistic expression. Composer/vocalist/ keyboardist Ruthie Foster established her own sonic citizenship by combining a melting pot of musical genres into her own distinctive sound.

The King Center for the Performing Arts has announced two additional shows coming to the Space Coast!  Elko Concerts Presents, writing, singing, and performing artist, Gordon Lightfoot: The Legend in Concert on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, at 8 PM.

Universal Preservation Hall is announcing the first batch of shows coming in 2023. Tickets are available through the Box Office at Proctors, in person or via phone at 518-346-6204 Monday-Friday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. or online at UniversalPreservationHall.org starting Tuesday, September 6. Starting October 1, the Box Office at Proctors will extend their hours to include Saturdays. Groups of 10 or more can get their tickets by calling 518-382-3884, ext. 139.

As the soundtrack of struggle, the narrative of collective experience and the backbeat of community, the blues in all its different forms is a tradition that lives on with the Highmark Blues & Heritage Festival. Produced by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center (AWAACC) and Presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, the fifth annual festival takes place September 14-15 at Highmark Stadium (510 W. Station Square Drive).

Pompano Beach Arts has announced an extraordinary new concert series produced by “Generation” Venetian Arts Society (GENVAS) specifically for the Pompano Beach Cultural Center. The Bell'Arte Concert Series, in its inaugural season, will consist of four fine arts salon-style concerts, each unique in topic and genre.

Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center is offering a stellar series of jazz performances with more than two dozen musicians, vocalists, and dancers appearing in West Chester this September through December, hosted by local jazz and blues artist, Sara Michaels.

Musicians from around the globe will gather in Sydney for SIMA’s annual celebration of women in jazz. Now in its 11th year, the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival continues to showcase some of the most talented, inspiring and creative musicians from home and abroad. 

A Chicago homestyle tribute to the blues, Wendy and DB's fifth album, Into the Little Blue House, is set for release on August 22, 2022. Though rooted in a blues vocabulary, Into the Little Blue House employs an up-to-date expansion to touch the soul of our time.