Bessie Smith News

With Duke Ellington's music as the centerpiece, Cotton Club Parade reimagines one of the composer's Cotton Club floor shows. Ellington and his orchestra began a four-year residency at the Club in 1927 and continued making guest appearances throughout the 1930s. Legendary performers such as the Nicholas Brothers, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Snake Hips Tucker, Peg Leg Bates and a 16-year old Lena Horne all performed at the Club.

Carla Cook, Brandon Victor Dixon, Jared Grimes and Adriane Lenox have been cast in Duke Ellington's Cotton Club Parade, opening November 18 at New York City Center.

Carla Cook, Brandon Victor Dixon, Jared Grimes and Adriane Lenox have been cast in Duke Ellington's Cotton Club Parade, opening November 18 at New York City Center.

Carla Cook, Brandon Victor Dixon, Jared Grimes and Adriane Lenox star in Duke Ellington's Cotton Club Parade, opening November 18 at New York City Center and Broadway Beat got a sneak peek!

Baby Jane Dexter is still bad and still blue as she premieres an all-new show at the Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, on Friday November 25 at 7pm.

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company (Carl Forsman, Artistic Director/Damon Chua, Executive Director) today announced that Kathleen Chalfant and Richard Easton would lead the cast of Tina Howe's Painting Churches, the 1983 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Keen Artistic Director Carl Forsman directs.

Carla Cook, Brandon Victor Dixon, Jared Grimes and Adriane Lenox have been cast in Duke Ellington's Cotton Club Parade, opening November 18 at New York City Center.

Penguin Rep Theatre, Rockland County's professional theatre, will hold its sixth annual auction Sunday, October 9 at the Stony Point Conference Center, located just up the street from the theatre at 17 Crickettown Road in Stony Point, New York. Admission is free.

Aurora Theatre Company proudly opens its 20th anniversary season with renowned American playwright Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning brutal comedy of manners A DELICATE BALANCE. Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Tom Ross helms a remarkable cast for A DELICATE BALANCE, including Aurora co-founder Ken Grantham and the company's first leading lady (Candida), Kimberly King. Jamie Jones makes her Aurora Theatre Company debut and Bay Area favorites Anne Darragh, Charles Dean, and Carrie Paff return to the Aurora stage, rounding out this spectacular ensemble. A DELICATE BALANCE closes October 9 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley.

Theatre producer Edmund Gaynes will be a special guest at The Paley Center for Media's screening of Mary Martin's legendary TV version of PETER PAN today,

Penguin Rep Theatre, Rockland County's professional theatre, will hold its sixth annual auction Sunday, October 9 at the Stony Point Conference Center, located just up the street from the theatre at 17 Crickettown Road in Stony Point, New York. Admission is free.

Signature Theatre Company (Founding Artistic Director James Houghton; Executive Director Erika Mallin), announced today seven productions for its inaugural 2012 season at Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street near 10th Avenue), the company's new Frank Gehry-designed permanent home opening in February 2012. Signature Center will allow the Company to expand its programming, introduce new initiatives, and build audiences. Featuring three intimate theatres, a studio theatre, rehearsal studio and a shared lobby with café and bookstore, Signature Center will be both a theatre community hub and a neighborhood destination.

Pack a picnic and head for the hills for an afternoon of eclectic, al fresco music. Indie singer-songwriter Inara George invites special guest John C. Reilly and some of L.A.'s most inspired performers to play hits from the prolific songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

Aurora Theatre Company proudly opens its 20th anniversary season with renowned American playwright Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning brutal comedy of manners A DELICATE BALANCE. Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Tom Ross helms a remarkable cast for A DELICATE BALANCE, including Aurora co-founder Ken Grantham and the company's first leading lady (Candida), Kimberly King.

Pack a picnic and head for the hills for an afternoon of eclectic, al fresco music. Indie singer-songwriter Inara George invites special guest John C. Reilly and some of L.A.'s most inspired performers to play hits from the prolific songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

Featuring songs from the Delta to Broadway and Bessie Smith to Cassandra Wilson, Deb Mullins presents an evening of unique and soulful blues.

If Mike Nichols and Elaine May ever had a routine about two theatre geeks discussing their favorite unsuccessful musicals, it probably would have resembled the kind of banter that goes on between Jennifer Tepper and Kevin Michael Murphy as creators/producers/hosts of the concert series, If It Only Even Runs A Minute.  Monday night's edition, their seventh, was my third visit to their collection of one-nighters where musical theatre well-knowns and not so well-knowns join music director/pianist Caleb Hoyer to sing selections from underappreciated and/or forgotten musicals between quick histories of each production by Tepper and Murphy.  Frequently, original cast members will be on hand to give first-person accounts of the bumpy roads to opening night.

On Thursday, August 4, the 33rd annual Seaside Summer Concert Series at Coney Island, hosted by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, will proudly welcome the one and only Aretha Franklin.