Billie Holiday News

The Winter Park Playhouse continues to collaborate with Winter Park local powerhouse Maria Olivia Bryant and her company Maria Olivia Inspires to present a quarterly cabaret series, Expressions: A Celebration of Voices in African-American Music. The latest cabaret in this series is titled Harlem Blues and will premiere Thursday, March 28,2019 at 7:30 p.m. It will pay tribute to the music of iconic greats such as Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Mary J. Blige , Stevie Wonder and more!

David Heron's Against His Will, the provocative legal drama in which a young Jamaican man accuses his female boss of sexually assaulting him, will return to The New Vibe Lounge in Rockville Centre Long Island following a sold out, standing room only performance at the venue last month.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series recently welcomed Tony winner Katrina Lenk and her friend and former cast member from The Band's Visit, George Abud in a one-night only concert called 'Swung.' The performance took place on Monday, March 4.

Trav'lin - The 1930s Harlem Musical, a joyful celebration of the Jazz Age with a classic jazz and blues score, is receiving its regional premiere at The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities' Main Stage Theatre.  The show will run April 5 through 28 with the official opening on April 9.

From the second we step through the doors of Anacostia Playhouse, we're asked to join the world of Dominique Morisseau's Blood at the Root - not just as observers but participants. Every corner of the lobby has been decked out like the hallways of a high school - in this case, Cedar High, located somewhere north of New Orleans. We glance upward and see a banner prominently featuring their mascot, the Pelican. There's a bulletin board littered with flyers and posters - Keep Calm and Wear Your Uniform. And just next to the entrance of the theater is a pair of lockers covered with real-life photographs of the young cast in their natural habitats - school, church, family reunions, summer camp. There's a lot to explore.

Lotus Music & Dance will celebrate its 30th Anniversary in 2019 with a benefit dinner and performance on Monday, March 25th. This year also marks the 100th Birth Anniversary of bharata natyam dance guru, T. Balasaraswati (“Bala”). They will honor legendary choreographer, George Faison with the inaugural Bala Award for Excellence . Other Honorees include Manhattan Borough President, Gale Brewer for her support of cultural diversity in the performing arts.

Schimmel Center at Pace University concludes its 2018-19 Cabaret Series with an evening of standards and musical theater selections composed by women titled Baby, Dream Your Dream: The Great Women Songwriters on Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 7:30pm. Tickets start at $29 and can be purchased at SchimmelCenter.org, by phone at 212-346-1715, or by visiting the Schimmel Center Box Office at 3 Spruce Street, Manhattan. Box office hours are Tuesday-Saturday, Noon-5pm, and then beginning three hours prior to each performance, through intermission.

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, announces its 45th season, opening with Mother of the Maid by Jane Anderson, directed by BJ Jones and featuring Kate Fry. The season continues with the World Premiere of The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, a companion piece to Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, directed by Jessica Thebus; followed by the World Premiere of How A Boy Falls, by Steven Dietz, directed by BJ Jones; and Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel. Closing out the season is Songs for Nobodies by Joanna Murray-Smith, directed by Rob Lindley, featuring Bethany Thomas.

Warner Bros. Records proudly announces its exclusive slate of 2019 vinyl releases set to arrive at all participating Independent Record Stores on Saturday, April 13th—universally recognized as Record Store Day (RSD).

What good is sitting alone in your room this week? If you don't already have plans to see a Broadway show, come out to see your favorite Broadway stars in a cabaret act instead. After Broadway orchestras begin their overtures, ensemble members take their dance breaks, and performers belt out their eleven o'clock numbers, the party continues at various cabaret venues throughout New York City. Highlights this week include Betsy Wolfe, Katrina Lenk, Broadway Sings Adele and more.

Schimmel Center at Pace University concludes its 2018-19 Cabaret Series with an evening of standards and musical theater selections composed by women titled Baby, Dream Your Dream: The Great Women Songwriters on Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 7:30pm.

Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) focuses its 2019 Music in Color Free Community Concerts series (March 23, 24, 28, April 4, April 7) and Free School Concerts programs on the music of Gabriela Lena Frank, an American composer of Peruvian, Chinese, and Lithuanian Jewish descent. Now entering its third year, Music in Color is OSL's annual initiative highlighting the works and lives of classical composers of color. The program was created to engage new audiences with classical music through dynamic, multidisciplinary concerts designed to be as entertaining as they are educational.

In Touch Entertainment is announcing the spring lineup of its highly successful jazz series produced by New York-based concert promoter, Charles Carlini of In Touch Entertainment.

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with Karrin Allyson, Nellie McKay, Victoria Shaw "Under the Covers," and more!

In Her Shoulders is pleased to present a staged reading of Wine In The Wilderness by Alice Childress, directed by Bianca LaVerne Jones on Friday, March 15, 2019. Doors open at 6:45pm for a 7:00pm start with The Play in Context by Arminda Thomas, who situates the script in its historical time and place, followed by the reading and a post-performance Q&A with refreshments. Admission is by Donation ($10 suggested).The performance is at The New School, Starr Foundation Hall, 63 Fifth Avenue, Room UL102. R.S.V.P. to OnHerShouldersReservations@gmail.com.

The Castillo Theatre (Dan Friedman, artistic director; John Rankin, associate managing director) has scheduled two talk backs in-conjunction with its current production of Fred Newman's Billie, Malcolm & Yusuf, directed by award-winning director, Gabrielle Kurlander. The production commemorates the 30th anniversary of Yusuf Hawkins' murder in 1989. The Castillo Theatre is located at 543 West 42nd Street.  Performances Billie, Malcolm & YusufThe Castillo Theatre (Dan Friedman, artistic director; John Rankin, associate managing director) has scheduled two talk backs in-conjunction with its current production of Fred Newman's continues through March 17, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

The intimate, indoor Event Gallery at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts will host 1969 Woodstock festival alumnus (who performed with Paul Butterfield as part of the Butterfield Blues Band) and Grammy-award winner David Sanborn on November 7th at 8:00 p.m. Reserved seating tickets will go on-sale to the general public on Friday, February 22nd at 10:00 a.m. at www.BethelWoodsCenter.org  

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents Tony and triple Grammy Award-winning jazz legend Dee Dee Bridgewater in her Wallis debut with a tribute to the rich R&B tradition of Memphis - the city of her birth - on Saturday, March 23, 2019, 7:30 pm, in The Wallis' Bram Goldsmith Theater. The NEA Jazz Master and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, joined by the Memphis Soulphony, returns to her roots to bring the sultry Memphis sound to Los Angeleswith Memphis…Yes I'm Ready, based on her acclaimed album of the same title recorded at Memphis' famed Royal Studios in 2016.

Kansley and Lidert have a special one night only concert as part of HomeGrown's Songbook Series at Chapel Off Chapel on Monday 25th February, with some of Australia's best talent ready to showcase the duo's original work.

Within the tapestry of American Drama there a strong list of Civil Rights plays as well as other plays that tackle social injustices, sexism, and sexuality. Holders play holds true to trying times of the early 1960s but his exquisite storytelling and Yale training shined brightly in this Jireh Breon Holder's playwriting masterclass.