Billie Holiday News

Record-breaking six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald will perform at Steppenwolf as a part of the LookOut Series on Monday, May 22 for one night only. McDonald will be joined on stage by host and pianist Seth Rudetsky, who this past November starred in the five-star London premiere of his Broadway musical, Disaster!  

Portland Center Stage at The Armory kicks off its 30th anniversary season with the "heart-gripping and cathartic" musical Fun Home, which swept the 2015 Tony Awards with five wins.

Madame Tussauds, the world-renowned wax attraction slated to open its newest location in Nashville on April 14, and Luke Bryan teamed up to reveal the country superstar's new wax figure in Time Square on March 1 prior to his sold-out show at Madison Square Garden this evening.

Rubicon Theatre Company celebrates Black History Month with THE DEVIL'S MUSIC: THE LIFE AND BLUES OF BESSIE SMITH, starring singer and actress Miche Braden of the original Off-Broadway production (named one of the 10 Best Off-Broadway productions of the year by the N.Y. Daily Times). Described by CBC as a, "bawdy, bluesy, boozy rollicking night out at the theatre," the show follows the life, loves and career of blues and jazz singer Bessie Smith, called the "Empress of the Blues." 

Playwright Lanie Robertson's alternately harrowing and exhilarating work, LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL, is an intriguing take on Billie Holiday's final performance in 1959. Holiday was a jazz singer who could captivate an audience with her unique vocal style, which combined elements of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, two performers she idolized growing up. She had a storied career and tumultuous life that was further undone by drug and alcohol addictions that would leave her dead from heart failure and cirrhosis of the liver. But, her legacy is undeniable, and this play allows us to see her talent, as well as the demons that haunted her. Max & Louie Productions is presenting a superlative production of this work which is smartly crafted and brilliantly performed.

Singer-songwriter Jackie Paladino will be performing alongside AJ Smith, Domenico, Chetti, and Brett Miller on February 23rd at the studio at Webster Hall. Click here for more information

Columbia University and Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith have announced that A 24-Decade History of Popular Music: A Radical Fairy Realness Ritual by Taylor Mac and Matt Ray is the 2017 winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History.

Urban Stages, Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director, has announced the cast of the American Premiere of the award-winning drama Angry Young Man by award-winning playwright Ben Woolf, directed by Stephen Hamilton.

Theatre Three has cancelled the production of The Empress, The Lady, and The Pearl Part II; Miss Billie and Miss Freddie. The show was scheduled to run March 23-April 16 in the Theatre Three's downstairs performance space Theatre Too. The show will not be replaced on the Theatre Too 2016-17 season. Ticket holders will be refunded in full. 

Max & Louie Productions present a three-week engagement of Lanie Robertson's Tony Award-winning Broadway revival Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, starring Alexis J. Roston.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts celebrates the Ella Fitzgerald centennial. The program pays tribute to the artist's legendary music through performances featuring Regina Carter, NSO Pops, and Jane Monheit.

Max & Louie recreate a singular night in music history: one of the last, riveting performances in the life of jazz legend Billie Holiday, on stage at the Kranzberg Arts Center, February 17 through March 4, 2017.

Lynn University and Jan McArt, producer and director of theatre arts program development, today announced that tickets are still available for this season's remaining concerts under the popular Mabel Mercer Foundation's Cabaret at Lincoln Center comes to Live at Lynn series.

A $4.1 million renovation and expansion of the historic Billie Holiday Theatre at Restoration Plaza in Bedford-Stuyvesant is on target to be completed this Spring, announced the New York City Department of Design Construction (DDC) today, which is managing the project for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA).

Composer and lyricist Robert J Sherman's work includes musicals Love Birds and Bumblescratch. The latter, set during the Great Plague and Great Fire of London and told from a perspective of a plague rat, received a gala concert presentation last year at the Adelphi Theatre starring Darren Day, Jessica Martin and Michael Xavier. The cast recording is now available on CD from SimG Records.

The 'play that changed American theater forever' (New York Times) comes to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater for the first time ever this spring.

Legendary songwriter Mike Stoller and his wife, musician-singer Corky Hale, will chair the 12th edition of the Los Angeles Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest, which runs Feb. 19-25 at the Chinese Theatre, 6925 Hollywood Blvd., opening with Gianfranco Rossi's Oscar-nominated documentary "Sea of Fire."  The festival puts Italian cinema in the spotlight through a series of premieres, screening retrospectives and exhibitions, and Rossi will be presented with a special L.A. Italia Award as "Master of Documentary".

American Bard Theater Company presents Visionary Voices, three poignant, tantalizing plays by two pioneering women playwrights, exploring gender roles, race, and death in America's early twentieth century.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its schedule for February 20-26, featuring Cyrus Chestnut Quartet, ShowBiz After Hours with Frank DiLella, Eric Comstock & Jon Burr, and more. Scroll down for details!

Rubicon Theatre Company celebrates Black History Month with THE DEVIL'S MUSIC: THE LIFE AND BLUES OF BESSIE SMITH, starring singer and actress Miche Braden of the original Off-Broadway production (named one of the 10 Best Off-Broadway productions of the year by the N.Y. Daily Times). Described by CBC as a, "bawdy, bluesy, boozy rollicking night out at the theatre," the show follows the life, loves and career of blues and jazz singer Bessie Smith, called the "Empress of the Blues."