Billie Holiday News

The national tour of the international hit show Menopause The Musical comes to The Cape Playhouse for a one week run this fall, playing today, September 16-21. Menopause The Musical is a groundbreaking celebration of women who are on the brink of, in the middle of, or have survived 'The Change.'

On Monday, September 8, the Broadway at Birdland concert series was pleased to welcome Natalie Douglas back to her musical home. Her concert, Four Women, celebrated the music of Dr. Nina Simone, Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln and Billie Holiday. Check out photos below!

South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) has announced its 2014-15 performance schedule through February 2015.

Referred by Ella Fitzgerald as 'the greatest white female singer in the world', by Johnny Carson as the 'Super Singer' and said to have a voice that is '...robust and steady, her stamina seemingly inexhaustible...' by the NY Times, Marilyn is a jazz legend known and loved by all. Check out photos from her Birdland return below!

People's Light & Theatre opens its 40th Anniversary Season with August Wilson's Fences running tonight, September 10-October 5, 2014 on the Leonard C. Haas Stage. Kamilah Forbes directs. People's Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355.

Now in it's sixth season, The Fire This Time Festival will welcome seven new playwrights into the family, January 19-February 8 at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery). Aziza Barnes (me Aunt Jemima and the nailgun, published by Button Poetry Press), Rod Gailes OBC (COLORS: Dream Of the MASTA), Julienne L. Hairston (Ababuo in Project Y's Racey Play Reading Festival), Daaimah Mubashshir (Video Clare with Manhattan Repertory Theatre), Azure D. Osborne-Lee (member of EMERGENYC and Rising Circle Theater Collective's INKtank), Larry Powell (Dreams of a Prophet) and James Anthony Tyler (Some Old Black Man starring Arthur French at La MaMa). These playwrights will present an evening of ten-minute plays, each inspired by one of Alex Harsley's original photographs. More of Harsley's pieces will be featured at the TFTT festival kick-off event this fall, in which he and the playwrights will be introduced to the Horse Trade Theater Group and 4th Street Arts Block community.

In the shining tradition of truly great singers, Meghan Shanley steps fully into the spotlight.

This fall, WQXR, New York City's classical music station and CARNEGIE HALL will once again bring concerts from the renowned concert hall to national and international audiences through live and recorded broadcasts and webcasts of 12 concerts from the 2014-15 season.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts and the Sag Harbor American Musical Festival is pleased to announce LEGENDS OF AMERICAN MUSIC with rare clips from Best of the Best film hosted by Joe Lauro on Friday, September 19. The film starts at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available at the door.

Between the two legendary bastions of great jazz, the Blue Note on West 3rd street, and Birdland on 44th Street, is another music stage on 22nd street. The kind of music usually associated with those two clubs was heard at the Metropolitan Room last night. With swinging and elegant singing, Kathy Sledge brought the music of Billie Holiday to the standing room only crowd that packed operating partner Bernie Furshpan's Cabaret venue. With a band that seemed to stretch the entire length of the room, a group of musicians called "Somebody Tell Joe & The Chops" turned on an engine of sound which was akin to hearing Count Basie and crew at the Sands in Las Vegas. As the leader shouted out the tempo cue, 1-2-3-4, horns raised and John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" and Gillespie and Paparelli's "Night In Tunisia" lifted the musically elite audience out of their seats.

Broadway's 40 theatres aren't the only places to catch performances from your favorite stars! Well after Broadway orchestra's 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. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you some cabaret highlights for this week as picked by our theatre editors, including: Marilyn Maye, 54 Below Sings Elaine Stritch, 54 Sings Big River, String of Pearls, Lauren Pritchard.

AnthonyKen LLC and Sheryl Lee Ralph/The Diva Foundation present the Off-Broadway premiere of MIGHTY REAL: A FABULOUS SYLVESTER MUSICAL, the new musical that celebrates the life of the original 1970s "Queen of Disco" Sylvester, featuring classic songs such as "(You Make Me Feel) Mighty Real," "Dance (Disco Heat)," "Do Ya Wanna Funk," and "You Are My Friend." MIGHTY REAL: A FABULOUS SYLVESTER MUSICAL stars Anthony Wayne (Pippin, Anything Goes, Priscilla Queen of the Desert) as Sylvester. MIGHTY REAL: A FABULOUS SYLVESTER MUSICAL has a book by Anthony Wayne, direction by Anthony Wayne and Kendrell Bowman, choreography by Anastacia McCleskey, and musical direction by Alonzo Harris. Previews begin Off-Broadway at Theatre at St. Clement's (423 W. 46th Street) on Friday, September 5, 2014. The limited-engagement is scheduled through Sunday, October 5th. The Press Opening is Sunday, September 14th at 7PM. Tickets, which are priced from $25 - $84.50, are on sale now by calling (866) 811-4111 or by visiting www.FabulousSylvester.com.

On Saturday, September 6, Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre will present Dancing at Dunbar, a site-specific performance at Dunbar Village, home of The Dunbar Hotel. The piece is based on Life's Tragedy and Sympathy, two poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar. After successful performances of At the Oasis throughout LA, and following a residency for South LA youth at A Place Called Home the day before, today, September 5, Dancing at Dunbar will celebrate Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre's work in the community with two performances at The Dunbar Hotel.

As a result of one man's interest and dedication to the proper telling of actress Laurette Taylor's magnificent story, New York is now fortunate enough to own a piece of the treasure that is Steven Carl MccCasland's What Was Lost. Written and directed by McCasland and hereby added to the list of successful and praise-worthy Beautiful Soup Theater productions, which include a recent production of Liliom and the critically acclaimed Little Wars, What Was Lost is a complete surprise to both those familiar with the story of stage actress Laurette Taylor, and to those who have yet to understand the fortitude one woman can possess in the depths of her nearly shattered heart. It is truly one of my best experiences at the Dorothy Strelsin Theater.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced the Season lineup for Broadway at Birdland, featuring Chita Rivera, Jessie Mueller, Rosie O'Donnell, James Snyder, Andrew Lippa, Jim Caruso, Trevor McQueen and more!

Playwright Chip Deffaa says he never dreamed, when his musical play "One Night with Fanny Brice," first opened Off-Broadway at St. Luke's Theater in the 2011-2012 season, that the starring role would someday be played by a teenager. Over the past three years, stars in their 30s, 40s, and 60s have played the show, which transferred in 2013 to the 13th Street Repertory Theater. Chloe Brooks, who now stars in the show, after previously serving as an understudy, is just 17.

Beautiful Soup Theater's Shades of Blue: The Decline and Fall of Lady Day is an unconventional, almost chilling ode to Holiday that is careful not to emphasize and dwell upon the singer's musical accolades and success; in fact, it does little to promote her career and the person as seen through the eyes of her adoring public. This production, written and directed by the incredibly talented Steven Carl McCasland (who also founded Beautiful Soup and serves as the group's Artistic Director), wades in the realm of storytelling without the fantastical twist that people always enjoy adding to make their lives seem more interesting - to add drama where drama may sometimes be due.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its schedule for September 8 - September 14, featuring Marilyn Maye, Christian McBride Trio, Jane Monheit's Jazz Party, Natalie Douglas, and more!

After Beautiful Soup Theater's acclaimed and sold-out production of Little Wars in April, they proudly present the last two works in Steven Carl McCasland's trilogy examining women in the arts. SHADES OF BLUE: THE DECLINE AND FALL OF LADY DAY begins tonight, August 27, running in rep with WHAT WAS LOST. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast of SHADES OF BLUE in action below!

Blumenthal Performing Arts has joined forces with Jazz Arts Initiative to bring a premiere jazz festival to the Queen City. Charlotte Classic Jazz Festival 2014 will take place Saturday, October 4, in Knight Theater at Levine Center for the Arts (430 South Tryon Street).