Duke Ellington News

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its lineup for February 29-March 6, featuring Molly Ringwald, Peter Mazza Trio, Purchase Latin Jazz Orchestra, and more. Scroll down for details!

Kalamazoo, MI -  One of the world's most versatile and best-loved singing groups, British vocal ensemble VOCES8, will make their Michigan debut on February 20, in a concert sponsored by the Kalamazoo Bach Festival Society and Kalamazoo Central High School. Touring extensively throughout Europe, North America and Asia, the ensemble performs a repertory from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary commissions and arrangements. 

Back by popular demand, ON KENTUCKY AVENUE: A Celebration of Atlantic City's Historic Club Harlem returns to City College's performing arts center Aaron Davis Hall tonight, February 19, for a three-day encore engagement. The show, which shines a red-hot spotlight on a little-known piece of Black history, is presented by the City College Center for the Arts (CCCA) and Byron and Sylvia Lewis. An audience favorite, last February, the production was created by Jeree Wade and directed and written by Adam Wade with Ty Stephens. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the show!

Maurice Hines Tappin' Thru Life at New World Stages (340 W. 50th Street) will play its final performance this Sunday, February 21st. At the time of closing the show will have played 21 previews and 46 performances.

Just yesterday, the star of Maurice Hines Tappin' Thru Life, Maurice Hines himself stopped by Sardi's to unveil his new portrait. BroadwayWorld was there for the celebration and you can check out photos below!

Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts is pleased to welcome, Alonzo King LINES Ballet who will be performing, “Biophony” Sunday, March 13th at 3:00 PM.

Three Weeks of Beethoven returns for a second year at the Houston Symphony this March, featuring Beethoven's second, third, eighth and ninth symphonies. In musical contrast, Superheroes at the Symphony!, and An Evening with Matthew Morrison will round out the last weekend of the month.

Three Weeks of Beethoven returns for a second year at the Houston Symphony this March, featuring Beethoven's second, third, eighth and ninth symphonies. In musical contrast, Superheroes at the Symphony!, and An Evening with Matthew Morrison will round out the last weekend of the month.

MAURICE HINES TAPPIN' THRU LIFE is a swinging, song and dance musical that celebrates the astonishing showmanship of one of the last great tap dancers of a by-gone era still working today and whose collaborators were a jaw-dropping, who's who of theatre, music, film and television. Co-starring the fierce tap dancing Manzari brothers, John and Leo, and the all female vivacious Diva Jazz Orchestra, the show is directed by Jeff Calhoun. Performances began December 23rd at New World Stages (340 W. 50th Street), and opened January 11th. Last night, GOTTA DANCE stars Andre De Shields and Lillias White visited with Hines and the Manzari Brothers after the show. Check out the photos below.

MAURICE HINES TAPPIN' THRU LIFE is a swinging, song and dance musical that celebrates the astonishing showmanship of one of the last great tap dancers of a by-gone era still working today and whose collaborators were a jaw-dropping, who's who of theatre, music, film and television. Co-starring the fierce tap dancing Manzari brothers and the all female vivacious Diva Jazz Orchestra, the show is directed by Jeff Calhoun (Newsies, Deaf West's Big River, Grease). Performances began December 23rd at New World Stages (340 W. 50th Street), and opened January 11th. Legendary Broadway star Chita Rivera recently visited Hines after the show - check out photos below!

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Drummer Kenny Hadley is Franklin Performing Arts Company's go-to guy for live music. The company, now celebrating a milestone 25th anniversary, showcases professional musicians for all mainstage productions and presents an ambitious schedule of music series events at THE BLACK BOX, FPAC's new home and performance venue. Hadley's relationship with FPAC goes back to 1995 when the drummer played the debut production of 'Tis the Season!, FPAC's original holiday musical. The company's orchestra contractor since the mid-2000s, Hadley now hires for six FPAC productions annually. At THE BLACK BOX this season, Hadley has played performances ranging from The Addams Family musical and Cabaret Series dates to a reunion gig with the R&B band Soul Kitchen and a Jazz Series presentation with his own critically acclaimed Kenny Hadley Big Band.

Birdland will kick-off March's programming with the following acts:

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its lineup for February 22-28, featuring Delta Air Lines Presents: A Rare Meeting of Brazilian Greats, ShowBiz After Hours with Frank DiLella featuring Special Guest Megan Hilty, Birdland Big Band, and more. Scroll down for details!

The Town Hall presents From Moses to Mostel: A History of The Jews (According to Musical Theater), a premiere chronological history of the Jewish people as depicted on stage and in song, on Saturday, February 27 at 8 p.m.

Debo Band raises the roof on the Ethiopian musical past, picking up where political upheaval of the 1970s and 1980s quenched the energy of one of East Africa's most prolific, vibrant scenes.

'The New World Symphony: Dvorak in America' is a puppet and object theater work examining the influence of African-American and Native American music upon the great 19th-century Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904). The piece is written and directed by Vit Horejš and performed by Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre. It traces how Dvorak helped America accept its beautiful multicultural musical traditions by his enthusiasm for African-American and Native American music during his short but influential time in the USA. La MaMa Theatre will present the play's world premiere run March 10 to 27, 2016 in its Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4th Street (East Village). Composer and Musical Director is saxophonist James Brandon Lewis.

Two hours of some of the greatest dance music ever written, played brilliantly.

JEEVES AT SEA's Christian Gray tells us what's on his playlist

On February 15, 2016 HAMILTON will perform its opening number live at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. Only eight musicals (nine, if you count RIVERDANCE) have had this honor since the first Grammy Award ceremony in 1959. HAMILTON will make history, yet again, as the first show to perform via satellite during the ceremony; while the ceremony is at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, the cast will be performing on their set at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City.