Edith Piaf News

Jim Cartwright's THE RISE AND FALL OF LITTLE VOICE, which will run at Theater Wit in August and is being produced by the No Stakes Theater Project, has announced casting for five of the six roles.

Harlem Stage will present the world premiere of Stranger on Earth, from OBIE-winning playwright and interdisciplinary performing artist Carl Hancock Rux. The production, which anchors Harlem Stage's The Year of James Baldwincentenary celebration and exemplifies the institution's commitment to honoring artists of color-past, present and future-imagines a chance meeting between James Baldwin and Dinah Washington, two of the era's most iconic African Americans, at a Harlem jazz lounge in 1963. Commissioned and produced by Harlem Stage, Rux draws from Baldwin's landmark essays to create a work that addresses race, identity and the future of a world that both Baldwin and Washington struggled to understand and inhabit. Rux performs Stranger on Earth with vocalist Marcelle Davies Lashley, who interprets Washington's songs, against the backdrop of an arresting video montage by Onome Ekeh.

The ALGONQUIN ARTS THEATRE, located in Manasquan, NJ, presents nationally acclaimed vocalist and Brielle/Manasquan native, Chris Pinnella in a one-night only Valentine's Day concert on SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14TH at 8:00pm. Hailed by Talkin' Broadway as, "possessing a soaring, rich baritone voice, that just leaves you speechless." The lyric baritone returns to the Algonquin Arts stage in concert for his 3rd consecutive year and this time around there's some exciting changes coming the audiences way. "I've always been drawn to big singers, powerful lyrics, & beautiful melodies," Pinnella says. "That's exactly what we are going to give the audience this Valentine's Day, a beautifully romantic concert that reflects and touches upon all aspects of love."

SAN FRANCISCO, January 20 - 2-time Tony and 2-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist Patti LuPone brings her new concert Far Away Places to San Francisco on Monday, February 23 at Davies Symphony Hall. Joined by her five-piece band, LuPone's performance features renditions of songs by an eclectic list of songwriters including Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Willie Nelson, Kurt Weill, Edith Piaf, Frederick Hollander, and the Bee Gees. The original live show of Far Away Places opened the Manhattan music venue 54 Below in 2012, a live recording of which was released in 2013.

Eleven finalists took to the stage at the 2015 Your Theatrics International Cabaret Contest (YTICC) Grand Final at The Basement in Sydney on Saturday night. Heat winners from Adelaide, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Melbourne, Auckland, and Sydney came together to compete for the chance to win a career changing prize package.

Happy New Year! Cinnabar Theater, the beloved professional theater in Sonoma County, kicks off 2015 with two extended shows. Edith Piaf: Beneath Paris Skies made its world premiere on New Year's Eve and has proven so popular that it's added an extra week. Cinnabar's next show, I Am My Own Wife, won't even open until February 6 -- but tickets are selling so fast that it's been extended as well!

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents TRU Voices Musicals Series on Monday, January 19 and Monday, January 26, 2015 at 7pm at the Engelmann Recital Hall in the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Ave, NYC. Admission is free. Please RSVP at least a day in advance (or much sooner) by calling 212/714-7628, or e-mailing TRUStaff1@gmail.com.

"Mad About the Boy?!" The rabble-rousing thespian with get down dance moves, and elastic, back-trilled voice is going to sing Noel Coward? At 54 Below? Mea Culpa. Britain's Barb Jungr performs one of the most truthful renditions of the song perhaps any Coward purist has heard. Sure, it's prefaced by a sharp comic turn on aging, but the moment Jungr begins to confess, she's proud, eager, and though gimlet-eyed, ready to risk it all. " . . . Misery and joy, misery and joy, misery and joy," she repeats weighing probabilities in one hand, then the other. A muted, wah-wah scat sustains focus in tandem with Tracy Stark's age inappropriate, sashaying piano.

Diner en Blanc Philadelphia co-hosts Natanya DiBona and Kayli Moran have partnered with Cescaphe Event Group to throw a French-inspired New Year's Eve Party at the Down Town Club this evening, December 31, 2014.

Diner en Blanc Philadelphia co-hosts Natanya DiBona and Kayli Moran have partnered with Cescaphe Event Group to throw a French-inspired New Year's Eve Party at the Down Town Club this Wednesday evening, December 31, 2014.

If you've been a regular reader of this particular reviewer's musings, you know that every year there are long stretches of time where I just haven't been able to critique all the shows I've seen that deserve commentary. So I end up playing what they call in sports, 'Catch-up ball,' and post a mash up of belated reviews from past shows. It's kind of like a critic's version of the song 'Six Months Out of Every Year,' from Damn Yankees. Give or take a month or two, that's usually the time period during which I store unpublished reviews in my fevered brain and then unload them all in one seemingly endless column-like this one is going to be. If my cabaret-show reviewing days will be over (as chronicled here), I might as well go out with a bang-and relieve my procrastination guilt during holiday season. Now I can scratch one New Year's resolution off the list.

At age 7 Georgia Darcy knew who she really was; at age 47 she remembered. The cabaret artist has been dazzling audiences with her sparkle, energy and achingly-beautiful moments she brings to the cabaret stage.

Cinnabar Theater in Sonoma County rings in 2015 with the world premiere of a new cabaret celebrating a legendary chanteuse. Edith Piaf: Beneath Paris Skies opens at a special gala on New Year's Eve and continues through January 17.

Veteran actress and cabaret artist Irina Maleeva returns to the Los Angeles stage with her one-woman musical revue, 'Illusions,' on the mainstage at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood, beginning tonight, November 1, 2014. The show will have a three week extended run playing Thursday, Friday and Today nights at 8pm and Sunday afternoons at 3pm.

Veteran actress and cabaret artist Irina Maleeva returns to the Los Angeles stage with her one-woman musical revue, 'Illusions,' on the mainstage at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood, beginning November 1, 2014. The show will have a three week extended run playing Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm and Sunday afternoons at 3pm.

Happy Birthday Elena Roger! In 2006, after a lengthy search, Argentinean actress Elena Roger became an overnight sensation starring in the title role in Michael Grandage's widely hailed production of EVITA in the West End and later brought the role to Broadway. A complete unknown to the rest of the world, Roger Starred in multiple theatrical productions and television shows in her native Argentina. Most recently Roger won the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her performance as Edith Piaf in The Donmar Theatre production of Piaf.

While reviewing What Makes a Man (WMAM), now playing at the Berkley Street Theatre, it's tempting to comment on what's not there, what could and should be there, rather than what is there. What is on display is a marvelous musical stage portrait of Charles Aznavour, the world renowned French singer/songwriter, actor and political activist/diplomat. A man of the world, he is capable of singing in five languages. One of the last surviving 'showmen,' he still is capable of filling the world's most prestigious concert halls. For example, a year ago he performed for the first time in 25 years at London's Royal Albert Hall. Demand was so great, a second concert was booked there for this past June.

Every year, there are a couple of young performers who seem to skyrocket up the cabaret charts and one of this season's emerging stars is Maxine Linehan. She came to the States from Ireland just a dozen years ago, performed her debut cabaret show in 2006, and then three years later staged a Petula Clark tribute. In the five years since, Linehan acted in Off-Broadway plays and appeared in the national tour of South Pacific, but has spent much of this period raising 4-year-old Rebecca and 21-month old Gabriel with songwriter/musician husband Andrew Koss. But with the help of nightlife impresario Scott Siegel, Linehan is definitely making up for lost time on the cabaret front. This spring, she staged performances of her autobiographical show An American Journey at Terminus Recording Studios for a recent CD release. Now, less than five months later, Linehan is in mid-run of a new show, Beautiful Songs, at the Metropolitan Room.

Frances Ruffelle is currently bringing her solo show, Paris Original, to St. James Studio continuing through October 3, 2014, and one of her special guests is her own daughter, Eliza Doolittle. In the video below, watch as the duo sings 'Before I Open My Mouth' for Love a Child Foundation!

The St. James Studio will welcome Tony Award winning actress and performer Frances Ruffelle to its stage for the first time, performing Paris Original, from tonight 01 to Friday 03 October 2014. The show is devised by Matt Ryan and Frances Ruffelle and produced by Danielle Tarento. Press are invited to attend the performance tonight 01 October at 8pm.