George Gershwin News

DONNA VIVINO, the rising Broadway and vocal star, will celebrate the release of Beautiful Dreamer - her debut solo album from Ghostlight Records - with a special performance at 54 Below on Thursday, January 23 at 9:30 PM. The veteran of Broadway's "Wicked" and "Les Miserables," Vivino will reprise her solo concert "It's Not Easy Being Green" with special numbers from the new recording. She will be joined by Musical Director Ken Levinsky on piano and Jeff Ganz on bass. The album was released in stores and via online outlets December 10, 2013.

Maureen McGovern has been called the singer with 'The Stradivarius Voice,' so tremendous is her talent. Her 40-year career has encompassed recording, song writing, concerts, radio, television, film and Broadway, and is about to begin her second show-stopping stint with The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, appearing tonight, January 7 through March 8, 2014. McGovern made her Broadway debut in The Pirates of Penzance in 1981.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 1/3/2014.

Hershey Felder in Abe Lincoln's Piano will have its world premiere in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse as a limited fifteen-performance engagement starting tonight, January 3, 2014.

Don Hendley was among the performers who paid tribute to 2013 Kennedy Center honoree Billy Joel on last night's THE 36TH ANNUAL KENNEDY CENTER HONORS on CBS.

Last December, after I posted my list of the Best Cabaret Performers of 2012, I followed up my original 'listmania' with a column that served as a way to include some 'honorable mentions,' basically a recognition of other memorable shows and performances of songs that were striking, unique, and/or original that year. The column received a positive response so I thought I'd wheel it out again this year. So as the hours tick away on 2013 and we anticipate the coming of a new year, here is an addendum to the 2013 New York Cabaret Performers of the Year--a totally random list of 30 Honorable Mentions of the 'Best' and 'Most' in Cabaret for 2013 . . . mainly because I can and it's fun. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Champions of American music for more than a decade, Opus Two violin-piano duo presents a multi-media program of the inimitable works of George Gershwin (1898-1937), one of Americas most popular and iconic composers. Violinist William Terwilliger and pianist Andrew Cooperstock will explore Gershwin's many musical styles, from the jazz influenced An American in Paris to the quintessential folk opera Porgy and Bess. They will also perform I Got Rhythm, Embraceable You, and But Not for Me.... in colorful and virtuosic transcriptions by legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz along with brand-new Opus Two commissions by esteemed Broadway music director Eric Stern. Projected images by African-American period photographer Richard Samuel Roberts and entertaining video clips of Judy Garland and Gene Kelly will round out the program. The concert will be held at the Bruno Walter Auditorium today, December 28 at 2:30pm.

Winner of the 2012 TONY AWARD® FOR BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is hitting the road with award-winning members of the Broadway cast in this stunning and stirring new staging. Accompanied by a lush 23-piece orchestra, this re-envisioned Broadway production includes such legendary songs as 'Summertime,' 'It Ain't Necessarily So,' and 'I Got Plenty of Nothing.' Check out highlights of the production below!

The most recent version of the famous and often controversial opera, PORGY AND BESS by George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin, re-titled as THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, is now playing at DC's National Theatre through Dec. 29, 2013. The opera, which has garnered scores of awards since its first performance in 1935, has been re-mounted by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge with a creative team including Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, who adapted the book, and Dierdre L. Murray, who adapted the musical score. THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS opened on Broadway in 2011.

Historic adaptation of PORGY AND BESS returns to National Theater.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 12/27/2013.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 12/20/2013.

Tickets for The National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, are now on sale. Part of the BROADWAY PHILADELPHIA season, presented by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Shubert Organization, THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS arrives at the Academy of Music for a limited engagement beginning Feb. 18 - 23. The official press opening is Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

The Library of Congress has today announced its annual list of 25 films that will be included in the National Film Registry.

Each year, Santa arrives in Adelaide with the Christmas Pageant but, for many, Christmas really gets under way with the annual Christmas Proms.

Maureen McGovern has been called the singer with "The Stradivarius Voice," so tremendous is her talent. Her 40-year career has encompassed recording, song writing, concerts, radio, television, film and Broadway, and is about to begin her second show-stopping stint with The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, appearing January 7 through March 8, 2014. McGovern made her Broadway debut in The Pirates of Penzance in 1981. She later starred in Nine with Raul Julia and in 3 Penny Opera with Sting, and has appeared in many musicals and dramas throughout the country. In 2005, McGovern returned to Broadway, originating her Drama Desk-nominated role of Marmee in Little Women, The Musical. She continued in that role with the national touring company.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 12/13/2013.

The State Theatre opens up the 2014 schedule in a big way as Broadway Comes to the State with a Tribute to George Gershwin on Saturday, January 11th.

Donna Vivino, who starred for two years as 'Elphaba' in the First National Tour of WICKED and also in the role on Broadway, just released a jazzy new album called 'Beautiful Dreamer' via Ghostlight Records. This is Donna's first album, which came about in a spur-of-the-moment collaboration with her father, Jerry Vivino, who is part of Conan's Basic Cable Band -- the house band for O'Brien's late night show on TBS. Donna recently spoke with BWW about working with her father, her current project off-Broadway, and the upcoming third season of 'Submissions Only'.