George Gershwin News

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has announced The Pianist of Willesden Lane, a one-woman play starring internationally acclaimed pianist and storyteller Mona Golabek. Based on the book The Children of Willesden Lane by Golabek and Lee Cohen, the play is set in Vienna in 1938 and in London during the Blitzkrieg and tells the true story of Golabek's mother, Lisa Jura, a young Jewish musician whose dreams are interrupted by the Nazi regime. In this poignant show, Golabek performs some of the world's most beautiful music live as she relates the real-life legacy of her mother's quest to survive.

This October, the New Jersey Ballet will open their season in Hackettstown with not one, but two unique performances at Centenary Stage Company's Lackland Center. Saturday, October 26th at 8 pm will feature highlights from two legendary choreographers in A Ballanchine/Robbins Evening and Sunday, October 27th at 2 pm, families can enjoy a favorite fairy tale brought to life in Cinderella.

Happy Birthday, George Gershwin! Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known. Among his best known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, as well as the opera Porgy and Bess. Gershwin's music has been heard on the Broadway stage in Nice Work If You Can Get It, Crazy for You, and many more.

Sony Classical celebrates the 85th birthday of Gary Graffman – American pianist, music administrator and piano teacher – with the first ever release of Mr. Graffman's complete recordings in a limited original jacket collection available today, September 24, 2013.

On Sunday, November 3rd at 3:00 p.m. at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, conducted by Jeff Lindberg, will present trumpeter Jon Faddis in the Chicago premiere of the Miles Davis/Gil Evans landmark recording, Miles Ahead.

State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara, Rodney Gustafson, Artistic Director and Producer will present the Los Angeles Premiere of an original full-length ballet, 'AN AMERICAN TANGO - VELOZ AND YOLANDA,' based on the true life story of Frank and Yolanda Veloz, considered one of the greatest ballroom dance couples of all time.

New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy (NWS), and the Harris Theater present a three-part program featuring the world premiere of a video installation created by critically acclaimed British director, designer and video artist Netia Jones, in creative collaboration with Michael Tilson Thomas.

Joel Derfner didn't want to get gay married. He doesn't gay grocery shop and he doesn't have a gay driver's license. Joel's road to marriage was burdened with barriers and labels simply because the love of his life is of the same sex. Recognizing that his personal story is a reflection of the national conversation about the “new civil rights movement,” Joel, with searing wit and unrelenting honesty and humor, wrote LAWFULLY WEDDED HUSBAND: HOW MY GAY MARRIAGE WILL SAVE THE AMERICAN FAMILY (University of Wisconsin Press; September 19, 2013.)

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 9/20/2013.

Broadway in Detroit brings the National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, accompanied by a 23-piece orchestra, to the Detroit Opera House, March 4 - 9, 2014. Tickets will go on sale Sunday, September 29 at noon at all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 1-800-982-2787, online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.broadwayindetroit.com, and at the Fisher Theatre box office. Tickets will be available at the Detroit Opera House box office starting at 10 a.m. on Monday, September 30.

NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT closed up shop on Broadway on June 15, 2013. The show enjoyed 478 regular performances and 27 preview performances over the course of about 15 months. Its notices were mixed to positive, and there are plans to kick off a National Tour for the 2014-2015 season. For those of us who missed the show on Broadway, the lively and decadently glitzy NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT (Original Broadway Cast Recording), which was released by Shout! Factory and distributed by Sony Records, perfectly allows us to acquaint ourselves with the production before it plays in our regional venues.

Sony Classical celebrates the 85 th birthday of Gary Graffman American pianist, music administrator and piano teacher with the first ever release of Mr. Graffman's complete recordings in a limited original jacket collection available September 24, 2013. Gary Graffman The Complete Album Collection, 24 CDs in a clamshell box with booklet, will be offered at budget price. When RCA Red Seal released the first Graffman recordings in 1956 Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy and Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3 the pianist was 28 years old. Now, after more than 50 years this debut recording is being released for the first time on CD, together with 23 LPs-worth of music, all newly remastered from the original analogue tapes and many also debuting on CD.

The Laguna Playhouse Executive and Artistic Directors, Karen Wood and Ann E. Wareham will present their second special bonus offering of their 2013 season, the world premiere production of a new musical play, ROCKSTAR, featuring the music of Franz Liszt and others, written and performed by Hershey Felder and directed by Trevor Hay.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 9/13/2013.

State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara, Rodney Gustafson, Artistic Director and Producer will present the Los Angeles Premiere of an original full-length ballet, "AN AMERICAN TANGO - VELOZ AND YOLANDA," based on the true life story of Frank and Yolanda Veloz, considered one of the greatest ballroom dance couples of all time.

Today in 1943, Porgy and Bess opened at the 44th Street Theatre, where it ran for 24 performances. First performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, it was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward. All three works deal with African-American life in the fictitious Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina, in the early 1920s. Originally conceived by George Gershwin as an 'American folk opera', Porgy and Bess premiered in New York in the fall of 1935 and featured an entire cast of classically trained African-American singers-a daring artistic choice at the time.

'Double Trouble,' Porchlight's first offering of the season is a major misfire filled with wasted talent.

Andrew Constantine, the BSO's popular former Associate Conductor, will lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in a 2013-2014 Season Preview Concert tonight, September 11 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore.

Light Opera Works will present GERSHWIN'S GREATEST HITS October 4 thorough 13 at the Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston.