Harold Arlen News

The Major League Baseball All-Star break (the game is on Tuesday night) has always been considered the midpoint of the season and as a lifelong fan I've always enjoyed reading those analyses from writers that assess the best performances of the first half. Since July is also the middle of the calendar year, I thought it might be fun to present a cabaret equivalent of a baseball midseason report. So . . . (drum roll) . . . presenting the Best (and My Favorite) 20 New York Cabaret Shows and Performances of (the first half) of 2013.

Susie McKenna, Creative Director at Hackney Empire, directs Blues in the Night today, 14 July 2013 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.

Park Square Theatre invites the public to its annual summer extravaganza as single tickets for all shows in the 2013-2014 Season go on sale Thursday, July 18, beginning at 11:30 a.m. The free event takes place over the lunch hour at the theatre on West 7th Place in downtown Saint Paul.

It's time for a return to Oz as Moonlight Stage Productions' 33rd summer season, the first planned by new Artistic Director Steven Glaudini, continues with the family classic THE WIZARD OF OZ, with performances from July 24 to August 10. THE WIZARD OF OZ is presented by Moonlight for the first time as an adult production, with adult actors in the leading roles of the Royal Shakespeare Company version. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast in rehearsal!

The Anaheim Performing Arts Center Foundation (APACF) (http://www.apacf.org) has announced that DAMON KIRSCHE will join the lineup of stellar entertainment at the third annual GREAT GATSBY WEEKEND which is to be held on August 24 & 25 at Fox Pointe Manor and the Lost World Estate, the magnificent estate residences of Dr. Howard and Linda Knohl and Patrick and Jolynn Mahoney in Anaheim Hills.

The final 6 weeks of the Canadian production of THE WIZARD OF OZ are counting down. THE WIZARD OF OZ will play its final performance in Toronto on Sunday August 18 at the Ed Mirvish Theatre. THE WIZARD OF OZ leaves Toronto to embark on an extensive North American Tour that kicks off on September 10, 2013 at The Smith Center in Las Vegas, NV. The North American tour includes engagements in key markets including: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Seattle, St. Paul, Houston and Philadelphia.

Bayou City Concert Musicals kicks off its 2013-14 season with a fully-staged concert version of the classic musical, The Pajama Game, for five performances at the Heinen Theatre, 3517 Austin, September 12-15, 2013. 'It's fitting,' says BCCM Artistic Director Paul Hope, 'that BCCM will begin a series of shows from the 1950s with the quintessential American musical comedy.'

Two more shows: Thursday, July 18th and Wednesday, July 24th Rosemary Loar presents an encore of her critically acclaimed cabaret creation: a show that showcases the genius of songwriting legends, Harold Arlen and Duke Elliington. An inventive force in the cabaret world for over 30 years, last year Rosemary Loar was honored with the 2012 MAC Hanson Award for continuing excellence.

Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre's hit cabaret of over 30 songs by songwriter Cole Porter will be extended for an additional six weeks, running the rest of the summer. Artistic Director Fred Anzevino announced the extension on Tuesday, July 2.

Follow the yellow brick road to the award-winning North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) for THE WIZARD OF OZ, beginning Tuesday, July 16 and now playing through Sunday, August 4. Press night is scheduled for Wednesday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Marking the 75th anniversary of THE WIZARD OF OZ, Warner Bros. has produced a 3D remastered version of the film. Kicking off the celebration, The Wizard of Oz 3D will be presented in the immersive Imax 3D format and return to the big screen for an exclusive one-week engagement in Imax theatres across North America beginning September 20, 2013. Click below to watch the trailer!

Scott Sanders Productions (lead producer) announced today that After Midnight (a new production of Cotton Club Parade, conceived by Jack Viertel, which played two smash-hit, sold-out engagements at City Center) will open on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 W 47th Street) this fall. Director/choreographer Warren Carlyle and superstar fashion duo Isabel and Ruben Toledo will join nine-time Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars to bring the lavish shows of the hip Harlem nightclub to a whole new generation of theatergoers. After Midnight will begin preview performances on Friday, October 18, 2013 with an official opening night set for Sunday, November 3, 2013. Group tickets are now available. Casting, musicians and general on sale date will be announced shortly.

The timeless classic family musical The Wizard of Oz, based on the beloved 1939 film starring Judy Garland, kicks off the 2013 Music Circus season with an extended run at the Wells Fargo Pavilion from today, June 21 - 30. Filled with favorite songs like 'Over the Rainbow' and 'We're Off to See the Wizard,' fans of all ages will once again be delighted as they follow Dorothy, Toto, Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion on an enchanting adventure along the Yellow Brick Road to Oz. The Music Circus production will be the Royal Shakespeare Company version of the musical, which was first presented at the Barbican Centre in London in 1988 and is based closely on the classic film.

SHN announced today that the first North American tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's new stage adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ will play a special engagement at the SHN Orpheum Theatre for two weeks only, October 16 - 27, 2013. Tickets go on sale Friday July 12 at 10am.

I still remember seeing my first Broadway show as a child. It had everything possible: drama, comedy, and, most importantly, depth and a broad spectrum of emotion. Shows weren't pigeon-holed into one genre or another; they were expansive and beautiful works that could elicit every possible feeling from the audience and leave you feeling elated, as if you had been a part of the magical journey of the characters on stage. Nowadays, it seems as though many of the plays and musicals lack the dimension of the great shows of yesterdays and leave the audiences craving more. Whatever happened to the gripping stories that could make you laugh, cry, loathe and love all in the same two hours? While they may have gone astray in the last few years, there is finally a shining light on Broadway's horizon that can restore the lackluster Great White Way to its former glory, and 'One for My Baby' will be that beacon.

Actress and singer Fantasia Barrino announced on The Today Show her plans to join Broadway's Cotton Club Parade this fall. Barrino also just released her fourth studio album, 'Side Effects of You', which debuted at the top of the Billboard's R&B chart. Click below to hear what the American Idol winner had to say!

Tonight, June 18th, 2013, Rosemary Loar opens an encore run of her critically acclaimed cabaret creation: a show that showcases the genius of songwriting legends, Harold Arlen and Duke Elliington. Special guest, master trumpeter Waldron Ricks, will add to the smokey 1930's jazz club atmosphere of the evening. An inventive force in the cabaret world for over 30 years, last year Rosemary Loar was honored with the 2012 MAC Hanson Award for continuing excellence.

Broadway stars headed uptown to enhance a museum exhibit with similarly themed songs from Broadway.