Harold Arlen News

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts announces an all-star summer line-up set to kick off in June. The summer will feature the legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, jazz songstress Diana Krall, instrumentalist Chris Botti, the multi-talented Steve Martin and many more. Tickets to all performances go on sale Friday, April 27. Season sponsors include Bank of Nevada and the Las Vegas Design Center.

Currently earning rave reviews in Broadway's revival of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, leading lady Audra McDonald will perform at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center this Friday, April 20 at 8 p.m. with the New Jersey Symphony Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Andy Einhorn. The program will include the songs of Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Frank Loesser, Lerner and Loewe, Stephen Sondheim and more.

Toby's Dinner Theatre has a long history of presenting high quality productions. However, could they pull off the technicolor vision of The Wizard Of Oz that most people see in their mind's eye? Happily for the audience, answer is yes.

Supported by a superb 10-piece orchestra (including six horn players), Catherine Russell's set at the Allen Room for Jazz at Lincoln Center was a tribute to songs her dad Luis recorded or performed with the great Louis Armstrong from the late 1920s through the 1930s. By the end of her show, Russell had clearly proven that she has become one of the finest interpreters of jazz and blues on the contemporary music scene.

NCTC is presents the San Francisco Premiere of THE TOM JUDSON SHOW by Tom Judson. The show will run from May 2-12, 2012: Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm. All performances will take place at The New Conservatory Theatre Center (Walker Theatre), located at 25 Van Ness Ave., near Market St. in San Francisco. Tickets are $28-$41 each, and are available at the NCTC Box Office (415) 861-8972, or online at www.nctcsf.org.

Spring comes to Millennium Park with Chicago-based actress and singer McKinley Carter in the finalCabaret with a View concert of the season on Monday, April 9, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. on the enclosed stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Titled Spring Forward/Fall Back, the evening will feature music inspired by the renewal and possibility of springtime.

We have the rehearsal footage of Harold Arlen's songs included in the NYFOS' OVER THE RAINBOW Gala on April 2 at 7pm at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Watch the video below!

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG announces its spring gala, a beloved evening of extraordinary singing and celebration, OVER THE RAINBOW: A GALA EVENING OF HAROLD ARLEN SONG on Monday, April 2 at 7:00PM in Weill Recital Hallat Carnegie Hall, to be followed by supper at the 21 Club, 21 West 52nd Street.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's PIPE DREAM will be recorded live at New York City Center's Encores! series this week, and released this Summer on Ghostlight Records. Produced by Rodgers & Hammerstein: AnImagem Company, this preservation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's 1955 Broadway musical rarity marks the first time an Encores! musical has been recorded live.

North Coast Repertory Theatre announces its 31st Season. Visit http://northcoastrep.org/ for more information.

We have the rehearsal footage of Harold Arlen's songs included in the NYFOS' OVER THE RAINBOW Gala on April 2 at 7pm at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Watch the video below!

Terese Genecco's second CD release is a wonderfully polished production that is a tribute to her musical heroes, including Frank, Dean, Sammy, Marilyn Maye and Mel Torme.

On Tuesday, March 20, acclaimed cabaret vocalist Terese Genecco celebrated the third anniversary of her monthly shows at Iridium Jazz Club with a launch party for her new CD release, 'Terese Genecco & Her Little Big Band: Live from the Iridium NYC.'

The 5 Browns are delivering on their dream to wake up classical music by introducing it to the widest, largest and most excited audience they can find. Whether performing individually or together in various combinations from duo to complex five-piano arrangements, The 5 Browns reveal a deep connection to the intent of their material while bringing a fresh energy and dynamic character to the color and tonal spectrum of their sound. Don't miss this classical music phenomenon Thur. March 15 @ 8 PM at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Theo Ubique's 'Piazza,' 'Motherhood,' Team StarKid's latest, tribute concerts at Ravinia and Mayne Stage, Ramin Karimloo's arrival, plus Loop musicals and more....

Walnut Street Theatre's Independence Studio on 3 brings back the spirit of Philadelphia's own Ethel Waters with her life stories and memorable songs in Ethel!

It is a rare enough occurrence for a genuine born and bred Broadway star to emerge post-millennium, but one as astonishingly versatile as Raul Esparza, having scored accolades since his blazing debut in a string of hit plays and musicals, ranging from Mamet and Sondheim and Pinter to CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG and his aforementioned Broadway bow in THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, is a downright cause for celebration. Esparza makes his grand return to the Broadway stage in a musical with his upcoming starring role in Alan Menken & Glenn Slater's adaptation of the Steve Martin film LEAP OF FAITH, featuring a country and gospel influenced score and a spirited, energetic production by Christopher Ashley (who, incidentally, helmed Esparza's first Broadway show, ROCKY HORROR). While Esparza has been seen in many - most, if not quite all - Broadway seasons in the decade since 2001, he has also scored in leading roles in regional productions such as 2002's spectacular SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG revivals, part of the unprecedented Sondheim Celebration, as well as the Cincinnati Playhouse COMPANY, directed by John Doyle, which transferred to Broadway and was subsequently preserved on DVD and Blu-ray, in addition to being presented on PBS as part of Great Performances. Besides Esparza's many notable musical revival performances (lest we forget his essaying of the Emcee in CABARET), he also created the Broadway iterations of his roles in the controversial and brilliantly scored TABOO, produced by Rosie O'Donnell and composed by Boy George, as well as the stage adaptation of the hit family classic CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, as well as originating the lead role in TICK, TICK...BOOM! Having played three of Sondheim's most memorable male roles was not enough, though, apparently, for Esparza recently took on the part of the hapless Hapgood in Sondheim's ANYONE CAN WHISTLE when it was revived at City Center's Encores! - with Tony-winners Donna Murphy and Sutton Foster his co-stars, no less - with much success. Yet, in one of a myriad of examples of the broad spectrum of Esparza's abilities, it is instructive to remember he first made a name for himself with the role of Che in an Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice show, directed by no less than the ultimate man of the theatre himself, Harold Prince - EVITA, which, of course, is being revived this season with Ricky Martin in the role of Che. Besides Esparza's many musical roles throughout the past decade and prior, he has also carved out a seriously impressive straight drama resume, having appeared in plays by the great playwrights of our age, such as Pinter (THE HOMECOMING), Mamet (SPEED-THE-PLOW), Stoppard (ARCADIA) and, the greatest of all, Shakespeare (AS YOU LIKE IT, part of Shakespeare In The Park). ROCKY HORROR to ARCADIA to, now, with LEAP OF FAITH, Esparza constantly and consistently surprises fans and audiences alike with his audacious choice in roles and electrifying performances that are indelibly enjoyable in their uniqueness, variety and sheer breadth of emotion - time and time again. Yes, indeed, Raul Esparza is the best of the best Broadway has to offer, so let us hope LEAP OF FAITH is the ideal star vehicle for one of the most charismatic and multi-talented leading men of the 21st century and that it brings him his well-deserved Best Actor Tony at last.