Harold Arlen News

With more than half of its run at the National Arts Festival's Albany Cabaret Club done, audiences have only a few more opportunities to see Roland Perold in his charming cabaret, A GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK.

In the year that the Congregacão Israelita Paulista (CIP) celebrates 80 years of great history and dedication to the Jewish community and the Brazilian society, the actor and singer Daniel Boaventura was chosen to be the attraction of the commemorative concert for the benefit of social work of the institution . The event, which takes place June 29 at the Teatro Sergio Cardoso, will be presented by Rubens Ewald Filho - also one of the directors and writers alongside Claudio Erlichman - and will journey for more than 50 years of history of the great Broadway classics, highlighting the strong Jewish influence in the American Songbook, which contributed to the emergence of a new artistic genre, the musical theater. The show, named 'Broadwish - From Shtetl to Broadway', created especially for this occasion, will bring a repertoire full of standards composed and written by renowned Jewish composers such as Irving Berlin, George & Ira Gershwin, Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz , Oscar Hammerstein II, Kander & Ebb and Burt Bacharach among others.

It's been 77 years since Judy Garland made Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' forever famous. Just last night, her daughter, Lorna Luft, brought the beloved song back to life (something she has never done before now) at Feinstein's/54 Below, in a moving tribute to Stonewall, Orlando, and of course, her late mother. Check out the entire, emotional performance below!

?Acclaimed vocalist GABRIELLE STRAVELLI and jazz pianist MICHAEL KANAN will celebrate their powerfully intimate new duet recording Stairway to the Stars with a concert at The Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia Street in New York) on Monday, July 11 at 8:30 PM. The album is currently available via iTunes and other digital formats; physical copies will be available on Friday, June 24. Stairway to the Stars is produced by Gabrielle Stravelli and Pat O'Leary. 

Poway OnStage invites you to mark your calendar for a special evening of music, dining and celebration! Taste of Our Towne brings together local food, wine and beer, live music, dancing, silent and live auctions and much more, all under the summer night sky on the beautiful Plaza of the Poway Center for the Performing Arts!

Award-winning music producer, critic and translator Lawrence Schulman will give a talk on Judy Garland, entitled 'Moments of Magic,' at the Northeast Harbor Library (Maine) on Wednesday, June 29, 2016 at 5 P.M. Admission is free. The one-and-a-quarter hour talk will examine Judy Garland's life and career, and feature nine audio-video clips, to be followed by a question and answer. Schulman will endeavor to answer the question: 'If I had just one hour to convince you of Judy Garland's place in classic American popular music, what film and television performances would I choose?' The talk will be followed by a mini-concert of songs Garland sang by famed jazz vocalist Diane Linscott and the equally renowned pianist Scott Cleveland.

THE WIZARD OF OZ opens The MUNY's 98th season this year, and it's a lively and colorful production that provides an enjoyable experience for kids of all ages. This is an excellent presentation of one of The MUNY's most beloved shows, filled with fine performances and enough action to keep even the tiniest of tykes fully engaged. Yes, I know the unseasonably hot weather we're currently experiencing is a consideration for a lot of patrons, but with the fans running at full blast, you'll find it's a lot more comfortable than you would expect. My son and I had a blast, and this is the fourth production of the musical he's seen, and as he said, easily the best. It's a perfect show to take the family to, and one I know that you'll have an absolutely wonderful time seeing. It's also a larger than life spectacle that fits the expansive MUNY stage like a glove.

Coachella Valley performing arts fans who stay in town this summer will not be bored; there are many cabarets, staged readings, and full-fledged theatrical productions to keep everyone occupied.

Jazz at Lincoln Center's 2016 Popular Song series at the Appel Room ended this year's agenda on June 8 with host Michael Feinstein's appreciation of the interconnection between swing and popular song, a subject about which he's clearly enthusiastic. Each musical era, he suggests, is previewed by a song marking change: “Alexander's Ragtime Band” ushered in ragtime, “Sing, Sing Sing,” prefaced swing, “Rock Around the Clock” heralded rock n' roll. With the able assistance of Musical Director Tedd Firth (also on piano), Firth's Big Band, and special guest vocalists Allyson Briggs, Jeremy Jordan, and Catherine Ross, Feinstein and Co. delivered a lively evening of familiar and eclectic material.

?Acclaimed vocalist GABRIELLE STRAVELLI and celebrated jazz pianist MICHAEL KANAN will release the powerfully intimate new duet recording Stairway to the Stars on June 24. The album is currently available in digital formats. Stairway to the Stars is produced by Gabrielle Stravelli and Pat O'Leary. 

The fourth of a six-part, decade-by-decade video series sampling the legendary artist's performances of musical theatre classics.

The second of a six-part, decade-by-decade video series sampling the legendary artist's performances of musical theatre classics.

The first of a six-part, decade-by-decade video series sampling the legendary artist's performances of musical theatre classics.

When New York cabaret community insiders and frequent club goers heard that Marissa Mulder was planning a Marilyn Monroe-themed show, the consensus was the vocalist's naturally breathy voice paired with a roster of songs from Monroe's films would be a good fit. Sidestepping expectations, Mulder and Director Sondra Lee have instead put together a one-woman theater piece with almost as much monologue (using Monroe's own words) as music. Equally surprising, the impressionistic show (currently in the midst of a four-show run at the Laurie Beechman Theatre after launching in February at the Metropolitan Room) features not Monroe's familiar material, but rather songs that reflect what its creators intuit as her internal life.

Performing Arts Fort Worth invites you to follow the Yellow Brick Road to Bass Performance Hall for the brand-new stage adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ, playing June 7-12. Tickets start at $55 and are on sale now!

The fourth time was the charm for Minda Larsen, winner of the 2015 MetroStar Competition: “I have an MFA in opera,” she joked during the debut of her show, My Southern Song, at the Metropolitan Room on May 21, “So it took four tries in six years to win that competition.” The remark is typical of the self-deprecating humor of the versatile singer from Jacksonville, FL, who spent time in Georgia and went to school in South Carolina. Itching all her life to get out of the South, now she longs to get back. Her new show (a four-date run that is her award for winning the MetroStar) captures that longing with love, laughter, and an occasional tear.

The Kids of Kurland will present the fourth annual Plett Fringe Festival at The White House Theatre in Plettenberg Bay this June. The festival is in its fourth year and 2016 has an exciting line-up, the proceeds of which will provide a large economic and cultural boost for the Plettenberg Bay community and creates awareness of the Kids of Kurland charity.

In its robust 101st season, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene is the longest consecutively producing Yiddish theater company in the world. Its mission: To celebrate the Jewish experience through the performing arts and to transmit rich cultural legacy in exciting new ways. The theatre's Gala 2016 this past Monday evening at The Rose Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center honored Artistic Director Zalmen Mlotek--long a leading figure in Yiddish performing arts--and his wife Debra Mlotek (a pediatric occupational therapist), who has been pivotal in creating educational children's programs.