Ira Gershwin News

Musicals Tonight!, the Obie-winning company dedicated to the revival of neglected musicals, under the leadership of Mel Miller, presents the Obie-winning musical Little Mary Sunshine, with performances March 4 through 16 at the Lion Theatre (410 W 42nd Street) on Theatre Row.

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 today, Feb. 18 - 23. The official press opening is tonight, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

The Smith Center announced today that single tickets for The National Tour of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, will go on sale Feb. 21 at 10 a.m.

Grammy Award-nominated singer and renowned interpreter of the Great American Songbook, Michael Feinstein, returns to Carnegie Hall with a special concert featuring a variety of love songs in celebration of Valentine's Day, tonight, February 14 at 8:00 p.m. He is joined by special guests Laura Osnes (Broadway's Cinderella, and Maria in Carnegie Hall's The Sound of Music) andJulian Ovenden (Season Four of PBS's Downton Abbey, the West End's Finding Neverland, and as John F. Kennedy in the 'Bombshell' production on NBC's Smash).

The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. opens the 47th season of inspirational, innovative and exciting stage productions with a special Valentine's Day concert starring the dynamic, award-winning singer/actress Lillias White in two performances of 'A Woman On Love' tonight, February 14, 2014

Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons returns to the stage in The Velocity of Autumn, an explosive new play by playwright Eric Coble. Tony Award winner Stephen Spinella co-stars in this wickedly funny and poignant story about a 79-year-old artist in a showdown with her family over where she'll spend her remaining years.

The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. opens the 47th season of inspirational, innovative and exciting stage productions with a special Valentine's Day concert' starring the dynamic, award-winning singer/actress Lillias White in two performances of 'A Woman On Love' on Friday, February 14, 2014. Ms. White will grace the stage of the Langston Hughes Auditorium at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801 with shows at 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm. There will be a VIP Reception immediately following the second concert.

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra is celebrating 10 years of Broadway POPS! with a concert starring Michael Feinstein, master of The Great American Songbook, tonight, February 8, at 8 pm at Richardson Auditorium on Princeton University Campus. The concert continues a tradition of quality pops programming featuring top Broadway artists accompanied by the PSO, and will be conducted by Sam Kriger.

The Yale Club of Chicago presents "Gershwin in Blue: A George and Ira Gershwin Songbook Celebration," Wednesday, February 26, 8 p.m. at the Jazz Showcase, featuring vocalists Ava Logan and Charles Thomas.

It might surprise many to find that the original 1935 Broadway production of 'PORGY AND BESS' ran only 124 performances. The reasons were many including the all Black cast, some of the overtones of the script were perceived by some to be 'too Negro,' the opera format was considered 'not Broadway,' while some railed that it 'had racial overtones.' Other suppositions were that the heavy dependence of a strong story line was not a familiar format during the era of escapist comedies, follies and vaudeville. Not to be overlooked was the fact that the production lasted four hours, with two intermissions.

Beverly Hills' big 100th Birthday celebration was held on January 28th at 7 PM with a star-studded Centennial Concert and Sing Along at the historic Saban Theatre (8440 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills). Scroll down for photos!

FST's Court Cabaret heats up with TOO DARN HOT on Friday, February 19, and will run through June 7, 2014. The show is developed by Richard Hopkins, Jim Prosser, and Rebecca Hopkins.

Parson's Nose Theater (PNT), the acclaimed 'classical comedy' theater company led by Artistic Director, Lance Davis, opens their full production of 'The Algonquin Round Table' this Saturday, February 8th at 7pm.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), one of the world's leading performing-rights organizations, through the past 100 years has been protecting the use of its members' musical works, monitoring broadcast, online and live usage and ensuring that music creators are fairly compensated. In the last five years, ASCAP has distributed more than $5 billion in royalties to its songwriters, composers and music publishers.

Portland Stage's stylish and stirring production of Words by Ira Gershwin and the Great American Songbook offers fascinating insight into the alchemy of a song. Joseph Vass' 2013 play examines the professional life and art of "the other Gershwin," George's brother, his lyricist, and the creator of hundreds of popular standards, which have come to be part of The Great American Songbook.

WaterTower Theatre Producing Artistic Director and Loop Executive Producer Terry Martin today announced the line-up for the 2014 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival, March 6-16, 2014 at the Addison Theatre and Conference Centre.

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 tonight, 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.

Today in 1942, the first revival of Porgy and Bess opened at the Majestic Theatre, where it ran for 286 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.

Ocean State Theatre Company (OSTC), which recently launched its first full season in its new state-of-the-Art Theatre in Warwick, is pleased to present two exclusive music presentations in January - Celebrating Spectacular Show Tunes on Saturday, January 11, and A Night of Broadway Classics, starring Fred Scheff tonight, January 18.