Ira Gershwin News

The Rudenko School of Dance presents its 44th annual performance in Santa Barbara at the Marjorie Luke Theatre, tonight, May 26, 2012 @ 7pm. This year's production, "Totally Gershwin" presents a variety of dance performances to the music of George and Ira Gershwin. Dancers aged 4 years old to adults perform tap, jazz and ballet in a show perfect for the whole family.

THE LOWER EAST SIDE (LES) FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS celebrates its seventeenth year of bringing together under one roof, in just three days, over 100 performing arts organizations, local and international celebrities, independent artists, poets, playwrights, musicians, puppeteers, film makers and many others - all of whom reside, work or have their roots in the culturally diverse, willfully anarchistic Lower East Side - for New York City's most diverse FREE 3-day festival, from today, May 25 through Sunday, May 27, at Theater for the New City (155 1st Avenue, between E. 9th and 10th Sts.) in Manhattan. OBIE Award-winning actress Crystal Field is co-founder and Artistic Director of Theater for the New City.

The Tony-nominated Best Musical NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT just recorded an Original Broadway Cast album and we have the Exclusive behind-the-scene shots, along with backstage photos of a recent performance! Factory label to be distributed by Sony. The album was recorded at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Long Island City, NY on May 20th and 21st. The release date will be announced soon. The album will be produced by six-time Grammy® nominee Robert Sher.

Musicals Tonight has announced that its upcoming season will include the following shows.

Matthew Broderick, star of Broadway's NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, was a guest on last night's 'Watch What Happens Live' on Bravo. While playing host Andy Cohen's favorite game of 'Plead the Fifth', Broderick revealed his most embarrassing moment on the Broadway stage.

Smuin Ballet (Celia Fushille, Artistic & Executive Director) will perform a special New York City engagement this summer, August 13th - 18th, 2012 at The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue (at 19th Street).

The White House program, which was taped by WETA Washington, D.C. as part of the 'In Performance at the White House' series, will premiere on PBS stations nationwide tonight, May 21, 2012 at 9 p.m. EDT (check local listings) as 'Burt Bacharach & Hal David: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song In Performance at the White House.' BroadwayWorld has just received preview clips of tonight's broadcast and brings them to you below! Click to watch Mike Myers, Sheryl Crow, Smokie Robinson and more honor the musical greats at the White House presentation and be sure to tune into PBS tonight for the full show.

On May 8, The Library of Congress kicked off a series of events honoring Grammy- and Academy-Award-winning songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, recipients of the 2012 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, culminating a special tribute delivered by President Barack Obama. The prize commemorates George and Ira Gershwin, the legendary American songwriting team whose extensive collection resides in the Library of Congress. The White House program, which was taped by WETA Washington, D.C. as part of the 'In Performance at the White House' series, will premiere on PBS stations nationwide tonight, May 21, 2012 at 9 p.m. EDT (check local listings) as 'Burt Bacharach & Hal David: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song In Performance at the White House.'

The 20th Anniversary season of New York City Center's Tony Award-winning Encores! series will open on January 30, 2013 with Fiorello!, the show that launched the series in 1994. The season will continue with It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, followed by On Your Toes. A Gala Encores! at 20 Celebration on November 12, 2012 will star Tony Award nominees and Encores! alumni Rauil Esparza and Kelli O'Hara.

Baltimore welcomes E. Faye Butler in her all-new act, 'What a Difference a Diva Makes'.

The Tony-nominated Best Musical NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT will get an Original Broadway Cast Recording on the Shout! Factory label to be distributed by Sony. The album will be recorded at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Long Island City, NY on May 20th and 21st. The release date will be announced soon. The album will be produced by six-time Grammy® nominee Robert Sher.

Musicals Tonight's 2012-2013 Season includes Fade Out - Fade In by Comden & Green and Jule Styne, Strike Up the Band George & Ira Gershwin, Same Time, Next Year - The Musical a Premiere and Leave It to Jane by Jerome Kern. See full details below.

Lucas Papaelias, of Broadway's ONCE is set to join the line up of the previously announced 17th annual LOWER EAST SIDE (LES) FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS. Papaelias is also known as LPfunK and is an actor/guitarist/composer who was nominated for a Drama Desk Award (Best Original Music in a Play) for his work in Adam Rapp's "Essential Self-Defense" at Playwrights Horizons. Most recently, he co-wrote the rock musical PYRAMIDICA: Songs of Freedom, which takes place live in a pyramid scheme company's "free" orientation, and was presented at the Vineyard Arts Project's New Writers / New Plays Festival. He also conceived of, and composed, the rock opera ITHACA: a Perpetual Shredfest, the story of a Lower East Side rock band performing their final concert, which had presentations at Joe's Pub and ARS Nova.

Tonight, May 9th, as part of their "In Performance at the White House" series, the President and First Lady will host a concert in the East Room honoring songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who will be awarded the 2012 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. President Obama will present the award as he did in 2010 and 2009, when the Library of Congress honored Sir Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, respectively. The program will include performances by Sheryl Crow, Michael Feinstein, Diana Krall, Lyle Lovett, Mike Myers, Rumer, Arturo Sandoval, Shelea and Stevie Wonder.

The producers of the critically acclaimed and Tony-nominated Best Musical NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT are pleased to announce the launch of a US national tour in the fall of 2013. NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT is the new musical comedy directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes) featuring music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and a book by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro (Memphis). The production is currently playing on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre (249 West 45th Street).

On Wednesday, May 9th, as part of their "In Performance at the White House" series, the President and First Lady will host a concert in the East Room honoring songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who will be awarded the 2012 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. President Obama will present the award as he did in 2010 and 2009, when the Library of Congress honored Sir Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, respectively. The program will include performances by Sheryl Crow, Michael Feinstein, Diana Krall, Lyle Lovett, Mike Myers, Rumer, Arturo Sandoval, Shelea and Stevie Wonder.

Broadway: Born Yesterday, Inherit the Wind, Caine Mutiny Court Martial, Democracy, Twentieth Century, Henry IV, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Tony® nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award). Off-Broadway: The Marriage of Bette and Boo. London: Deathtrap. Regional theater: A Delicate Balance, Proof, How I Learned to Drive, Angels in America, Betrayal, The Dining Room. Features: Going the Distance, Imaginary Heroes, Hearts in Atlantis, Company Man. TV: "The West Wing," "Shot in the Heart," "Law and Order" (all).