Ira Gershwin News

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College announces its 56th season of music, dance, theater, and family programming reflecting the multicultural diversity of Brooklyn.

While there's certainly plenty to enjoy in the new musical version of Pedro Almodóvar's 1988 film, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown - David Yazbek's jaunty Latin-based score, the winning performances of a star-studded cast (three Tony winners and four other nominees) and the kinetic flashiness of Bartlett Sher's kicky production - the show is also a prime example of how the sum of the pieces can add up to more than the whole when the missing ingredient is a strong book.  Not that the talented Jeffrey Lane doesn't make a game try at it.  Sticking closely to the source, his work is frequently clever and he and Yazbek concoct some quirkily fun musical scenes, but the odds are working against him in this one.

42nd Street Moon, the company that presents intimate productions of uncommon musicals, has chosen a show perfectly suited to the holiday season: BABES IN ARMS by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, with the script adapted by John Guare. The show features the memorable popular classics 'My Funny Valentine,' 'The Lady is a Tramp,' 'Johnny One-Note,' 'Where or When?' 'I Wish I Were in Love Again,' and 'All at Once.' Low-priced previews will be presented at the Eureka Theatre on December 1, 2 and 3, with the Opening on Saturday, December 4 at 6 pm. It will run through December 19.

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed "Best of New York" by New York Magazine and "an invaluable New York institution" by The New York Post will conclude its Fall 2010 season with the return of the club's founder MICHAEL FEINSTEIN in an exclusive engagement from November 30 to December 30.

Although Broadway has a history of great artistic success from adapting existing sources for the musical stage (My Fair Lady, Show Boat, Gypsy...) the past decade's ever-increasing trend of turning popular films, novels that inspired popular films and songwriter's catalogues into musicals has, in many minds, elevated the status of the completely original musical; particularly original musicals by American authors.

On June 2, 2010, President Barack Obama presented former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney with the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, awarded by the Library of Congress, in the East Room of the White House. The prize, named for American songwriting brothers George and Ira Gershwin, has been awarded annually since 2008 to a musician who has made exceptional contributions to the world of popular song. The prize's first recipient was Paul Simon. Last year, Stevie Wonder received the award.

The David Berger Jazz Orchestra - the acclaimed band featured in the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio and PBS TV - recently released their latest CD, 'Sing Me A Love Song: Harry Warren's Undiscovered Standards', featuring Freda Payne ('Band Of Gold,' 'Bring The Boys Home') and Denzal Sinclaire (National Jazz Award Winner). The CD has had great radio airplay and was singled out in USA Today's Best Tracks of the Week and is on sale now at retailers nationwide, as well as Amazon.com, iTunes, CD Baby and their website, http://www.davidbergerjazz.com.

The 2010 season at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre became the most successful in the theatre's history with more than 142,000 visitors across its sixteen-week run. Capitalising on the inimitable relationship between production and setting, Into the Woods became the highest-grossing single production at the theatre taking £1.2m in five weeks, whilst The Comedy of Errors became the most successful Shakespeare play. Arthur Miller's The Crucible, attracted a whole new audience to the theatre: 72% of those who attended the play had never been to the venue before. Steve Marmion's production of Macbeth, re-imagined for ages six and over, achieved the highest footfall for a family show.

Greg MacKellan, artistic director of 42nd Street Moon, and Stephanie Rhoads, producing director, today announced details of the upcoming 2010-11 season of uncommon musical theater. For its eighteenth season, merriment abounds in a season rife with Lovers, Liars and Clowns at the Eureka Theatre. The great American composers, lyricists, and librettists featured in 2010-11 are Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, John Kander and Fred Ebb, George S. Kaufman, Stephen Sondheim and more.

Linda Lane Smith performs 'From Cows to Cadenzas' at The Triad Theatre 158 West 72nd Street (bet. Broadway & Columbus) NYC this Wednesday, November 10th at 7:00 pm. The musical director is Phil Hall.

On Friday, November 19 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, Broadway stars Kate Baldwin, Aaron Lazar, and Christiane Noll join The New York Pops, under the direction of Steven Reineke to celebrate the 80th birthday of legendary Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim-whose actual birthday was on March 22-is widely acknowledged as the most innovative and influential composer and lyricist in modern Broadway history. The concert will feature performances of some of the most beloved songs and soliloquies from Sondheim's extensive career. Vocal ensemble Essential Voices USA-led by Judith Clurman-also joins The New York Pops for this special performance.

For her record-breaking twenty-fourth year at the famed Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel, the Queen of Cabaret, ANDREA MARCOVICCI, returns to her first love - the torch song!

HUNTER RYAN HERDLICKA, who is currently appearing in Stephen Sondheim's critically acclaimed Broadway musical revival, A Little Night Music, will return to the Feinstein's stage for a special one night only engagement titled "I (Still) Happen to Like New York" at NYC's premiere night club, FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY on Monday, November 15th at 8:30 PM.

HUNTER RYAN HERDLICKA, who is currently appearing in Stephen Sondheim's critically acclaimed Broadway musical revival, A Little Night Music, will return to the Feinstein's stage for a special one night only engagement titled "I (Still) Happen to Like New York" at NYC's premiere night club, FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY on Monday, November 15th at 8:30 PM.

Eisemann Center Presents continues the Spotlight Series with the Texas Premiere of The Man That Got Away: Ira Without George - The Lyrics of Ira Gershwin on Friday, November 12, 2010 at 8:00 pm in the Hill Performance Hall and also at The 1894 Grand Opera House on Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 8:00pm.

Eisemann Center Presents continues the Spotlight Series with the Texas Premiere of The Man That Got Away: Ira Without George - The Lyrics of Ira Gershwin on Friday, November 12, 2010 at 8:00 pm in the Hill Performance Hall and also at The 1894 Grand Opera House on Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 8:00pm.

New Orleans Opera General and Artistic Director, Robert Lyall says of the company's 2010-2011 season. 'We are offering a season that includes something for long-time opera lovers and newcomers alike.' 'Each of the different musical and theatrical styles of these works, which range from the immensely popular musical treasures of an important historical landmark like PORGY AND BESS to the exquisite and exotic musical delights of Bizet's less-frequently performed PEARL FISHERS, has a special appeal. These musical treasures, surrounded by masterpieces from the pens of Verdi and Mozart, offer a truly sumptuous operatic menu.'

Linda Lane Smith performs 'From Cows to Cadenzas' at The Triad Theatre 158 West 72nd Street (bet. Broadway & Columbus) NYC this Wednesday, November 10th at 7:00 pm. The musical director is Phil Hall.

Eisemann Center Presents continues the Spotlight Series with the Texas Premiere of The Man That Got Away: Ira Without George - The Lyrics of Ira Gershwin on Friday, November 12, 2010 at 8:00 pm in the Hill Performance Hall and also at The 1894 Grand Opera House on Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 8:00pm.

In what is a first for this company generally associated with uncommon musicals of the past, 42nd Street Moon takes pride in presenting the West Coast premiere of a new musical: Murder for Two by Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair. Described as two parts Agatha Christie, and one part old-fashioned musical comedy with a dash of 21st century flair, the work has an inspector arriving at a dark house to solve a murder, and encounters a host of eccentric and clever suspects. Previews begin at the Eureka Theatre on November 3, with the opening on Saturday, November 6 at 6 pm.