James Taylor News

Ravinia's 2014 season, dubbed 'Summer of Love/Season of Stars,' was announced today by Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman. Brimming with talent and romance, the festival's 2014 schedule brings some the biggest names in the world of music as well as repertoire that explores the theme of great love in its various manifestations. No fewer than three musical incarnations of the most famous love story of all time, Romeo and Juliet, will be featured, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky's Overture-Fantasy (July 27), a suite from Prokofiev's ballet setting of the story (July 16) and the score of West Side Story as the classic film is shown (July 17-18). In other examples of love, soprano Deborah Voigt describes it as 'Something Wonderful' on a Broadway evening (July 13), the legendary Broadway team of Lerner and Loewe will be celebrated (July 20), and Chanticleer even jabs at the battle of the sexes in an evening titled 'She Said/He Said' (July 6). In fact, love lurks, longs and lingers across genres in most of the more than 130 events that Ravinia will present in 2014, its 110th year and its 78th as the summer residence of the CSO.

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter will make her New York Philharmonic debut in Mary Chapin Carpenter with the New York Philharmonic and Special Guests, a retrospective program featuring songs from throughout her career, some newly arranged for orchestra.

Five-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and keyboardist Michael McDonald lends his husky, soulful baritone to Pacific Symphony Pops for a concert featuring hits from his chart-topping career spanning more than four decades. From his 1970s beginnings singing back-up vocals with American rock band Steely Dan on songs including "Black Friday," to enhancing the funky R&B sound of The Doobie Brothers, to his award-winning solo career, McDonald has established himself as a timeless yet distinctive artist in pops music. One of the most popular vocalists to emerge from the '70s rock scene, McDonald commands the stage with his distinctive interpretations of classics like "What a Fool Believes," "On My Own," "Sweet Freedom," "I Keep Forgettin'," "Minute by Minute" and "Yah Mo B There." His more recent album, "Soul Speak," has been acclaimed as an "impeccable" crossover by BBC Radio since its release in 2008, when it also hit three different charts simultaneously.

Five-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and keyboardist Michael McDonald lends his husky, soulful baritone to Pacific Symphony Pops for a concert featuring hits from his chart-topping career spanning more than four decades. From his 1970s beginnings singing back-up vocals with American rock band Steely Dan on songs including “Black Friday,” to enhancing the funky R&B sound of The Doobie Brothers, to his award-winning solo career, McDonald has established himself as a timeless yet distinctive artist in pops music. One of the most popular vocalists to emerge from the '70s rock scene, McDonald commands the stage with his distinctive interpretations of classics like “What a Fool Believes,” “On My Own,” “Sweet Freedom,” “I Keep Forgettin',” “Minute by Minute” and “Yah Mo B There.” His more recent album, “Soul Speak,” has been acclaimed as an “impeccable” crossover by BBC Radio since its release in 2008, when it also hit three different charts simultaneously.

PK Productions, by arrangement with Stanley Silverman and R&H Theatricals Europe, present CELEBRATING SILVERMAN with music by Stanley Silverman, and direction by Patrick Kennedy, and music direction by Peter Mitchell on Sunday, 6th April 2014 at London Hippodrome.

Men Are From Mars - Women Are From Venus LIVE!, the one-man fusion of theatre and stand-up starring Peter Story and based on the New York Times #1 best-selling book of the last decade by John Gray, is coming to Hartford The Bushnell's Belding Theatre for two performances on May 2 and 3 at 8:00 p.m. Moving swiftly through a series of vignettes, the show covers everything from dating and marriage to the bedroom. All tickets are $50 and are available online at www.bushnell.org, by phone at 860-987-5900, or at The Bushnell box office, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. The Bushnell engagement of Men are from Mars - Women are from Venus LIVE! is sponsored by United Technologies.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Pops presents A St. Patrick's Day Celebration with Cherish the Ladies on March 14-16, 2014, at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Led by guest conductor Michael Krajewski, the Celtic celebration includes music of the Emerald Isle from the all-female traditional Irish music and dance ensemble, Cherish the Ladies.

Gary Naylor enjoys a slice of life from cold Chicago and is grateful for the sentimentality being reined in just sufficiently to get him through the play.

LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER will debut SUNDAY, APRIL 27 (11:00-11:30 p.m. ET/PT), with other weekly editions debuting subsequent Sundays at the same time on HBO.

ONE NIGHT OF QUEEN performed by GARY MULLEN & THE WORKS is a spectacular live concert, recreating the look, sound, pomp and showmanship of arguably the greatest rock band of all time. Harris Center for the Arts delights in presenting them as part their current season. They have been hailed as the World's Premier Queen Tribute Band and have received rave reviews from over 300 Performing Arts Centers in the USA since 2008.

In this week's edition, we caught up with Jake Epstein, who is starring as 'Gerry Goffin' in Beautiful- currently playing at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

At last night's 56th Annual Grammy Awards, Grammy nominee Sara Bareilles appeared in a special performance with four-time GRAMMY winner and 2014 MusiCares Person of the Year Carole King.

(Boston) Celebrity Series of Boston will present Luciana Souza Trio tonight, January 25, 2014, at 8pm at Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall, Harvard University, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge. Sponsored by Amy and Joshua Boger.

A dream cabaret pairing comes to Segerstrom Center for the Arts when Grammy® Award-winning artist Jimmy Webb and Grammy and Drama Desk-nominated vocalist Maureen McGovern perform three concerts in their Cabaret Series debuts April 11 - 13 in Samueli Theater. This will also be Webb's Center debut, while McGovern appeared at the Center during the 2004 - 2005 Broadway Series as Marmee in the national tour of Little Women. The New York Times proclaims McGovern as "blessed with a vocal technique second to none" and says that Webb is "at the top of his game."

Men Are From Mars - Women Are From Venus LIVE!, the one-man fusion of theatre and stand-up starring Peter Story, is a light-hearted theatrical comedy based on the New York Times #1 best-selling book of the last decade by John Gray, will play the Marcus Center's Vogel Hall on March 14-15. Moving swiftly through a series of vignettes, the show covers everything from dating and marriage to the bedroom. Tickets go on sale this Sunday, January 26 at 12:00 pm. For tickets, visit the Marcus Center Box Office at 929 North Water Street, Downtown Milwaukee, by phone at 414-273-7206 or online at Ticketmaster.com or MarcusCenter.org.

It was announced today that Carole King will be honored as the 2014 MusiCares() Person of the Year tonight, Jan. 24, 2014.

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.

One of the most talented groups of musicians currently playing together - THE RINGERS, featuring Jimmy Herring, Wayne Krantz, Michael Landau, Keith Carlock and Etienne Mbappe, first debuted in early 2013 for a very exclusive tour on the east coast. The tour proved quite fulfilling for the iconic five-some, bringing together their varied backgrounds of Rock, Funk, Jazz, Blues and African styles.

Celebrity Series of Boston will present Newport Jazz Festival: NOW 60, on Thursday, February 13, 2014, at 8pm at Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Avenue Boston. Sponsored by Donna and Mike Egan. Media partner is Boston Public Radio 89.7 WGBH.

It was announced today that Grammy nominee Sara Bareilles will appear in a special performance with four-time GRAMMY winner and 2014 MusiCares Person of the Year Carole King.