Stephen Sorokoff News

Last night, May 4, 2015, The New York Pops marked its 32nd birthday with a grand gala evening celebrating the work of Music Honorees Kathleen Marshall and Rob Marshall and Corporate Honoree Carrie and Ted Pryor, Greenwich Harbor Partners. Serving as Honorary Co-Chairs for the event are stars Matthew Broderick, Renee Fleming, Kelli O'Hara, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. BroadwayWorld brings you exclusive photo coverage from the Gala Dinner below!

All Dancing! All Singing! is the first Lyrics & Lyricists dance revue, celebrating Irving Berlin's contributions to Hollywood musicals. Artistic director/choreographer Randy Skinner directed a cast of hand-picked young vocalists/dancers -- Darien Crago, Danny Gardner, Drew Humphrey, Kristie Kerwin, Con O'Shea-Creal and Kristen Beth Williams -- who were joined by veterans Sandy Duncan and Don Correia as special guests and Broadwayworld was there. Performances are May 2, 3 and 4. Check out photos from the show below!

Evoking Rita Hayworth, a spot lit Jennifer Sheehan weaves through 54 Below towards the stage, long dark hair cascading above a body-skimming white gown replete with twinkling sequins. “I'll build a stairway to the stars . . .,” (Mitchell Parish/Matt Malneck/Frank Signorelli) she sings with stunning vocal clarity and investment that might conjure a Ziegfeld Girl. In her new show, Stardust: A Night in the Cosmos, Sheehan welcomes the “dreamers, romantics, stargazers, astrophysicists, and Trekkies” with “songs that flicker like the street lamps of eternity” with lyrics featuring stars, moons, and rose-colored hope. It's an appealing theme and one that suits the artist's fetching performance and transition from ingénue into a more mature cabaret entertainer.

Multiple award-winning performer Jennifer Sheehan and her stellar quartet celebrated the beauty, wonder and romance of the night sky in a song-studded 54 Below evening featuring songs as dazzling and diverse as the stars above - It included music from Pink Martini, Duke Ellington, Sergio Mendes, Melody Gardot, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell and Kurt Weill, just to name a few! It's a celebration of the many ways we come to love the night sky - as wide-eyed children who look up in wonderment, as young lovers who fall under its enchantment, and as star-gazers of all ages who contemplate love and life on this small blue dot in the universe. And, of course, the stars spark our imagination about what lies beyond… so the show also features some fascinating stories about new discoveries about our star-studded cosmos! One might say it's a show that goes where no show has gone before!

This Sunday's guest on Backstage with Peter LeDonne was Broadway star Ben Vereen.  Talking is something Ben Vereen does a lot since the lecture circuit has become an integral part of Ben's career. He has become one of the Nation's most requested speakers among audiences of all ages. His strong sense of social consciousness has enabled him to reach out to his audiences and convey to them a deep feeling of understanding. His topics range from overcoming adversity, arts in education, Black history, motivational topics, recovery through physical and occupational therapy and the importance of continuing education - to name a few.

Julie Wilson, who died at age ninety on April 5th, was celebrated and remembered by her peers in a special, one-time-only performance on Tuesday evening, April 28th at The Town Hall. The concert was underwritten by The Mabel Mercer Foundation.

It was the 7th performance of Marilyn's 8 show sold out run of  "Her Way"  A Salute to Frank Sinatra. The dynamics of the evening made it feel more like a Hockey Play Off Game, with Marilyn scoring goal after goal. The crowd rose to it's feet and cheered after her every song hit the mark of musical perfection.  Then, as it became apparent that Marilyn Maye had conquered all, she was presented with the Stanley Cup. Friars Club Dean Emeritus Freddie Roman was led to the stage by Friar Laura Slutsky and "Marvelous Marilyn" was given the Friars Club Frank Sinatra Lifetime Achievement Award.  The award states:

The Friars were laughing and crying out loud last night as they saluted Melissa Manchester.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? The punch line of that old joke is "practice", however in the world of classical music it also takes concerned citizens to support an nurture young artists. Few have been more supportive and inspiring in this endeavor than the legendary performing piano duo of Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz. These two distinguished musicians created the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, a non-profit organization as an outgrowth of The Stecher and Horowitz School of the Arts in Cedarhurst, New York.

Marilyn Maye took the 54 Below stage with her solo Frank Sinatra tribute, HER WAY, on April 23 & 25 at 7PM & April 24 at 8:30PM. Check out photos of the event below!

You've probably heard a variation of this joke at a cabaret performance.  The performer will say something like "if you know the words, please don't sing along." Ann Hampton Callaway teasingly cajoles her audience to join in while she's singing a musically complex scat arrangement during her act.  When John Pizzarelli asked the The Carlyle audience to sing along as he and Daniel Jobim sang the nights closing number (Antonio Carlos Jobim's Aqua De beber), it wasn't funny.  The many Brazilians filling the seats in the Cafe  expertly chanted in Portuguese. Sometimes I find it difficult to handle the syncopated rhythms which accent the second beat of a measure in Bossa Nova, but this crowd didn't. 

William Ivey Long the Tony Award winning costume designer visited the 970 AM radio studios dressed handsomely in a very traditional sport jacket shirt and tie.  He then had a spirited conversation with Peter LeDonne and Jamie deRoy about costumes, Broadway, movies, plus of all things, the spirits he serves up in his two establishments on 2nd Avenue in New York City.  In addition to his life in the theatre and his 14 Tony nominations, William is also the proprietor of Ninth Ward and Shoolbred's, both on 2nd Avenue. Besides being a genius with clothes William was an excellent conversationalist, and it was suggested that it was his other life as a saloonkeeper that made him such a great guest on Backstage with Peter LeDonne.

?The Emmy Award winning actor Fyvesh Finkel jokes, 'I'm 92, but looking at this audience I realize that's no big deal.'  Fyvesh was the star of Yiddish Night at the Friars Club last night, although his co-stars were his sons Elliot, Ian, and the special menu of traditional Jewish favorites prepared by the staff. 

If you are a Friar you receive an "Opening Act" email that introduces you to a new member. Sadly, you also get a "Final Curtain" email when a member leaves the stage. In true theater tradition an "After Party" was held for one of the clubs esteemed members in the Frank Sinatra Dining Room last night. It was organized by Actors Fund President and CEO Joseph Benincasa to remember Irv Welzer, a beloved member of the club. With song and story a few of Irv's fellow Friars reminisced. Mayor David Dinkins, Danny Aiello, Bernadette Peters, Dominic Chianese, Mark Simone, Robert Creighton,Carol Skarimbas,Will & Anthony Nunziata, and Stewie Stone all participated in this party, which celebrated a much loved member of the theatre community.

Lyrics and Lyricists at the 92Y in New York City and the Live at Lynn American Songbook series at Lynn University in Boca Raton Florida both achieve the same goal. They entertain and educate their audiences using talented performers and knowledgeable hosts. The Music and Times of Burt Bacharach produced by Jan McArt and hosted by Marshall Turkin at Lynn University was enthusiastically received by it's Boca audience and these events are 'hot' tickets in the sunshine state. One of the wonderful things about attending the varied theatrical and musical offerings at Live at Lynn is that you get to see, different artists, diverse performances, and Jan McArt's splendid wardrobe when she comes on stage to introduce the concerts.

Casting is now complete for Gingold Theatrical Group's PROJECT SHAW production of his 1912 one act comedyOverruled, on Monday, May 18 at 7pm, at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre (2895 Broadway at 95th St.).

Sally Kellerman, the Oscar-nominated “Hot Lips” of the original “M*A*S*H,” will bring her new show, “A Little Jazz, a Little Blues, a Little Rock and Roll” to the new Dave Koz Lounge at Spaghettini Beverly Hills on Friday, May 1 at 8:30 PM. The acclaimed show is a celebration of her 40-year cabaret career, from early years at Reno Sweeney in Greenwich Village up to recent performances in New York, Hollywood and San Francisco.

Entertainment director Rob Russell made sure the always beautiful Royal Room had some extra Botanical additions in honor of Jim & Billy's 4 day engagement in the Royal Room and BroadwayWorld was there.

“Lover, when I'm near you . . .” sings the debonair Todd Murray this past Monday night at Birdland, mere feet away from rapt eyes into which he pours himself. He's performing the waltzy song acoustically, voice full out in opposition to lyric mood. The back of the house undoubtedly finds sound muted. “This is how you would've heard a band singer in 1925, before a new technique called 'crooning',” he tells us. “From the time I started working, they always called me a crooner.”

Last night (April 13th) acclaimed performer and recording artist, Deborah Silver performed at The Royal Room of The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach to benefit NAMI of Palm Beach County. BroadwayWorld was there.