Stephen Sorokoff News

Michael Feinstein returned to the club that bears his name with his brand new show, Summertime Swing, featuring special guest star Marilyn Maye, last night and BroadwayWorld was there.

Barrington Stage Company, the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director Tristan Wilson, presented the regional premiere of Nina Raine's  award-winning play,Tribes last night on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage and BroadwayWorld was there for the opening night and after party.

The world premiere of Broadway Bounty Hunter, took place at Barrington Stage Company last night and Broadwayworld was there for the opening night festivities at the Sydelle & Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center. Broadway Bounty Hunter features music and lyrics by Joe Iconis (Be More Chill, The Black Suits, Bloodsong of Love), book by Joe Iconis, Lance Rubin (author of Denton Little's Deathdate) and Jason SweetTooth Williams (Off Broadway: Once Upon A Mattress), and choreography by Jeffrey Page (Broadway's Violet). Joel Waggoner (BSC's Presto Change-O, Southern Comfort) serves as music director.

Queens native Robert Davi, is one of the most recognizable entertainers in the world. Davi made his Feinstein's54/Below debut last night and Broadwayworld was there. Mr. Davi completely dominated the stage and every corner of Feinstein's/54 Below with his electrifying music and acting skills. In his show Robert Davi Sings Sinatra, Davi is not Sinatra, he has his own unique well trained rugged voice. However he has the same tough but mellow persona that keeps you hanging on every move and sound he makes. Davi studied acting under the legendary Stella Adler at the world-renowned Actors Studio. As the indelible villain Franz Sanchez in the James Bond film Licence to Kill to more recent film and television appearances, he has thrilled audiences. He appeared opposite Marlon Brando in Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, Clint Eastwood in City Heat, Bruce Willis in Die Hard, and Roberto Benigni in Son of the Pink Panther. He also appeared in 88 episodes of the NBC series Profiler playing Agent Baily Malone, and as Commander Acastus Kolya on Showtime's Stargate Atlantis. Other credits include Steven Spielberg's classic The Goonies and Raw Deal, where he first met his close friend Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Cabaret & Broadway star T. Oliver Reid (After Midnight, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Never Gonna dance, La Cage Auz Folles, The Wedding Singer, Mary Poppins, Sister Act, GIRLS) debuted his new show, "Made in America" last night and Broadwayworld was there.  Reid's songfest was filled with the memories and love of the USA as told by this one American boy.  The show contained the songs of Irving Berlin, John Cougar Mellencamp, Dolly Parton, Jim Croce, Aaron Copland, Paul Simon and everything in between.  

In the 1930's Tanglewood was just an idea in the minds of some Massachusetts music lovers, while at the same time in Nazi Germany some great composers were being banned by people who had no love of music or humanity. 

Joe Sirola, one of the worlds most successful voice -over actors, film, TV, and stage actor, was honored in the the Metropolitan Room's famous, "This Is Your Night" series last night and BroadwayWorld was there. Managing partner Bernie Furshpan hosted the evening which had performances by Steve Ross, Shana Farr, Gregory Korostishevsky, Eric Rudy Lee Pfeiffer, Jamie deRoy, and KT Sullivan. Jon Weber served as music director.

The artistic community is mourning the death of star of stage and screen, the beloved Fyvush Finkel, who passed away this morning at 93 years of age.

A uniquely talented and gifted jazz pianist, jazz critic and writer George Simon called John Bunch, "The Fred Astaire of the piano". This performance celebrates the life and career of John Bunch from his days growing up in the small farming community of Tipton Indiana, his heroic service during World War II to his days of accompanying a who's who list of artists including Tony Bennett and Benny Goodman.

KAREN OBERLIN and TEDD FIRTH, frequent performing companions, joined forces in the Berkshires at The Barn at The Egremont Village Inn last night and Broadwayworld was there. Karen and Tedd performed songs that span the ages... from Jerome Kern to Elvis Costello, from Johnny Mercer to Joni Mitchell, and everything in-between. Oberlin has been the recipient of the New York Nightlife Award for Jazz Vocalist of the Year and every major cabaret award, including the Mabel Mercer Foundation's Donald F. Smith Award (presented to her at Jazz at Lincoln Center) and an Honorary Doctorate in Music for her performance work. She is a recording artist with four CD's, including her latest which has becoming a regular play for the legendary radio host Jonathan Schwartz. She has been hailed by the New York Times as one of the premier interpreters of the Great American Songbook and has headlined at such legendary New York venues as the Oak Room at the Algonquin, Birdland, Feinstein's/54 Below, and the Cafe Carlyle along with concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, The Town Hall, among many others, and has toured worldwide, including annual engagements in London and Paris, from which she recently returned.

Shakespeare & Company presented The Two Gentlemen of Verona last night and Broadwayworld was at the opening.  Written by William Shakespeare, and directed by Co-Artistic Director Jonathan Croy, this early romantic comedy takes a gleeful look at the fickle nature of young love, playing in-the-round at the Tina Packer Playhouse throughSeptember 4, 2016.

Playwright, actress and TEDx speaker Amy Oestreicher, playwright and actress will have her short play, "The Sky is Blue" performed as part of Manhattan Repertory Theatre's Short Play Contest on August 17th and August 20th at 9pm. The scene is a short excerpt from Oestreicher's original full-length drama, Imprints, which will premiere this January at the Thespis Theatre Festival. Manhattan Repertory Theatre is a forum for playwrights, directors and actors to share and explore their craft.  "The Sky is Blue" is a tribute to the true-to-life moment the Oestreicher first told her mother she was sexually abused, juxtaposed with the  difficult healing process of her family underwent before she awoke from her coma.

Name an opera or operetta and it is likely listed in soprano Sarah Rice's repertoire. Over her long and illustrious career, she has starred and performed in a myriad of productions all across the map, from Broadway to Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy. Strauss, Salieri, Sondheim--- it's there. Now, in her first solo show since 2013, Rice will debut her new show Music of the Night (borrowing, of course, from Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, in which Rice played Christine in the National Tour) at Pangea Restaurant Pangea Restaurant (2nd Avenue between 11th and 12th streets) on August 17, 18, and September 20, all at 7 pm. Alongside pianist Matthew Martin Ward (Eric Sedgwick for the September show) and special guest David Vernon, she will sing and play a set aimed to explain 'the things that go through your head at 4:00 AM,' covering classical, Celtic, television and movie themes, and musical theatre.

On Monday Nights the Pirates in 'Pirates of Penzance' (the mega hit now playing at Barrington Stage Company) are resting but the set on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage in Pittsfield was the perfect setting for one of the theatre's most perfectly matched couples. 

On Monday Nights the Pirates in 'Pirates of Penzance' (the mega hit now playing at Barrington Stage Company) are resting but the set on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage in Pittsfield was the perfect setting for one of the theatre's most perfectly matched couples. 

Today's big news: The cast of SHE LOVES ME celebrates their album release at Barnes & Noble, marquees will be dimmed on Broadway, in the West End and in Chicago in memory of James M. Nederlander, and the company of HOLIDAY INN meets the press, so stay tuned for coverage!

Lillias White brought her music director, arranger, and vocal accomplice Billy Stritch to William Finn's Cabaret at Barrington Stage Company last night and BroadwayWorld was there.  The title of her show, The Lillias White Effect is entirely fact-based as Ms. White and Mr. Stritch had a bedazzling effect on the Berkshire audience in Mr. Finn's Cabaret.

Shakespeare & Company presented Liz Duffy Adams' playful comedy OR, based on the real life of Britain's first female playwright, Aphra Behn, last night and BroadwayWorld was there. Directed by Alice Reagen and featuring Company actress, Tod Randolph, as Aphra, Allyn Burrows as King Charles and Nehassaiu deGannes as Nell Gwynne. The production runs through September 4th in the Tina Packer Playhouse and is staged in-the-round.

BUTLER, inspired by controversial Civil War General Benjamin Butler, premiered last night as part of the 5A Season at 59E59 Theaters and Broadwayworld was there and at the after party at Le Cirque