Bessie Smith News

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 open its star-studded Winter/Spring 2010 season with the return engagement of Tony and six time Emmy Award winning actress TYNE DALY from January 19 to 30.

Jennifer Holliday will lend her talents to perform at the sixth annual Grace in Winter Silver Ball on February 8 at the Plaza Hotel. The ball is a benefit for the dance company, Evidence.

Playwrights Horizons announced today that the New York premiere of ME, MYSELF & I, a new play by three-time Pulitzer Prize and three-time Tony Award winner Edward Albee (A Delicate Balance; Seascape; Three Tall Women; Who's Afraid of Virgina Wolf?; The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?) will open the theater company's 2010/2011 40th Anniversary Season. Mr. Albee will be making his Playwrights Horizons debut.

Special guests have been announced for the 2009 Emery Awards, which will take place Tuesday, November 10th. The guests will include Dustin Lance Black, Cleve Jones, Ben Zebley, Cheyenne Jackson, Heather Matarazzo, B.D. Wong, Christine C. Quinn, Judy Gold, Jennifer Holliday, DJ Lina, and Mayor Cory Booker. The Hetrick-Martin Institute's 2009 Annual Emery Awards will take place at Cipriani Wall Street, beginning at 6:00pm.

Diverse City Theater Company, Penguin Rep Theatre and Shotgun Productions will reveal the truth behind the Santa-gate scandal in SANTA CLAUS IS COMING OUT, a new comedy written by and starring Jeffrey Solomon, directed by acclaimed director Joe Brancato. The show runs from November 29th thru December 20th at Theatre Row's The Kirk Theatre.

Lovely Katherine Hopkins Nicholas performed her nostalgic solo evening @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's on Sunday, September 20 to exciting audience acclaim. What a memorable and exhilarating walk down memory lane with this singular beauty who sings, taps and entertains as well as she did in 1978! It was '78 when Mrs. Nicholas, married to the late great dancing MGM star Fayard Nicholas of The Nicholas Brothers fame, costarred with Ann Miller and Mickey Rooney in Sugar Babies. Nicholas has talent to spare and is a real charmer. When she started her set with 'Make Someone Happy', she instantly warmed the intimate crowd.

Artistic Director David Saint announced today the selections for George Street Playhouse's 2009-2010 season. In this economic downturn, when many arts organizations across the country are choosing to revive popular plays and musicals, Artistic Director David Saint has instead renewed the theatre's commitment to producing new work. The 2009-10 George Street Playhouse season will feature no less than four new works and one play, still to be announced.

Jubilee Theatre Artistic Director Ed Smith announces the theatre's 2009-2010 season, a lineup that opens with the sole North American production this year of The Dance on Widow's Row by Samm-Art Williams.

Jubilee Theatre Artistic Director Ed Smith announces the theatre's 2009-2010 season, a lineup that opens with the sole North American production this year of The Dance on Widow's Row by Samm-Art Williams.

BLUES IN THE NIGHT is a delightful compilation of material that celebrates the many styles associated with the music known as the blues. As conceived by Sheldon Epps, this musical follows three women and a saloon singer as they recall memories from their past in song form. The Black Rep's current production showcases four superb vocalists who bring their own unique talents to the work, creating a marvelous and uplifting experience, filled with enough genuine warmth and good humor, that it may well redefine how you feel about the blues.

Hailed by critics and audiences as one of New Jersey's most energetic and captivating live performers, Christine Martucci presents a special Sneak Peek and Launch Party for her original new musical Breakfast with Janis. Special guests include the Bob Burger Band, the Mike Montrey Band, the Linda Chorney Band, and guest host comic Amy Beckerman.

Jubilee Theatre continues its celebration of the African-American experience with its 2008-2009 season and a new musical conceived by Jubilee Artistic Director Ed Smith. The Gospel Queen, featuring Sheran Goodspeed Keyton, focuses on the life of one of gospel music's greatest sensations, Mahalia Jackson.

MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB will present its Annual Spring Gala on Monday, May 18, 2009, at Cipriani 42nd Street, 110 East 42nd Street. The show will include numbers from this season's most celebrated Broadway shows, including Billy Elliot, Hair, Shrek The Musical, and West Side Story as well as numbers from the fantastic musicals Ain't Misbehavin' and The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith. The

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) announces the final show of its 2008-09 season: Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo, staged by acclaimed director Rebecca Bayla Taichman (world premieres of Theresa Rebeck's The Scene and Mauritius and Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone). This new spellbinder by the master playwright who also penned Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A.C.T.'s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, is a meticulously calibrated and dangerously brutal look at relationships intimate and unexpected. The story opens with Peter, a tweedy book editor, and his wife, Ann, whose everyday conversation takes an unexpected turn into dangerously personal territory. It's the kind of conversation that can drive a husband out for a walk-to Central Park, where Jerry, a desperate outcast, awaits. An unforgettable pairing of Albee's original The Zoo Story with a freshly penned prequel, At Home at the Zoo (formerly titled Peter and Jerry) bares its teeth to threaten the delicately balanced world its characters inhabit. Artistic Director Carey Perloff has put together an all-star artistic team on this production, featuring Tony Award-nominated actor Manoel Felciano (Ragtime at The Kennedy Center, A.C.T.'s Rock 'n' Roll, and Sweeney Todd on Broadway) as Jerry and scenic designer Robert Brill, who received a Tony Award nomination last week for his work on Guys and Dolls on Broadway. Hailed by critics as 'a thoroughly satisfying package of jagged-edged provocation' (Newsday) and 'an essential and heartening experience' (The New York Times), Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo plays at A.C.T. June 5-July 5, 2009. Opening night is Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at 8 p.m. Tickets-starting at $14-are available by calling A.C.T. Ticket Services at 415.749.2228, or at www.act-sf.org.

Following a six week sold-out run earlier this year, Brooklyn's famed Billie Holiday Theatre will present a nine week return engagement of THE HIGH PRIESTESS OF DARK ALLEY, a new play by playwright/director Jackie Alexander.

Jubilee Theatre continues its celebration of the African-American experience with its 2008-2009 season and a new musical conceived by Jubilee Artistic Director Ed Smith. The Gospel Queen, featuring Sheran Goodspeed Keyton, focuses on the life of one of gospel music's greatest sensations, Mahalia Jackson.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch will lead the New York Philharmonic in New York Moments, a concert featuring iconic musical moments from Broadway and film, with stars from the stage and screen (in alphabetical order): Ashley Brown, who originated the title role in Mary Poppins on Broadway; Maria Friedman, who played Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and Marian in The Woman in White in London; Joel Grey, whose numerous starring roles have included the famous M.C. in Cabaret, on Broadway and in the film; Jennifer Holliday, one of the original Dreamgirls; Liza Minnelli, last seen on Broadway in Liza's at The Palace; Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot, stars of the current Lincoln Center Theater production of South Pacific; and 15-year-old up-and-coming singer, Nikki Yanofsky. The concert will take place Monday, April 20, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. All except Mr. Hamlisch and Ms. O'Hara are making their New York Philharmonic debuts.

Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans announce the final selection for the 2009-2010 Northlight Season, the world premiere of Low Down Dirty Blues, by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman, the creators of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues and Fire on the Mountain. The production will feature two-time Jeff Award winner Mississippi Charles Bevel.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch will lead the New York Philharmonic in New York Moments, a concert featuring iconic musical moments from Broadway and film, with stars from the stage and screen (in alphabetical order): Ashley Brown, who originated the title role in Mary Poppins on Broadway; Maria Friedman, who played Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and Marian in The Woman in White in London; Joel Grey, whose numerous starring roles have included the famous M.C. in Cabaret, on Broadway and in the film; Jennifer Holliday, one of the original Dreamgirls; Liza Minnelli, last seen on Broadway in Liza's at The Palace; Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot, stars of the current Lincoln Center Theater production of South Pacific; and 15-year-old up-and-coming singer, Nikki Yanofsky. The concert will take place Monday, April 20, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. All except Mr. Hamlisch and Ms. O'Hara are making their New York Philharmonic debuts.

Brooklyn?s famed Billie Holiday Theatre will present the world premiere of THE HIGH PRIESTESS OF DARK ALLEY, a new play by playwright/director Jackie Alexander. The production will play a strictly limited engagement February 19 through March 22, 2009. Previews are Thursday, February 19 through Saturday, February 27. Opening night is Saturday, February 28. The performance schedule is Thursdays ? Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. and Sundays at 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $15-$23, with additional discounts available for seniors and students. Tickets can be purchased online at www.zerve.com/BHolidayInc/DrkAlley by phone at 212.209.3370, or at the theatre?s box office at Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street.