Billie Holiday News

Gloucester Stage Company continues its 40th Anniversary Season of professional theater with the Boston area premiere of Richard Strand's Ben Butler from August 2 through August 25 at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Richard Strand's Ben Butler, a smart and funny discourse on race, protocol and our sense of humanity garnered high critical acclaim during its Off Broadway run in 2016. New York's Joseph Discher who helmed the show's world premiere production in 2014 and the Off Broadway production in 2016, makes his GSC debut directing Ben Butler. Actors Ames Adamson as General Benjamin Butler and Shane Taylor as escaped slave Shepard Mallory make their GSC debut in Ben Butler. GSC veterans Doug Bowen-Flynn as Lieutenant Kelly and David DeBeck as Confederate Major Cary complete the cast. Richard Strand's Ben Butler, runs from August 2 through August 25. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 pm at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA.

Returning for its fifth year, Emerging Music Festival (EMF) features eight on-the-rise indie rock, folk, singer-songwriter, and soul bands performing for thousands on the Bryant Park lawn. Between sets, attendees can purchase beer and wine, eat food from local vendors curated by Hester Street Fair, borrow a free picnic blanket, learn to juggle, and play giant lawn games.

The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York in partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation announce the recipients of the New York Theater Program (NYTP) for the July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2022 funding cycle.

Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House invites audiences to embrace a sense of adventure with a new season of music, theater, exhibitions, film, book launches, special events, and community programs this August to December.

From Ella Fitzgerald's rapid fire scats, Sarah Vaughan's divine voice, Billie Holiday's fine and mellow artistry and Betty Carter's bebop, the Newport Jazz Festival has been Ground Zero for jazz vocalists for six decades. And, this year's 65thedition is no exception.

Professional vocalist and actress, Patrece Bloomfield, will debut her solo cabaret Keep Living, Keep Loving in The Winter Park Playhouse Spotlight Cabaret Series, August 21 and 22, 2019. Playhouse Music Director Christopher Leavy will accompany on piano. 

Spotlight Theatre Company, a Staten Island theatre and production company, is presenting the magical tribute show, FIERCE FEMALES.

On Thursday, August 15 at 7:00 p.m., the Apollo Theater in partnership with Spectrum News NY1, WLBS, and New York Amsterdam News will present Apollo Uptown Hall: Harlem's Culture - Past. Present. Future. The panel will gather thought leaders from some of Harlem's most influential arts organizations to celebrate milestone anniversaries in the Harlem arts community and discuss the roles these cultural organizations will play in either preserving traditions or advancing change. The event is free with RSVP.

Birdland will kick-off their exciting month of programming with John Pizzarelli: A Tribute to Benny Goodman, Dee Dee Bridgewater, David Matthews Trio, The Count Basie Orchestra, Charlie Parker Birthday Celebration, Chris Byars Original Sextet, Nicki Parrott, Gunhild Carling, Ken Peplowski and Diego Figueiredo, Birdography: Celebrating Charlie Parker, Lorin Cohen, Sam Behr, Laila Biali, Carole J. Bufford, The Lineup with Susie Mosher, Jim Caruso's Cast Party, and more!

We spoke with Evan Sherman of EVAN SHERMAN BIG BAND at Bickford Theater At The Morris Museum about his upcoming show in Morristown NJ!

Irish Repertory Theatre will present a concert performance of Christine Tobin: Sailing to Byzantium on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage on Tuesday August 27, 2019, at 7pm.  

Northlight Theatre announces casting for its 45th season, opening with Mother of the Maid by Jane Anderson, directed by BJ Jones and featuring Kate Fry (Isabelle Arc), Kareem Bandealy (Jacques Arc), Hayley Burgess (Moniqueus Joan), Ricardo Gutierrez (Father GilbertChamberlainGuardScribe), Casey Morris (Pierre Arc), Grace Smith (Joan Arc) and Penelope Walker (Lady of the Court).

The Watermill Theatre has announced the casting for the autumn tour of its highly acclaimed productions of Shakespeare's Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

JPAS and Jonathan Mares Productions have announced a brand-new musical event from the multi-talented New Orleans singer and performer, Dorian Rush. This show, titled 100 Years of Women in Blues, will take the audience on a journey through the roots of blues back in 1919 all the way to today. One hundred years of love, heartache, tears, and struggles are the stories told in the lyrics of the songs sung by the Women of the Blues. Dorian Rush will tell these stories and sing these songs made famous by artists such as Ma Rainey, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Holiday, Irma Thomas, Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, and Amy Winehouse among many others.

Billie Holiday: Front and Center, the acclaimed show with songs is written and performed by Sybil D. Jatta, directed by B'ANCA, and presented by Champion Club Productions. Associate producer: Linda Bronson-Abbot. Musical director: Casey McCoy.

New Repertory Theatre is excited to announce that Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill will join their 2019-2020 MainStage season. The production runs March 28 ? April 19, 2020 in the MainStage Theater at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA. Tickets to Lady Day may currently be purchased as part of a 2019-2020 subscription package by calling the New Rep Box Office at 617-923-8487 or visiting newrep.org. Single tickets will be available for sale on August 1. Lady Day will replace the previously announced Piaf.

America since the 2016 election has provoked no small amount of questioning. How could it ever have come to this? Beyond the immediacy of partisanship, the GOP has set about dismantling landmark legislation such as the Voting Rights Act. It has sent us reeling back in time to reexamine modern history for clues, and also to seek comfort in moments in which we felt secure in the march of progressiveness.

Jazzmobile Inc. and Harlem Jazz Enterprises have entered into a new partnership to present live music at the iconic Minton's Playhouse jazz club, 206 West 118th Street, in Harlem. This open-ended residency will begin on Independence Day with pianist Nat Adderley, Jr. and will continue every Thursday evening with a world-class jazz band. The Summer lineup will be announced at the opening celebration on July 4.

Alicia Foxworth's period drama Ghost Writer will bring the curtain down on the 2018 -19 season of the Frank Silvera Writer's Workshop monthly play reading series in partnership with The Billie Holiday Theatre.