Billie Holiday News

JAG Productions (Vermont's one and only award-winning, professional African-American Theatre company!), will present, the profound jazz musical, Lady Day  Emerson's Bar & Grill by Lanie Robertson. The show will be run from May 24th-May 27th at the Engine Room in White River Junction, May 31st-June 3rd at The Grange Theater in Pomfret and June 7-10 at Main Street Landing's Black Box Theater in Burlington, VT. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill will be directed by JAG Productions' Founder & Producing Artistic Director, Jarvis Antonio Green.

The 2018 Summer Concert Series returns to Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater with a new line up of concerts in June and July, including The Great American Songbook, Greg Abate, Stage Door Canteen, and Gregg Sullivan. The perfect end to a summer day, all concerts are 8 p.m. at the air-conditioned, state-of-the-art Julie Harris Stage. Individual tickets are $20.

Eryc Taylor, Artistic Director of Eryc Taylor Dance (ETD), announced today the company will present three of their most popular repertory works at Bryant Park's Contemporary Dance Program on Friday, June 22, beginning at 6:45pm. The annual Bryant Park dance series will feature acclaimed contemporary dance choreographers on five back-to-back summer Fridays in June and July; open to the public, there is no admission charge. Bryant Park is located behind the New York Public Library in Midtown Manhattan, between 40th and 42nd Streets & Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Preview Eryc Taylor Dance.

Writer, director, performer, poet and jazz singer Cheryl Martin is taking her Billie Holiday inspired show Who Wants to Live Forever? on tour this year, following the show's success in Manchester last Autumn.

The Marcus King Band has announced the 'Carolina Confessions Tour,' a national headlining run of dates beginning on July 31st. 'We are thrilled to see all your smiling faces, and to bring you some brand new tunes for the 'Carolina Confessions Tour'!' says King. 'We'll be returning to some of our favorite parts of the world, as well as seeing some new scenery! We'll see y'all down the road.' Please see full list of tour dates below.

Actor Peter Gerald joins the stellar international cast of acclaimed show - Cafe Society Swing. The production tells the story of the first racially-desegregated jazz club in New York - Cafe Society, which opened in Greenwich Village 80 years ago, in December 1938. It will play the historic Theatre Royal Stratford East from Tuesday 5 June to Saturday 16 June.

JAG Productions has announced casting for their upcoming production of Lanie Robertson's Tony award-winning play Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill directed by Jarvis Antonio Green (JAG Productions: Choir Boy, Fences, JAGfest), will run from May 24th-May 27th at the Engine Room in White River Junction, May 31st-June 3rd at The Grange Theater in Pomfret and June 7-10 at Main Street Landing's Black Box Theater in Burlington, VT.

Denver Arts & Venues' annual Five Points Jazz Festival returns 11 a.m. Saturday, May 19 to 1:30 a.m. Sunday, May 20, celebrating the music, culture and roots of Denver's historic Five Points neighborhood.

When the ArtsWest 2017-18 I AM Season reaches its conclusion with Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, two powerful performers will take the stage to lead each production - respectively, Nicholas Japaul Bernard as Hedwig and renowned Seattle performer Felicia Loud as Billie Holiday. Presented together in rotating repertory under the title Practical Questions of Wholeness, these two plays will perform on alternating days from June 7 through July 8, 2018.  

WRITE ACT REP announces PREZ The Lester Young Story, a solo show written by playwright Willard Manus, continues in Los Angeles, as part of a Spring and Summer Festival Series at Write Act Rep's Brickhouse Theatre called THREE BY WILL IN REP.  The Series includes two World Premiere's along with the extension of the acclaimed  PREZ, which chronicles the unique life of jazzman Lester Young, featuring Leslie A. Jones.  The intimate drama is produced by John Lant and Tamra Pica, and will be directed by Daniel E. Keough.  The show is moving to a new night and extending, beginning April 27th 2018, through June 29, 2018.  All performances for PREZ will now be on FRIDAYS at 8PM, through as part of the three production Series, 'THREE BY WILL IN REP'.

Jazz lovers will be excited to hear that acclaimed American based vocalist Madeleine Peyroux will grace Queensland Performing Arts Centre's (QPAC's) Concert Hall stage on Thursday 7 June 2018.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series was thrilled to present Gunhild Carling, known as Sweden's 'Queen of Swing,' at the club on Sunday, April 22. Ms. Carling absolutely captivated the sold-out house, eliciting many standing ovations and an old-school New Orleans parade through the venue. 

Out of the Box Theatrics (OOTB) will host a special forum on Monday, April 30 to support the theater's commitment to providing a platform for up and coming artists.

When the radiant, intellectual soprano Julia Bullock stepped on stage Carnegie Hall's intimate venue, Weill Recital Hall (just 268 seats), to wild applause, I felt like I was the only one hearing her “live” for the first time. Everyone else there seemed to have a personal relationship with her and her artistry. I'd somehow missed her “live,” in previous recitals and in the title roles of CENDRILLON and CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN at Juilliard. My loss--and a significant one.

After making her debut with Dominion Entertainment (DEG) in the sell-out holiday classic 'Black Nativity,' actress and singer Terry Burrell is returning to the stage. This summer, Burrell will play the audacious preacher's wife, Mabel, in DEG's production of 'Crowns.' The gospel musical by Golden Globe winning playwright Regina Taylor will run May 30 - June 10, at the Fulton County Southwest Arts Center Performance Theater & Gallery.

Dael Orlandersmith's Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Drama YELLOWMAN runs from April 24 - May 20 with aThursday, April 26 opening night at The Billie Holiday Theatre, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216. Take a look behind-the-scenes with select rehearsal photos below.

Deidrie Henry returns to The Armory to star as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Lanie Robertson's riveting portrait of Holiday's life told through an imagined final performance in a small bar in South Philadelphia in 1959. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill begins preview performances on May 26, opens on June 1, and runs through July 1 on the U.S. Bank Main Stage. Bill Fennelly returns to The Armory to direct after previously directing Gypsy, Black Pearl Sings and, most recently, Little Shop of Horrors. Deidrie Henry, who most recently played Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire at The Armory, will be joined on stage by Abdul Hamid Royal, the production's music director who also plays the role of Jimmy Powers, along with local musicians Charles Neal (drums) and Andre St. James (bass).

On Saturday, April 28th, McCarter Theatre Center will host its Annual Gala Benefit, which supports McCarter's many ongoing artistic and educational missions in and around the region.

Molissa Fenley and Company, in collaboration with percussionist Frank Cassara and violist Ralph Farris, will present an evening of dance and live music, with scores by four contemporary composers. The program features four dances from Fenley's Water Table, three of which are New York premieres. The program also includes a new configuration of Fenley's 1979 work Mix. Performances are June 21–23 (Thursday–Saturday) at 8pm, at Danspace Project, 131 East 10th Street, New York, NY 10003.

Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and Managing Director Maggie Boland announce the full lineup for Signature Theatre's 2018/19 season.