Billie Holiday News

The story and music of America's Composer come to life on stage with Seattle Repertory Theatre's presentation of Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin, a play-with-music written and performed by award-winning actor and musician Hershey Felder (Broadway's George Gershwin Alone, Off-Broadway's Maestro; Our Great Tchaikovsky, and others). Directed by Trevor Hay, Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin will play the Bagley Wright stage February 23-March 18, 2018 (opening night is February 28, 2018), and tickets are on sale now through the Seattle Rep Box Office at 206.443.2222 and online at SeattleRep.org.  

Spring is on the way, and Art House's JC Fridays will kick off the season with 20 exciting visual and performing arts events! Come out and celebrate with this city-wide festival on Friday, March 2nd, 2018. Restaurants, galleries, stores, and event spaces throughout Jersey City will showcase a variety of art-related happenings including visual exhibitions, live music, performance acts, educational demonstrations, and more. All events are free and open to the public. As one of the preeminent art scenes in the tri-state area, Jersey City is abound with artists of all types, musicians, and individuals with unique talent; JC Fridays is one of the best times for them to share their newest projects and works. Held quarterly, thousands of residents pour out to experience these artists' latest works and to revel in the joy art brings to the community.

Huntington Theatre Company in partnership with Roxbury Community College presents a free community event on Thursday, February 15 at 7pm in conjunction with the Huntington's upcoming production of the highly acclaimed hit Off Broadway play Skeleton Crew.

Artistic Director John Lant and WRITE ACT REP announce a three Production Series in Rep, "THREE BY WILL - IN REP" which includes two World Premiere's, "Their Finest Hour: Churchill And Murrow," "The Wicked, Wicked Mae," along with the acclaimed "PREZ - The Lester Young Story." The three plays will open at Write Act Repertory @ the Brickhouse Theatre beginning February 11th, 2018

The Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA), the not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving the artistic vision and technique of Michael Chekhov, today announced that Tony-nominated actress and educator Michele Shay will receive the first-ever Zelda Fichandler Scholarship. Established in Fall 2017 to benefit the next generation of Chekhov teachers and practitioners, the Scholarship provides full tuition for two weeks to MICHA's International Michael Chekhov Workshop, which takes place every summer at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut.

In a special show for the festival: Degibri Big Band will host Miri Mesika, Ester Rada and Leena Makhoul in a tribute to the great jazz singers: Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Aretha Franklin and more. March 8, 21:30.

Por fin podemos ver en nuestro pais a traves de la plataforma HBO la obra de Lanie Robertson protagonizada por la espectacular Audra McDonald

This February, the world-famous Apollo Theater will host a series of artistic and community programs celebrating Black History Month. Since its inception in 1934, the legendary Theater has celebrated and provided a platform for emerging African American talent as one of the first theaters to integrate, and has since been a catalyst for rising artists of diverse backgrounds.

The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts  (The Soraya) celebrates Black History Month this February with a 2018 Winter/Spring season of African American performers from dance to opera to jazz including the debut of The Soraya's new jazz club format.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents the second workshop in the series How to Wrote a Musical That Works, Conflict & Obstacles, onSunday, February 25, 2018 from 10am - 6pm at NOLA Rehearsal Studio, 244 W 54th St., 5th floor, Studio 5. Submission fee is $10 for members, $20 for non-members. If accepted, it will be applied to a participation fee of $100 ($80 for TRU members). Those not selected will be invited and encouraged to attend the workshop as observers. The price is $55 ($35 for TRU members). Go to https://truonline.org/events/feedback-workshop-2-2018, click the link to download the application, fill it out, and email toTRUPlaySubmissions@gmail.com to sign up. If accepted, the workshop includes 2 seats for the entire day workshop as well as your presentation slot. Space is limited. Any additional attendees from the musical team (including music director, additional collaborators and cast members) who wish to observe the entire workshop must reserve in advance and will be charged $25 per person.

Ernie Nolan, executive artistic director of Nashville Children's Theatre, and Norma Luther, who took over ownership of Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre and spearheaded its renaissance in 2017, last night claimed top honors as "Theaterati of the Year" at Midwinter's First Night at Music Valley Event Center.

To commemorate the 1918 holocaust lynchings of eleven African Americans, including Mary Turner and her unborn baby in Brooks County, Georgia, The Billie Holiday Theatre and RestorationART present the New York Premiere of A Small Oak Tree Runs Red by Brooklyn's own LeKethia Dalcoe, directed by renowned actor and director, Harry Lennix.

Female singing legends, who died from accidental overdose, share their secrets and insights about fame, addiction, life and death from the other side in the dynamic new musical The Accidental Club. The show is a reminder of the impact of the accidental overdose epidemic currently plaguing America. Written and performed by Sherrie Scott, the new musical has been in development by Awareness Media for the past three years. Workshop presentations will take place on January 31st and February 1st, 2018 at 7pm at The Cell.

Flying Elephant Productions has announced its inaugural season, launching this winter with the world premiere of WE THE PEOPLE SONGS OF THE RESISTANCE, a political song cycle about the 2016 election, which takes audiences from the conventions through election night and its immediate aftermath into the realization of Trump's America and finally, a call to action from We The People.

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.

Community College of Baltimore County presents There is a Road: Scenes for Concert Band, an original composition by composer and attorney Derrick Wang, creator of the opera Scalia/Ginsburg, as the first commissioned work for the Baltimore Symphonic Band. There is a Road will be performed at 2 p.m. on Feb. 3,

The Baltimore Symphonic Band presents music from Baltimore composers and about the Baltimore experience, in this free concert appropriate for all ages. The program includes a musical tribute to Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven,' along with a performance of the poem by Baltimore's own Barry Williams. CCBC President Dr. Sandra Kurtinitis will read the delightful narrations penned by Baltimore poet Ogden Nash to accompany Saint-Saens' whimsical suite Carnival of the Animals. The program will also include tributes to Billie Holiday, Eubie Blake and the Star Spangled Banner.

From February 16 to March 5, The Morningside Players will present Carol Carter and Edythe Jason in 'Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters' First 100 Years' by Emily Mann, adapted from the book by Sarah H. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany. It will be the inaugural theater production at North of History, a new performance/gallery space founded by Gene Kaufman that is located at 445 Columbus Ave. (between 81st and 82nd Street). Edgar Chisholm directs.

Axis Company presents High Noon, an adaptation of the screenplay for the 1952 Western film, devised by an ensemble led by Artistic Director Randy Sharp. In Axis' High Noon, the Wild West is not the place of heroes and rollicking adventure, but a landscape of overbearing nothingness where humans, and their troubled moral compasses, are cast in glaring light. As a town awaits the alleged return, and potential revenge streak, of a released murderer on an incoming train, their just-married, retiring marshal decides to try to rally a crowd to fight him.

Continuing its ongoing commitment to preserving and celebrating timeless recordings, the Recording Academy has announced the newest inductions to its distinctive GRAMMY Hall Of Fame