Billie Holiday News

The Hill House Association (www.hillhouse.org) will present six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald in concert for one night only. The performance will begin at 8 p.m. tonight, April 15(th) at the landmark Byham Theater.

MIGHTY REAL: A FABULOUS SYLVESTER MUSICAL, the hit musical celebration of the life and music of the original 1970s "Queen of Disco," Sylvester, returns to Washington, D.C. for one special performance at The Howard Theatre (620 T Street, NW; Washington, D.C. 20001) on Monday, May 25th, 2015 (doors open at 6:00pm; 7:00pm curtain). Tickets are priced from $69.50 - $89.50 and are now on sale online at www.FabulousSylvester.com.

This weekend, April 9-12, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Billie Holiday Festival will honor Billie Holiday celebrating an artist of monumental innovation on the centennial of her birth. The Billie Holiday Festival will include three nights of concerts and pre-concert discussions at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located at Broadway at 60th Street, New York, New York.

Grammy-nominated jazz singer Barbara Morrison will perform at the Catalina Bar & Grill on April 18. The show begins at 8:30 p.m.

Monday night found me back at Zeb's on the West Side for another of Will Friedwald's iconoclastic 'Clip Joints'--this one in honor of the Billie Holiday Centennial. During a year that is already producing a glut of celebratory events (given that it's also the Frank Sinatra Centennial year), leave it to the intriguing and obsessive writer/journalist/producer to come up with something different. Instead of a roster of vocalists live or on film, performing material we now think of reflexively as belonging to Lady Day, we were offered the singular piano interpretations of Lara Downes, recollections by alto saxophonist Jerry Dodgion (who at age 22 played with Holiday), and eclectic clips from television and film appearances of the artist herself.

Just in time for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Billie Holiday on April 7, 2015, Universal Music Enterprises honors the iconic artist with the simultaneous digital release of 17 classic Holiday albums.

On the heels of their successful production Brothers from the Bottom starring Wendell Pierce, a play about gentrification, The Billie Holiday Theatre (BHT) is pleased to announce the world premiere of Dancing on Eggshells by award-winning playwright Cynthia G. Robinson and directed by the Billie Holiday Theatre's own Cezar Williams.

International touring and recording artist Clairdee joins forces with the Capital Jazz Orchestra, Clayton 'Skip' Poole, Music Director, for a very special 100th birthday tribute to the great “Lady Day”, Billie Holiday, on Friday, May 15, at 7:30pm. Based in San Francisco, Clairdee will be performing such Billie classics as “Travelin' Light,” “Any Old Time,” and “God Bless the Child,” along with many other selections featuring both the big band and the more intimate CJO combo.

Accomplished jazz clarinetist and tenorman, Frank Griffith travels from England to Lancaster to perform two unique concerts on Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18. His performance on April 17 is promised to wrap up the Ware Center's season of the Jazz in the Sky performances on a high note. The concert begins at 7:30 pm at the Ware Center located at 42 N. Prince Street, Lancaster. On Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 pm, Frank Griffith will join the 10th Annual Single Reed Symposium and finish the evening as a guest artist in the Jazz & Java concert on campus at Gordinier Hall located at 40 S. George Street, Millersville.

MIGHTY REAL: A FABULOUS SYLVESTER MUSICAL, the hit musical celebration of the life and music of the original 1970s 'Queen of Disco,' Sylvester, will come to Philadelphia for one weekend only, performing at the Painted Bride Art Center (230 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106) for five shows only: tonight, April 3rd, 2015 @ 8pm; Saturday, April 4th, 2015 @ 2pm & 8pm; and Sunday, April 5th, 2015 @ 3pm & 7:30pm.

Coming Forth By Day: A Celebration of Billie Holiday is?Grammy Award winner Cassandra Wilson's tribute to one of the greatest jazz singers that ever lived. Perhaps the greatest jazz singer living today, Cassandra Wilson will offer her special tribute concert to Billie Holiday, on the centennial of 'Lady Day's' birth, at The Ridgefield Playhouse tonight, March 26, at 8 p.m.

Celebrating the release of SING YOU TO SLEEP, Anika Larsen made her solo concert debut at Birdland on Monday, March 23. Joined by her BEAUTIFUL castmates Jessie Mueller and Jarrod Spector and her XANADU castmate Kenita Miller, Larsen's set featured songs from her album and thematically appropriate solos that featured her guests' talents too. Thus, the evening was the perfect night cap to an otherwise manic Monday.

BroadwayWorld.com has learned this morning that HBO's LOOKING has sadly been cancelled. For the past few days, there have been endless articles after Sunday night's season finale of the show as to whether or not HBO would pick up the show for a third season. The show's amazingly talented cast, led by Broadway's Jonathan Groff (currently in HAMILTON at the Public Theater) has been praised for their frank storytelling. The show has been compared to a 21st century version of Armistead Maupin's TALES OF THE CITY.

The Andy Warhol Museum announces its latest exhibition, Pearlstein, Warhol, Cantor: From Pittsburgh to New York, opening to the public May 30, 2015.

With a career spanning over six decades it's inconceivable to think Diana Ross has never performed a concert in Hawaii. That's all about to change as Ms. Ross brings her magical live stage production to The Islands. The concert is a complete theatrical experience, filled with breathtaking costumes, an elegant stage design, and a massive catalog of hit songs, such as 'Stop! In the Name of Love', 'Touch Me in the Morning', and 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough.' Reviews have been stellar for her recent shows, proving that the icon of stage and screen is still in her prime. The Star-Telegram in Texas raves: 'Diana Ross held the fortunate (audience)...in the palm of her hand from the beginning, and never let them go.' As the star herself has stated, 'My interaction is with the audience on a one-to-one. I always try to see their faces and try to see their eyes. It's that harmonious vibration, good energy that flows between the audience and myself and the band and the music. Music is like love. It feels good. It's about sharing. Music is like the heartbeat of our world.'

Following critically acclaimed workshop presentations, McCasland's plays will return to NYC in a month-long festival celebrating the young playwright. Together with The Clarion Theatre, they'll present six plays beginning on May 6th, 2015, with a company of actors performing in repertory. All of the plays focus on historical figures, including Laurette Taylor, Billie Holiday, Tennessee Williams, Gertrude Stein, Lillian Hellman and more.

Nothing speaks for an individual better than their fashion and musical choices, Fashion designer and rock progeny Astrella has set out to prove this theory when her iconic and stylish line of MUSICAL T's “drop” in Bloomingdale's New York and Santa Monica stores May 2015.

Phoenix Theatre, entering its 96th consecutive season announces their 2015/2016 lineup filled with stunning, sweeping musicals, unique and offbeat treats and a World Premiere on its road to the Broadway stage.

Maureen McGovern took the stage at 54 Below for 'Celebrating Women Singer/Songwriters' from March 10-14, where she was visited by a slew of stars, including Tony Bennett and Sam Underwood. Check out photos below!

Emerging as a pop diva in the 1970s, Maureen McGovern has been somewhere on the scene for decades. She still has a powerful, well-honed instrument, sufficient to perform confident acapella. However, It's difficult to tell from her new 54 Below show, Sing, My Sisters, Sing! Celebrating Women Singer/Songwriters, whether the artist's range has vastly diminished or arrangements and rhythms, often unsympathetic to original tunes, are so similar as to make an otherwise diverse selection of songs homogeneous.