Billie Holiday News

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: Friday, April 3rd, 2015 @ 8pm; Saturday, April 4th, 2015 @ 2pm & 8pm; and Sunday, April 5th, 2015 @ 3pm & 7:30pm.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Maureen McGovern in 'Celebrating Women Singer/ Songwriters.' Maureen celebrates women singer/songwriters in her powerful new show and forthcoming CD, Sing, My Sisters, Sing!.

A dramatisation of the true story of the Jena Six, black teenasgers jailed for attempted murder after beating up a white student

April is Jazz Appreciation month and in recognition, the Nash announces a new series of classes for the public to learn about the history of jazz by examining the great masters. This four-part series will be led by ASU jazz instructor, Dr. Jeffry Libman, who will present four weekly Wednesday morning sessions in April each focusing on a different jazz instrument and its master musicians and vocalists. Dr. Libman will lead the discussions with histories and recordings from the great masters such as John Coltrane, Dizzie Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Billie Holiday.

?The city of San Francisco will honor the legendary disco singer Sylvester, along with the opening of MIGHTY REAL: A FABULOUS SYLVESTER MUSICAL -- the acclaimed celebration of the life and music of the original 1970s "Queen of Disco" -- with San Francisco Supervisor, Scott Weiner, set to present a proclamation for "Mighty Real Day: Honoring Sylvester & His Music" on Friday, February 13, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. (Pacific) at Sylvester's star on the Castro Rainbow Honor Walk. MIGHTY REAL: A FABULOUS SYLVESTER MUSICAL began performances at the Brava Theater Center (2781 24th Street) on Wednesday, February 11th and will open on Saturday, February 14th, 2015. The limited San Francisco engagement is scheduled through Sunday, March 1st.

Join Cassandra Wilson as she celebrates Billie Holiday's 100th birthday with a preview of her upcoming album, Coming Forth By Day: A Celebration of Billie Holiday. Harris Center for the Arts is one of her stops on a worldwide promotion tour of this homage dedicated to the beauty, power, and genius of Billie Holiday.

Upcoming Equity Auditions from Sunday, February 8, 2015.

Rutgers University is now seeking a new executive director to promote the university's jazz program.

Tickets are now on sale for Beautiful Soup's festival of plays by Steven Carl McCasland. Priced $18 each, audiences also have the option to see all 5 plays at a reduced price.

Omaha Performing Arts presents jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson: Coming Forth By Day: A Celebration of Billie Holiday in the Kiewit Hall at the Holland Performing Arts Center on Sunday, March 7, at 8:00 p.m. Tickets start at $20, and are available at TicketOmaha.com, 402.345.0606 or at the Ticket Omaha Office inside the Holland Center, 1200 Douglas St. Wilson is part of the 2014/15 Jazz Series.

As their award-winning theatre home in Bed-Stuy's Restoration Plaza undergoes a multi-million dollar facelift, The Billie Holiday Theatre (BHT) has announced a move that will bring their acclaimed productions to Brooklyn's flourishing Downtown Cultural District. Thanks to a special partnership with the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse, BHT will kick off a two-year residency with a high profile run of the play Brothers from the Bottom, starring actor and TONY Award-winning producer Wendell Pierce (SELMA, Treme, The Wire). The play, written and directed by BHT artistic director Jackie Alexander, will run March 6th - 29th at the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse, 126 Saint Felix Street between Hanson and Lafayette, in the heart of the BAM Cultural District. (Full details below.)

This past Thursday night, a group of die-hard music enthusiasts, vocalists, and musicians packed a private home in Chelsea for the latest iteration of Will Friedwald's Clip Joint. The monthly series, which was launched in the summer of 2013 by the Wall Street Journal columnist, night crawler, and music historian who has authored of eight books on music and popular culture, screens highly curated musical performance on film and video with every third session promoted as an “extravaganza,” additionally featuring live performers.

Harlem Stage will present the world premiere of Stranger on Earth, from OBIE-winning playwright and interdisciplinary performing artist Carl Hancock Rux. The production, which anchors Harlem Stage's The Year of James Baldwincentenary celebration and exemplifies the institution's commitment to honoring artists of color-past, present and future-imagines a chance meeting between James Baldwin and Dinah Washington, two of the era's most iconic African Americans, at a Harlem jazz lounge in 1963. Commissioned and produced by Harlem Stage, Rux draws from Baldwin's landmark essays to create a work that addresses race, identity and the future of a world that both Baldwin and Washington struggled to understand and inhabit. Rux performs Stranger on Earth with vocalist Marcelle Davies Lashley, who interprets Washington's songs, against the backdrop of an arresting video montage by Onome Ekeh.

On October 9, 2015, The New York Pops - a symphonic orchestra known for presenting popular programs of exceptional quality - will launch its 33rd season, a series at Carnegie Hall celebrating the diversity of some of popular music's greatest icons.

Additional casting has been announced for Beautiful Soup Theater's festival of plays by Steven Carl McCasland. 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.

Bucks County Playhouse (BCP) welcomes GFour Productions, winners of 54 Drama Desk and 44 Tony Awards who have officially announced their cast of leading ladies for the production of the international hit show Menopause The Musical. Best described as a groundbreaking celebration of women who are on the brink of, in the middle of or have survived 'The Change', Menopause The Musical is sure to leave audiences inspired and laughing long after the show.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com or call (646) 476-3551.

Upcoming Equity Auditions from Sunday, January 18, 2015.

La ganadora de seis premios Tony nos cuenta todos los detalles sobre este concierto unico en España que tendra lugar el proximo 31 de enero en el Teatro Real de Madrid.

What do you get when you mix an internationally-acclaimed impersonator, outrageous comedy, great standards, and a bevy of icons? The hysterical parody of Judy Garland and her guests found in Michael Holmes' riotous The Judy Show!