Billie Holiday News

BroadwayWorld.com has learned that talks are indeed currently underway with five-time Tony winner Audra McDonald to bring her back to the stage as legendary songstress Billie Holliday in a revival of Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. The show will reportedly play at the Circle in the Square Theatre, where current occupant Bronx Bombers will close on March 2, 2014. An official announcement has not yet been made, but sources tell us that a deal, dates and release is 'imminent.'

The 29th Annual Bistro Awards gala, set to take place on Tuesday, March 4, has announced two new presenters. Stephen Schwartz, the Oscar, Tony, Grammy, and Golden Globe-winning composer/lyricist, who wrote the scores to such musicals as Pippin, Wicked, Godspell, and The Magic Show, will present Ben Vereen, the Tony Award-winning actor-singer-dancer, with the Lifetime Achievement Award. And Dee Dee Bridgewater, who recently starred as Billie Holiday in the acclaimed Off-Broadway play 'Lady Day' and who can be listened to twice weekly in her own programs on the all-jazz nonprofit radio station WBGO, will present Amy Niles, acting president and CEO of the Newark-based station, with its award.

Provogue Records are pleased to announce the March 24th CD, DVD & Blu-ray release of 'Live In Amsterdam', the debut live recording from Grammy-nominated duo Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa.

Tony Award-nominee Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Avenue Q), Drama Desk-nominees Chip Zien (Into the Woods, Falsettos) & Karen Mason (Sunset Boulevard, Mamma Mia!), Sebastian Arcelus (Elf, A Time to Kill), Nightlife Award-Winner Mark Nadler, Jillian Louis, Danny Gardner and the Broadway by the Year Chorus have been added to Town Hall's 14th season opener of its Broadway by the Year Series on Monday, February 24 at 8pm, THE BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1915-1939. They join previously announced Tony Award-winners Tonya Pinkins and Beth Leavel, Tony Award-nominees Carolee Carmello, Stephanie J. Block, Karen Akers and Emily Skinner, Drama Desk Award-nominee Julia Murney, Grammy Award-winners Lari White and John Easterlin, Noah Racey (Curtains), Camille Saviola (Nine), concert and recording artist Howard Fishman and Nightlife Award-winner Carole J. Bufford. Individual tickets ($57 and $47) are on sale at www.TicketMaster.com or by phone at 800-982-2787; series subscriptions ($180-$220) are available at www.TheTownHall.org.

The iconic festival, Newport Jazz Festival, turns 60 and takes the show on a road with Philadelphia performance and debut at the Merriam Theater on Sunday, March 9 at 8 p.m. The Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60 pays homage to jazz luminaries such as Billie Holiday, Dizzie Gillespie, and Duke Ellington, whose classic jazz standards where first recorded at the festival, reinterpreted through the lens of contemporary jazz artists. The program also provides a progressive exploration of global jazz with Brazilian, Gypsy, Latin influences.

Ann Hampton Callaway is one of the leading champions of the great American Songbook, having made her mark as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, TV host and producer. She will perform at Crazy Coqs from April 8 - 12.

Hotel Nikko and Michael Feinstein will welcome renowned San Francisco Bay Area jazz vocalist, Paula West, to Feinstein's at the Nikko for a four-week engagement - tonight, February 13 - March 9, 2014.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 2013-14 season with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra's A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, featuring vocalist Deloris King Williams,on Sunday, April 27, 2014 at 3:00pm. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by phone at 718-951-4500 (Tues-Sat, 1pm-6pm) or online at BrooklynCenterOnline.org.

What does it mean when we say someone is cool? Cool carries a social charge of rebellious self-expression, charisma, edge and mystery. 'American Cool' will feature 100 photographs of icons who have contributed an original artistic vision to American culture and are symbolic figures of their time. The exhibition will be open at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery today, Feb. 7 through Sept. 7.

The National Black Touring Circuit's 2014 Black History Month Play Festival will hold poetry, music and drama performances in Harlem that celebrate acclaimed poet Amiri Baraka, legendary singer Billie Holiday, the Great Divas of Gospel and Ossie Davis' renowned play 'The People of Clarendon County' from February 7 - March 2.

The Billie Holiday Theatre continues its 42nd Season Generations United on February 27 with the World Premiere of Maid's Door by Writers Guild Award winner and Emmy Award nominee Cheryl L. Davis; the show will be directed by the Theatre's Artistic Director Jackie Alexander. Previews will begin Thursday, February 27; Opening Night will be Thursday, March 6; and the show will run through Sunday, March 30. Performances are Thursday-Saturday at 8pm with matinees on Saturday at 3pm and Sunday at 4pm. All tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at www.thebillieholiday.org or by calling the box office at 718-636-0918 or 0919. A discounted rate of $15 is available for Children 15 and younger, Seniors, and Students with a valid ID.

Third Man Records is proud to present the debut album from The Haden Triplets.

Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) will celebrate its annual Gala on March 27, 2014 at BB King's Blues Club in Times Square, hosted by the vivacious singer, band leader, and multiple MAC Award winner, Terese Genecco. The gala will be produced by Julie Miller and directed by Lennie Watts, the current MAC President.

On Monday, January 27, Broadway, jazz and pop performers jammed Jim Caruso's Cast Party at Birdland, as they have every Monday for the past ten years! The evening was made especially meaningful with the 5th 'Mentor Monday,' a monthly musical segment that pairs up and coming composers with established artists. Presenter Trevor McQueen combined Broadway's Lillias White with writers Ethan Pakchar and Douglas Lyons, a young songwriting team who began collaborating while touring with The Book of Mormon. The resulting performance was the song, 'Not Meant To Be in Love,' accompanied by Matt Aument, which gave Lillias ample opportunity to be vampy and campy and otherwise leave the audience helpless with laughter. It was a perfect way to introduce the community to Lyons & Pakchar's clever wordplay and catchy melodies!

The SOURCE Theatre Company will stage the company created musical production 'The Five Points Wrapped Around My Soul' in February.

The multi-talented British singer, actress and writer, NINA KRISTOFFERSON, debuted her passionate and exhilarating, self-penned, one-woman show 'Billie Holiday Story' in 2011 at the Edinburgh Festival. Following a sellout season at London's Charing Cross Theatre in the spring of 2013, Nina will now be hitting the road in April and May 2014, taking her critically acclaimed show about the life of Lady Day to audiences around the UK.

Chicago Children's Theatre has announced casting for its world premiere of Mr. Chickee's Funny Money, an all-new, rhythm and blues family musical playing tonight, January 18 - March 2, 2014 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn, Chicago. Press opening is Friday, January 24 at 7 p.m.

For its much-anticipated 12th annual season, the Downtown Urban Theater Festival (DUTF) will again take residency at HERE's Mainstage in New York City, April 2nd through 19th, 2014, with three weeks of new groundbreaking theatre.

On Monday, February 24 at 8pm, Town Hall will kick-off the 14th season of its Broadway by the Year Series with THE BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1915-1939 which will feature Tony Award-winners Tonya Pinkins and Beth Leavel, as well as Tony Award-nominees Carolee Carmello, Stephanie J. Block, Karen Akers, and Emily Skinner, Drama Desk Award-nominees Aaron Lazar, Julia Murney and Kerry O'Malley, Grammy Award-winner Lari White, and Noah Racey (Curtains), Camille Saviola (Nine), concert and recording artist Howard Fishman and Nightlife Award-winner Carole J. Bufford. Individual tickets ($57 and $47) are on sale at www.TicketMaster.com or by phone at 800-982-2787; series subscriptions ($180-$220) are available at www.TheTownHall.org. Bank of America is proud to support Broadway by the Year with additional support provided by The Edythe Kenner Foundation.

Continuing its successful run at the historic Jubilee! Theater at Bally's Las Vegas, VERONIC Voices announces 27 new show dates beginning April 24, 2014, now on sale. Veronic DiCaire, the vocal impressionist who has taken Las Vegas by storm with her spot on ability to recreate the voices of music's most iconic female singers, continues to perform until Jan.18 and will return to Las Vegas with new show content this spring. Tickets for 27 of the newly-announced 2014 performances are on sale at veronicvoices.com.