Billie Holiday News

Joe's Pub at The Public has announced its slate of performances for this week, Jan. 6-12, including BEST OF CRAIGSLIST, SCREAM ALONG WITH BILLY, JEFF SLATE, EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH SHOW, CHAMPAGNE JERRY, TRIBECASTAN, SUN RA VISITATION SERIES, THE HOT SARDINES, MEKLIT HADERO/LEIF VOLLEBEKK, FREDERICKS BROWN, FEDERICO AUBELE/KEREN ANN/DOM LA NENA, RED BARAAT/METAL TONGUES/PATTEN, REVEREND BILLY, BRENDA RUSSELL, and JOEY ARIAS.

The highly successful Arts & Ideas program at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF) continues into 2014 with an array of fascinating thinkers, writers and entertainers.

Singer, songwriter, ukulele player, pianist, mimic, comedienne and actor Nellie McKay joins forces with two-time Grammy award-winning Turtle Island Quartet for a jazzy jaunt back in time. The program, 'A Flower is a Lovesome Thing,' fills The Eccles Center with the tunes of Billie Holiday, Billy Strayhorn, Doris Day and the Weimar cabaret of the 1920s (plus some present-day originals). Show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Singer, songwriter, ukulele player, pianist, mimic, comedienne and actor Nellie McKay joins forces with two-time Grammy award-winning Turtle Island Quartet for a jazzy jaunt back in time. The program, "A Flower is a Lovesome Thing," fills The Eccles Center with the tunes of Billie Holiday, Billy Strayhorn, Doris Day and the Weimar cabaret of the 1920s (plus some present-day originals). Show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre continues its 44th season with Dr. Du Bois and Miss Ovington starring Kathleen Chalfant and Timothy Simonson. Gabrielle L. Kurlander directs. Performances begin January 16h, with opening night scheduled for January 30th.

Jay is an enormous fan of Broadway and all its denizens and has done many Broadway Cast Albums, but he has also worked with every great star of our time in every category of music.

One of the most innovative and powerful forces in the performing arts world today, director Peter Sellars returns to the Canadian Opera Company with an already acclaimed new COC production of Handel's Hercules, based on Sophocles' timeless tragedy. Sellars propels the Greek myth of Hercules into the modern day, directing the same star-studded cast that premiered this production to unanimous praise at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2011: American bass-baritone Eric Owens as Hercules (COC debut); British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote as Hercules' wife Dejanira; American countertenor David Daniels as Hercules' trusted aide, Lichas; American tenor Richard Croft as Hercules' son, Hyllus; and British soprano Lucy Crowe as the princess Iole (COC debut). Internationally renowned Baroque specialist Harry Bicket leads the COC Orchestra and Chorus through Handel's glorious music. The ancient Greek tragedian Sophocles was also a war general who knew first-hand the devastating psychological traumas facing returning veterans. With Hercules Sellars creates a healing work in which the untold horrors of war and the unspoken complications of reunion find their voice.

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 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.

Regina Carter and Nnenna Freelon will replace the previously announced Tony and Grammy winner Dee Dee Bridgewater in today's December 14, 2013 concert celebrating the 90th birthdays of Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan. The Royal Conservatory congratulates Ms. Bridgewater on her role in the upcoming off-Broadway production of Lady Day, in which she will portray legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday. The production begins September 12, which is the reason Ms. Bridgewater had to cancel her Conservatory appearance in December.

VERONIC Voices will continue to call the historic Jubilee! Theater at Bally's Las Vegas home through 2014. 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, will return in the spring of 2014, following tour dates in Canada. Tickets for newly-announced 2014 performances will go on sale in January.

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 - February 13 - March 9, 2014.

Haitian-Canadian Melissa Laveaux is a self-assured artist that combines folk, indie pop and her signature percussive finger-style blues guitar for a style that is both sophisticated and sweet on her new EP Memory Is A Strange Bell, which is out now.

Justin Sayre - the acclaimed writer and creator of The Meeting* - will make his solo debut at JOE'S PUB at The Public tonight, December 8 at 9:30 PM in an new original show, IN MY GIRLISH DAYS.

RAIN PRYOR stars in this effervescent solo show, which recounts her upbringing in a biracial household (her mother was Jewish) in Beverly Hills, Calif. Ms. Pryor, who sings & portrays a range of characters (including, poignantly, her father Richard in a spot-on impression), will appear in FRIED CHICKEN & LATKES for one performance only, Wednesday, December 11th at 8:30pm. The show, presented by The Inspired Word, will be performed at Tammany Hall on Orchard Street.

After receiving critical and popular acclaim, "Lady Day," the musical about Billie Holiday, will play its final performance on January 5th at Times Square's Little Shubert Theatre (422 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues). The production starring Dee Dee Bridgewater, started previews on September 19th and played 16 previews; opened on October 3rd and will have played 110 performances by January 5th. Written and directed by Stephen Stahl, the musical is produced by Misty Road Productions.

Tune in tomorrow, Wednesday, December 4, 2013 at 12:35 PM (ET) to join in the celebration with 'Mr. Showbusiness' on Jimmy Ferraro's THEATRE CHAT AND THIS 'N THAT, broadcasting live on WWJB -- regionally and nationally on the world wide web: www.wwjb.com/pages/4395150.php. This week's guests are actress and playwright Terry Burrell and actor, producer, and choreographer Lawrence Leritz.

Coming up this week at Joe's Pub: Night of a Thousand Genders, Sky-Pony, Creative Time, Ben Allison Band, CMA Songwriters, Marta Gomez, Sultans of String, Never Sleep Alone, Lri McKenna, Champagne Jerry, Shakina Nayfack, Reverend Billy, Cristin Milioti and Justin Sayre. Details below!

2014 sees some new names and some returns to The Crazy Coqs. January starts with the London debut of the sizzling cabaret performer Carole J .Bufford and her show Body and Soul (January 7 - 11) followed by the popular Broadway star Brent Barrett and his show Night Songs (January 14 -18) and then actress and singer Linda Purl with her show Midnight Caravan: Celebrating the Great Ladies of the Glamorous Nightclub Era of the 40s & 50s (January 21 - 25).

BEETHOVEN AND MISFORTUNE COOKIES is the true story of Kabin Thomas, a musician and, for eleven years, a Professor of Music at the University of Arkansas. Ernest Harden, Jr. portrays Professor Thomas, taking us on Thomas' harrowing journey back to his childhood as he questions his mental health, just as Beethoven must have endured emotional turmoil after the loss of his hearing.

This week (Nov. 27 - Dec.1), Joe's Pub wil feature INNA BARMASH, MICHAEL CERVERIS, CARL HANCOCK RUX, MIKE VIOLA, PIERCE TURNER, OUR LADY J, REVEREND BILLY & THE STOP SHOPPING CHOIR, KENNY ENDO AND KAORU WATANABE'S CONVERGENCE, and JOEY ARIAS.