Billie Jean News

Today, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre announced a brand new season of shows, taking audiences into the autumn of 2020 with a variety of hit musicals, classic dramas, one night concerts, opera, dance and comedy.

Michael Jackson fans are set to be wowed when the UK's ultimate tribute to the King of Pop heads to Worthing this November. Michael Starring Ben is at the Assembly Hall on Thursday 28 November at 7:30pm.

Today's top stories: Ben Platt and Ali Stroker will perform at the US Open, and more!

Get ready to rock with 'I Am King - The Michael Jackson Experience,' playing at Fargo Theatre Sept. 14.

A slew of Broadway stars will take the stage for the 2019 US Open Tennis Tournament. Set to perform are Tony winner Ben Platt, Tony winner Ali Stroker, and Tony nominee Adrienne Warren, according to Billboard.

Sound Theatre Company, with their season theme of "Un-Erasable" focusing on diversity and "hyper invisibility" of some in America, have started off their season with a stunning piece, "Citizen: An American Lyric" based on the poetry of Claudia Rankine and adapted for the stage by Stephen Sachs. But beyond keying in perfectly to their theme and kicking off the season with a bang, they've coincidentally presented a piece that has tremendous resonance to what's happening in the news today, with the incidents between Serena Williams and Billie Jean King as well as Hurricane Barry in New Orleans giving an all too harrowing reminder of the events of Hurricane Katrina.

On Wednesday evening, the biggest names in sports and entertainment descended on the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles to celebrate the year's best moments in sports at The 2019 ESPYS Presented by Capital One. The show was hosted by comedian Tracy Morgan and aired live on ABC.  Morgan's opening monologue kicked off the night on a high note – the diehard sports fan brought the laughs while discussing his recent sports car dust up and ribbed former New York Giant Odell Beckham Jr. on his departure for the Cleveland Browns.

This Wednesday, the world's best athletes and biggest stars will join host Tracy Morgan for The 2019 ESPYS presented by Capital One. The star-studded evening celebrates the best moments from the year in sports and will air live on ABC July 10 from 8 p.m. ET - 11 p.m. ET from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

 On June 28, 1969, a routine police raid of a gay bar in New York City turned into a violent conflict that ignited protests lasting for days. The Stonewall Inn Uprising is celebrated by many as the birth of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. But the history of gay life in America extends far before and after Stonewall. Using commentary from LGBTQ+ allies and icons (including Matthew Shepard's parents, Stonewall eyewitness participant Mark Segal and Gene Robinson, the first openly gay priest to be consecrated a bishop by the Episcopal Church) and expert perspectives from Smithsonian curators, new documentary SMITHSONIAN TIME CAPSULE: BEYOND STONEWALL tells the story of the LGBTQ+ community in America through an exploration of rare artifacts in the Smithsonian collections, predominantly from the National Museum of American History. SMITHSONIAN TIME CAPSULE: BEYOND STONEWALL premieres Monday, June 24 at 8 PM ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel.

Comedian Sarah Silverman announced earlier this week that her 2010 memoir, "The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee' is being turned into a musical.

There is an old expression in theater about knowing when to shut up and sing. Some performers refuse to subscribe to that theory. If I use Wednesday's concert at the Music Center at Strathmore as a basis, multi-award-winning singer/activist Alan Cumming is – or at least can be or is prone to be – one of those performers.

Now Nottage and director/choreographer Christopher Wheeldon are speaking up about their feelings in the New York Times. 'You can't watch the documentary without being profoundly disturbed by it, but again, we're not judge and jury,' says Wheeldon. 'In our process, we're facing it pretty much head on, but we're also studying the many facets of Michael Jackson.'

The ADVERTISING Club of New York's 2019 International ANDY Awards, the first advertising award show of the season, has announced its list of the top ten ads it predicts will sweep the 2019 awards season. Nike's "Dream Crazy" (Wieden+Kennedy Portland and Park Pictures), John Lewis & Partners' "The Boy and the Piano" (adam&eveDDB), and Libresse's "Viva La Vulva" (AMVBBDO) were the top-ranking pieces of creative from jurors' comments and observations during the entire judging process as well as during the ANDYs LIVE judging that took place in Dublin, Ireland from March 19th - March 21st.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage is currently at work developing the book of a stage musical based on the life and career of music legend Michael Jackson.

Kansas City Womens Chorus at the Folly Theatre presents 'UNSUNG' April 5, 2019 @ 8 pm, & April 6, 2019 @ 2:30pm. Featuring songs that celebrate the 'UNSUNG' women of history.

Producer Mark Cortale has announced that two time Emmy Award winner Sarah Silverman will join Sirius XM Star Seth Rudetsky for two special music and comedy evenings in California.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and Mark Cortale present two-time Emmy Award-winning comedian and author Sarah Silverman with Sirius XM Radio star Seth Rudetsky.  This one-night-only event will take place on Friday, May 3, at 7:00 pm, in The Wallis' Bram Goldsmith Theater.  Single tickets are now on sale.

The New York Pops 36th Birthday Gala concert, Hat Full of Stars: The Songs of Cyndi Lauper, on Monday, April 29 at 7:00 p.m. at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, will feature twenty participants from the orchestra's Kids on Stage program. The Kids on Stage program provides middle school students access to the professional performance process through an audition process, comprehensive rehearsal period, and performance with the orchestra on the Carnegie Hall stage.

The New York Pops, led by Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke, today announces an initial line-up of guest artists for its 36th Birthday Gala, Hat Full of Stars: The Songs of Cyndi Lauper on Monday, April 29, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, presented by The New York Pops. The festive evening honors Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning music icon Cyndi Lauper in addition to corporate honoree media executive Ken Lowe, founder of Scripps Networks and Discovery Board Member.

Orleans Arena today announced that it will serve as the home venue for World TeamTennis' (WTT) all-new Las Vegas expansion franchise team, the Vegas Rollers, starting in July 2019, and the host of the 2019 WTT playoffs in August.