Birth Place: Houston, TX, USA
Ton-Up, Inc. is pleased to announce the debut of Eddie Star's 'College of Rock-n-Roll Knowledge' podcast. Star, who launched his career working with Producer, Arthur G. Wright, (The Righteous Bros., Ike & Tina Turner, Billy Preston), will discuss the bands and music scene that influenced him growing up and his development as an artist.
Lyricist and director Richard Maltby, Jr. and composer David Shire will be honored at the 35th annual Bistro Awards where they will be receiving the Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award, the Bistro Award's highest honor, for their more than 50 years of musical accomplishments.
Art Lab (Meg Fofonoff, Executive Producer) just announced the development of a new musical, shAme, written by Mark Governor, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter. Tony Award Winner Kathleen Marshall is set to direct.
Veteran Punk Rocker, Eddie Star, roars back on to the music scene as the Creative Director for the new O-Broadway musical, 'Rockquiem for a Wrestler.' The musical, inspired by the life of legendary wrestler Ivan Kolo? (The Russian Bear), was written by Actor, Singer, Writer, and Director Philip Paul Kelly (Elf the Musical, Ragtime on Ellis Island, Titanic the Musical).
Northrop announces its 2019-20 Film Series, featuring several award-winning films with diverse artistic voices from around the world. From a film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby to the Beatles fan favorite Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the more recent The Hate U Give, the series includes cult classics and notable works exploring history, social issues, and arts performances.
The Folger Shakespeare Library will host the DC premiere of Ghost Light, a new dark comedy by filmmakers John Stimpson and Geoffrey Taylor. The film, a Feature Film Award-winner at the Austin Film Festival, will be shown in the historic Folger Theatre located on Capitol Hill. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.folger.edu/talks or by calling the Folger Box Office at 202.544.7077.
Freeloader is a young rock band from the Florida panhandle whose twin-guitar attack is reminiscent of some of the finest hard-rock bands of the 70s. Their relentless touring schedule has made them intimately familiar with the roadhouses, truck stops and Waffle Houses of the South. They are scraggly van-sleepers who rarely do their laundry, but who nevertheless pride themselves on their irresistible attraction, and can't pass a woman sitting alone at the bar without trying their luck…
Lights Out: Nat 'King' Cole/book by Colman Domingo & Patricia McGregor/music supervision:John McDaniel/directed by Patricia McGregor/Geffen/Gil Cates Theater/through March 17 A much anticipated musical in Los Angeles has been Lights Out: Nat 'King' Cole, which has received previous tryouts back east. Penned by Colman Domingo and Patricia McGregor, who also directs the piece, the show is supposedly based on real facts from Cole's life and includes most of his standard hits arranged by John McDaniel. Currently onstage at the Gil CatesTheater of the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood, Lights Out is spectacular entertainment, especially from Dule Hill as Cole and Daniel J. Watts as Sammy Davis Jr. but its book is in need of some major retooling. It is December 17, 1957 in the NBC Studio in Burbank where Cole's final 30 minute TV variety show is about to be presented live with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra and Randy Van Horn Singers. Fifteen minutes to air time, Cole is in a deep state of depression over this being the final show. Why? He has millions of fans. Southern states have refused to continue paying for advertising on the show. Cole is a Negro, pure asnd simple. In spite of his fame, it's Lights Out for him. Guest star Peggy Lee has not shown up and friend Sammy Davis Jr. comes in to replace her with his amazing style of frantic comed
'Bring it On' meets 'Dreamgirls' in the girl-group musical, 'Betty and the Belrays' by William Electric Black aka Ian Ellis James, which will be presented by Theater for the New City January 31 to February 17. The piece tells the story of three white female singers from Detroit who struggle to change a racially divided society by singing for a black record label. Book and lyrics are by William Electric Black. Music is by Black, Valerie Ghent (arranger/keyboards for Ashford & Simpson) and Gary Schreiner. Choreography is by Jeremy Lardieri. Director is Mr. Black.
'I just wanted to be honest about everything, from my musical influences to my story,' muses Neal Francis. After years of dishonest living -- consumed by drugs, alcohol, and addiction -- such sincerity is jarring from the 30-year-old Chicago-based musician. Liberated from a self-destructive past and born anew in sobriety, Francis has captured an inspired collection of songs steeped in New Orleans rhythms and Chicago blues. His music evokes a bygone era of R&B's heyday while simultaneously forging a new path on the musical landscape. Ohio-based Karma Chief Records (a subsidiary of rising soul label Colemine Records) will release two songs, 'These Are The Days' and 'Changes, Pt. 1,' in early 2019 with the full LP to follow in summer 2019.
'Bring it On' meets 'Dreamgirls' in the girl-group musical, 'Betty and the Belrays' by William Electric Black aka Ian Ellis James, which will be presented by Theater for the New City January 31 to February 17. The piece tells the story of three white female singers from Detroit who struggle to change a racially divided society by singing for a black record label. Book and lyrics are by William Electric Black. Music is by Black, Valerie Ghent (arranger/keyboards for Ashford & Simpson) and Gary Schreiner. Choreography is by Jeremy Lardieri. Director is Mr. Black.
Geffen Playhouse today announced the full cast for its production of Lights Out: Nat "King" Cole
Mac Miller's Spotify Singles were released earlier this week, marking the first release from Miller since his untimely passing. As a part of the Spotify Singles program—where artists record a new take on one of their top songs, as well as a cover by their own favorite musicians—the late artist performed Swimming highlight 'Dunno,' as well as a cover of Billy Preston's 'Nothing From Nothing'
THE GOAT (or Who Is Sylvia?) is a Tony Award winning play by Edward Albee which opened on Broadway in 2002. It also won the 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, and was a finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In it, Albee uses a married couple and their son to give audiences the opportunity to examine and hopefully question their own moral judgments on what society has labeled as taboo. Martin (Robert Pierson), his wife Stevie (Rebecca Robinson), and their son Billy (Preston Ruess), find their lives crumbling when Martin reveals he has fallen in love with a goat...the Sylvia of the title. Sylvia is a reference to the song 'Who is Sylvia?' from Shakespeare's play The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Proteus sings this song, hoping to woo Silvia. It was also referred to in Finding the Sun, a work by Albee from 1982.
Broadway In Chicago, the producers of HEARTBREAK HOTEL, and Authentic Brands Group (ABG), owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises today, are delighted to announce the full casting for HEARTBREAK HOTEL, a musical premiere that will ignite the stage of the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place (175 E. Chestnut) beginning June 30, 2018.
Broadway In Chicago, the producers of HEARTBREAK HOTEL, and Authentic Brands Group (ABG), owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises today, are delighted to announce the full casting for HEARTBREAK HOTEL, a musical premiere that will ignite the stage of the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place (175 E. Chestnut) beginning June 30, 2018.
ArtsEmerson today announced the principal cast and full creative team for the New England Premiere of Born for This - A New Musical, which plays a limited summer engagement at Boston's Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre from June 15-July 15, 2018.
Contemporary keyboard artistry will be at its peak Tuesday, June 5th at 7:30 p.m., when the Barn Players again welcome internationally celebrated pianist Eric Bikales to their new down-town Kansas City home at the Arts Asylum: 1000 East 9th, (off Harrison Street), Kansas City, MO 64106.
ArtsEmerson today announced the principal cast and full creative team for the New England Premiere of Born for This - A New Musical, which plays a limited summer engagement at Boston's Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre from June 15-July 15, 2018.
The newly revamped national tour of 'Let It Be' includes a fantasy 'reunion' of the group on John Lennon's 40th birthday, October 9, 1980, two months before his murder. The group combined note-perfect renditions of two dozen Beatles songs as well as songs from the group members' solo careers during the 1970s in a generally entertaining, nostalgic trip to the glory years of the Fab Four.
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