Bob Merrill News

If showstoppers are the sugary-sweet dessert of any Broadway show, you might think eating nothing but cake would leave you sick to your stomach. But in the case of THE GREAT BROADWAY BELT SHOW! at Feinstein's/54 Below, you'd be wrong. At the April 25 show, dessert for dinner never looked so good.

Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, has announced an exciting quartet of shows, all based on acclaimed films, to celebrate its twenty-second season of Broadway in Concert musicals. The MTG 2017-2018 season includes: SUGAR, WOMEN OF THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, HIGH SOCIETY and HONEYMOON IN VEGAS.

Similar to an actual carved and decorated carousel, In Tandem's musical Carnival circles audiences with the sentiment 'Love Makes the World Go Round.' The familiar song from the 1960's production written by Bob Merrill and Michael Stewart in their book, lyrics and music adapted from a 1950's novel titled 'Lilli' happens outside Paris, circa 1920. Carnivals and circuses played to packed audiences before World War ! and the depression, and in their enchanting story a young orphan named Lilli travels from hr past home when her father dies to search for her future, 'where everyone knows her name,' and of course, true love.

Jack Kleinsinger's Highlights In Jazz, New York's longest running jazz concert series, concludes its record breaking 45th season at 8:00 PM tonight, May 4, 2017 at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, New York City, with The Joe Bushkin Centennial concert, celebrating the rich musical legacy of the legendary pianist/composer with an all-star revue featuring Wycliffe Gordon, Harry Allen, Eric Comstock, John Colliani, Nicki Parrott, Ted Rosenthal, Steve Johns and Spike Wilner, under the musical direction of Bob Merrill, plus, as in all Highlights In Jazz shows, a surprise special guest.

This season, Manhattan Theatre Club stunned and excited theatregoers when it was announced that Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon, two of the most formidable females of stage and screen, would be returning to the boards in an unconventional new revival of Lillian Hellman's family drama, The Little Foxes.

The Fugard's first new musical production of 2017 puts FUNNY GIRL on South African stages, and the results are delightful - with a powerhouse performance from Ashleigh Harvey as Fanny Brice, the stage, radio and film personality around whom everyone and everything in the show revolves.

Rhinebeck Writers Retreat is presenting the first reading of the new musical, BHANGIN' IT, book by Rehana Lew Mirza and Mike Lew and music and lyrics by Sam Willmott, on May 1 in New York City for an invited industry audience. The reading includes actors Shoba Narayan (Natasha Pierre & The Great Comet), Tony Sheldon (Amelie), Dan Rosales (Spamilton), Angel Desai (Company), and Salena Qureshi.  The reading is directed by David Ruttura (School of Rock) and music directed by James Dobinson (The View UpStairs).

As previously announced, Feinstein's/54 Below will present the short-lived musical Henry, Sweet Henry in concert for one performance only.

There may have been a thunderstorm in the Mother City today, but nobody is gonna rain on The Fugard's parade as FUNNY GIRL celebrates its opening tonight. Having commenced performances on 18 April, The Fugard will welcome the media and special guests from the Cape Town entertainment scene at a special performance of the show this evening.

Coinciding with the centennial of pianist/composer Joe Bushkin's birth, the release on May 19 by trumpeter and singer Bob Merrill of 'Tell Me Your Troubles: Songs by Joe Bushkin, Vol. 1' (Accurate Records) celebrates the musical legacy of a man who was revered by many of America's foremost entertainers for his wizardry at the keyboard and skills as a tunesmith.

Capping a weeklong celebration of the premiere of Ryan Murphy's new anthology series Feud: Bette and Joan on FX Networks, the Drag-Tacular Live Concert Event, an evening of old Hollywood glamour, took place on Friday, March 3 at Spectra Lounge at Wolfgang Puck (in the Pacific Design Center) in West Hollywood, CA. Special guest host Tony Award-nominee Sam Harris anchored the evening which featured shimmering chanteuse Niki Haris, singer Jake Simpson, Kay-Ta Matsuno's 10-piece band, DJ Laszlo (Adele, Christina Aguilera, Demi Levato), and special appearances by Heklina, Peaches Christ, and BIANCA Del Rio in the LA debut of Whatever Happened to BIANCA Del Rio?

Capping a weeklong celebration of the premiere of Ryan Murphy's new anthology series  Feud: Bette and Joan on FX Networks, the Drag-Tacular Live Concert Event, an evening of old Hollywood glamour, took place on Friday, March 3 at Spectra Lounge at Wolfgang Puck (in the Pacific Design Center) in West Hollywood, CA. 

Jack Kleinsinger's Highlights In Jazz, New York's longest running jazz concert series, concludes its record breaking 45th season at 8:00 PM on Thursday, May 4, 2017 at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, New York City, with The Joe Bushkin Centennial concert, celebrating the rich musical legacy of the legendary pianist/composer with an all-star revue featuring Wycliffe Gordon, Harry Allen, Eric Comstock, John Colliani, Nicki Parrott, Ted Rosenthal, Steve Johns and Spike Wilner, under the musical direction of Bob Merrill, plus, as in allHighlights In Jazz shows, a surprise special guest.

Based on playwright Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, Bob Merrill and George Abbott's New Girl in Town is a romance mixed with near-tragedy. Its title character's foggy past sets the ground for a beautiful story of redemption and hope, but vaudeville-style humor and dance still feel perfectly at home in this masterpiece of musical theatre. The unexpected treasure plays at 42nd Street Moon through April 16.

With only two weeks to go before its first performance, The Fugard Theatre is gearing up to welcome Capetonian audiences to a brand new production of the classic 1964 musical, FUNNY GIRL.

'That's really niche.' Those words from one of the night's emcees, Feinstein's/54 Below Programming Director Jennifer Ashley Tepper, were technically used in reference to Linda Lavin's propensity to play love interests for superheroes. But, really, they could've been used to describe BROADWAY BOUND: THE MUSICALS THAT NEVER CAME TO BROADWAY, which played at the aforementioned venue March 21.

Judy Garland's 'Over the Rainbow' Barbra Streisand's 'People' and the original cast album of Broadway's THE WIZ are among the 25 titles which will be preserved by the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry for 2016.

Jack Kleinsinger's Highlights In Jazz, New York's longest running jazz concert series, continues its record breaking 45th season at 8:00 PM on Thursday, April 6, 2017 at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, New York City, with a special Women In Jazz program featuring the festive multi-dimensional music of Cynthia Sayer and her Joyride Band with clarinetist Adrian Cunningham, the innovative vocal stylings of Rene Marie plus International Women in Jazz Youth in Action Award Winner pianist Leonieke Scheuble, and, as in all Highlights In Jazz concerts, a surprise special guest.

San Francisco's acclaimed 42nd Street Moon has announced the San Francisco debut of Bob Merrill and George Abbott's New Girl in Town.

2015 METROSTAR Audience Favorite Josephine Bianco debuts her first show. In 2015 she wowed the judges and finished 7th out of 60 contestants, Since then she  has gone gone to sing in front of Michael Feinstein, and most recently she made her New York City Cabaret Convention Debut all at just the age of 15.