Burton Lane News

42nd Street Moon presents INVENTING CHAMPAGNE, a two-night-only engagement celebrating legendary film and Broadway lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, starring two-time Tony-nominated actress Nancy Dussault (The Sound of Music, Do Re Mi).

Happy Birthday Barbra Streisand! Streisand has appeared on Broadway in I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE and FUNNY GIRL, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Streisand won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress for the role in the film version of the musical. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly!, directed by Gene Kelly (1969), and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, directed by Vincente Minnelli (1970). Additionally, she has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, one special Tony Award, five Emmy Awards including one Daytime Emmy, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.

At the annual New Conservatory Theater Center (NCTC) Season Announcement Party for subscribers, donors, artists and press, NCTC Founder & Artistic Director Ed Decker announced the line-up for the 2015-16 subscription season. Regarded nationally and internationally as San Francisco's Premier LGBQI and Allied Theatre Company, NCTC builds on this rich tradition with its 2015-16 Season, featuring exhilarating U.S., regional and world premieres, as well as two extraordinary musicals.

Wednesday night, Michael Feinstein's estimable series Standard Time once again held forth in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, this time celebrating lyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg. Feinstein was joined by guest vocalists Catherine Russell, Nancy Anderson and Malcom Gets. The evening was beautifully put together with anecdotes, history, film clips, and Harburg's amusing poetry. Michael Feinstein's erudition weighs in with his meticulous treatment of The American Songbook and his suave and savory role as host.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com or call (646) 476-3551.

The Crazy Coqs at the Brasserie Zedel, Piccadilly, has announced its March 2015 programme, featuring Billy Stritch (March 3-5), Jim Caruso & Billy Stritch (March 6 & 7), Janie Dee (March 10-14), Roulston & Young (March 17-19), Bobby Crush (March 20 & 21) and Claire Martin & Joe Stilgoe (March 24-28). Scroll down for details!

Vocalist Joey Arias is not what he appears to the uninitiated. This is not a drag performer executing pastiche, but rather an artist serious about music with the talent to offer a full-blooded show. Lifelong affinity for Billie Holiday first professionally surfaced in 1987's Recording Arias on Holiday and continued with the Off-Broadway run of Strange Fruit, an homage to the icon. Her concert Wednesday night for Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, with evocative musical arrangement by Matt Ray, brings Arias' devotion "all the way from downtown above 14th Street."

NiCori Studios and Productions in association with the Oakeside Bloomfield Cultural Center announces a new installment of the monthly concert series, Music at the Mansion, on Sunday, February 22, at 3pm. Performers include Nathan Chang, Tracy Stark and Richard Holbrook. Kevin W. Bergen will be the Young Musician Moment.

The Crazy Coqs at the Brasserie Zedel, Piccadilly, has announced its March 2015 programme, featuring Billy Stritch (March 3-5), Jim Caruso & Billy Stritch (March 6 & 7), Janie Dee (March 10-14), Roulston & Young (March 17-19), Bobby Crush (March 20 & 21) and Claire Martin & Joe Stilgoe (March 24-28). Scroll down for details!

After the success of her HALLOWEEN SPOOK-TACULAR, Bar Thalia at Symphony Space brings back Ruby Powers, the drag persona of Brent Lomas, for a cabaret of pop songs and comedy tonight, December 31st starting at 9:00pm and going until midnight.

If you've been a regular reader of this particular reviewer's musings, you know that every year there are long stretches of time where I just haven't been able to critique all the shows I've seen that deserve commentary. So I end up playing what they call in sports, 'Catch-up ball,' and post a mash up of belated reviews from past shows. It's kind of like a critic's version of the song 'Six Months Out of Every Year,' from Damn Yankees. Give or take a month or two, that's usually the time period during which I store unpublished reviews in my fevered brain and then unload them all in one seemingly endless column-like this one is going to be. If my cabaret-show reviewing days will be over (as chronicled here), I might as well go out with a bang-and relieve my procrastination guilt during holiday season. Now I can scratch one New Year's resolution off the list.

After the success of her HALLOWEEN SPOOK-TACULAR, Bar Thalia at Symphony Space brings back Ruby Powers, the drag persona of Brent Lomas, for a cabaret of pop songs and comedy on December 31st starting at 9:00pm and going until midnight.

This week our spotlight is on Paul Loesel and Scott Burkell, whose original musical LMNOP received developmental productions at the University of Michigan and Goodspeed Musicals (Norma Terris Theatre). The show, produced with Third Coast Creative, will open in April 2015 at TUTS Underground in Houston, TX.

Stark Naked Theatre Company presents its first-ever holiday production with the world premiere of Ho Ho Humbug - a hilarious Christmas-themed comedy produced in association with Third Coast Creative. Certain to become an annual holiday tradition for Houston theatre go-ers, Ho Ho Humbug opens tonight, December 5th and runs through December 24th at Stark Naked's STUDIO 101. The play is recommended for audiences aged 13 and older.

Stark Naked Theatre Company presents its first-ever holiday production with the world premiere of Ho Ho Humbug - a hilarious Christmas-themed comedy produced in association with Third Coast Creative. Certain to become an annual holiday tradition for Houston theatre go-ers, Ho Ho Humbug opens on Friday, December 5th and runs through December 24th at Stark Naked's STUDIO 101.

Following a summer 2013 developmental production at Goodspeed Musicals' Norma Terris Theatre, LMNOP, a new musical by Larson Award-winning writers Scott Burkell (book/lyrics) and Paul Loesel (music), receives a private reading today, November 10, 2014.

Following a summer 2013 developmental production at Goodspeed Musicals' Norma Terris Theatre, LMNOP, a new musical by Larson Award-winning writers Scott Burkell (book/lyrics) and Paul Loesel (music), receives a private reading on Monday, November 10, 2014.

Vocalist Shepley Metcalf, critically lauded by the Boston Globe as a 'superb cabaret/jazz singer,' is celebrating the release of her third recording, 'Don't Bother to Knock,' with a series of shows on the east coast this Fall. New Yorkers can catch Metcalf at the Metropolitan Room for one show tonight, November 1st at 7pm, singing music from the CD along with some other lesser-known gems from the Great American Songbook. Musical partner, Ron Roy, will be at the piano. The Metropolitan Room is in Manhattan at 34 West 22nd Street. Call 212.206.0440 for reservations or contact: http://metropolitanroom.com . 'Don't Bother to Knock' was released on September 30, 2014.

Today in 2009, Finian's Rainbow opened at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 92 performances. Finian's Rainbow is a musical with a book by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Burton Lane. The 1947 Broadway production ran for 725 performances. Finian moves to the southern United States (the fictional state of Missitucky is a humorous combination of Mississippi and Kentucky) from Ireland with his daughter Sharon, to bury a stolen pot of gold near Fort Knox, in the mistaken belief that it will grow. A leprechaun follows them, desperate to recover his treasure before the loss of it turns him permanently human. Complications arise when a bigoted and corrupt U.S. Senator gets involved, and when wishes are made inadvertently over the hidden crock.

The National Alliance For Musical Theatre (NAMT) announced today its selections for the 26th Annual Festival of New Musicals. Beautiful Poison, Cubamor, Great Wall, How To Break, Mary Marie, The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes, String and Stu For Silverton make up the eight new musicals that will be presented at the 26th Annual Festival of New Musicals today, October 23, 2014 and Friday, October 24, 2014 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street).