Cole Porter News

Yesterday evening at five, Playhouse on the Square hosted a lively reception. Amid refreshments and trivia questions with prizes, Jackie Nichols unveiled the 2014-2015 Season. It's going to be grand!

Victory Gardens Theater continues its season with the World Premiere of The Gospel of Lovingkindness by Victory Gardens Ensemble Playwright Marcus Gardley, directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew. The Gospel of Lovingkindness runs February 28 - March 30, 2014 at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Acclaimed young baritone John Brancy and pianist Mario Antonio Marra, winners of the 2013 Music Academy of the West Marilyn Horne Song Competition, will perform the world premiere of Force by up-and-coming composer Chris Kapica, as well as the famous Schumann song cycle Dichterliebe, works by Dvorak, and a trio of American standards at 7:30 pm in Hahn Hall on Tuesday, March 4. Following the recital, world-renowned mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne will conduct a question-and-answer session with the performers on stage.

Prepare yourself for a glorious night of vintage Hollywood as you're invited to the wedding of the year, and what a swell party it is gonna be!

This February, the Academy of Music at Hamilton High School, winner of the Los Angeles Music Center's Bravo Award, will stage Anything Goes, the classic musical comedy filled with well-loved songs by Cole Porter, blazing tap dance numbers and madcap antics taking place aboard an ocean liner traveling from New York to London. (Little-known fact: The Tony Award-winning 2011 Broadway revival starred Hamilton High alumnus Joel Grey as Moonface Martin!)

The 2013 winners of the Music Academy of the West's Marilyn Horne Song Competition, baritone John Brancy and pianist Mario Antonio Marra, will perform the premiere of Force by up-and-coming composer Chris Kapica, Schumann's Dichterliebe, works by Dvorák, and American standards in a trio of East and West Coast recitals. The first will take place at the Music Academy's Hahn Hall in Santa Barbara, California on Tuesday, March 4, followed by Santa Monica's Broad Stage on Friday, March 7, and the National Opera Center in New York City on Sunday, March 16. The New York recital is part of OPERA America's Emerging Artist Recital Series, a showcase for finalists and prizewinners from the nation's most prestigious young artist programs and competitions.

From One Singular Sensation to The Way We Were, composer Marvin Hamlisch left a legacy of hits that have brightened Broadway and the musical catalogue of America forever. And, now, The Philly POPS is proud to present 'Marvin Hamlisch - A Musical Tribute' conducted by Larry Blank, Hamlisch's conductor, and three of his favorite singers ... Donna McKechnie, Jodi Benson and Doug LaBrecque. Taking place on Friday, March 14 (8 p.m.), Saturday, March 15 and Sunday, March 16 (3 p.m.) in Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center, Blank and the guest artists will not only present wonderful musical memories with the audience, they'll share personal recollections of Marvin Hamlisch as well.

Happy Birthday, John Guare! He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, and Landscape of the Body. Guare has also been involved with musical theatre. His libretto with Mel Shapiro for the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona was a success when it premiered in 1971 and was revived in 2005 at the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park. It won the two men the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical. He wrote the songs for Landscape of the Body. In 1999, he revised the book of the Cole Porter musical comedy, Kiss Me, Kate for its Broadway revival. He also wrote the book for the Broadway musical Sweet Smell of Success.

Cheryl Bentyne, Grammy Award-winning jazz singer, will serve as a judge/mentor at the 2014 Great American Songbook High School Vocal Competition. Bentyne joins founder of the program, Michael Feinstein, for this one-of-a-kind high school program.

This winter a five alarm fire will sizzle in New York City, when Live Nation presents the highly anticipated New York City debut of the hard hitting theatrical concert BURLESQUE TO BROADWAY starring Quinn Lemley playing for four nights at the Gramercy Theatre tonight, February 5 and February 6, 7 and 8, 2014.

Beverly Hills' big 100th Birthday celebration was held on January 28th at 7 PM with a star-studded Centennial Concert and Sing Along at the historic Saban Theatre (8440 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills). Scroll down for photos!

FST's Court Cabaret heats up with TOO DARN HOT on Friday, February 19, and will run through June 7, 2014. The show is developed by Richard Hopkins, Jim Prosser, and Rebecca Hopkins.

On the heels of their one-year wedding anniversary, distinguished entertainers Christine Reisner-Rebic (an international cabaret chanteuse and dancer) and Don Rebic (Broadway and cabaret musical director and composer) will join forces for the New York City debut of their first full-length cabaret act as a duo. 'Look Who's in Love' features their original songs as well as songs by veteran Broadway composer Albert Hague (Christine's uncle) and timeless jazzy standards by Irving Berlin, Jule Styne, Jimmy Van Heusen, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The show is directed by Michael Bush.

Unless otherwise noted, all concerts take place at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston's Theater District. For tickets and information, please call (713) 224-7575 or visit www.houstonsymphony.org unless otherwise noted. Tickets may also be purchased at the Houston Symphony Patron Services Center in Jones Hall (Monday - Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). All programs and artists are subject to change.

Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Cincinnati presented by TriHealth announces its incredible 2014-2015 season which includes the long-awaited return of the Tony-winning Best Musical Disney's THE LION KING, Tony-winning Best Musical ONCE, and a family favorite revival of Tony Award winning RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA among others.

Saladino Dance Productions' Rome Saladino and Marina Putane have assembled a superb eight-member ensemble to perform Singin' and Dancin' in the Rain, their tribute to Hollywood's legendary song and dance man, Gene Kelly. The show consistently received standing ovations when it played at the Aventura Arts and Cultural Center and the Eissey Campus Theatre at Palm Beach State College.

Hotel Nikko San Francisco and Michael Feinstein are proud to welcome star of stage and screen, Megan Hilty, to Feinstein's at the Nikko for two performances only - Saturday, April 12 (7 p.m.) and Sunday, April 13 (7 p.m.). From Broadway to TV, Hilty's extensive resume includes starring roles in Wicked, 9 to 5: The Musical, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 'Smash' and, most recently, 'Sean Saves the World.'

Berkeley Repertory Theatre announces the world premiere of The House that will not Stand, a historical comedic drama commissioned from award-winning poet-playwright and Oakland native Marcus Gardley. Sensuous, witty, heartbreaking, and uplifting - The House that will not Stand unearths a story about free women of color in 1836 New Orleans, where black Creole women entered into common-law marriages with affluent white men. When her wealthy lover mysteriously dies, Beartrice Albans' foundation of security hangs precariously by a thread. She is left to fend for her three unwed daughters in a world where freedom must be carefully negotiated. Told in a rich and lyrical river of words, this new play was developed through The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work. It's helmed by Patricia McGregor, whose many credits include the celebrated production of Spunk at California Shakespeare Theater. The House that will not Stand begins previews on Berkeley Rep's intimate Thrust Stage today, January 31, opens on Wednesday, February 5 and runs through Sunday, March 16, 2014.

At a press conference held at Barrington Stage Company's Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, Artistic Director Julianne Boyd announced the theater's 20th Anniversary 2014 season of musicals and plays that will take place in downtown Pittsfield in the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, St. Germain Stage and Youth Theatre venues in 2014.