Eddie Cantor News

ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa will be joined by special guests, including noted showbiz biographer Herb Goldman, writer/entertainer Brian Gari, and actor Michael Townsend Wright, for special audience 'talkback' sessions, following select performances of Deffaa's shows 'One Night with Fanny Brice' and 'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue,' which are playing in repertory this fall at the 13th Street Theater (50 W. 13th Street, NYC).

The new Broadway revival of On The Town, directed by John Rando (Tony Award for Urinetown) and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse (Emmy Award winner for 'Smash') officially opens tonight, Thursday, October 16, 2014 at Broadway's Lyric Theatre (213 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036). BroadwayWorld wants you to get to know the talented cast of Broadway's latest revival. Meet the company below!

For one of their KickStarter rewards, creators Michael Paul Smith and Gillian Pensavalle are thanking their supporters in a pretty unusual way. They are making videos for KickStarter contributors that include classic jokes from a 70-year-old joke book edited by Eddie Cantor. Now where else are you going to get that kind of 'Thank You?' And let's be honest, Gillian's reactions are just as funny as the jokes themselves. Check out some of these videos below.

If you are a regular reader of BroadwayWorld, you should know that the fantastic comedy webseries THE RESIDUALS is currently in pre-production for their second season exclusively here on BroadwayWorld. As part of their preparations, they are in the middle of a KickStarter campaign, and creators Michael Paul Smith and Gillian Pensavalle are thanking their supporters in a pretty unusual way. They are making videos for KickStarter contributors that include classic jokes from a 70-year-old joke book edited by Eddie Cantor. Now where else are you going to get that kind of 'Thank You?' And let's be honest, Gillian's reactions are just as funny as the jokes themselves.

Here we are again, back for the second episode of BOARDWALK EMPIRE's final season. The episode, entitled “The Good Listener”, hit the ground running this week as we caught back up with that major ensemble of brilliant characters we've been missing. The episode opened with a montage of Eddie Cantor singing, fish frying and other oddities, as abstract openings appear to be a theme this season. We pull out into the episode through the ear canal of Eli Thompson, who we find worse for wear, waking up from what appears to be a drunken stupor.

The 18th Long Island Al Jolson Festival coming up on August 16 is a whole-day affair featuring film presentations, lectures, memorabilia displays and sales, and a performance--'The Heart of Al Jolson'--by singer and Staten Island native Tony Babino (photo below), who can sing Jolson songs like, well, you ain't heard nothin' yet. The other day, like clockwork, I received my yearly invitation to attend from Oceanside, LI resident Jan Hernstat, who for the past 10 years has been the President of the 62-year-old International Al Jolson Society (which was formed in early 1950, a few months before Jolson died), an organization with a worldwide membership hovering around 1,000. I am proud to say that for 30 years, I've been one of them. I'm even prouder to say that I've been an Al Jolson fanatic for much longer. Here's my story about how it happened.

Tonight June 24, from 7 to 10 PM, Will Friedwald's 'Clip Joint: A Video Music Mixtape' is set for The Independence Day Americana Special.

The 13th Street Repertory Theater will offer audience talkbacks after the following performances of Chip Deffaa's new musical play 'Irving Berlin's America': Sunday, June 22nd at 8 p.m.; Thursday, June 26th at 8 p.m.; Sunday, June 29th at 8 p.m.; Monday, June 30th at 8 p.m.; Sunday, July 6th at 8 p.m.; and Thursday, July 10th at 8 p.m.

On Tuesday June 24, from 7 to 10 PM, Will Friedwald's 'Clip Joint: A Video Music Mixtape' is set for The Independence Day Americana Special.

Next Show: THE (pre) FOURTH OF JULY SPECIAL - CLASSIC AMERICANA

Scroll down to learn about some of the upcoming theater programs at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and other NYPL locations throughout the city!

Musicals Tonight will present (at The Lion Theatre) Carnival!, The Girl Who Came to Supper, Whoopee, Hazel Flagg and Pardon My English in its 2014-2015 season. Details below!

Since its highly successful Broadway debut 80 years ago, Anything Goes has been revived multiple times and now receives a world premiere symphonic version with Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO) and an all-star Broadway cast, Friday, May 9 and Saturday, May 10, as part of the ISO's Printing Partners Pops Series at the Hilbert Circle Theatre.

The rarest of musical comedies, City of Angels is written in contemporary jazz idiom and filled with sidesplitting comedy. Set in the glamorous, seductive Hollywood of the 40's, the world of film studios and flimsy negligees, the show chronicles the misadventures of Stine, a young novelist, attempting a screenplay for movie producer/director, Buddy Fidler. City of Angels opens tonight, February 7 and runs through February 22, 2014.

Due to illness among cast and crew members, WICA's Theatre Series Production of CITY OF ANGELS has been postoned to next week, now set to open on Thursday, February 13th.

City of Angels weaves together two plots, one is black and white and the other in color. Watch out! It's an action-packed, witty, and spectacular musical that pays homage to the film noir genre of the 1940's detective movies. City of Angels opens February 7 and runs through February 22, 2014.