Birth Place: Newport News, VA, USA
Today we celebrate this weekend's Super Bowl as well as the 94th birthday of one of the most iconic Broadway and Hollywood stars alive, the one and only Carol Channing!
Birdland Jazz Club has announced its schedule for February 9 - February 15, featuring Marilyn Maye, Sarah Gazarek, Jazz Party with Natalie Douglas and more!
There is a very good possibility that many of you have seen or heard of the terrific musical collective known as Postmodern Jukebox across one or more of your preferred social media platforms. This group of clever and talented viral-video/YouTube sensations is the brainchild of arranger/pianist/musical genius Scott Bradlee, whose primary objective has been to repurpose contemporary radio hits and infuse them with the vintage sounds that are more likely to be found in your grandfather's old vinyl record collection. The results? Refreshingly educational, absolutely irresistible, and, most important of all, genuinely entertaining.
Cabaret in New York has never suffered from a dearth of impressive jazz-oriented chanteuses. These include such past and present delights as Mary Foster Conklin, Laurie Krauz, Sally Mayes, Janis Siegel, Kat Gang, and the late Claiborne Cary. It is therefore most unfortunate that Birdland, an otherwise-impeccable jazz nightspot, had to suffer the recent show of Joanne Tatham (celebrating the recent release of her CD Out of My Dreams). While Tatham drew a very good house indeed, the lady has very little business referring to what she does as 'jazz.' In fact, it's not even cabaret. What Tatham delivers is really more a sad club act that couldn't even take it's place among the bluest of blues.
Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director, today announced Carnegie Hall's 2015-2016 season consisting of more than 170 concerts as well as wide-ranging education and community programs created by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute. The upcoming season includes performances by many of the world's greatest artists and ensembles representing classical, pop, jazz, and world music, with events presented on Carnegie Hall's three stages, in the Hall's new Resnick Education Wing, and throughout New York City.
On October 9, 2015, The New York Pops - a symphonic orchestra known for presenting popular programs of exceptional quality - will launch its 33rd season, a series at Carnegie Hall celebrating the diversity of some of popular music's greatest icons.
?Last night, 54 Below presented film and TV star Sally Kellerman in A Little Jazz, a Little Blues, a Little Rock and Roll-an eclectic celebration of her 40-year cabaret career-from her early years at Reno Sweeney in Greenwich Village up to recent performances in Hollywood and San Francisco. Check out photos from her performance below!
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.
Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin has announced that the award-winning musical by Thomas W. Jones II Bessie's Blues will be on stage at MetroStage beginning Jan. 22, 2015. Thomas W. Jones II will direct and choreograph, and William Knowles will music direct. A musical odyssey of African American people in the 20th century, it was ground-breaking in 1994 and is a perfect production for our stage as we celebrate our first 30 years.
The North Carolina Symphony will pay tribute to two of the most beloved performers of the 20th century with Louis and Ella: All That Jazz, which will feature the music of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald performed by trumpeter and vocalist Byron Stripling and vocalist Marva Hicks, with drummer Robert Breithaupt. The Symphony concerts, which will be led by Associate Conductor David Glover, will take place in Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh, tonight, Jan. 16, and Saturday, Jan. 17, at 8 p.m. each night.
Birdland Jazz Club has announced its February 2015 schedule, featuring John Pizzarelli Quartet, Marilyn Maye, Sarah Gazarek, Billy Childs Jazz Quartet, The 5th Annual Broadway Belts for PFF, Jim Caruso's Cast Party, and more. Details below!
Grammy and Oscar award-winning vocalist ?Patti Austin returns to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a performance devoted to the brilliance of Washington, DC native Duke Ellington and 'The First Lady of Song,' Ella Fitzgerald, Thursday, February 19 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore, and Friday, February 20 at 8 p.m. Saturday, February 21 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 22 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
Joe's Pub at the Public has announced its nightly performances, January 14 - 25, 2015. Details below!
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is proud to present an evening of jazz and cross-genre musical exploration in a spectacular double bill featuring drummer, composer, producer, and entrepreneur, Terri Lyne Carrington's Mosaic Project and vocalist and Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition winner Cécile McLorin Salvant on Sunday, February 15 at 7pm in the Chan Shun Concert Hall. The concert will be preceded by a pre-concert talk with Terri Lyne Carrington, moderated by CBC's Margaret Gallagher, at 6:15pm in the Royal Bank Cinema, during which Carrington will discuss her GRAMMY Award-winning The Mosaic Project.
Tickets are $18 plus a one drink minimum. Once sold out, a limited number of standing room tickets are available for $10. Advance reservations are strongly recommended. Call The Winter Park Playhouse box office at 407-645-0145 or purchase online at www.winterparkplayhouse.org .
The North Carolina Symphony will pay tribute to two of the most beloved performers of the 20th century with Louis and Ella: All That Jazz, which will feature the music of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald performed by trumpeter and vocalist Byron Stripling and vocalist Marva Hicks, with drummer Robert Breithaupt. The Symphony concerts, which will be led by Associate Conductor David Glover, will take place in Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh, Friday, Jan. 16, and Saturday, Jan. 17, at 8 p.m. each night.
Joe's Pub at the Public has announced its nightly performances over the next couple weeks, January 6 -18. Details below!
Today we are celebrating a wow-worthy selection of performances of Frank Loesser's classic seasonal offering 'What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?' in honor of tonight's hallowed year-end holiday.
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.
This January and February 54 BELOW presents an exciting lineup of the brightest talent from Broadway and beyond. Located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54thStreet. For a detailed schedule of upcoming performances at 54 Below and to purchase tickets, visit www.54Below.com.
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