Ella Fitzgerald News

Following the record-breaking attendance of Festival 2013, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival announces the 2014 Festival schedule. Jacob's Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, home to America's longest-running dance festival, and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Noted dance writer Jennifer Dunning has called the Pillow "the dance center of the nation, possibly the world."

The highly successful Arts & Ideas program at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF) continues into 2014 with an array of fascinating thinkers, writers and entertainers.

Today we are taking a look at a sensational seasonal showstopper by one of Broadway's best songwriters, Frank Loesser, performed by a line-up of legendary greats sure to start your 2014 off on the right foot - and left!

Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist Leslie Uggams (Roots, King Headley II, Hallelujah, Baby!) is ringing in the holidays with the release of a new single 'Wishing You a Happy New Year' written by renowned film, television, and concert composer-orchestrator Curtis McKonly. Available online at iTunes, Amazon.com, CD Baby and other major digital music outlets, this elegant new tune features the 41-piece Curtis McKonly Orchestra. Click below to watch a behind-the-scenes video of Uggams in the recording studio!

Sylvester Stallone is to make his West End theatre debut when An Evening with Sylvester Stallone, previously announced at Central Hall Westminster on January 11, will now be staged at the world famous London Palladium.

Last night, December 19, Town Hall overflowed with the musical joys of the season when three extraordinary talents, Leslie Uggams, Marilyn Maye and Christine Andreas took the stage for Holiday Belles. These award-winning singers brought their unique and diverse talents to the celebration, performing songs from the musical theater and the American Songbook, as well as holiday favorites. The concert, conceived and directed by Michael Bush, featured each singer performing her own individual set, and then brought them together for a very merry finale of holiday melodies. Check out photos from the concert below!

One of the most innovative and powerful forces in the performing arts world today, director Peter Sellars returns to the Canadian Opera Company with an already acclaimed new COC production of Handel's Hercules, based on Sophocles' timeless tragedy. Sellars propels the Greek myth of Hercules into the modern day, directing the same star-studded cast that premiered this production to unanimous praise at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2011: American bass-baritone Eric Owens as Hercules (COC debut); British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote as Hercules' wife Dejanira; American countertenor David Daniels as Hercules' trusted aide, Lichas; American tenor Richard Croft as Hercules' son, Hyllus; and British soprano Lucy Crowe as the princess Iole (COC debut). Internationally renowned Baroque specialist Harry Bicket leads the COC Orchestra and Chorus through Handel's glorious music. The ancient Greek tragedian Sophocles was also a war general who knew first-hand the devastating psychological traumas facing returning veterans. With Hercules Sellars creates a healing work in which the untold horrors of war and the unspoken complications of reunion find their voice.

The sunny and rhythmic music of Brazil will warm the hearts of New Yorkers this December when Brazilian superstar Ivan Lins and colleagues join with the Paul Winter Consort in the 34th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration, today, Dec. 19 through 21, at New York's Cathedral of St John the Divine, the world's largest cathedral.

Tune in tomorrow, Wednesday, December 18, 2013 at 12:35 PM (ET) to join in the celebration with 'Mr. Showbusiness' on Jimmy Ferraro's THEATRE CHAT AND THIS 'N THAT, broadcasting live on WWJB -- regionally and nationally on the world wide web: http://www.wwjb.com/pages/4395150.php. This week's guests are actor Gavin MacLeod and Elinor F. Rowe.

Jay is an enormous fan of Broadway and all its denizens and has done many Broadway Cast Albums, but he has also worked with every great star of our time in every category of music.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Senior Deputy Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts is one of 150 not-for-profit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Challenge America Fast-Track grant. Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support their April 27, 2014 presentation of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra's A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.

The Ritz Theater, the last remaining historic theater in the City of Newburgh, New York, is slated to begin work on a new marquee on Tuesday, December 10, 2013.

The sunny and rhythmic music of Brazil will warm the hearts of New Yorkers this December when Brazilian superstar Ivan Lins and colleagues join with the Paul Winter Consort in the 34th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration, Dec. 19 through 21, at New York's Cathedral of St John the Divine, the world's largest cathedral.

'The Cabaret is thrilled to be celebrating its 5th Anniversary,' says Shannon Forsell, The Cabaret's Executive Director. 'This season we are celebrating with a cocktail of cabaret created for even the most discerning of cabaret connoisseurs; a mixture of classic and contemporary, high-brow and low-brow, European and American with a splash of Broadway, popular music and Jazz.'

On Tuesday December 3 sublime singer Spider Saloff appeared at Rockwell Table and Stage for an evening of Cool Yule accompanied by electric jazz pianist Richard Eames. I say sublime, as there are a rare few like Saloff who can really sing, wrapping their heart around the lyrics of a song and then delivering it as if they had never told the story before. It takes an actress to sing well, and Saloff has everything it takes. Like Garland, she's one of the best.

Bay Area Cabaret celebrates the New Year by welcoming back Grammy-nominated jazz guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli and Broadway actress/singer Jessica Molaskey. The charming husband and wife duo will perform their critically acclaimed Cafe Carlyle show This Must Be the Place, which The New York Times called, 'brilliant,' praising Ms. Molaskey as 'a singer whose radar yields infallible insight into a song's emotional crosscurrents.' Pizzarelli and Molaskey will perform 5pm, Sunday, January 19, at the historic Venetian Room of the Fairmont San Francisco, 950 Mason Street. Tickets ($48) are available at www.bayareacabaret.org or by phone at City Box Office (415) 392-4400.

RAIN PRYOR stars in this effervescent solo show, which recounts her upbringing in a biracial household (her mother was Jewish) in Beverly Hills, Calif. Ms. Pryor, who sings & portrays a range of characters (including, poignantly, her father Richard in a spot-on impression), will appear in FRIED CHICKEN & LATKES for one performance only, Wednesday, December 11th at 8:30pm. The show, presented by The Inspired Word, will be performed at Tammany Hall on Orchard Street.

SiriusXM today announced that legendary entertainer Regis Philbin, host of FOX Sports' 'Crowd Goes Wild,' will return as the host of SiriusXM's 'Bing Crosby Christmas Radio,' a limited-run 24/7 holiday channel devoted to the American entertainment icon synonymous with classic holiday entertainment.

BIRDLAND RECORDS has announced the release of "A Swinging Birdland Christmas" CD. The CD was recorded live in winter 2012 during a performance of this annual holiday show at historic Birdland Jazz Club in Midtown Manhattan. "A Swinging Birdland Christmas," stars Birdland regulars Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch with special guest jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein. In the tradition of beloved seasonal specials, Blackhurst, Caruso and Stritch perform swinging arrangements by Billy Stritch of Kay Thompson's classics "It's The Holiday Season," "Sleigh Ride," and "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," among other favorites. The record also features Billy Stritch on piano, John Hart on guitar, Paul Gill on bass, Carmen Intorre on drums. The album is executive produced by Birdland's Gianni Valenti.

BIRDLAND RECORDS has just announced the release of 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas' CD. The CD was recorded live in winter 2012 during a performance of this annual holiday show at historic Birdland Jazz Club in Midtown Manhattan. 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas,' stars Birdland regulars Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch with special guest jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein. In the tradition of beloved seasonal specials, Blackhurst, Caruso and Stritch perform swinging arrangements by Billy Stritch of Kay Thompson's classics 'It's The Holiday Season,' 'Sleigh Ride,' and 'I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm,' among other favorites. The record also features Billy Stritch on piano, John Hart on guitar, Paul Gill on bass, Carmen Intorre on drums. The album is executive produced by Birdland's Gianni Valenti.