Freda Payne News

We've rounded up some of the top productions on stage this summer! Find something near you to see using our comprehensive guide below!

The Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival presents a virtual (online) celebration of the holiday season on Wednesday, December 30, 2020 at 6:00 p.m.

Today Patton Daye Slater Productions announced the release of 'Memory Lane,' the second single from the upcoming musical theatre concept album Love & Southern D!scomfort. 'Memory Lane' features vocals by Tony Award winner Nikki M. James (The Book of Mormon) and Broadway veteran Anthony Wayne (Tootsie).

Today Patton Daye Slater Productions announced the forthcoming release of the haunting new single 'Liquid Courage,' a song from the upcoming musical theatre concept album Love & Southern D!scomfort. 'Liquid Courage' features music and lyrics by Bobby Daye, lyrics by Monica L. Patton, and vocals by Broadway veteran Ramona Keller.

Patton Daye Slater Productions announced today that Tony Award-winning producer, Obie Award-winning actor and renowned director Tamara Tunie (Julius Caesar on Broadway with Denzel Washington, 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit') has signed on to direct the company's New York-bound musical drama Love & Southern D!scomfort.

Legendary Jazz & Blues Singer, Barbara Morrison, will present The 3rd Annual California Jazz & Blues Museum Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Concert Fundraiser as a Viral Facebook Streaming Event from The Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center.

Forest VanDyke, Darius-Anthony Robinson, and Kris Coleman performed 'Quiet' by Jonathan Reid Gealt as a tribute to Black Lives Matter.

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the 101 greatest protest songs from 1939-2020. See if your favorite songs or artists made the list!

The TD Edmonton International Jazz Festival presents the 2020 Festival from the comfort of your home. Join us online starting opening weekend June 19-21 and every weekend until July 31 to enjoy free performances and interviews from musicians locally and around the world.

Performer, teacher, and choreographer Alan Onickel will be making his Green Room 42 debut in That Instant. Beginning in South Africa with a life-altering near-fatal car crash, this autobiographical show follows Alan from his visit to 'Coma Land' through multiple surgeries, therapies, doctors, pharmaceuticals, recuperation and finally his return to New York City. Music composed by the incomparable Drama Desk and Helen Hayes award winner Ed Dixon and played by gifted Musical Director Chip Prince. Everyone deals with obstacles in life. That Instant tells of Alan Onickel's unpredictable journey surviving those hurdles.

Performer, teacher, and choreographer Alan Onickel is thrilled to be making his Green Room 42 debut in That Instant.

Michael Childers' presents One Night Only benefitting the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center. a?oeThe Way We Were: Songs of the '70'sa?? features the best of Broadway and pop music from that era, for one performance only on April 22 at 6:30 pm, at The McCallum Theatre. With Direction & Choreography by Scott Coulter and Music Direction by Todd Schroeder, the cast features the best of Broadway and Hollywood performers. I had the chance to catch up with director, Scott Coulter, as he was preparing the production for rehearsal. Here are a few excerpts from that conversation:

Back to the Backlot, a live musical comedy variety show, will bring back many of West Hollywood's famed Backlot Theatre's original showcase stars to commemorate the end of an era of one of the country's most famous venues for live entertainment. The event will mark the beginning of the preservation project known as Robertson Lane, which will re-build the venue formally known as The Factory and the famous Studio One Nightclub. The historic building opened in 1929 as the home of Mitchell Cameras, an early and important movie camera maker for the large movie studios. It was then the Studio One nightclub/Backlot Theatre from the late 1970s through the 1990s.

Cortland Repertory Theatre Downtown at 24 Port Watson Street in Cortland is proud to present The Jazz Ensembles from Cornell University with a unique and exciting concert on Friday October 25 at 7:30 PM. Directed by Paul Merrill, the talented student musicians will present a concert entitled 'Mythology, Folklore, and Freedom: Train Imagery in Early Blues, Folk, Jazz and Pop.' With a central theme of songs about trains and a?oeriding the railsa??, the concert features music by Johnny Cash, Duke Ellington, Bob Marley, Arlo Guthrie, Thelonious Monk, Lead Belly, Elizabeth Cotton, Henry Thomas, Mary Lou Williams, and The O'Jays.  Special guest musician/singer Miché Fambro will also join the group, bringing his own unique sound to the concert.  Tickets for $10.00 for adults and seniors, and $8.00 for youth under 22.

Broadway star Eden Espinosa, recording legend Freda Payne, and Newsies star Dillon Klena have joined the cast of Rockin' in Paradise, a concert to support the Anaheim Performing Arts Center Foundation, it was announced today by Ronn Goswick Entertainment.

Patsy Cline's trailblazing spirit is remembered in a?oeMy Patsy Cline Songbook,a?? the first-ever, full-length jazz tribute album arriving August 23, 2019.  Drawing on her country roots, vocalist Staci Griesbach's debut album explores looking at the Nashville Songbook as another treasure trove to consider reinterpreting for jazz, much like the traditional Great American Songbook.

DONELLE DADIGAN (FounderPresident of The Hollywood Museum), gathered a celebrated roster of stars including Anita Pointer and her sister Bonnie Pointer fro the unveiling of the EVER AFTER exhibit at The Hollywood Museum

On Sunday night, the Tony Awards honored legendary orchestrator and arranger Harold Wheeler with one of three 2019 Lifetime Achievement Awards. Wheeler is currently represented on Broadway with AIN'T TOO PROUD - THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS. Watch Howard Wheeler accept the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award here.

Kevin Black, one of South Florida's best-known producer/director/choreographers, is once again collaborating with award-winning vocalist Mimi J to create a concert program that will appeal to audiences of all ages. The two have worked together several times developing shows that achieved great success - most notably On the Radio: Sounds of the 70s, which debuted at Stage Door Theatre in 2014, and eventually morphed into I Will Survive.  That show went on to play several other area venues. 

The Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival presents its annual programming for the West Hollywood area to the Greenway Court Theatre, 544 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036 on Saturday, July 20, 2019 at 8:00 p.m.