George Gershwin News

A dream cabaret pairing comes to Segerstrom Center for the Arts when Grammy® Award-winning artist Jimmy Webb and Grammy and Drama Desk-nominated vocalist Maureen McGovern perform three concerts in their Cabaret Series debuts April 11 - 13 in Samueli Theater. This will also be Webb's Center debut, while McGovern appeared at the Center during the 2004 - 2005 Broadway Series as Marmee in the national tour of Little Women. The New York Times proclaims McGovern as "blessed with a vocal technique second to none" and says that Webb is "at the top of his game."

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 1/24/2014.

Donna Vivino, the rising Broadway and vocal star, will celebrate the release of Beautiful Dreamer - her debut solo album from Ghostlight Records - with a special performance at 54 Below tonight, January 23 at 9:30 PM. The veteran of Broadway's 'Wicked' and 'Les Miserables,' Vivino will reprise her solo concert 'It's Not Easy Being Green' with special numbers from the new recording.

It may be one of the greatest combinations of classical music with jazz and pop ever created by an American-born composer, and this February 12 it will be 90 years since the immortal George Gershwin first played his 'Rhapsody in Blue' for an audience. Bandleader Vince Giordano and Conductor Maurice Peress, who share a love for American music, have joined forces to honor Paul Whiteman's historic Aeolian Hall concert on the same day and the same block where Gershwin's amazing piece was introduced nine decades ago. This concert will be on Wednesday, February 12th, at The Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, NYC, at 8:00pm for a one-time-only performance. Tickets are modestly priced ranging from $25 to $40 and will be available at www.ticketmaster.com or at The Town Hall box office.

Today in 1942, the first revival of Porgy and Bess opened at the Majestic Theatre, where it ran for 286 performances. First performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, it was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward. All three works deal with African-American life in the fictitious Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina, in the early 1920s. Originally conceived by George Gershwin as an 'American folk opera', Porgy and Bess premiered in New York in the fall of 1935 and featured an entire cast of classically trained African-American singers-a daring artistic choice at the time.

El musical culinario permanecera en cartel del 7 de febrero al 4 de mayo.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 1/17/2014.

With a signature flair for programming and a nod to three of history's great jazz artists who are equally at home in the symphonic scene, Music Director and conductor Mitchell Sardou Klein has programmed an evening of music by Bay Area composer/pianist Taylor Eigsti and his artistic predecessors Dave Brubeck and George Gershwin in two performances tonight and tomorrow, January 17 and 18.

By all means GO SEE THIS PRODUCTION. The voices are amazing! In addition, you may never have another opportunity to experience music of the legendary Gershwins' at their very best, in a multi-award winning production.

Today, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) Artistic Director, Dr. Timothy Seelig, announced the program for LUSTER: AN AMERICAN SONGBOOK at Davies Symphony Hall (201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco), on Tuesday, March 25 and Wednesday, March 26, 2014 at 8 p.m. A celebration of 20th Century American music, LUSTER will feature the 300 men of the chorus and special guest Ann Hampton Callaway singing timeless classics from George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and Irving Berlin. The performance will also include the world premiere of 'Tyler's Suite,' a multi-movement work created by top American composers of this century, presented in collaboration with the Tyler Clementi Foundation (TCF). Passionate about the story of Tyler Clementi, composer Stephen Schwartz selected John Bucchino, Ann Hampton Callaway, Craig Carnelia, John Corigliano, Nolan Gasser, Jake Heggie, Lance Horne, and Pamela Stewart to join him as they each created a movement for 'Tyler's Suite.' Tickets for LUSTER range in price from $25 - $75 and are available now by visiting www.SFGMC.org or by calling City Box Office at 415.392.4400.

Today, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) Artistic Director, Dr. Timothy Seelig, announced the program for LUSTER: AN AMERICAN SONGBOOK at Davies Symphony Hall (201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco), on Tuesday, March 25 and Wednesday, March 26, 2014 at 8 p.m. A celebration of 20th Century American music, LUSTER will feature the 300 men of the chorus and special guest Ann Hampton Callaway singing timeless classics from George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and Irving Berlin. The performance will also include the world premiere of “Tyler's Suite,” a multi-movement work created by top American composers of this century, presented in collaboration with the Tyler Clementi Foundation (TCF). Passionate about the story of Tyler Clementi, composerStephen Schwartz selected John Bucchino, Ann Hampton Callaway, Craig Carnelia, John Corigliano, Nolan Gasser, Jake Heggie, Lance Horne, and Pamela Stewart to join him as they each created a movement for “Tyler's Suite.” Tickets for LUSTER range in price from $25 - $75 and are available now by visiting www.SFGMC.org or by calling City Box Office at 415.392.4400.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 1/10/2014.

DONNA VIVINO, the rising Broadway and vocal star, will celebrate the release of Beautiful Dreamer - her debut solo album from Ghostlight Records - with a special performance at 54 Below on Thursday, January 23 at 9:30 PM. The veteran of Broadway's "Wicked" and "Les Miserables," Vivino will reprise her solo concert "It's Not Easy Being Green" with special numbers from the new recording. She will be joined by Musical Director Ken Levinsky on piano and Jeff Ganz on bass. The album was released in stores and via online outlets December 10, 2013.

Maureen McGovern has been called the singer with 'The Stradivarius Voice,' so tremendous is her talent. Her 40-year career has encompassed recording, song writing, concerts, radio, television, film and Broadway, and is about to begin her second show-stopping stint with The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, appearing tonight, January 7 through March 8, 2014. McGovern made her Broadway debut in The Pirates of Penzance in 1981.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 1/3/2014.

Hershey Felder in Abe Lincoln's Piano will have its world premiere in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse as a limited fifteen-performance engagement starting tonight, January 3, 2014.

Don Hendley was among the performers who paid tribute to 2013 Kennedy Center honoree Billy Joel on last night's THE 36TH ANNUAL KENNEDY CENTER HONORS on CBS.

Last December, after I posted my list of the Best Cabaret Performers of 2012, I followed up my original 'listmania' with a column that served as a way to include some 'honorable mentions,' basically a recognition of other memorable shows and performances of songs that were striking, unique, and/or original that year. The column received a positive response so I thought I'd wheel it out again this year. So as the hours tick away on 2013 and we anticipate the coming of a new year, here is an addendum to the 2013 New York Cabaret Performers of the Year--a totally random list of 30 Honorable Mentions of the 'Best' and 'Most' in Cabaret for 2013 . . . mainly because I can and it's fun. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Champions of American music for more than a decade, Opus Two violin-piano duo presents a multi-media program of the inimitable works of George Gershwin (1898-1937), one of Americas most popular and iconic composers. Violinist William Terwilliger and pianist Andrew Cooperstock will explore Gershwin's many musical styles, from the jazz influenced An American in Paris to the quintessential folk opera Porgy and Bess. They will also perform I Got Rhythm, Embraceable You, and But Not for Me.... in colorful and virtuosic transcriptions by legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz along with brand-new Opus Two commissions by esteemed Broadway music director Eric Stern. Projected images by African-American period photographer Richard Samuel Roberts and entertaining video clips of Judy Garland and Gene Kelly will round out the program. The concert will be held at the Bruno Walter Auditorium today, December 28 at 2:30pm.