Helen Morgan News

This September, Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.

NiCori Studios and Productions announces a new installment of the monthly concert series, 'Music at the Mansion', on Sunday, August 28, at 3pm at the Oakeside Bloomfield Cultural Center in Bloomfield, NJ.  Performers include Lauren Stanford, Sean Harkness and Marieann Meringolo.  The Young Musician Moment will be Alex DiFilippo.

MORE THAN YOU KNOW is a dramatic recreation of Helen Morgan's final night in residency at New York City's Simplon Club in 1932. Written and performed by Lauren Stanford, the play contains songs the chanteuse made famous, including Jerome Kern's 'Bill' and 'Why Was I Born.

Lauren Stanford portrays Helen Morgan in More Than You Know on May 22nd and June 5th, 2016 at 7:00pm at The Triad, 158 W 72nd Street.

Show Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical tells the full story of the making and remaking of the most important musical in Broadway history. Drawing on exhaustive archival research and including much new information from early draft scripts and scores, this book reveals how Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern created Show Boat in the crucible of the Jazz Age to fit the talents of the show's original 1927 cast. After showing how major figures such as Paul Robeson and Helen Morgan defined the content of the show, the book goes on to detail how Show Boat was altered by later directors, choreographers, and performers up to the end of the twentieth century.

Show business' brightest stars memorialized one of their own yesterday, at A Tribute to Polly Bergen, at the American Airlines Theatre (227 W. 42nd Street). An Emmy Award-winning actress and singer, Ms. Bergen's career spanned more than six decades in films, TV, Broadway musicals and concerts. She passed away from natural causes September 20 at age 84. A Tribute to Polly Bergen, produced by Rex Reed and Michael Alden with creative consultant Deborah Grace Winer, celebrated her life and career with a star studded lineup of participants. They included Christine Andreas, Harry Belafonte, Arlene Dahl, Raul Esparza, Michael Feinstein, Gregory Harrison, Judith Ivey, Chris Matthews, Phyllis Newman, Kelli O'Hara and cast members from the 2001 revival of Follies.

Show business' brightest stars memorialized one of their own yesterday, at A Tribute to Polly Bergen, at the American Airlines Theatre (227 W. 42nd Street). An Emmy Award-winning actress and singer, Ms. Bergen's career spanned more than six decades in films, TV, Broadway musicals and concerts. She passed away from natural causes September 20 at age 84. A Tribute to Polly Bergen, produced by Rex Reed and Michael Alden with creative consultant Deborah Grace Winer, celebrated her life and career with a star studded lineup of participants. They included Christine Andreas, Harry Belafonte, Arlene Dahl, Raul Esparza, Michael Feinstein, Gregory Harrison, Judith Ivey, Chris Matthews, Phyllis Newman, Kelli O'Hara and cast members from the 2001 revival of Follies.

Show business' brightest stars memorialized one of their own yesterday, at A Tribute to Polly Bergen, at the American Airlines Theatre (227 W. 42nd Street). An Emmy Award-winning actress and singer, Ms. Bergen's career spanned more than six decades in films, TV, Broadway musicals and concerts. She passed away from natural causes September 20 at age 84. A Tribute to Polly Bergen, produced by Rex Reed and Michael Alden with creative consultant Deborah Grace Winer, celebrated her life and career with a star studded lineup of participants. They included Christine Andreas, Harry Belafonte, Arlene Dahl, Raul Esparza, Michael Feinstein, Gregory Harrison, Judith Ivey, Chris Matthews, Phyllis Newman, Kelli O'Hara and cast members from the 2001 revival of Follies.

Show business' brightest stars will memorialize one of their own when they participate in A Tribute to Polly Bergen, today, March 26, at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd Street, from 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Lauren Stanford (who won the MetroStar Singing Competition at the Metropolitan Room in 2013) has convincingly done herself up to look like the legendary Helen Morgan in her new show, More Than You Know, which she introduced at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in late October and brought to 54 Below this past Friday night. Stanford's presentation is 2/3 singing and 1/3 biography. Research is evident; specific adds color. The use of framed photographs and several conjectured telephone calls is effective (the actress listens). Vocals don't emulate Morgan's controlled vibrato, but Stanford has sufficient musical feel for the period to make mimicry unnecessary. Her uneven contralto can add feeling to a song rather than diminishing it. There are, however, other issues.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Lauren Stanford in 'More Than You Know' tonight, March 20th, 2015 at 9:30pm

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.

Legacy 36, LLC in association with The Ziegfeld Society of New York City will present ON TAP!: From Broadway To The Silver Screen, a song and dance show celebrating tap dancing stars, styles and traditions starring The Legacy Dancers: A Line of Former Rockettes with guest stars Mercedes Ellington and Lee Roy Reams tonight, March 14th. ON TAP! is co-produced, directed and choreographed by Mary Six Rupert and Karyn Tomczak.

Legacy 36, LLC in association with The Ziegfeld Society of New York City will present ON TAP!: From Broadway To The Silver Screen, a song and dance show celebrating tap dancing stars, styles and traditions starring The Legacy Dancers: A Line of Former Rockettes with guest stars Mercedes Ellington and Lee Roy Reams on Saturday, March 14th. ON TAP! is co-produced, directed and choreographed by Mary Six Rupert and Karyn Tomczak.

Show business' brightest stars will memorialize one of their own when they participate in A Tribute to Polly Bergen, Thursday, March 26, at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd Street, from 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Lauren Stanford in "More Than You Know" on Friday, March 20th, 2015 at 9:30pm

The Ziegfeld Society of New York City will present ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 2015: A Spectacular Celebration of Florenz Ziegfeld's World Famous Revue starring Michele McConnell (THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA), and Duane McDevitt, today, February 21st, 3:30pm at Lang Hall at Hunter College (69th Street between Park and Lexington Ave.).

The Ziegfeld Society of New York City will present ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 2015: A Spectacular Celebration of Florenz Ziegfeld's World Famous Revue starring Michele McConnell (THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA), and Duane McDevitt, Saturday, February 21st, 3:30pm at Lang Hall at Hunter College (69th Street between Park and Lexington Ave.).

2013 MetroStar winner and Kansas native, Lauren Stanford, made her solo cabaret debut last summer with I'm a Stranger Here Myself. For one special encore performance, I'm a Stranger Here Myself will be presented on February 1st at 1:00pm at The Metropolitan Room. The show explores New York City's enduring lure through songs made popular by small town women such as Helen Morgan, Mary Martin, Julie Wilson, Peggy Lee and more. Directed by Eric Michael Gillett with Music Direction by Mike Pettry.

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.