Howard Dietz News

Tickets are now on sale for 'All the Way: The Music of Jimmy Van Heusen & Friends,' an extraordinary concert event to be produced by The Mabel Mercer Foundation on Friday, May 18th at 7:30 p.m. The special, one-time-only performance will be offered at Weill Recital Hall (part of the Carnegie Hall complex) at 154 West 57th Street.

The Axelrod Performing Arts Center (APAC) is celebrating the Fred Astaire songbook on Sunday, April 8 at 3 p.m. with star vocalists Danny Bacher and Alexis Cole, who recently appeared together at Carnegie Hall, and two leading Broadway dancers, Cory Lingner("On the Town," "American in Paris") and Eloise Kropp ("Dames at Sea," "CATS"), performing with an all-star jazz band led by Dr. Art Topilow on piano, with Aaron Weinstein on violin, Mike Lee on saxophone, Doug Clarke on guitar, Rudy Petschauer on percussion and Gary Mazzaroppi on bass.

Steve Elmore, an original cast member of Stephen Sondheim's ground-breaking musical 'Company' as well as a regular presence on Broadway for more than three decades, passed away recently in Florida at age 84, his wife Carolyn Marcell Elmore confirmed.

The Mabel Mercer Foundation announced this week that Adela and Larry Elow have established a $50,000 endowment fund, created specifically to 'encourage teenagers to learn and perform The Great American Songbook, as composed between the years 1900-1970.'

BroadwayWorld continues our exclusive content series, in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, which delves into the library's unparalleled archives, and resources. Below, check out a piece by Annemarie van Roessel, Assistant Curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Division on: The Designs of Jo Mielziner.

'Dr. Jazz' as the famous oncologist (Dr. Arthur Topilow) from Jersey Shore Medical Center is known will be accompanying one of the world's most celebrated jazz vocalists Ann Hampton Callaway in an all-Arlen concert on Sunday, April 2, 2017, at 3 p.m. at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center (APAC).

'Dr. Jazz' as the famous oncologist (Dr. Arthur Topilow) from Jersey Shore Medical Center is known will be accompanying one of the world's most celebrated jazz vocalists Ann Hampton Callaway in an all-Arlen concert on Sunday, April 2, 2017, at 3 p.m. at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center (APAC).

Ken Bloom, author of the new book SHOW AND TELL: The New Book of Broadway Anecdotes has won a 2017 Grammy Award in the category Best Album Notes along with his collaborator Richard CarlinIt's for Harbinger's Sissle and Blake Sing HUFFLE ALONG CD. This was Bloom's second Grammy nomination. His recording of “Maxine Sullivan Sings Great Songs from the Cotton Club” was previously nominated as Best Jazz Vocal Album.

A cast of Broadway stalwarts will join Tony Award winning legend and international stage and film star Liliane Montevecchi in The Ziegfeld Society's gala benefit performance of Ziegfeld Follies Of The Air: The New 1934 Live from Broadway Broadcast Revue, devised and directed by Walter Willison with musical direction and special musical arrangements by Mark York.

'For 47 years, the world of entertainment was blessed with a force of nature called Judy Garland,' Michael Feinstein begins, 'and for Judy, it all began at MGM.' As the artist takes his time with Arthur Schwartz/Howard Dietz's 'That's Entertainment,' screens on either side of the stage show clips from the film of the same name deftly edited to reflect every lyric. A coda of special material makes 'star' recognition even more specific. In Feinstein's A HOLIDAY TO REMEMBER at Feinstein's/54 Below, we hear songs from Garland's films and appearances, some iconic, others less known. Despite a life of trials, we're told, the performer left a legacy of optimism and joy. She had a quick-witted sense of humor, especially about herself. On one occasion, when Lucille Ball was praised for her humor, she responded that it was scripted, while Judy Garland's was spontaneous. The show is peppered with illuminating anecdotes.

Ken Bloom, author of the new book SHOW AND TELL:  The New Book of Broadway Anecdotes has been nominated for a 2017 Grammy Award in the category Best Album Notes along with his collaborator Richard Carlin. This is Bloom's second Grammy nomination. His recording of "Maxine Sullivan Sings Great Songs from the Cotton Club" was previously nominated as Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Liliane Montevecchi headlines an all-star cast in The Ziegfeld Society of New York City's gala benefit performance of Ziegfeld Follies Of The Air: The New 1934 Live from Broadway Broadcast Revue.

Julia and Lance, a young professional New York City couple, have just moved into what they believe is their dream home, in the West Village. As they bicker over unpacking and remodeling, flyers containing radical slogans fly through the mail slot and land on the kitchen counter. Is the house haunted? Reluctantly, Julia decides to summon Eleanor, her mother and a dowser living in Vermont. Eleanor figures out the problem, but it will take more than a dowsing stick to uncover the secrets of the townhouse. A play about parents and children and how the past is never far away from the present.

Join us for our third 360lab Fall Reading, The Townhouse by Amy Merrill and directed by Thom Fogarty, at Judson Memorial Church Assembly Hall, 239 Thompson Street, NYC on Monday, November 7, 2016 at 7:00pm.

For their 2016-2017 season, American Classics takes a novel approach, drawing all three programs on great literature.  They open with Shakespeare in Song, in honor of the 400th anniversary of his death, with songs from The Boys From Syracuse (Rodgers & Hart, based on The Comedy of Errors), Kiss Me Kate (Cole Porter, based on The Taming of the Shrew), West Side Story (Bernstein and Sondheim, based on Romeo and Juliet), The Lion King (Tim Rice and Sir Elton John, based on Hamlet), and some unusual songs from drawn from Shakespeare.  Caroline Musica, Cynthia Mork, Eric Bronner make up the quartet of singers, with Bradford Conner presiding at the keyboard.  

Ken Bloom, who is a leading authority on American popular song and musical theatre, has written SHOW AND TELL: The New Book of Broadway Anecdotes to be released October 3, 2016.

Debonair cabaret veteran Richard Holbrook returns to EAG's Guild Hall with his musical tribute to the legendary entertainer Fred Astaire.

The second of a six-part, decade-by-decade video series sampling the legendary artist's performances of musical theatre classics.

Attending a Steve Ross show is often akin to time travel. The audience is transported back to eras when urbanity and dash were watchwords, when interpretation meant being as true to the period as the meaning of lyrics. The classy Mr. Ross, known primarily for iconoclastic solo performance, appeared at Birdland Monday night with a zealous 11-piece band helmed by long time confederate Brian Cassier. The joint was jumpin'.

With new Sunday evening Jazz Party host Carole J. Bufford performing elsewhere last night, the Birdland Jazz Club recruited drummer Ray Marchica and his vocalist wife Nina Hennessy (right), who rounded up some of their talented friends for an evening of vocal and instrumental jazz, new compositions, and golden standards. Marchica's band featured Sean Harkness on guitar, Tom Hubbard on bass, and Bob Quaranta on piano. Special guests included vocalist Marissa Mulder and composer/pianist Ian Herman.