Hugh Martin News

On Sunday December 16 at Oil Can Harry's in Studio City Peter Mac received the Lifetime Achievement Golden Halo Award from the Southern California Motion Picture Council for his outstanding recreation of Judy Garland onstage. Presenting him the honor was Council President Randal Malone and MGM stars Margaret O'Brien and Mickey Rooney.

I suppose there's nothing unusual about a little kid waking up one morning to see a group of her parents' friends socializing around the family piano.  It's just that when you're young Loni Ackerman, those friends include Mayor John Lindsay, Ted Kennedy, Ralph Nader, several members of the Black Panthers and, playing the piano, football star Rosie Greer.

Cabrillo's impressive reproduction of the 1989 Broadway version of Meet Me in St. Loui is so charmingly rendered, that one puts the movie, Judy Garland and company on a back burner... at least for 2 hours.

The M.G.M. classic comes to life on the Kavli stage in the Civic Arts Plaza premiere of MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, the heartwarming finale to Cabrillo Music Theatre's 2011-2012 Season. The show makes its Kavli Theatre premiere tonight, July 20th, 2012, and plays until Sunday, July 29th, at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.

The M.G.M. classic comes to life on the Kavli stage in the Civic Arts Plaza premiere of MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, the heartwarming finale to Cabrillo Music Theatre's 2011-2012 Season. The show makes its Kavli Theatre premiere on Friday, July 20th, 2012, and plays until Sunday, July 29th, at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.

Megan Hilty and Rachel York star in the Encores! production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, whick openedon May 9 at New York City Center. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is directed by John Rando with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Randy Skinner and will play for seven performances, May 9 - 13, at New York City Center, 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

Following the Brighton Beach and Downtown Brooklyn series, the Brooklyn Phil concludes its 2011-12 relaunch season with three free concerts in the heart of BED-STUY, in partnership with Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and Brooklyn Public Library.

Created by members of the Gershwin family and their Tony/Grammy Award-winning team, the all-new multimedia symphony show, Here to Stay, features a number of newly arranged charts for orchestra plus rarely seen visual and audio elements from the Gershwin archives.

New York Festival of Song will mark its seventh annual co-presentation with Juilliard and its ongoing collaboration with Juilliard choreographer/dance instructor Jeanne Slater with a program titled INVITATION TO THE DANCE to be performed on Wednesday, January 18 at 8:00PM in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Juilliard.

Created by members of the Gershwin family and their Tony/Grammy Award-winning team, the all-new multimedia symphony show, Here to Stay, features a number of newly arranged charts for orchestra plus rarely seen visual and audio elements from the Gershwin archives.

New York Festival of Song will mark its seventh annual co-presentation with Juilliard and its ongoing collaboration with Juilliard choreographer/dance instructor Jeanne Slater with a program titled INVITATION TO THE DANCE to be performed on Wednesday, January 18 at 8:00PM in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Juilliard.

Saturday night, November 19th, Melissa Errico made her long awaited return to solo concert-ing at the newly renovated (beautifully) Joe's Pub. The venue was packed with family, friends and fans who, pretty much, went wild when she walked up onto the stage. She was accompanied by an unbelieveably expert trio of musicians led by the legendary John Oddo. The evening's music program was extremely well chosen and beautifully performed and sung. Errico's patter, storytelling and anecdotal skills were also on show, in top form and wildly entertaining.

The RRazz Room, San Francisco's premier nightclub, offers world-class Classic Soul, R&B, Traditional Pop, Jazz, Comedy, Revue and Cabaret entertainment.

Performance Now Theatre Company proudly presents Meet Me in St. Louis currently playing through October 16 at the Lakewood Cultural Center. Meet Me in St. Louis is a musical based on 'The Kensington Stories' by Sally Benson and the 1944 MGM motion picture Meet Me in St. Louis. It tells the story of an American family living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904. Their love and respect for each other is tempered with the genuine humor that can only be generated by such a special family. Memorable musical numbers include The Boy Next Door, A Raving Beauty, The Trolley Song, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and the title song, Meet Me in St. Louis.

The RRazz Room, San Francisco's premier nightclub, offers world-class Classic Soul, R&B, Traditional Pop, Jazz, Comedy, Revue and Cabaret entertainment.

Cabrillo Music Theatre proudly announces its 2011-2012 SEASON, produced exclusively in the Kavli Theatre, at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

Tony Award and Academy Award nominee Hugh Martin died in California of natural causes on Friday, March 11. He was 96.

Fifty years after her legendary Carnegie Hall debut, The New York Pops remembers Hollywood icon Judy Garland with a song-for-song re-creation of the 1961 performance that is referred to by so many as "the greatest night in show business history".

Fifty years after her legendary Carnegie Hall debut, The New York Pops remembers Hollywood icon Judy Garland with a song-for-song re-creation of the 1961 performance that is referred to by so many as "the greatest night in show business history".

Truth be told, 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' is one of my all-time favorite holiday songs - sweetly sentimental, blending holiday hope with a certain melancholic sensibility that is perfect for the season. Thankfully, Casey Gilbert's rendition of the song (long associated with the unparalleled Judy Garland) in The Keeton Theatre's production of Meet Me in St. Louis is beautifully sung and Kate Adams-Johnson directs that particular scene with a seasoned hand and an imaginative, visual aesthetic.