Ira Gershwin News

S'Wonderful:The New Gershwin Musical//written & directed by Ray Roderick/MTW (Musical Theatre West) at Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Long Beach/through April 20

Nick Ziobro, the 17 year-old pop/jazz vocal sensation, will release his debut album A Lot of Livin' to Do on Tuesday, May 20. The new disc, produced by Michael Feinstein - the two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated vocalist, pianist and musicologist - and available through Titanium Entertainment, will be available in stores and digital outlets such as iTunes and Amazon.com. The album's debut single 'This Guy's In Love with You' is now available on iTunes.

The CSO's last Luken Holdings Pops Series concert of the 2013/14 season pays tribute to the greatest team of collaborators in American music history – George and Ira Gershwin. Here to Stay: The Gershwin Experience is a multi-media concert with a top-notch touring party, including Grammy Award-winning soprano Sylvia McNair. This concert event provides an unprecedented insider view into the legendary duo, and offers rare audio and video footage of the Gershwins.

Smuin Ballet closes its 20th Anniversary Season with two World Premieres and a Michael Smuin classic, touring the Bay Area May 2 - June 7, 2014 in the XXcentric Spring Dance Series. The program will feature one act of Michael Smuin's ebullient Dancin' With Gershwin ballet, back on the Smuin stage for the first time since 2008. XXcentric will also include World Premieres from Smuin's Choreographer in Residence Amy Seiwert and Val Caniparoli, internationally renowned choreographer and principal character dancer at San Francisco Ballet. The XXcentric Spring Dance Series will kick off its tour at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco (May 2-11), continuing at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek (May 16-17); the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts (May 21-25); and at the Sunset Center in Carmel (June 6-7). Tickets ($24-$70) are available by calling the individual venues or visiting www.smuinballet.org.

Musicals Tonight will present (at The Lion Theatre) Carnival!, The Girl Who Came to Supper, Whoopee, Hazel Flagg and Pardon My English in its 2014-2015 season. Details below!

In the late '70s, Vivian Reed captured a Tony Award nomination and won a Drama Desk Award for her work in the Broadway musical Bubbling Brown Sugar, and although Reed has delivered some critically-acclaimed work in the many years since (a Tony nomination for the 1992 musical The High Rollers Social and Pleasure Club and a star turn in the revue Three Mo' Divas), during the last decade she had gone and stayed away too long, mainly to take care of her ailing mother. Last November, she dipped a toe in the New York nightclub waters, producing a one-night show at 54 Below that was highly praised and offered hints of great things to come. But this past Monday night—the first of what will ultimately be a four-show run of “An Evening With Vivian Reed” (the next three dates are April 14, May 20 and June 19)—this performing powerhouse established her return in earnest. With Reed's still expressive voice tackling musical genres ranging from R & B to Jazz to Great American Songbook standards to Gospel (even a dash of Opera), her electric and passionate show was cabaret/nightclub performing as revival meeting in more ways than one. Reed is not only reviving her singing career, she is inspiring impassioned converts at the same time.

As the daughter of one of show business' most prominent couples, Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz, Emmy Award-winning singer/actress Lucie Arnaz has forged a distinct career of her own. She has had starring roles on Broadway, television and film, and has won awards including an Emmy, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award. She brings her new show, Spring is Here, to The Carlyle for a limited five-night engagement, April 15 through 19.

THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, by George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, and Ira Gershwin, comes to the Ahmanson Theatre, April 22 - June 1, 2014.

Performance-only tickets are now on sale to the general public for ACT TWO: A SWELL PARTY WITH MOSS HART AND FRIENDS, An Evening of Songs Sketches, Scenes and More Celebrating the Genius of Moss Hart, Monday April 21 at 8pm at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street). Performers scheduled to appear in the entertainment, which will serve as the centerpiece of Lincoln Center Theater's Annual Benefit and which will be directed by Bartlett Sher, are Victoria Clark, Stephen Colbert, David Garrison, Malcolm Gets, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Byron Jennings, Kelli O'Hara, Steven Pasquale, and Lewis J. Stadlen.

The CSO's last Luken Holdings Pops Series concert of the 2013/14 season pays tribute to the greatest team of collaborators in American music history – George and Ira Gershwin. Here to Stay: The Gershwin Experience is a multi-media concert with a top-notch touring party, including Grammy Award-winning soprano Sylvia McNair. This concert event provides an unprecedented insider view into the legendary duo, and offers rare audio and video footage of the Gershwins.

The Musical Theater Project honors a legendary Broadway performer in 'Loud but Honest: The Impact of Ethel Merman.' This one-time-only performance will be held at Regina Hall on the campus of Notre Dame College at 3pm on Sunday, April 13, 2014.

The 2012 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival opening at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts has a lot of fans, starting with the cast. Actor Alvin Crawford heaps the praise on this area premiere.

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts announced today that The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, will perform today, March 25-30, 2014 at the Ordway.

Crazy For You/book by Ken Ludwig/music & lyrics by George & Ira Gershwin/directed by Neil Dale/choreographed by Dustin Ceithamer/Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Claremont/through April 27

May and June sees some new artists and some returns at The Crazy Coqs, including: Harold Sanditen (May 2-3); Simon Green with David Shrubsole (May 6-10); Lauren Fox with Jon Weber (May 13 - 17); Gary Williams (May 20 -24); KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler (May 26-28); Opera Tottie (May 29 - 31); Bryan Batt (June 3 - 7); Judy Carmichael with Colin Oxley (June 10 -14); Elaine Delmar (June 17 - 21) and more. Details below!

The hit musical Fiddler on the Roof will open the 10th season at the White Theatre. A partnership with The Theatre in the Park, Shrek,will close it. And there will be all sorts of variety in between, announced JCC Director of Cultural Arts Krista Blackwood. "Fiddler on the Roof and Shrek will make great bookends to our 10th season in the Lewis and Shirley White Theatre," Blackwood said.

The 2014 Stratford Festival's theme is 'Madness: Minds Pushed to the Edge,' and includes more than 150 debates, concerts, workshops, and, of course, theater, theater, and more theatre. The play offerings examine the madness of love, family, power, war, desire and money!

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts unveiled its 2014-2015 Season this evening during a standing-room-only celebration that included live pop-up performances, spectacular costumes and festive refreshments, underscoring that the Ordway provides a unique experience with every show. The Ordway celebrates the performing arts with a rich variety of offerings that includes Broadway shows, world music and dance concerts, family events and a special St. Patrick's Day performance in the new Ordway Concert Hall.

Musicals Tonight!, the Obie-winning company dedicated to the revival of neglected musicals, under the leadership of Mel Miller, presents George and Ira Gershwin's musical comedy For Goodness Sake, with performances March 18 through 30 at the Lion Theatre (410 W 42nd Street) on Theatre Row.

Broadway Across America-Utah, dedicated to bringing the best of Broadway and the finest national tours to Salt Lake City, is pleased to announce a Tony Award-winning line-up for our 2014-2015 season.