Irving Berlin News

Kritzerland at Sterling's Upstairs at The Federal presents BERLIN TO ROME: THE SONGS OF IRVING BERLIN & HAROLD ROME on Sunday, May 3, 2015 at 7:00 PM.

Colin Donnell and Patti Murin, who recently starred opposite each other in Encores! LADY, BE GOOD, will return to the stage in Irving Berlin's HOLIDAY INN at The Muny in St. Louis beginning July 6, just one week after they tie the knot!

The Chicago stage premiere of Academy Award winning director Taylor Hackford's LOUIS & KEELY 'LIVE' AT THE SAHARA has been extended by popular demand through Sunday, May 17 at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 North Halsted Street. Hackford, best known for his films An Officer and a Gentleman, Against All Odds, The Devil's Advocate,.

'Big, bold and beautiful' vocalist and U.S. Navy Veteran, Kim Sutton, brings her show, 'Anchors Away,' back to New York for Fleet Week. Sutton uses her experiences in the military of the 1980s as the platform for an ebullient and touching look at Navy life for a teenage girl of limited means who made the choice for service as a route to education and adventure.

On Friday, April 17 Barbara Minkus brought her new one-woman show An Evening with Barbara Minkus 'It's All About Love' (the good, the bad, the funny, the sad) to Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Glendale as a fundraiser for the Sacred Arts Ministry. Affable Ron Barnett served as musical director and accompanied at the piano and Cooper Appelt was on bass for the bright 65-minute set.

Berkshire Theatre Group and Artistic Director/CEO, Kate Maguire, are thrilled to announce the casting for Berkshire Theatre Group's 87th summer season.

Steele Spring Stage Rights officially publishes ASCAP Award-winner Chip Deffaa's musical play 'Irving Berlin's America'--which successfully premiered in 2014 at the 13th Street Repertory Theater in New York City--on Monday, April 20th. The 13th Street Rep will celebrate the publication on 5 pm this Sunday, April 19th. Coinciding with publication of the script, filmmaker Max Galassi is releasing a brand new video to promote 'Irving Berlin's America' -- check it out below!

Steele Spring Stage Rights officially publishes ASCAP Award-winner Chip Deffaa's musical play 'Irving Berlin's America'--which successfully premiered in 2014 at the 13th Street Repertory Theater in New York City--on Monday, April 20th. The 13th Street Rep will celebrate the publication on 5 pm Sunday, April 19th.

We're reaching for the moon, putting all our eggs in one basket, dancing cheek to cheek and pouring our hearts into a song, because it's time to face the music and dance! All Dancing! All Singing! is the first Lyrics & Lyricists dance revue, celebrating Irving Berlin's contributions to Hollywood musicals. Artistic director/choreographer Randy Skinner directs a cast of hand-picked young vocalists/dancers -- Darien Crago, Danny Gardner, Drew Humphrey, Kristie Kerwin, Con O'Shea-Creal and Kristen Beth Williams -- who are joined by veterans Sandy Duncan and Don Correia as special guests. Performances are May 2, 3 and 4.

Actress Suzanne Somers stopped by last night's WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE! on Bravo and told Andy Cohen about Barry Manilow's recent marriage to his partner, in which she served as 'Best Man.'

Connecticut Playmakers' production of Dinner with Disney at the First Congregational Church in Old Greenwich in May is the sixth collaboration for the theatre company of a long-time creative partnership of director Michele Grace of Fairfield and jazz pianist Chris Coogan of Weston.

Originally from Oklahoma, Broadway superstar Kelli O'Hara has been thrilling New York audiences as Anna Leonowens in Lincoln Center Theater's Broadway revival of THE KING AND I. While she is busy putting the final touches on this cherished, classic role before the critics take their seats for opening night, I am exploring her charismatic solo albums WONDER IN THE WORLD, a collection of classic tunes arranged and orchestrated by Harry Connick, Jr., and ALWAYS, a collection of music from Broadway shows and gifted musical writers.

Following an electric evening of jazz performances at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this past January, Jazz & Colors returns with a more focused and intimate experience. Programmed in collaboration with Met Museum Presents, and titled Jazz & Colors: The Full Spectrum Edition, renowned jazz musicians will once again perform in various iconic Met spaces for a dynamic evening of sublime entertainment on Friday, April 24, at 6:00 and 7:30 p.m.

You probably know Gloria Reuben from the 1990s TV medical drama ER (in which she played Jeanie Boulet, an HIV-positive physician assistant on the hospital's staff). Or you may know her from playing the slave Elizabeth Keckley in the Steven Spielberg movie Lincoln. Or if you are super-cultured, you may know that she played Condoleeza Rice in David Hare's play, Stuff Happens. But I bet you didn't know that in 2000, she was one of Tina Turner's back up singers or that she began playing classical piano at age 5. But you should have known that Reuben sang at the Metropolitan Room last Thursday night to celebrate the release of her forthcoming CD, Perchance to Dream. I was there, so I now know that Gloria Reuben is not only an accomplished actor, but also a refined musician and an ethereal singer.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its May 2015 schedule, featuring The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra, BossaBrasil, Diane Schuur, Freddy Cole Quartet, Barbara Carroll, Jim Caruso's Cast Party and more! Scroll down for details.

Broadway triple threat Jeremy Benton adds the role of 'developing director' to his already laudable resume when he stages an upcoming industry reading of the new musical, Sweet Swing!, in New York City next week. Benton directs and choreographs the six-person musical, which has book and music by Diane Tauser (Notre Dame de Paris and Stone Cold Beauty), and tells the real story of a wartime romance during World War Two.

Kersten Rodau is a well-known performer in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul theatre scene with countless shows to her credit, but perhaps she's earned her PhD in musical theatre by being a cast member of seven of the Ordway Center's BROADWAY SONGBOOK series.

ASCAP award-winning playwright/director Chip Deffaa will host talkback sessions--in which audience members can ask any questions they wish of the cast or creative team--after the following performances of his new musical comedy 'Mad About the Boy' at the 13th Street Repertory Theater (50 W. 13th Street, NYC).

The Ogunquit Playhouse has announced the appointment of Brian Swasey to the position of Associate Producer. Brian is no stranger to the Playhouse as he directed the productions of The Berenstain Bears, and The Cat In The Hat. He is also no stranger to the seacoast area; he is originally from Portland, Maine, and is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a degree in Musical Theatre and Dance. Brian Swasey recently stated, 'Growing up in New England, and seeing many shows at the Ogunquit Playhouse, I leapt at the chance to return to the area and become a part of the Playhouse family as the new Associate Producer."

Monday night found me back at Zeb's on the West Side for another of Will Friedwald's iconoclastic 'Clip Joints'--this one in honor of the Billie Holiday Centennial. During a year that is already producing a glut of celebratory events (given that it's also the Frank Sinatra Centennial year), leave it to the intriguing and obsessive writer/journalist/producer to come up with something different. Instead of a roster of vocalists live or on film, performing material we now think of reflexively as belonging to Lady Day, we were offered the singular piano interpretations of Lara Downes, recollections by alto saxophonist Jerry Dodgion (who at age 22 played with Holiday), and eclectic clips from television and film appearances of the artist herself.