Irving Mills News

Paper Mill Playhouse is now presenting After Midnight, a scintillating musical revue.

Guest Reviewer Andrew Poretz has praise for the phenom that is taking the jazz scene by storm.

Signature Theatre has announced the full cast and creative team for After Midnight, the fourth production in the Signature Features 2021 Season. Featuring a cast of 12, headlined by Christopher Jackson and Nova Y. Payton, After Midnight showcases 28 of the big band era’s most famous songs, all framed by the poetry of Langston Hughes. 

Club44 Records has announced the release of Love Notes, the new album from LINDA LAVIN. Love Notes, an elegant and swinging mix of timeless standards, jazz classics and gems of the pop/rock era, features the album's first single, 'Stars Would Fall,' a sophisticated new song by Joel Lindsey and Wayne Haun.

Club44 Records has announced the release of Loves Notes, the new album from LINDA LAVIN - the Tony Award and Golden Globe winning and Emmy Award nominated stage and screen legend - on Friday, March 27.

The GRAMMY Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus---recently featured in the New York Times, on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and on Fox 5 News at Six with Ernie Anastos---performs four free/cheap shows for the home borough this holiday season next week. Locals can catch the starry Chorus for free at the Brooklyn Borough President's Tree Lighting (Dec. 11 at 5:15p), and with affordable tickets to three concert programs at Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph with Holiday Harmonies (Dec. 13th at 7:30pm and Dec. 14th at 2:30pm), as well as Winter's Eve (Dec. 14th at 7:30pm). The 28-year-old Brooklyn institution draws 7-17 year old singers from all five boroughs, and has established a national profile as the go-to youth choir for classical, pop, theatrical, and out-of-the-box collaborations with A-list artists and institutions like Bon Iver, The National, Beyonce & Jay-Z, Barbra Streisand, Elton John, the New York Philharmonic, Nico Muhly, and Caroline Shaw.

Big Loud Records and Atlantic Records' rising star MASON RAMSEY has released today his debut FAMOUS EP across all digital platforms. Tipping his 10-gallon hat to his idol Hank Williams, Sr. plus introducing his fresh-faced Country flavor, the six-track handpicked collection was produced by studio ace Joey Moi.

Big Loud Records and Atlantic Records' internet phenom MASON RAMSEY is launching his debut, FAMOUS EP, on Friday, July 20, as exclusively announced by Associated Press today (7/9).

The spirit of jazz legends Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald (with a little Tito Puente) was palpable in the Milton Berle room at New York's Friars Club on April 25 for the second-annual production of Triple Threats. Broadway veterans (including Duke's granddaughter, Mercedes Ellington, who also co-produced the show) joined some of America's most accomplished jazz musicians to celebrate the April birthdays of the music greats and to honor those performers who sing, dance, and act at the highest levels.

Every time I attend something in jazz pianist Ronny Whyte's estimable weekly series at the welcoming, modern Saint Peter's Church (619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street), I'm glad I came. The place is airy, peaceful, and sunny with spacious pew and tiered seating. Acoustics are splendid. The audience is respectful. And they have Billy Strayhorn's piano. Yesterday's easy-going hour featured Alex Leonard on piano and vocals (one forgets how fine a vocalist he is), David Kingsnorth on bass, and veteran Al Gafa on guitar.

With her new CD release Photographs, veteran New York jazz and cabaret singer Mary Foster Conklin puts her own stamp on the material, which is part interpretation and part the limited range of her often smoky alto. Accompanying musicians—led by John diMartino on piano--are top notch with especially deft use of brass.

On the heels of receiving the coveted 'Pick of the Fringe' award for her one-woman show, Melissa Ritz brings Bombshell of Rhythm: The Life & Secrets of Ina Ray Hutton to NYC's SoHo Playhouse, now through August 30th.

I had more fun at this Fringe production than I have at any other in a very long time.

Last week, Betty Buckley returned to Joe's Pub to debut her newest cabaret concert DARK BLUE-EYED BLUES. Thrilled to have been recognized as a chanteuse in recent reviews, Buckley programmed the evening to be the "musings of a chanteuse," packing the set with standards and contemporary hits. The Broadway legend performed with tangible vivacity and charm, making this intimate evening a joy to experience.

Evoking Rita Hayworth, a spot lit Jennifer Sheehan weaves through 54 Below towards the stage, long dark hair cascading above a body-skimming white gown replete with twinkling sequins. “I'll build a stairway to the stars . . .,” (Mitchell Parish/Matt Malneck/Frank Signorelli) she sings with stunning vocal clarity and investment that might conjure a Ziegfeld Girl. In her new show, Stardust: A Night in the Cosmos, Sheehan welcomes the “dreamers, romantics, stargazers, astrophysicists, and Trekkies” with “songs that flicker like the street lamps of eternity” with lyrics featuring stars, moons, and rose-colored hope. It's an appealing theme and one that suits the artist's fetching performance and transition from ingénue into a more mature cabaret entertainer.

To borrow an analogy from Robyn Spangler, the Los Angeles-based singer (now spending more time in New York) who brought her show “Riddle, Ronstadt and Me” to the Metropolitan Room on Monday, January 12, a dress may be fine off the rack, but when tailored specifically for a particular body, it can uniquely highlight the physical assets of the woman wearing it. Likewise, the artistry of the musical arrangement comes when it wraps a familiar song around an individual's voice and style ands allow the song to be heard in a fresh, and hopefully, wonderful way.

America's Orchestra opened its 129th spring season with Keith Lockhart conducting and Jason Alexander as special guest artist. Best known as Seinfeld's best buddy George Costanza, the Tony Award-winning Alexander is a consummate showman and offered a celebration of Broadway music to complement the Pops' selections by American masters from Copland to Ellington to Gershwin.

Accomplished theatre artist David Gonzalez answers from DC BroadwayWorld about his upcoming world premiere solo piece at the Kennedy Center, 'Man of the House (Or: How I Tracked Down My Dad, the Spy)' and what inspired it, his varied career to date, and what comes next.

For the first time in over fifty years, Harbinger Records will release 'Ballads for the Age of Science,' the most successful educational recordings of all time, as a six-CD box set. Featuring more than four dozen original songs written by Hy Zaret, co-author of the iconic popular song 'Unchained Melody,' and Lou Singer between 1959 and 1961, the albums introduced scientific concepts and terms using catchy, easy-to-learn lyrics and music to grade school students across America in the early 1960s.

For the first time in over fifty years, Harbinger Records will release 'Ballads for the Age of Science,' the most successful educational recordings of all time, as a six-CD box set. Featuring more than four dozen original songs written by Hy Zaret, co-author of the iconic popular song 'Unchained Melody,' and Lou Singer between 1959 and 1961, the albums introduced scientific concepts and terms using catchy, easy-to-learn lyrics and music to grade school students across America in the early 1960s.