Iyona Blake News

Signature Theatre has announced the cast of Jelly's Last Jam directed by Signature Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's La Cage Aux Folles, West Side Story) and choreographed by Jared Grimes (Broadway's After Midnight). The musical about famed and notorious jazz entertainer Jelly Roll Morton by George C. Wolfe, Susan Birkenhead, and Luther Henderson featuring the music of Jelly Roll Morton runs August 2 - September 11 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre.

Creative Cauldron's 7th Annual Summer Cabaret Series will be held todays and Saturdays from July 1st through September 19th at ArtSpace Falls Church, 410 South Maple Avenue.

Creative Cauldron's 7th Annual Summer Cabaret Series will be held on Fridays and Saturdays from July 1st through September 19th at ArtSpace Falls Church, 410 South Maple Avenue.

Change takes many forms in CAROLINE, OR CHANGE: dramatic historical change, personal change, pocket change. The word itself is used frequently in Tony Kushner's Tony-nominated musical, which takes place in 1963 amidst the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Matt Conner directs Creative Cauldron's production, an apt choice given the piece's enduring thematic significance and a phenomenal turn by Iyona Blake as the unflappable Caroline Thibodeaux.

Creative Cauldron presents the award-winning musical Caroline, or Change, with book and lyrics by Tony Kushner (Pulitzer Prize, Angels in America), score by Jeanine Tesori (Tony Award, Fun Home), and directed by Creative Cauldron Artistic Associate Matt Conner. Caroline, or Change was nominated for six Tony Awards in 2004 and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 2007. Tesori's Drama Desk Award-Winning score combines spiritual music with blues, Motown, classical and Jewish klezmer music. The production will run from May 5th through May 29th, 2016 at ArtSpace Falls Church. Press Night is May 7th, 2016 at 8 PM.

Soul on Fire will be performed as a part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival (MITF), produced by Onyx Vizion Productions, Inc. of the Bronx, New York. The performances will be held on the Main Stage at the June Havoc Theatre July 16 (6pm); July 18 (8:30pm); July 19 (8pm); July 20 (1pm); and July 21 (3pm). The theatre is located at 312 West 36th Street, 1st Floor, New York NY, 10018. Tickets are currently on sale for $18. You may purchase tickets by calling (866) 811-4111, or you can purchase tickets online at www.midtownfestival.org.

In an era when Waller had to enter some of the places he played by a side door, it would have been inhuman to resist completely the allure of white privilege. It's all on view in his song LOUNGIN' AT THE WALDORF, which contrasts the kind of freedom and looseness he could enjoy performing in Harlem with the stiffer, whiter milieu of the Waldorf Astoria. Nevertheless: "Ain't it swell doin' swell with the swells in the swellest hotel of them all? One of the strengths of the show is that it doesn't whitewash (if I may use that word here) this part of Waller's legacy.

The humidity is starting to climb and it's what we call around here -- 'corn weather'. But in the air-conditioned theatres in the Nation's Capital there is a harvest of new shows opening. So if you're here visiting the monuments and the Smithsonian museums, get out of the heat and come see a play or a musical.