Jack Saleeby News

Bright and Brave: A New Musical, opens tonight and runs through Saturday, June 9th at 7pm each night in a workshop production at Dixon Place. A love story set at Eton College, the musical originated, fittingly, amongst a group of Hofstra University undergrads. Jack Saleeby, Peter Charney, Noah Silva, and Natasha Cole, four students finishing up their senior year, were anticipating the daunting reality of post-collegiate life.        

ASCAP Award-winning playwright/producer Chip Deffaa's latest album, 'Irving Berlin: Ragtime Rarities,' is out now. The CD, featuring an all-star New York cast performing two dozen rare--and, in many cases, never-before-recorded--ragtime numbers, is the 24th CD that Deffaa has produced and the tenth dealing with master songwriter Irving Berlin.

Mary Cantoni Johnson will reprise her acclaimed portrayal of legendary entertainer Fanny Brice when 'One Night with Fanny Brice,' in which Johnson long starred in New York City, opens at the Square Foot Theater in Wallingford, CT, on November 10th.

ASCAP Award-winning playwright/producer Chip Deffaa's latest album, 'Irving Berlin: Ragtime Rarities,' will be released on November 20th.

A new cast album of Chip Deffaa's long-running Off-Broadway show, 'One Night with Fanny Brice,' starring Mary Cantoni Johnson, is out now. It is available for sale from Amazon, CDBaby, iTunes, Google Music, etc.The album is being officially launched September 24th at the venerable 13th Street Repertory Theater, which will be celebrating 'Mary Cantoni Johnson Day.' The new CD will be available in the theater lobby, 6:30 pm September 24th, at a specially discounted 'album-release' price.

A new cast album of Chip Deffaa's long-running Off-Broadway show, 'One Night with Fanny Brice,' starring Mary Cantoni Johnson, will be released on September 24th. The album will be launched on at the venerable 13th Street Repertory Theater--which will be celebrating 'Mary Cantoni Johnson Day'-- and will be available for sale from Amazon, CDBaby, iTunes, Footlight Records, etc.

ASCAP Award-winning writer/producer Chip Deffaa's new CD, 'Irving Berlin Rediscovered' - being released today - features such Broadway notables as Stephen Bogardus ('Bright Star'), Giuseppe Bausilio ('Hello, Dolly!'), and Jon Peterson ('Cabaret'), plus such nightclub and cabaret stars as Seth Sikes and Natalie Douglas.

Closing out their wonderful 47th Season, Theatre Three offers a first-rate showing of the musical Saturday Night Fever. Based on the iconic 1977 movie and a story by Nik Cohn, this entertaining production, featuring songs by the Bee Gees, runs through June 24th at the charming Port Jefferson venue. This officially opened a few weeks ago and judging by the enthusiastic and still-packed house, you will certainly need to get your tickets quickly.

Rare--and in many cases, never-before-recorded--Irving Berlin love songs are the focus of Chip Deffaa's latest album, 'Irving Berlin Revisited,' being released today. 

'The Chip Deffaa Songbook'—a double-album featuring nearly 40 theater songs by ASCAP Award-winning playwright/songwriter Chip Deffaa--is out now.  The two-CD set gathers songs that Deffaa wrote or co-wrote for such shows of his as 'George M. Cohan Tonight!,' 'The Seven Little Foys,'  'Mad About the Boy,' 'Presenting Fanny Brice,' 'The Family that Sings Together,' 'Yankee Doodle Dandy,' 'Song-and-Dance Kids,' and 'Theater Boys.' The set, with a suggested  list price of $17.00, is available from Amazon, CDBaby, iTunes, Footlight Records, etc.   It may be ordered here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thechipdeffaasongbook.

'The Chip Deffaa Songbook'--a two-CD set, featuring nearly 40 theater-songs by ASCAP Award-winning playwright/songwriter  Chip Deffaa--will be released November 30th.  The album features songs that Deffaa wrote or co-wrote for such shows of his as 'Theater Boys,' 'The Seven Little Foys,' 'Mad About the Boy,' 'Yankee Doodle Dandy,' 'The Family That Sings Together,' 'The Fanny Brice Story,' 'Song-and-Dance Kids,' and 'George M. Cohan Tonight!'  

Black Coffee Productions has announced selected works that will be given public staged readings at THEATERLAB during the week of January 16th, 2017 as part of the Fresh Grind Festival.

Molasses in January is a fun, new musical for all ages! Book, lyrics, and music by Francine Pellegrino, the recently workshopped show is being transferred to The Davenport Theatre Off Broadway. Director Whitney Stone will be returning to the production after directing it's two developmental workshops last fall at the Times Square Arts Center. Only two performances of the production remain: October 25th, and November 1st.

Molasses in January Off-Broadway at The Davenport Theatre is now offering a limited number of Rush Tickets for each performance. Rush Tickets are sold for $15 (cash only) at the box office 15 minutes before curtain.

Molasses in January is a fun, new musical for all ages! Book, lyrics, and music by Francine Pellegrino, the recently workshopped show is being transferred to The Davenport Theatre Off Broadway. Director Whitney Stone will be returning to the production after directing it's two developmental workshops last fall at the Times Square Arts Center.

Lost, forgotten, and  unknown Irving Berlin songs are the focus of  Chip Deffaa's new album, 'The Irving Berlin Songbook,'  being released today.  

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.

Most Off-Broadway shows don't get a cast album, but ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa's show "Irving Berlin's America" is about to get its second cast album. And this one will be released on February 2nd as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa will be joined by special guests, including noted showbiz biographer Herb Goldman, writer/entertainer Brian Gari, and actor Michael Townsend Wright, for special audience 'talkback' sessions, following select performances of Deffaa's shows 'One Night with Fanny Brice' and 'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue,' which are playing in repertory this fall at the 13th Street Theater (50 W. 13th Street, NYC).

When ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa's "The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue" opens November 9th at the 13th Street Repertory Theater (50 W. 13th Street, NYC), it will include some Berlin rarities and rediscoveries unheard in a century, including some never-recorded Berlin numbers.