Jerry Bock News

I hear music, mighty fine music . . . Host Michael Feinstein sings with pristine bass accompaniment, as Musical Director Tedd Firth's Big Band filters in musician by musician. The sweetest sounds I ever heard . . . he continues as a light saxophone joins syncopated rhythm. Then whomp! All 17 players swing. Rarely have I heard sound design so perfectly balanced, appropriately favoring vocals. Feinstein remains smooth and easy riding the wave. 'You may wonder about the role of jazz in popular song . . . ' our host begins at the start of Jazz at Lincoln Center's first of three segments of the Jazz & Popular Song Series in the Appel Room. At a time when popular songs came and went with alacrity, jazz artists meeting for improvisational jam sessions needed pieces they all knew. Thus jazz mined popular music creating an intersection of the two art forms. Aided and abetted by four very different featured guests, Feinstein illuminates by example, not narrative.

On Tuesday April 12 I eagerly returned to Rockwell Table and Stage for the third time to see An Evening of Classic Broadway. The show comes to Rockwell for one evening every couple of months. Why do I keep coming back? Produced by Dianne Fraser and musically directed by extraordinarily talented Brad Ellis ... and with a bevy of great singers on board, it's guaranteed fun, extra high on entertainment, and it incorporates Broadway standards both classic and contemporary. If that isn't enough, the structure is laid back and spontaneous, allowing one to sit back, relax and just savor the sounds.

Roundabout Theatre Company's hit revival of She Loves Me, which opened to unanimous rave reviews, has been extended by four weeks through July 10, 2016 only, it was announced today.

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters (or Tevye the Dairyman) and other tales by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family's lives. He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters, who wish to marry for love - each one's choice of a husband moves further away from the customs of his faith - and with the edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village.

Jane Krakowski is currently starring on Broadway in SHE LOVES ME as well as returning to Netflix in season 2 of 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.'

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

SHE LOVES ME is a musical with a book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock. It is an adaptation of the play Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo. Other adaptations include the films The Shop Around the Corner, In the Good Old Summertime and You've Got Mail. It opened on Broadway in 1963, and has had productions in the West End as well as award-winning revivals and regional productions. It is currently playing in revival on Broadway in a production by The Roundabout Theatre.

Stage star Laura Benanti took to Twitter today to apologize to theatergoers for her absence from tonight's performance of Roundabout Theatre Company's SHE LOVES ME. The actress is ill but hopes to return to the show tomorrow. BroadwayWorld wishes her a speedy recovery!

Palos Verdes Performing Arts mounts a new staging of 'Fiddler on the Roof,' the timeless musical that has captured the hearts of audiences worldwide for more than 50 years. The production will run April 22 to May 8 at the Norris Theatre on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the South Bay area of Los Angeles.

Shows are opening, shows are closing and Fiddler on the Roof is back onstage for Actors Pointe Theatre Company while Tom Sawyer takes a bow at Springhouse Theatre in Smyrna! Obviously, the 2016 theater season continues to reveal itself at a breakneck pace, giving audiences a veritable buffet of offerings from which to choose.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Examining the variability of life and the power of love, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is a touching tale of the challenges a father faces in a changing world.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Tonight, March 28, at 6pm Broadway's Future Songbook Series -- presented by Arts and Artists at St. Paul -- will spotlight the songs of award-winning lyricist Jill Abramovitz.

Who is Annie without her red dress? Or Eva with out her balcony? It is the charge of the Broadway designer to transport the audience into the world of a show, whether it be Great Depression-era New York City or outside of the Casa Rosada. In our new series, Broadway by Design, BroadwayWorld will be shining a spotlight on the stellar designs of this Broadway season, show by show. Today, we kick off the series with David Rockwell and Jeff Mahshie, who acted as scenic and costume designers for Roundabout's glorious revival of SHE LOVES ME.

Co-hosted by Susan Haskins and guest host Jesse Green, THEATER TALK spotlights the acclaimed Broadway 2015 revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, now at the Broadway Theatre, with director Bartlett Sher and star Danny Burstein.

Last Thursday night, 1,079 miles apart, two different casts celebrated triumphant openings of the classic Bock and Harnick musical SHE LOVES ME. In New York City, the Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway revival opened with a cast of Tony winners and TV stars, while here in Central Florida, Theatre UCF's production might not boast a cast quite as famous, but it is no doubt just as spectacular.

Co-hosted by Susan Haskins and guest host Jesse Green, THEATER TALK spotlights the acclaimed Broadway 2015 revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, now at the Broadway Theatre, with director Bartlett Sher and star Danny Burstein.

Arizona Theatre Company's 50th anniversary season promises to be its most ambitious ever with a six-show mainstage lineup of the finest contemporary and classic American theatre.  The lineup ranges from the just-closed acclaimed Broadway hits King Charles III and An Act of God, by 13-time Emmy-winning writer and producer of The Daily Show With John Stewart; to the Johnny Cash musical Ring of Fire and an epic revival of the beloved musical about family, faith and tradition, Fiddler on The Roof. 

On March 28 at 6pm Broadway's Future Songbook Series -- presented by Arts and Artists at St. Paul -- will spotlight the songs of award-winning lyricist Jill Abramovitz.