Judy Garland News

Where are our Violettas, our Salomes, our Elektras--even our Lulus--for opera to move forward as an art form for the 21 century? They're all victims of stress and suffering of one sort or another, but still worth meeting up with--not only musically but dramatically--more than once. I began thinking about this while watching the three music-theatre/new opera pieces that I visited during the opening days of the current edition of PROTOTYPE:OPERA/THEATRE/NOW--The Infinite Hotel, 4.48 Psychosis and PRISM.

Actor, musician and songwriter Jeremiah Downes will present a new evening of his original songs at Farmers Alley Theatre January 18-19, 2019 at 7:30PM. The evening will star Madge Dietrich (First Broadway National tour of Kinky Boots) and Evan Gallagher-Frace (Winner of New York City's Rising Star 2 at RISE NYC) with performances by Logan Dolence, Joriah Fleming, Matthew Lanyi, Alyssa Meeuwsen and Cara Palombo.

We all know and love these three icons, but who knew that Bernadette Peters, Cher, and Bob Mackie all appeared on the same episode of The John Davidson Show in 1981?

PlayGround has announced the lineup for its second annual PlayGround Solo Performance Festival, a celebration of the best in Bay Area solo performance, running January 24-February 10 at Potrero Stage. The festival features 12 double-bill performances by 11 local artists over three weeks, including new works by Ron Campbell, Julie Gieseke, Malcolm Grissom, Emil  Guillermo, Michael Phillis, Fred Pitts, Kathryn Seabron, and Talisha Tolliver, as well as special guests Marga Gomez, Matthew Martin, and Nina Wise, with each evening running a little over two hours. PlayGround opens the program to the next generation of performers with a special Open Mic Night on Monday, January 28, at 8pm. The festival, initiated last winter as one of PlayGround's new "pop-up" programs, represents an extension of PlayGround's mission and commitment to the discovery of bold new voices for the stage and the first PlayGround offering fully dedicated to solo performance. Tickets, on sale beginning December 1, are $31-$46 and All-Festival Passes start at just $93 (unlimited access to all 11 artists, 12 performances and a reserved seat for Open Mic Night). For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://playground-sf.org/solofest or call (415) 992-6677.

Albert Poland, a veteran Broadway producer and general manager, has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to generate funding for a self-published memoir examining Poland's legendary career in theatre. 

Don McKay, the original Tony in the 1958 London premiere of West Side Story, has died, according to Deadline. The actor was 93.

On this day in 1924 at 2 1/2 years old, Judy Garland, billed as Baby Frances, made her show business debut

BWW Interview: THE BETSY CARMICHAEL CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts today announced that the New Year's Eve performance of Judy Garland in Concert with The Kravis Center Pops Orchestra has been postponed due to a  scheduling conflict.

The wonderful THE WIZARD OF OZ on Hale Centre Theatre's Centre Stage is a spectacle that pays tribute to the classic movie while standing in its own ruby slippers.

The Wizard of Oz is returning to cinemas in honor of its 80th anniversary!

 Coyote StageWorks, the Coachella Valley-based award-winning Actors' Equity professional theater company, announced that it has added three more FREE plays to its popular free "Play Dates" Reader's Series. Play Dates is a free Educational Community Outreach Program that features fresh or classic, compelling scripts read by new and established actors and are offered at the Camelot Theatre/Palm Springs Cultural Center. The upcoming new Play Dates are "Eugene Walter At Large" (a new, original work) on December 16, "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" (a revisiting of a modern classic on the 25th anniversary of its original Off-Broadway production) on February 24, and "A Doll's House, Part 2" (a 2017 Tony Award winner and recently listed as 'The most produced play of the season in the US.') on June 2.  All events start at 2 PM and are free and open to the public. Tickets are available on the day of the reading at the Palm Springs Cultural Center/Camelot Theatre on a 'first-come, first-served' basis.

Just in time for Christmas, singer-songwriter Audra Mae, the great grand-niece of Judy Garland, shares her rendition of the enchanting classic 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'. Mae is also known for writing songs and singing with artists such as Christina Aguilera, The Chainsmokers, and Avicii. The intimate live video, presented by Jammcard, shows the captivating one-take performance of just Mae and pianist Dylan Meek together at United Recording Studios on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA. 

David Maiocco is noted as being a tour-de force solo-performer, who is presently making a career of portraying 'Mr. Showmanship,' the uniquely American icon, Liberace.

If the hustle and bustle of the holiday season has you down, take a couple hours to yourself and head to Centerville for this refreshing show! You'll forget all your troubles as you laugh the night away with five incredibly talented, and incredibly hilarious, women named Carol (and Cousin Ray!).

It would be hard to find a classier and more joyful Christmas treat than Joe Stilgoe's one-night-only show Christmas at the Movies, featuring special guests Louise Dearman, saxophonist Jess Gillam and Rob Brydon. Highlights of the show will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 at 18.00 on Christmas Day.

There truly is no place like home, as the national tour of the greatest family musical of all time makes its regional premiere. When the tornado touches down - transporting you to a dazzling Oz - a lavish rendition of the classic tale takes Dorothy, Toto, the Cowardly Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow down the Yellow Brick Road. It's a spectacular on-stage celebration of the 1939 film, with munchkins and flying monkeys born of breathtaking special effects, and a land brought to life with dazzling choreography.

The 2018 Los Angeles Animation Festival has awarded writer/director John Meyer with the Best Story award for The Magical Mystery of Musigny.

The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture has announced its 2019 winter/spring season, a rich program of theater, film, music, poetry, art, and talk events featuring artists and thought leaders including Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter;Tony Award winner Lena Hall; Grammy Award-winning musician and recording artist Eileen Ivers; Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award nomineeAlexander Gemignani;and journalist and former Wall Street Journal columnist Sohrab Ahmari.

Two of Broadway's most endearing leading ladies-Andrea McArdle and Donna McKechnie-celebrate two of America's most beloved musical theatre composers-Stephen Sondheim and Marvin Hamlisch-at Feinstein's at the Nikko on Friday, January 18 (8 p.m.) and Saturday, January 19 (8 p.m.).