Karin Baker News

American Dance Machine for the 21st Century (ADM21) will present 15 show-stopping musical theater dance numbers performed by stars from the musical theater and dance worlds during its Joyce Theater debut November 11-16, today announced Nikki Feirt Atkins, Founder and Executive Artistic Director and Margo Sappington, Artistic Director. All performances will feature live music and will be directed by Margo Sappington with musical direction by Eugene Gwozdz.

Dancers Over 40 raised $3,500 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS at this year's 2014 Broadway Flea Market, held yesterday, Sunday, September 21. Scroll down for photos of the team!

Dancers Over 40....And Friends will celebrate its 20th Anniversary season with a full roster of exciting events, including:

The Actor's Temple presents Accentuate the Positive: An Evening with Johnny Mercer in a benefit evening performance. Accentuate the Positive was created & directed by Karin Baker Kayne based on the music of the award winning singer, songwriter, and lyricist Johnny Mercer. The cabaret-style show features Juliet Ewing, Bambi Jones, Patti Mariano, and Joyce Nolen, with David Hancock Turner at the piano.

The prestigious Dancers Over 40's Ensemble comprised of Radio City Music Hall's The Rockettes and the June Taylor Dancers announces the debut of their performance TAP! Part Two! on March 4(th), 2013 at 8PM at St. Luke's Theatre in New York. Donating the evening's performance to the archives at Lincoln's Center Library of the Arts, this historical event will also introduce dance performances by rising star, 14-year-old Gabriela Zucckero from Sewickley, PA. Gabriela, with over 11 years of dance training at the Karen Prunzik Dance Studio, was hand-picked to be a part of the evening's historical repertoire of dance. Check out the video below!

Another event, another packed house! DO40 presented its fourth annual Legacy Awards at their Holiday Dinner, this year again at the over-the-top LIPS restaurant in NYC. Honorees Norma Doggett-Bezwick, Larry Fuller, Carol Lawrence, George Marcy and Lee Roy Reams felt the warmth waft up to the dais. Check out photos from the awards inside!

TAP!, Dancers Over 40's final event of their 2011 - 2012 season brings the world of tap center stage for a discussion and performance by DO40 members and guests. This May's event is hosted by Mercedes Ellington, (Sophisticated Ladies, No, No, Nanette!) and begins with a discussion of the history of tap by DO40 members Mercedes and Lee Roy Reams (42nd Street).

The World Premiere of Peg O' My Heart the Musical is being presented at the 12th annual Midtown International Theater Festival and produced by Gwen Arment, producer and artistic director of Hell's Kitchen Musicals.

The Midtown International Theatre Festival (MITF) announces the 2011 Season, running from July 11 - 31, 2011. 22 plays and 11 musicals have been chosen. Tickets are $18-15.

Sophie Tucker, born Sophie Kalish, was an extraordinary performer, possessing a big voice and an even bigger personality, she charmed audiences with her spicy humor and risque material. Tony Parise (who also directs this staging) and Karin Baker have assembled an entertaining and informative show, LAST OF THE RED HOT MAMAS...A SOPHIE TUCKER REVUSICAL, that tells Tucker's life in story and song, offering up over 30 selections that are culled from a lengthy and successful career that found her doggedly moving forward through vaudeville, burlesque, the follies, radio, Hollywood, and television. The New Jewish Theatre is offering up a delightful and nostalgic production filled with catchy and moving tunes and tales, and it positively sizzles.

Before Madonna, before Marlene, there was the legendary Sophie Tucker, the Queen of Vaudeville and the jazz age, whose career spanned a sensational 60 years in showbiz. THE LAST OF THE RED HOT MAMAS, the Sophie Tucker Revusical, an original musical about the life of the Russian-born chanteuse features many of the songs she made famous including 'My Yiddishe Momme' and her signature song 'Some of These Days.' Tucker, born Sonia Kalish, was known for her for her bawdy sense of humor and outspoken views on men and relationships. Her legacy has influenced comediennes and singers alike for generations. During her career, which spanned over seven decades, this gutsy vaudeville entertainer found popularity and fame with self-parody and suggestive songs like 'I'm the Last of the Red Hot Mamas.'

The award-winning York Theatre Company's Musicals in Mufti concert performances of Coco play September 10-12, 2010.

Dancers Over 40 continues its fascinating series of tributes to Broadway dance greats with Michael Bennett: A Joyful Noise, featuring an impressive roster of Broadway veterans who worked with the great choreographer/director, Monday May 17th at 8 PM, St. Luke's Theater.

Dancers Over 40 continues its fascinating series of tributes to Broadway dance greats with Michael Bennett: A Joyful Noise, featuring an impressive roster of Broadway veterans who worked with the great choreographer/director, Monday May 17th at 8 PM, St. Luke's Theater.

On Monday, April 12th DO40 will present its first-ever song and dance concert to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Project Achieve and the NYC HIV Vaccine Trials Unit. Former gypsy and perennial television star Valerie Harper (right), on the heels of her new Broadway show, LOOPED, will make a special appearance along with guests Anita Gillette (photo, bottom right) and Marge Champion. DO40 members will be heavily represented, and guests from the ballet and modern world will also appear and donate their performances for these important causes.

On Monday, April 12th DO40 will present its first-ever song and dance concert to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Project Achieve and the NYC HIV Vaccine Trials Unit. Former gypsy and perennial television star Valerie Harper (right), on the heels of her new Broadway show, LOOPED, will make a special appearance along with guests Anita Gillette (photo, bottom right) and Marge Champion. DO40 members will be heavily represented, and guests from the ballet and modern world will also appear and donate their performances for these important causes.

Dancers Over 40 members have worked with many choreographers, but almost none as often as the award-winning Director/Choreographer Gower Champion. On Monday, March 31st at 7:30 pm, some of the dancers and the creative talents associated with Mr. Champion, from 1951's 'Make a Wish' to his last Broadway show the smash hit musical '42nd Street' in 1980, will be represented on the stage of the St. Luke's Theater at 308 West 46th Street.

On March 31, the dancers and the creative talents associated with Director/Choreographer Gower Champion will be represented on the stage of the St. Luke's Theater at 308 West 46th Street at 7:30PM - represented from 1951's Make a Wish to his last Broadway show and the smash 42nd Street in 1980.