Keith Thompson News

Vocalist extraordinaire Travis Cloer (Jersey Boys) will join Kristen Hertzenberg (Phantom) and the Las Vegas Master Singers for The Las Vegas Philharmonic presents A Classic Holiday concert in Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts on Dec. 1.

On December 7 and 8 at 7:30 PM, the legendary Fresh Tracks Performance and Residency Program at New York Live Arts will showcase the work of their five selected emerging choreographers: Emma Rose Brown, J. Bouey, Liana Conyers, Collin Ranf, and Dolores (Lola) Sanchez. As part of its annual programming, Fresh Tracks has been a 54-year commitment to bringing new voices to the forefront. The program offers a unique vantage point for the artists who are provided an unparalleled opportunity for professional development, experience, and recognition. Fresh Tracks performances take place at New York Live Arts Theatre, located at 219 West 19th Street, NYC. Tickets start at $15 and may be purchased at 212 924 0077 or online at newyorklivearts.org

"The Cocktail Cabaret" will resume performances at Cleopatra's Barge at Caesars Palace on Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 6 p.m.

On December 7 and 8 at 7:30 PM, the legendary Fresh Tracks Performance and Residency Program at New York Live Arts will showcase the work of their five selected emerging choreographers: Emma Rose Brown, J. Bouey, Liana Conyers, Collin Ranf, and Dolores (Lola) Sanchez.

After his triumphant tour in China, pianist Philip Fortenberry will bring his salute to Broadway to Las Vegas. Give My Regards, a one-night-only solo concert, will be performed in Myron's Cabaret Jazz showroom at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts on Oct. 22.

Renowned husband and wife song and dance team Michael Kessler & Melinda Jackson, founders of M&M American Dance Theatre and affectionally known as M&M, with their music director and Las Vegas's favorite composer Keith Thompson, and a group of talented pre-professional competition winners from Las Vegas's Innovation Youth Dance Company, will present "Broadway Love Songs, Dances & Backstage Stories," an intimate musical journey through a life lived of song and dance today, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Windmill Library Theatre

M&M American Dance Theatre celebrates musical theater with the founders, married song and dance team Michael Kessler and Melinda Jackson, when they perform in Broadway Love Songs, Dances & Backstage Stories at the Windmill Library Theatre on Oct. 19.

Renowned husband and wife song and dance team Michael Kessler & Melinda Jackson, founders of M&M American Dance Theatre and affectionally known as M&M, with their music director and popular music  director and composer Keith Thompson and a group of young talented pre-professional competition winners ages 7-19 from Innovation Youth Dance Company, will present "Broadway Love Songs, Dances & Backstage Stories," an intimate musical journey through a life lived of song and dance on Friday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Windmill Library Theatre, 7060 W. Windmill Lane.

Renowned pianist Philip Fortenberry will bring his masterful piano playing, exciting storytelling, beautiful music and southern charm home to Las Vegas for one night only in his newest solo concert, "Give My Regards" at The Smith Center's 244-seat Myron's Cabaret Jazz showroom on Monday, Oct. 22, at 7:00 p.m.

Jacob's Pillow announces the second season of residencies offered through the Pillow Lab, a year-round incubator of new work that encompasses a robust series of customized artist residencies. Built from the Jacob's Pillow mission as an integral component of Vision '22-the organization's five-year strategic plan which drives the Pillow's transition into a year-round institution-the Pillow Lab strengthens the artistic core of Jacob's Pillow by increasing resources that nurture the process of choreography and proactively investing in the development of new work.

Camp Broadway held each summer at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts instills the love of musical theater in children. Camp Broadway participants ages 10 to 17 have rehearsed during the week of July 16 for the Camp Broadway Family Finale to be held on July 20.

Renowned husband and wife song and dance team Michael Kessler & Melinda Jackson, founders of M&M American Dance Theatre and affectionally known as M&M, with their music director and Las Vegas's favorite composer Keith Thompson, and a group of talented pre-professional competition winners from Las Vegas's Innovation Youth Dance Company, will present "Broadway Love Songs, Dances & Backstage Stories," an intimate musical journey through a life lived of song and dance on Friday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Windmill Library Theatre

A group of Caesars Palace executives and the producers and cast of the hit show, "The Cocktail Cabaret" celebrated 100 shows with a packed and enthusiastic audience at Cleopatra's Barge at Caesars Palace on Friday, June 29.

Longtime favorite Broadway stage veteran, Brent Barrett, currently on the national tour of "Chicago" as the razzling-dazzling Billy Flynn, will wow audiences as a special guest emcee in "The Cocktail Cabaret" at Cleopatra's Barge at Caesars Palace from June 13 through16, at 6 p.m. nightly.  Lovely singer Heidi Webster of the dynamic diva vocal group Lady Luck and "Showstoppers" will step in for Maren Wade.

Broadway star Brent Barrett will wow audiences as a special guest emcee in "The Cocktail Cabaret" on Cleopatra's Barge in Caesars Palace June 13-16.

"The Cocktail Cabaret" on the Las Vegas Strip at the famed Cleopatra's Barge at Caesars Palace returns with its original cast, a new summer schedule and a new show time at 6 p.m. with performances Wednesday through Saturday.  

New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," presents the area premiere of YEAST NATION: THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE, the world's first bio-historical musical, a comic political thriller with book and lyrics by Greg Kotis, and music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann, the subversive geniuses behind the award-winning Broadway musical Urinetown, running May 31-June 23, 2018 at the Marcelle Theater in the Grand Center Arts District. 

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Auburn ("Proof") will provide opening remarks and Rick Younger, featured actor in "Mean Girls," nominated for 12 Tony Awards, will introduce fellow Broadway performers in a celebration of student playwriting called LEAP OnStage: Rising Voices. The fundraiser will be held Monday, May 21, 6-9 pm, in the event space of National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey, 226 W. 44th Street. Proceeds will benefit LEAP (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program), an arts education organization that serves more than 20,000 students in 175 schools throughout New York City each year. Tickets range from $75 to $250 and can be purchased at leapnyc.org.

Choreographers are a rare breed of innovators. Moving dancers through space with humor, passion, elegance and power is their specialty. Now, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and South Orange Performing Arts Center proudly present Artists Who Innovate: A Celebration of New Jersey Choreographers, two spectacular evenings of performances from nine New Jersey choreographers on May 4 and 5 at 8 p.m. These award-winning choreographers have recently been granted fellowships by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for their excellence in choreography. The May 4 performance features the work of Claire Porter, Nancy Turano, Stephanie Nerbak and Kyle Marshall. On May 5 choreographers Hillary-Marie, Loretta DiBianca Fois, Lauren Connolly, Samuel Pott and Keith Thompson will be featured.

Q. Smith, featured cast member of Broadway's Come From Away, hosted the 10th annual New York City August Wilson Monologue Competition, sponsored by LEAP (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program, Inc.). Two winning students, first place Teslyne Junior of Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, and second place Victoria Lino, of Repertory Company High School for Theater Arts in Manhattan, will move on to the National August Wilson Monologue Competition on Broadway in May. Anthony Perez, also from Repertory Company High School, took third place and is the alternate. The presentation was held March 5 on Stage 2 of New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., New York, N.Y.