Lena Horne News

The Museum of the Moving Image's popular series See It Big! will turn its focus to the movie musical with a fourteen-film celebration of the genre, from today, January 24 through February 28, 2014. Musicals are, by their very nature, filled with spectacle. They are heightened forms of storytelling, in which the narrative is amplified by song and dance, where characters express their innermost feelings in the most extravagant ways imaginable. It is a genre that celebrates excess and stylization, and the best examples of the form can only be truly enjoyed... big!

Amas Musical Theatre, New York City's award-winning pioneer in diversity and multi-ethnic casting in the performing arts since 1968, will celebrate its 45th Anniversary at a gala benefit on Monday, March 31st, 2014 at the Baruch Performing Arts Center (East 25th Street between Lexington and 3rd Avenues). Honorary Chair for the event is veteran Broadway virtuoso Maurice Hines.

Bucks County Playhouse (BCP) has announced the launch of a 2014 winter concert series, kicking off with the World Premiere of JUSTIN GUARINI LOVESICK, a new show from Justin Guarini and directed by Gordon Greenberg.

In one of its most ambitious projects to date, Chicago Opera Theater (COT) will collaborate with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra (CJO) to present the Chicago premiere of Duke Ellington's only opera "Queenie Pie," running February 15 - March 5 at the Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph Street. Tickets ($35 - $125) are now on sale.

Peter Filichia, theater critic emeritus for the Star-Ledger newspaper in Newark and "News 12 New Jersey" will join theater publicists Joshua Ellis and Susan Schulman as panelists at the Drama Desk's first Panel Discussion of 2014 -- entitled "You Gotta Have A Gimmick….Or A Star!" - on Monday, Feb. 10, at 6 PM at Stage 72/Triad, 158 W. 72nd St., in Manhattan. Recommended arrival for the panel is at 5:30 PM ; the discussion will be held from 6-7:15 PM. A cash bar will be available. Tickets may be ordered online at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/931127 or by calling (212) 352-3101. Tickets are $20 online and at the door. Randie Levine-Miller will moderate the panel discussion about the effort and skills it takes to promote a show, both Broadway and Off-Broadway.

Wrapping up Centenary Stage Company's annual January Jazz Fest is the legendary Sammy Figueroa and his Latin Jazz Explosion on Saturday, January 25th at 8 p.m. Sammy Figueroa has long been regarded as one of the world's great musicians. Well-known for his versatility and professionalism, he is one of the few percussionists equally comfortable in a multitude of styles, from R & B to rock and pop to bebop, Latin to Brazilian, and New Age.

Follow Lyrics & Lyricists over the rainbow to the West Coast and the glory days of MGM. Over the weekend, Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall made her L&L debut as guest artistic director for GOING HOLLYWOOD, a singing, dancing, Technicolor celebration of the silver screen's greatest musicals, featuring Cameron Adams, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Joshua Henry, Jeremy Jordan, Rob McClureand Rachel York. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the special event below!

On Tuesday, January 14, Alexis Gershwin---the niece of legendary songwriters George and Ira Gershwin and the only living Gershwin to still perform songs worldwide from the Gershwin catalog---is set to release her first-ever greatest hits compilation called Long Ago and Far Away. The 13-track-album---a retrospective of Alexis' recordings of her Uncles' compositions throughout her performing career---will also be celebrated with a one-night-only cabaret concert in Los Angeles at the iconic Catalina Bar & Grill on Wednesday, January 15.

Follow Lyrics & Lyricists over the rainbow to the West Coast and the glory days of MGM. This weekend, beginning today, January 11 and continuing the 12th and 13th, Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall makes her L&L debut as guest artistic director for GOING HOLLYWOOD, a singing, dancing, Technicolor celebration of the silver screen's greatest musicals, featuring Cameron Adams, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Joshua Henry, Jeremy Jordan, Rob McClure and Rachel York. In the video below, Marshall chats about what to expect from the special concert event!

Live performances lend themselves to the possibility of the unexpected happening, and Marilyn Maye & Houston Person, two of the very best in cabaret and jazz, promise an evening of the unexpected when they perform on the HARMAN Stage on Wednesday, January 22nd at 8 p.m. Maye and Person perform as the grand finale of the Broadway/Cabaret/Jazz Series: Perfect Pairs at The Palace sponsored by Courtyard by Marriott Stamford Downtown. Tickets may be purchased at www.SCAlive.org.

Follow Lyrics & Lyricists over the rainbow to the West Coast and the glory days of MGM. On January 11, 12 and 13 Tony Award® winner Kathleen Marshall makes her L&L debut as guest artistic director for Going Hollywood, a singing, dancing, Technicolor celebration of the silver screen's greatest musicals, featuring Cameron Adams, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Joshua Henry, Jeremy Jordan, Rob McClure and Rachel York. In the video below, Marshall chats about what to expect from the special concert event!

2014 sees some new names and some returns to The Crazy Coqs. January starts with the London debut of the sizzling cabaret performer Carole J .Bufford and her show Body and Soul (tonight, January 7 - 11) followed by the popular Broadway star Brent Barrett and his show Night Songs (January 14 -18) and then actress and singer Linda Purl with her show Midnight Caravan: Celebrating the Great Ladies of the Glamorous Nightclub Era of the 40s & 50s (January 21 - 25).

Following the record-breaking attendance of Festival 2013, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival announces the 2014 Festival schedule. Jacob's Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, home to America's longest-running dance festival, and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Noted dance writer Jennifer Dunning has called the Pillow "the dance center of the nation, possibly the world."

The Museum of the Moving Image's popular series See It Big! will turn its focus to the movie musical with a fourteen-film celebration of the genre, from January 24 through February 28, 2014. Musicals are, by their very nature, filled with spectacle. They are heightened forms of storytelling, in which the narrative is amplified by song and dance, where characters express their innermost feelings in the most extravagant ways imaginable. It is a genre that celebrates excess and stylization, and the best examples of the form can only be truly enjoyed… big!

Seven-time MAC, Backstage Bistro & Nightlife Award Winner, Natalie Douglas, returns to her annual New Year's Eve Bash with two shows at The Duplex Cabaret Theatre tonight, December 31 @ 7:30 p.m & 10:30 p.m.

Opera heads to Harlem for a Big Band makeover in Long Beach Opera's (LBO) production of Duke Ellington's only opera, Queenie Pie, running January 26 through February 2 at the historic Warner Grand Theatre in downtown San Pedro. Left unfinished at the composer's death in 1974 and originally composed for Lena Horne, this “street opera” is the story of two powerful women vying for control of the beauty industry during the Harlem Renaissance.

ON KENTUCKY AVENUE, a musical revue based loosely on fact and mostly fiction about the people and performers who took the stage and filled the tables at the majestic Club Harlem 'on Kentucky Avenue' in the north section of Atlantic City from the 1930s until the late 1980s, will make its NYC commercial stage debut at STAGE72/THE TRIAD, 158 West 72nd Street, on Sunday, February 2, with performances at 3pm and 7pm and Monday, February 3 at 7pm in honor of Black History Month.

Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist Leslie Uggams (Roots, King Headley II, Hallelujah, Baby!) is ringing in the holidays with the release of a new single 'Wishing You a Happy New Year' written by renowned film, television, and concert composer-orchestrator Curtis McKonly. Available online at iTunes, Amazon.com, CD Baby and other major digital music outlets, this elegant new tune features the 41-piece Curtis McKonly Orchestra. Click below to watch a behind-the-scenes video of Uggams in the recording studio!

Follow Lyrics & Lyricists over the rainbow to the West Coast and the glory days of MGM. On January 11, 12and 13 Tony Award® winner Kathleen Marshall makes her L&L debut as guest artistic director for Going Hollywood, a singing, dancing, Technicolor celebration of the silver screen's greatest musicals, featuring Cameron Adams, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Joshua Henry, Jeremy Jordan, Rob McClure and Rachel York.