Maya Angelou News

Two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominee Michael Feinstein returns to Feinstein's at the Nikko May 9-12, 2019 with It Might as Well Be Spring, an all-new show celebrating the great mothers of song.

Two of McCallum Theatre's favorite artists join forces for the first time to present an unforgettable evening of music on Friday, February 15, at 8:00pm, and Saturday, February 16, at 8:00pm. Accompanied by a 7-piece band inspired by Louis Prima, with music ranging from the Great American Songbook to the music of the James Bond and "Mad Men" era,Michael Feinstein and Storm Large will present a performance of "Shaken and Stirred - Classic Songs Reimagined" with brilliant singing and amusing anecdotes.

ANTHONYKEN, LLC has revealed a new talk show 'The Happy Hour', created by Kendrell Bowman (Off-Broadway Shows 'Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical' 'An Evening with Phyllis Hyman', 'A Soulful Christmas').

Winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction James Forman, Jr., a professor of law at Yale Law School, will be the keynote speaker at the 13th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration on Sunday, January 20, at 3 p.m., at Westport Country Playhouse.  Forman's Pulitzer Prize-winning book is "Locking Up Our Own:  Crime and Punishment in Black America."

'Bring it On' meets 'Dreamgirls' in the girl-group musical, 'Betty and the Belrays' by William Electric Black aka Ian Ellis James, which will be presented by Theater for the New City January 31 to February 17. The piece tells the story of three white female singers from Detroit who struggle to change a racially divided society by singing for a black record label. Book and lyrics are by William Electric Black. Music is by Black, Valerie Ghent (arranger/keyboards for Ashford & Simpson) and Gary Schreiner. Choreography is by Jeremy Lardieri. Director is Mr. Black.

The Wallis Studio Ensemble presents S.O.S.,  an original multi-media physical theatre work about love and resilience in times of crisis, directed by Madeleine Dahm, from Thursday, January 31 through Sunday, February 10, 2019 at the Circle X Theatre (Please note: S.O.S.is not  being performed at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, but at the Circle X Theatre in Atwater Village). The production uses little known love letters by great writers and activists such as Vita Sackville West, Frederick Douglas, Maya Angelou, Tchaikovsky, Frida Kahlo, Virginia Woolf, Rainer Maria Rilke and others, along with original text, movement, film and photography.

The Cabaret is celebrating its 10th Anniversary season with some of the most highly acclaimed acts in the nation. The line-up for Winter/Spring 2019 includes a Grammy Award winner, the voice of two beloved Disney princesses and four Tony Award winners.

Downtown Music Productions will present A Chamber Christmas Carol on Sunday, December 23 @ 7:00 PM at St. Marks Church-in-the-Bowery, 131 E. 10 St. (at 2nd Avenue) in New York, New York.

Harlem Stage, the legendary uptown venue that for over 35 years has promoted the creative legacy of Harlem and artists of color from around the corner and across the globe, is proud to present its Spring 2019 season of performances. The season marks the 20thanniversary of Harlem Stage's signature dance program E-Moves, which for two decades has nurtured and presented choreographers of color across the spectrum of contemporary dance idioms to create new work.The season also features collaborations with exciting new partners including the Prototype Festival and the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF), and continued relationships with venerable arts institutions such as Repertorio Español, Carnegie Hall, Manhattan School of Music, and Chamber Music America.

The New York Pops announces the appointment of Broadway star Capathia Jenkins to its Board of Directors. Capathia has previously appeared as a soloist with The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall on multiple occasions, including during the orchestra's R&B celebration in February 2018.

Tired of the same old Christmas Carol? Downtown Music Productions presents A Chamber Christmas Carol at the gorgeous St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery. Composer Ray Leslee (Avenue X, Standup Shakespeare) has created a brand-new take on the holiday season's most prolific tale. This ONE NIGHT ONLY event features a virtuoso company of five musicians and five actors who play 35 roles, telling the classic tale through Leslee's music and selections from Dickens' masterpiece. Tom Ligon (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) stars as Scrooge. The cast includes Mark Boyett, Jack McCarthy, JD Mollison and Alex Sunderhaus. The musicians are Broadway veterans Jack Bashkow (woodwinds), Jeff Carney (bass), Marshall Coid (violin), Ron Hay (trombone) and Mimi Stern-Wolfe at the piano. Margarett Perry directs.

Artistic Director Pat Taylor's JazzAntiqua Dance and Music Ensemble is a beautiful jazz/dance and soulful enterprise that is so exuberant and exhilarating to watch, that, and this is also because the four jazz musicians who play throughout are just beyond brilliant, you forget every one of your troubles and feel compelled to join in to rejoice the human spirit through music, dance, poetry and the spoken word.

Paper Mill Playhouse will present 'Holiday Inn' from November 21 through December 30. This spectacular musical has a book by Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge; choreography by Denis Jones; direction by Gordon Greenberg; and musical direction by Shawn Gough. Broadwayworld.com had the pleasure of interviewing Shawn Gough to chat about his career and the upcoming show.

Growing up, we all have heroes, from cartoon characters that remind us of us to famous people who've overcome the same challenges we face. But finding these heroes isn't easy for everyone, especially young girls of color. That's why "Girls Who Colored Outside the Lines," a new coloring book looking to inspire little girls of color, is expected to make big waves. The book will feature portraits of awesome she-roes of color including Maya Angelou, Rita Moreno, Malala Yousafzai, Anna May Wong and other powerful role models drawn by artists of color.

THE BITTER GAME,  a 'high-impact' immersive theater experience ripe with pain, poetry, and laughter that explores the experience of being black in America, debuts at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, November 14 through Saturday, November 17, 2018, outdoors on The Wallis' Promenade Terrace.

INDEPENDENT SHAKESPEARE CO. has been named the 2018 recipient of the PAUL ROBESON AWARD by Actors' Equity Foundation and Actors' Equity Association. The award was presented at the Association's National Membership Meeting in Los Angeles on October 15, 2018.

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with week two of the "Second Annual Celebration of Ron Carter" with the Ron Carter Quartet, Capathia Jenkins & Louis Rosen 'PHENOMENAL WOMAN: The Maya Angelou Songs,' Alex Frondelli Quartet, and more!

NAACP National Board of Directors Chairman Leon W. Russell announced the Association is soliciting nominations for the 104th Spingarn Award.  All nominations for the 104th Spingarn Medal must be submitted, in writing, on or before December 31, 2018.  To be accepted, the postmark date on the envelope must be no later than December 31, 2018.

Celebrating the figure and trajectory of singer Elza Soares, 'Elza' opens on October 18 with text by Vinicius Calderoni, directed by Duda Maia, musical direction by Pedro Luis, Larissa Luz and Antonia Adnet and arrangements by Letieres Leite.

The San Diego Symphony's annual January Festival returns in its fourth year entitled, Hearing the Future. Throughout the festival, which runs January 9 - 27, 2019, the organization explores and celebrates the power of music and art to give voice to the evolution and revolutions in the world at large. The festival, curated by composer-conductor Matthew Aucoin (b.1990), will shine a spotlight on the music being made today - from composers and performers who are still in high school, to a 90-year-old jazz master. The festival will also explore the way music from the past - from Haydn, Beethoven and Berlioz to the creators of African-American spirituals - engaged with the most urgent issues of their time.