Melvin Van News

Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre (NFT) will hold a Gala Benefit on Sunday, June 26 from 2:00 to 5:30 PM at Trump Place, 220 Riverside Boulevard (enter West 70th Street) honoring Novella Nelson and Melvin Van Peebles, two of many actors and directors who have worked at NFT over the theatre's 46 year history.  Mr. Van Peebles will be introduced by Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons.  Ms. Nelson will be introduced by former Mayor David Dinkins.

The Harlem School of Arts Theatre Department is launching One Monkey Don't Stop No Show a consistently hilarious, emotionally stirring and beautifully written satirical comedy directed by Artistic Director Alfred Preisser.

She'll be best remembered for RUNAWAYS, but Elizabeth Swados' musical contributions to theatre are varied and extensive.

THE WIZ was part of a growing trend of the 1970s when urban black stories and music were making their way to Broadway.

Performances of the Harlem School of the Arts critically acclaimed Soul Nativity returns to The Herb Alpert Center this holiday season! Conceived and directed by HSA's Artistic Director, Alfred Preisser and HSA Prep Director Tracy Johnson, Soul Nativity 2015 is a Gospel extravaganza featuring song, dance, and comedy that explores the story of the Nativity through a modern interpretation.

Vulture Productions presents FORGIVE THE DEVIL, a new play written by and starring Clayton Evertson at the Artscape Arena this November.

According to Deadline, stage favorite Ana Gasteyer has a pair of new television gigs lined up.

Tennessee Shakespeare Company (TSC), the Mid-South's professional classical theatre, in partnership with the University of Memphis' Department of Theatre & Dance presents a magical, family-friendly, Louisiana bayou-inspired production of A Midsummer Night's Dream on the U of M's Mainstage from tonight, June 4-21.

Tennessee Shakespeare Company (TSC), the Mid-South's professional classical theatre, in partnership with the University of Memphis' Department of Theatre & Dance presents a magical, family-friendly, Louisiana bayou-inspired production of A Midsummer Night's Dream on the U of M's Mainstage from June 4-21.

Ana Gasteyer is best known for her incomparable work on "Saturday Night Live." During her six year stint, she created some of the most famous SNL characters including middle school music teacher Bobbie Moughan-Culp, NPR radio host Margaret Jo, Lilith Fair poetess Cinder Calhoun, as well as spot-on impressions of Martha Stewart, Celine Dion and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Broadway @ series originated at its now-famous home in Provincetown, MA in the summer of 2011. Since that time the series, hosted by SiriusXM radio star and pianist Seth Rudetsky and produced by Mark Cortale, has attracted Broadway's biggest stars, such as Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Megan Hilty, Cheyenne Jackson, Chita Rivera, and many other marquee names. The series has also now leapt to ongoing seasons in New Orleans, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, the Poconos, Woodstock, NY, Hartford, Detroit, as well as Sydney, Australia and London's West End.

The Broadway @ series originated at its now-famous home in Provincetown, MA in the summer of 2011. Since that time the series, hosted by SiriusXM radio star and pianist Seth Rudetsky and produced by Mark Cortale, has attracted Broadway's biggest stars, such as Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Megan Hilty, Cheyenne Jackson, Chita Rivera, and many other marquee names. The series has also now leapt to ongoing seasons in New Orleans, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, the Poconos, Woodstock, NY, Hartford, Detroit, as well as Sydney, Australia and London's West End.

Wednesday, April 16 - The sixteenth annual Otto Rene Castillo Awards for Political Theatre (executive producer, Diane Stiles) will be held on Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. at the Castillo Theatre (artistic director, Dan Friedman).

The sixteenth annual Otto Rene Castillo Awards for Political Theatre (executive producer, Diane Stiles) will be held on Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. at the Castillo Theatre (artistic director, Dan Friedman).

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.

BRIC has announced programming for its inaugural season in BRIC Arts | Media House (BRIC House), the new, 40,000-square-foot multi-disciplinary facility the organization will open in the former Strand Theatre at 647 Fulton Street today, October 3.

BRIC has announced programming for its inaugural season in BRIC Arts | Media House (BRIC House), the new, 40,000-square-foot multi-disciplinary facility the organization will open in the former Strand Theatre at 647 Fulton Street on October 3.

Chicago International Movies & Music Festival (CIMMfest No. 5), Chicago's annual festival of film screenings, music concerts and more, presents CIMMpathy for The Stones, a major retrospective celebrating The Rolling Stones' 50 years of music on film. The retrospective includes screenings of ten concert films and documentaries - two never before seen in Chicago - plus music videos and filmmaker Q&As today-Sunday, April 19-21, at Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport.

Chicago International Movies & Music Festival (CIMMfest No. 5), Chicago's annual festival of film screenings, music concerts and more, presents CIMMpathy for The Stones, a major retrospective celebrating The Rolling Stones' 50 years of music on film. The retrospective includes screenings of ten concert films and documentaries - two never before seen in Chicago - plus music videos and filmmaker Q&As Friday-Sunday, April 19-21, at Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport.

As an undergraduate theater major in the early 1970s, I heard music everywhere. It seemed to pour out of every office and workspace around the department. (And in the LP era, if you wanted more than the radio, this meant schlepping a twenty pound record player and a dozen or so albums from your home to the campus, sometimes requiring back-and-forth trips from the car. If you go to that much trouble, you want to keep the music playing.) In the hushed costume shop with its quietly industrious all female staff, Broadway ruled, with Stephen Sondheim's recent Company and Follies in heavy rotation. It was 'men only' in the scene shop where I listened to male balladeers like James Taylor and Gordon Lightfoot while unhappily working off assigned crew hours. Jazz classes (my favorites) in the dance department were conducted to the pre-disco sounds of Isaac Hayes and the Temptations. And late night cast parties were never complete without spins of Bette Midler's first two albums.