Michael Rice News

Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater are open this February with a full slate of nightly performances! 

Acclaimed actress, singer, and comedienne, Klea Blackhurst has been hailed as one of the top interpreters of the works of legendary composer, Jerry Herman. She brings her Broadway tune filled tribute, 'One of the Girls: The Worlds and Lyrics of Jerry Herman,' to Bucks County Playhouse for one special performance on Saturday, December 4 at 8 p.m.

THE MELODY LINGERS ON: A GALA TRIBUTE TO THE SONGS OF IRVING BERLIN was a gathering of some of the biggest names in the cabaret world. There’s something a little odd about celebrating the intimate art of cabaret in a Broadway-sized theatre like Rose Hall, but to be honest it was one of the few venues sizable enough to hold all the cabaret fans who came to see this fine collection of talented artists. There were performances from Sandy Stewart, Jeff Harner, Andrea Marcovicci, Eric Yves Garcia, Karen Oberlin, David LaMarr, Natalie Douglas, Stacy Sullivan & Todd Murray, Karen Akers, Steve Ross, Amra-Faye Wright, Klea Blackhurst, Billy Stritch, Aisha de Haas, Christine Andreas, Sidney Myer, Karen Mason, Nicolas King, Mark Nadler, and the Moipai Triplets. In addition to these wonderful performers, we were treated to some of NYC’s best musicians including Ray Marchicka, Steve Doyle, Jon Weber, Bill Charlap, Darnell White, Alex Rybeck, Mark Hummel, Michael Rice, and Tracy Stark.

Blackhurst is no stranger to the world of Jerry Herman. She played Dolly Levi in the 50th-anniversary production of Hello, Dolly! at the Goodspeed Opera House with the enthusiastic endorsement of Herman himself. Her show is a loving tribute, filled with the big hit songs as well as some more enchanting obscure tunes, all tied together with some informative and sometimes dishy stories about the legendary composer of Milk & Honey, Hello, Dolly! Mame, Dear World, Mack & Mabel, The Grand Tour, La Cage aux Folles, and many others.

BIRDLAND THEATER will present Klea Blackhurst: “One of the Girls: the Words and Music of Jerry Herman” for three shows from Wednesday, October 20 through Friday, October 22 at 8:30 PM. Blackhurst turns her long association with Broadway’s Jerry Herman into a brand new concert, her first new show in almost eight years.

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre will conclude its 2021 “Rep Outdoors” Series with The Fantasticks in Concert. Due to forecasted weather between Thursday and Sunday, the event scheduled for 5 P.M. at Murray Park will now be performed at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre at 2 P.M. and again at 6 P.M. 

Trinity Repertory Company returns to live performances with its 45th annual holiday production of A Christmas Carol. Noted for being a new production each year, the 2021 show will be a celebration of community, culture, and ritual. 

BIRDLAND THEATER will present Christina Bianco in her new show “A Lot to Unpack” on Friday, October 15 and Saturday, October 16 at 8:30 PM. Her bags are packed for London but before she leaves her hometown this globetrotting, genre-crossing, multi-voiced, multi-wig-wearing funny girl has some serious unpacking to do.

BIRDLAND will present Amanda Green & Friends “Vaxxed AF!” on Monday, October 4 at 7:00 PM. Tony Award-nominated lyricist/composer and award-winning performer Amanda Green will be joined by some amazing Broadway friends, including Darius de Haas, Ann Harada, Lesli Margherita, Curtis Moore, Natalie Douglas, and Dan Finnerty of The Dan Band.

Adelphi University's popular Live from Adelphi series, which brings Broadway and cabaret stars live to in-home audiences from the Performing Arts Center (PAC) Concert Hall, starts its spring schedule with a tribute to Ethel Merman, continuing with a celebration of the classics of the American songbook and the Café Carlyle's legendary Bobby Short.

Join York Theatre Company as they revisit the witty, wicked and thoroughly twisted world of famed satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer with a virtual reunion of their 2011 Musicals in Mufti presentation of the 1981 revue Tomfoolery.

For Summerfest 2020 and the 38th season of live performances, Opera North is producing two family-friendly, outdoor concerts at their Blow-Me-Down Farm location (in partnership with the National Park Service) in Cornish, NH. Opera North is safeguarding the health of its open-air audience by seating them on the lawn in physically-distanced 'patron pods' or in their cars.

Based on Studs Terkel's best-selling book of interviews with American workers, the musical Working paints a vivid portrait of the men and women that the world so often takes for granted: the schoolteacher, the phone operator, the waitress, the mill-worker, the mason and the housewife, just to name a few. Nominated for six Tony Awards, this classic has been updated for a modern age.

Trinity Rep presents its annual holiday tradition, A Christmas Carol. Noted for being a new production each year, the 2019 production has been inspired by the senses, with a focus on the sights, sounds, and smells of the holiday season.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series was proud to present singer/actress Klea Blackhurst with a brand new solo show, “One Of The Girls,” a tribute to Jerry Herman.

A happy and lucky throng of people filled the main room at Birdland on August 26th to see the jazz club's esteemed favorite, Klea Blackhurst, debut her new solo show, a?oeOne of the Girlsa??. 

Klea Blackhurst will perform her one-woman show featuring tunes made famous by Ethel Merman at The Glimmerglass Festival on Sunday, July 28, at 6:00 p.m. Additionally, Blackhurst will portray Parthy Ann Hawks in the Festival's performances of Show Boat, running July 6 through August 24. Blackhurst replaces Christine Ebersole, whose commitments have changed this summer due to professional reasons, including her role in the new CBS comedy series Bob Hearts Abishola.

The cast of the West End's longest running musical, The Phantom of the Opera, were last night hailed the stars of West End Eurovision 2019, scoring a remarkable double victory.

West End Eurovision does exactly what it says on the tin: casts of West End musicals compete by performing past Eurovision songs to win over juries of their peers and the live audience. But despite it being a one night only event, this isn't throwaway, or thrown together...

The cast of the West End's longest running musical, The Phantom of the Opera, were last night hailed the stars of West End Eurovision 2019, scoring a remarkable double victory.