Michael West News

Over four nights (28 April - 1 May), audiences throughout Ireland and across the globe can watch the world premiere of Dear Ireland a?" a historic digital theatre project that brings together 50 brand new monologues, commissioned by the Abbey Theatre as a rapid response to the COVID-19 crisis. Each piece of work was written and created in self isolation by 100 participating artists.

During her stint in the long running Off-Broadway show NEWSical The Musical, Christine Pedi created several videos for the show including a?oeSh*t Liza Saysa??, a?oeHello Dolly Auditionsa??, and a?oe73 Questions with Lizaa??.

The Abbey Theatre has commissioned writers from Ireland, with unique additional contributions from the USA, China and Italy, to each write a monologue, to be performed by 50 actors, and then streamed on the Abbey's digital platforms. Today, 15 April 2020, Graham McLaren and Neil Murray, Directors of the Abbey Theatre, announce the lineup of artists taking part in the theatre's historic project, Dear Ireland.

It started on Joan Rivers' afternoon talk show. This amazing female impersonator named Lypsinka came out and did a number that was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I hadn't seen a lot of drag queens in my twenty-five (ish) years on the earth but the ones I had seen didn't have an act like this - it was all telephones ringing and quotes from movies all pieced together with a big rousing musical finish, and I was as mesmerized as Joan Rivers appeared to be, sitting in her chair, captivated by the very original and fascinating performance. I never forgot it. A few years later I became friends with a man named Mark Sendroff and Mark had a hobby that brought him great pleasure and every one of his friends was the beneficiaries of this hobby. Mark Sendroff made these VHS videotapes called Potpourri that were 2 hours of weird and wonderful show business clips, a melange of oddities and treasures that he had collected over the years and turned into party tapes - because at our home we played these tapes at every party. There was a clip of a man named Michael West doing a 2-minute movie called 'Door To Door Dolly,' there was a clip of Mimi Hines singing 'Yesterday I Heard the Rain' at The Triad, there was a clip of Leslie Uggams messing up the words to 'June Is Busting Out All Over,' and there was Lypsinka on The Joan Rivers Show doing her act with all the telephones and lipsyncing to some astonishing recording of 'Get Me To The Church On Time.' If there was one thing I knew about Mark Sendroff, it was that he would know who sang that song and I could, finally, at it to my collection. I called him on the phone and asked him that which had been on my mind all these years and which nobody had had the answer to.

Dr. Frances Ruane, Chair of the Board of the Abbey Theatre, announced today that Máire O'Higgins, Breda O'Keeffe, Michael Owens and Michael West have been appointed to the board. The new appointments were confirmed at a meeting of the Abbey Theatre's Board of Directors on Monday, 9 March 2020.

Marilyn Maye opened her latest show at Dizzy's Club in the Jazz at Lincoln Center complex just one week after Valentine's Day. But the love for this singer and her mastery of the American Songbook kept everyone in the holiday's spirit. After all it's never too late for a Marilyn Maye lovefest for, as the singer herself said, 'Each day is Valentine's Day.'

Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) has announced the lineup for the 2020 Ted Snowdon Reading Series.

Birdland Theater was packed to the gills for crooner/entertainer extraordinaire Kenn Boisinger's show, “The New Voice of Christmas” on Wednesday, December 4.

Everyone's favorite septuagenarian redneck lesbian is back at The Green Room 42 with an all new sermon - CHRISTMAS IN LADY LAND! This time, though, she has four of New York's brightest talents to help her celebrate ALL of the holidays!

Directors of the Abbey Theatre, Graham McLaren and Neil Murray, today announced a wide range of projects for the Abbey and Peacock Stages and on tour in 2020 presenting a diverse, challenging and engaging programme for theatre audiences.

Mark William: Come Croon With Me is now available on CD, digital download, and all streaming platforms. Hailed as the “Album Of The Year” by Peter Filichia (Broadway Radio), the CD release was celebrated at the premiere performance of Mark's all new show Mark William: Feeling Good at The Green Room 42 (570 10th Ave, New York) on Friday, November 22 at 7:00 PM.

Children of powerful or accomplished parents have a hard enough time as it is stepping into the massive shoes laid out before them or being able to be seen for who they are unobscured by the huge, formidable shadow cast by someone who has been called a 'great man', but what of a child who never got the chance in the first place? These are some of the questions that arose from Hamnet, written and directed by Ben Kidd and Bush Moukarzel of Ireland's Dead Centre as part of BAM's Next Wave 2019.

Gerard Alessandrini's Forbidden Broadway, one of NYC's best-loved and highly anticipated productions, is back this season after a five-year absence.

Kenn Boisinger, noted entertainer, returns to The Green Room 42 with a residency of a?oeTonight I'm Gonna Sing For Youa?? after his much heralded sold-out debut earlier this year. Expect to be delighted with old favorites (a?oeThe Happy Wanderer - Valderi, Valderaa??) as well as exclusive debuts of new works such as a?oeIs She A Call Girl, Or Just A Girl I'd Like To Call?a?? and a?oeWere All Patients Really Seen By Dr. Zizmor?a??

The 5th longest running musical in Off-Broadway history, NEWSical The Musical, the 2011 winner of the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical,  will be ending its historic run on June 17th.

The 5th longest running musical in Off-Broadway history, NEWSical The Musical, the 2011 winner of the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical,  will be ending its historic run on June 17th. 

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…last Saturday, "May The Fourth" at Theatre Row to be exact… A Musical About Star Wars - or Why Star Wars is the Greatest Thing in the Galaxy, Much Much Better than Star Trek opened to thunderous applause, standing ovations, and unparalleled accolades.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) are pleased to announce the complete casting for the world premiere of Continuity, the new play by Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominee Bess Wohl (Small Mouth Sounds, American Hero) and directed by Tony Award nominee Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812). The production will feature Max Baker (1984, The Explorers Club), Jasmine Batchelor (The River), Rosal Colon ('Orange is the New Black,' Between Riverside and Crazy), Curran Connor (Pidgeon, A Picture of Autumn), Garcia ('Tales of the City'), Darren Goldstein (Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, The Madrid), Alex Hurt (Cardinal, The Whirligig) and Megan Ketch (The Big Wedding, 'American Gothic').

Next week, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com/Feinsteins or call (646) 476-3551.

Gerard Alessandrini, the Tony Award winning creator of Forbidden Broadway, will debut FORBIDDEN BROADWAY SALUTES CAROL CHANNING, at Feinstein's/54 Below on Saturday, March 23rd, 2019, at 7:00pm in a concert produced by Mr. Alessandrini and Robert W. Schneider.