Peggy Lee News

The 7th Season of The Parks Concert Series, (formerly The Concerts for City Greens), a free outdoor concert series, continues on Wednesday, June 25th at 6:30 pm (Rain date: Thursday, June 26th at 6:30pm.) at Tudor City Greens, and will feature professional performers from Broadway and the New York City cabaret, jazz, classical and opera scene. All performers donate their time and talent for these concerts. The concert will be hosted by Tudor City resident, Broadway and cabaret veteran Raissa Katona Bennett.

In June and July, a colourful line-up of international and local jazz, cabaret and Broadway stars perform musical standards, sparkling cabaret numbers, soulful jazz songs and touching torch songs from the Golden Age of American song as part of Melbourne Recital Centre's 2014 American Songbook Festival.

Porchlight Music Theatre begins its 20th Anniversary season with a benefit concert, Chicago Sings Disney featuring the music created by the Walt Disney Studios, Monday, Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. at Mayne Stage, 1328 West Morse Ave. The evening includes a thrilling roster of Chicago's top theatre artists performing familiar Disney classics and nostalgic treasures, a silent auction, cash bar and complimentary desserts at intermission, generously provided by Bespoke Cuisine. General admission tickets are $50 in advance and $65 at the door. VIP Tickets are available for $100, which includes a pre-show reception and premier reserved seating. Tickets may be ordered at773.777.9884 or porchlightmusictheatre.org. Proceeds from this concert benefit Porchlight productions and educational programs at The School at Porchlight.

Harold Arlen wrote over 400 songs from 1926 - 1974. His music was made famous by Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and the iconic Judy Garland. Vocal powerhouse Johanna Allen showcases a catalogue of his most well known music: The Man that got Away, Blues in the Night, Get Happy, One for my baby, The Old Black Magic, Down With Love, Paper Moon, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and entwines stories from the women who loved him and the words of his other great musical work 'The Wizard of Oz'.

In June and July, a colourful line-up of international and local jazz, cabaret and Broadway stars perform musical standards, sparkling cabaret numbers, soulful jazz songs and touching torch songs from the Golden Age of American song as part of Melbourne Recital Centre's 2014 American Songbook Festival.

Lauren Stanford, winner of the 2013 MetroStar Talent Challenge, headlines the Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, in a special prime time engagement beginning tonight, June 3.

The always charming and incredibly talented Jinkx Monsoon proved to the American public that it was truly Monsoon Season for the last year. On May 19, 2014, she passed on the RuPaul's Drag Race crown to the sixth season's winner Bianca Del Rio. Certainly Hurricane Bianca is sure to rattle the world, but for all intents and purposes it is still Monsoon Season the world over. Jinkx Monsoon is going strong, working harder than ever, and proving that she is a talent to be reckoned with. Shortly after she helped coronate Binaca Del Rio, I chatted with Jinkx Monsoon about her career, THE INEVITABLE ALBUM, her debut solo album, and what's next for the indefatigable star.

Stacy Sullivan will bring 'It's A Good Day - A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee" to The Crazy Coqs, July 29 - August 2, 2014.

Lauren Stanford, winner of the 2013 MetroStar Talent Challenge, headlines the Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, in a special prime time engagement beginning June 3. The world premiere of "I'm a Stranger Here Myself," Stanford's solo cabaret debut, plays a four-show engagement through August 1. Opening for Stanford will be her MetroStar co-finalists Jason Morris (first runner-up) and Stephen Mitchell Brown, who will perform short sets on alternating nights.

When the orchestra began to play the opening number - Leigh Harline and Ned Washington's Disney signature song, 'When You Wish Upon A Star' - the music began to swell and swirl around the space of the Actors' Church in a way that clearly promised that this was going to be an evening of musical magic. And the entire concert that followed never failed to live up to that promise.

The Ziegfeld Society will present Tony Award winning Broadway Conductor Donald Pippin in A MAESTRO'S MEMOIRS today, May 17th, a multi-media presentation of his life in the theatre.

The Ziegfeld Society will present Tony Award winning Broadway Conductor Donald Pippin in A MAESTRO'S MEMOIRS tonight, May 17th, a multi-media presentation of his life in the theatre.

Harold Arlen wrote over 400 songs from 1926 - 1974. His music was made famous by Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and the iconic Judy Garland. Vocal powerhouse Johanna Allen showcases a catalogue of his most well known music: The Man that got Away, Blues in the Night, Get Happy, One for my baby, The Old Black Magic, Down With Love, Paper Moon, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and entwines stories from the women who loved him and the words of his other great musical work 'The Wizard of Oz'.

In June and July, a colourful line-up of international and local jazz, cabaret and Broadway stars perform musical standards, sparkling cabaret numbers, soulful jazz songs and touching torch songs from the Golden Age of American song as part of Melbourne Recital Centre's 2014 American Songbook Festival.

It's been rumored, talked about, discussed and we've been reporting on it for what feels like forever -- and now, it's official! Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that it will present Tony & Emmy Award winner Kristin Chenoweth as 'Lily Garland' and Golden Globe & SAG Award winner & Tony nominee Peter Gallagher as 'Oscar Jaffe' in a new Broadway production of the classic musical ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Warren Carlyle. ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY features music by Cy Coleman and book & lyrics by Betty Comden & Adolph Green.

The Ziegfeld Society will present Tony Award winning Broadway Conductor Donald Pippin in A MAESTRO'S MEMOIRS on Saturday, May 17th, a multi-media presentation of his life in the theatre.

Michael Feinstein and the Pasadena POPS kick off their one of a kind, simply cannot miss popular outdoor summer concert series at the Los Angeles County Arboretum on Saturday, June 7th with 'Feinstein's Favorites.' A POPS trademark, Feinstein brings a wealth of rare musical gems and premieres from his personal treasure hunts from archives found in basements in Brooklyn, garages in Hollywood and the personal family collections of Peggy Lee, Leo Arnaud, Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle and more. Audiences of all ages will indulge in a priceless opportunity to hear these definitive performances of great songs in classic arrangements that carry a freshness and excitement in a one of a kind setting.

I was just a little more than a year into my new side career as a cabaret show reviewer when I first saw a Karen Oberlin show. It was Valentine's Day night 2012 and Oberlin—with guitarist Sean Harkness and guest violinist Aaron Weinstein—would be performing her romance-laced set, Stringing Along With Love, at the Metropolitan Room. At the time, all I knew about Oberlin was that she was considered among New York's best female cabaret singers, and I hadn't researched her performing history pre-show. About a third of the way into her set I leaned over to my wife (it was Valentine's Day after all) and whispered, “You know, she has a real Doris Day quality in her voice and in the way she delivers some lyrics.” This immediately ratcheted up my appreciation for Oberlin since there are four passions I inherited from my Dad—baseball, reading the morning papers, sports writing and Doris Day (well, also Sophia Loren, but that's for another column). Since Dad had grown up during the prime of the Big Band Era of the 1940s, I heard the sultry sounds of a young Doris Day singing songs like “Sentimental Journey” on the family stereo more than a few times. Once I saw Day's strikingly adorable blondness on a record cover and her rocking body in one of her films, I knew what Dad was talking about. As popular, famous, and near iconic as Doris Day became, in my book, as a singer and screen beauty she's always been vastly underrated. Little did I know that Karen Oberlin had been doing a Doris Day tribute show so since 2001 at places like Firebird, Iridium, and the late Danny's Skylight Room, and produced a CD, Secret Love: The Music of Doris Day, in 2002. Karen Oberlin had instantly become my secret love.

May and June sees some new artists and some returns at The Crazy Coqs, including: Harold Sanditen (May 2-3); Simon Green with David Shrubsole (May 6-10); Lauren Fox with Jon Weber (May 13 - 17); Gary Williams (May 20 -24); KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler (May 26-28); Opera Tottie (May 29 - 31); Bryan Batt (June 3 - 7); Judy Carmichael with Colin Oxley (June 10 -14); Elaine Delmar (June 17 - 21) and more. Details below!

After her passionate, pulsating and highly praised Spring 2013 show The Sound of Blue, at Iridium Jazz Club, a prominent cabaret critic called Billie Williams, "An emotionally resonant vocalist . . . pithy, powerful, and sure of the terrain. She GIVES a performance." Now a year later--on May 25 at 7:30 pm--Billie Williams makes her debut at New York City's Joe's Pub in a show celebrating the release of her new original single Lonely Night in Harlem, a song inspired by life in her long-time Harlem neighborhood. Billie's concert will also feature other new original songs and she'll be supported by an amazing group of seasoned Blues and R&B professionals, including Stew Cutler: guitar; Double-Z: bass; Tony Allen: drums; Ron Thompson: keyboards; Birch Johnson: trombone; Charlie Lagond: sax; and Marty Bound: trumpet.