Peter Charney News

ASCAP Award-winning writer/producer Chip Deffaa's new CD, 'Irving Berlin Rediscovered' - being released today - features such Broadway notables as Stephen Bogardus ('Bright Star'), Giuseppe Bausilio ('Hello, Dolly!'), and Jon Peterson ('Cabaret'), plus such nightclub and cabaret stars as Seth Sikes and Natalie Douglas.

The cast album for Chip Deffaa's hit gay musical, 'Mad About the Boy,' which broke box-office records at New York's historic 13th Street Repertory Theater, is out now. 

The original cast album for Chip Deffaa's trailblazing gay musical, 'Mad About the Boy,' which broke box-office records at New York's venerable 13th Street Theater, will be released April 28th.  The CD can be pre-ordered now from such sites as Amazon.com and CDBaby.com; digital downloads are available from iTunes, starting today. 

'The Chip Deffaa Songbook'—a double-album featuring nearly 40 theater songs by ASCAP Award-winning playwright/songwriter Chip Deffaa--is out now.  The two-CD set gathers songs that Deffaa wrote or co-wrote for such shows of his as 'George M. Cohan Tonight!,' 'The Seven Little Foys,'  'Mad About the Boy,' 'Presenting Fanny Brice,' 'The Family that Sings Together,' 'Yankee Doodle Dandy,' 'Song-and-Dance Kids,' and 'Theater Boys.' The set, with a suggested  list price of $17.00, is available from Amazon, CDBaby, iTunes, Footlight Records, etc.   It may be ordered here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thechipdeffaasongbook.

'The Chip Deffaa Songbook'--a two-CD set, featuring nearly 40 theater-songs by ASCAP Award-winning playwright/songwriter  Chip Deffaa--will be released November 30th.  The album features songs that Deffaa wrote or co-wrote for such shows of his as 'Theater Boys,' 'The Seven Little Foys,' 'Mad About the Boy,' 'Yankee Doodle Dandy,' 'The Family That Sings Together,' 'The Fanny Brice Story,' 'Song-and-Dance Kids,' and 'George M. Cohan Tonight!'  

Black Coffee Productions has announced selected works that will be given public staged readings at THEATERLAB during the week of January 16th, 2017 as part of the Fresh Grind Festival.

Lost, forgotten, and  unknown Irving Berlin songs are the focus of  Chip Deffaa's new album, 'The Irving Berlin Songbook,'  being released today.  

Award-winning playwright/director Chip Deffaa's 'Irving Berlin Songbook' album--part of an ongoing 'Irving Berlin Project' which Deffaa has been developing at the 13th Street Theater in New York City--will be released August 16th.  The album--with two-dozen members of New York's theatrical community singing 29 rare Berlin songs--includes many songs that have never before  been recorded.  Deffaa--one of the world's foremost authorities on Berlin's music and the author of five different shows about him--went through every song in the Berlin archive, some 1500 in all, in preparation for the project.

Legendary songwriter Irving Berlin (1888-1989) was so fanatical about his privacy that in his lifetime he prevented anyone from dramatizing his life. 'They can do what they want after I'm dead,' he declared. Since Berlin's  passing, ASCAP award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa has written no less than five different shows about Berlin, developing them at the 13th Street Theater in New York City. 

The premiere recording of ASCAP award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa's musical play 'Irving Berlin: In Person,' which was developed at the 13th Street Theater in New York City, will be released June 3rd.  Jed Peterson, who's starred Off-Broadway in such shows as 'Hard Times' and 'Nevsky Prospect,' and has been featured on television's  'Madame Secretary,' stars as Mr. Berlin.  Richard Danley is musical director.  Choreography and tap-dancing are by Rayna Hirt.  Hawkins Gardow is special guest artist. Music preparation is by Donald Brown.   Peter Charney and Matthew Nardozzi are assistants to the producers.  The CD, being distributed exclusively in the United States via CDBaby, will be available on CDBaby.com, Amazon.com, iTunes, Footlight Records, Google Music, etc.

Some never-before-recorded Irving Berlin songs will get their recording debuts when the original cast album of Chip Deffaa's musical play IRVING BERLIN & CO. is released in the U.S. by CDBaby on Monday, December 21st.

The original cast album for Chip Deffaa's musical play 'Irving Berlin & Co.' (published by Eldridge Plays and Musicals)  will be released December 21st.  The album can be pre-ordered now from CDBaby (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/irvingberlinco); as of the 21st, it will be available from Amazon, iTunes, Google Music Store,  SoundExchange, Rhapsody, etc.  This is the 13th cast album of Deffaa's to be released, and the fourth dealing with Berlin.  Cast-members will help celebrate the release with performances of songs at Birdland and on 'The Barry Z Show.'  

'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue' is being released today, September 15th.

The original cast album of 'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue,' which set box-office records at the 13th Street Theater, is being released September 15th.  To celebrate the release, members of the company  will be singing at Birdland, and on Barry Z's TV show, and promoting the album on radio programs hosted by George Bettinger, Moe Banshee,  Gail Kubik, and others.

'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue' is being released on September 15th. The show, which drew packed houses throughout its limited engagement at the 13th Street Theater, features 44 of the songs that helped make Irving Berlin the most successful songwriter in history. Some members of Deffaa's cast will perform at Birdland to help launch the new CD, which will be available via Amazon.com, CDBaby.com, iTunes, etc.

The 13th Street Rep has  presented  its 'Lisa Lambert Award'--named after the Tony Award-winning co-creator of the musical comedy 'The Drowsy Chaperone,' and honoring an outstanding woman in theater--to actress Maite Uzal.  Currently appearing in the musical 'Mad About the Boy,' Uzal is a resident member of both the New York-based  Rebel Theater Company and of Chip Deffaa's repertory company at the 13th Street Theater.  

The 13th Street Repertory Theater will present a teach-in on the history of gay musical theater, and gay songs in pop music, following the performances next Sunday (April 26th) at 2 pm and 7 pm of its current hit musical 'Mad About the Boy.' The presentation will be moderated by ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa (creator of 'Mad About the Boy'), and will feature members of the cast, joined by a special surprise guest.

Steele Spring Stage Rights officially publishes ASCAP Award-winner Chip Deffaa's musical play 'Irving Berlin's America'--which successfully premiered in 2014 at the 13th Street Repertory Theater in New York City--on Monday, April 20th. The 13th Street Rep will celebrate the publication on 5 pm Sunday, April 19th.

The 13th Street Repertory Theater will honor the woman widely considered to be the world's greatest blues singer by making Sunday, April 19th, 'Bessie Smith Day.' The theater will be offering free admission to its new hit show, 'Mad About the Boy' (which includes a tribute to Smith) to anyone who can sing a chorus of a song recorded by Smith. ASCAP award-winning playwright/director Chip Deffaa, who's created and produced 'Mad About the Boy,' will also award prizes to those who do the best job of singing Smith's songs. Deffaa--who profiled Smith in the book 'Harlem Speaks: A Living History of the Harlem Renaissance' (Sourcebooks, Inc.) and has lectured on her (most recently at the University of Idaho)--will be the judge, assisted by members of his theater company.

ASCAP award-winning playwright/director Chip Deffaa will host talkback sessions--in which audience members can ask any questions they wish of the cast or creative team--after the following performances of his new musical comedy 'Mad About the Boy' at the 13th Street Repertory Theater (50 W. 13th Street, NYC).