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).
Casting has been announced for ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaaa€s next musical production, a€oeMad About the Boy,a€ which is set to open April 12th at the 13th Street Repertory Theater, 50 W. 13th Street.
The 13th Street Repertory Theater will present an 'Irving Berlin Teach-In,' immediately following the Sunday (November 23rd) matinee performance of Chip Deffaa's 'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue.' The 'Ragtime Revue,' which has been selling out at the theater, will begin at 3 pm. The teach-in is expected to begin at 4:30 pm. Michael Townsend Wright, who previously co-starred at the theater with Giuseppe Bausilio in 'Irving Berlin's America' (as seen in the photo) will be one of the special guests at the teach-in, singing a rare Berlin ballad as well as sharing recollections and insights. (Wright may also be heard on the cast album for 'Irving Berlin's America,' which includes some never-before-recorded material.) Surprise guests with ties to Berlin and his world will be joining Wright, the cast of 'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue,' pianist Richard Danley, and playwright Chip Deffaa in the teach-in.
ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa's 'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue'-currently playing at the 13th Street Theater in repertory with Deffaa's long-running 'One Night with Fanny Brice'--is to receive a cast recording. The cast album will feature all of the singing actors currently appearing in the show: Rayna Hirt, Ken Adams, Michael Cyzz, Maite Uzal, Michael Kasper, Jonah Barricklo, Emily Bordonaro, Missy Dreier, K.W. Andersson; Andrew Lanctot, Ann Marie Calabro, Brandon Pollinger, and Timmy Thompson, with musical direction by Richard Danley. Deffaa will produce the album; Slau Halatyn will be the recording engineer; with production to begin later this month at Be-Sharp Studios in Astoria. The album will be released in the United States on the Original Cast Records label. It will be the sixth show of Deffaa's to get a cast album.
Award-winning cabaret, theater, and concert star Carolyn Montgomery-Forant will be a special guest at select performances of 'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue' at the 13th Street Repertory Theater (50 W. 13th Street, NYC). Montgomery-Forant-who has won the MAC Award, the Bistro Award, and the New York Nightlife Award--will take time out from her own concert schedule to make guest appearances in the revue at the following performances: Sunday, November 16th at 3 pm and 7 pm, and Sunday November 23rd at 3 p.m.
ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa will be joined by special guests, including noted showbiz biographer Herb Goldman, writer/entertainer Brian Gari, and actor Michael Townsend Wright, for special audience 'talkback' sessions, following select performances of Deffaa's shows 'One Night with Fanny Brice' and 'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue,' which are playing in repertory this fall at the 13th Street Theater (50 W. 13th Street, NYC).
When ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa's "The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue" opens November 9th at the 13th Street Repertory Theater (50 W. 13th Street, NYC), it will include some Berlin rarities and rediscoveries unheard in a century, including some never-recorded Berlin numbers.
Audiences attending the musical comedy 'Theater Boys' at the 13th Street Repertory Theater might notice a camera or two--or three!--filming this week. Brian Gari is shooting an archival video of the entire two-hour show; Sam Donnenberg continues on-location shooting for his documentary about the making of the show, 'For the Theater'; and award-winning independent filmmaker Max Galassi, from Newtown, Connecticut, will be shooting a short film in connection with the show.
When ASCAP Award-winning playwright/director Chip Deffaa's 'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue' has its world premiere at the 13th Street Repertory Theater on November 9th, it will be the second new show about Berlin to play the theater this year.
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