Randy Cohen News

In a year of virtual hits and misses, the Freshman and Sophomore nights of The First Virtual Cabaret Convention land a full-fledged, bona fide bullseye.

Oscar winning and Tony nominated composer and songwriter Al Kasha passed away today, September 14th, in Los Angeles. He was 83 years old. 

On this day in 2019, The Public Theater's Public Works put the 'glad' in 'gladiator' with its glorious story of Hercules!

Americans for the Arts is hosting its first-ever virtual Annual Convention and Public Art & Civic Design Conference, which will take place today through June 25, 2020. Through more than 40 sessions, participants gather to better understand how the arts field is responding to the COVID-19 crisis, how the field can move toward recovery, and the role of the arts in healing during and after crises.

According to a new survey from the Americans for the Arts, the arts sector in the United States has lost an estimated $4.5 billion to the current virus pandemic.

The BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center will partner with host Randy Cohen for his Person Place Thing podcast and radio show for a third season. The first guest of 2020 to be featured at Tribeca PAC is Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, on Monday, March 16 at 7pm. Tickets to the recording are $10 and available online, at the door, and by phone at 212-220-1460.

SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical opens with a swell of music and a chorus full of sequined, big-haired glittered-up dancers who sure can sing. The costumes are dazzling. The strobe lights are electrifying. Everything is loud and large and pulsing and promising. a?oeYou like that modest opening?a?? Diva Donna (Dan'yelle Williamson, one of the three actors who plays Donna) asks the audience outright. a?oeWe just threw it together.a?? It's funny of course, because this is a big production, and nothing is farther from the truth. However...

The Public Theater's Public Works is putting the 'glad' in 'gladiator' with its glorious story of HERCULES! See footage from the show!

The company of Public Works' HERCULES is hard at work in rehearsal and we've got an inside peek!

The Public Theater will soon present the Public Works' musical adaptation of HERCULES with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by David Zippel, book by Kristoffer Diaz, and directed by Lear deBessonet, running for seven nights for free, August 31-September 8 at The Delacorte Theater. The Public has just announced how you can score tickets to the show. 

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced casting for the Public Works' musical adaptation of HERCULES with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by David Zippel, book by Kristoffer Diaz, and directed by Lear deBessonet, running for seven nights for free, August 31­September 8 at The Delacorte Theater. Based on the Disney film written by Ron Clements, John Musker, Donald McEnery, Bob Shaw, and Irene Mecchi and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, HERCULES will feature over 200 New Yorkers from all five boroughs and features choreography by Chase Brock, as well as additional new songs by Menken and Zippel for this Public Works production in addition to six songs from the film's beloved Academy Award-nominated score.

The BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center is proud to partner with host Randy Cohen for his Person Place Thing podcast and radio show for a second season. The third guest of 2018-2019 to be featured at Tribeca PAC is actor and author Eric Bogosian, on Wednesday, May 29 at 7pm. Tickets to the recording are $10 and available online, at the door, and by phone at 212-220-1460.

The BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center partners with host Randy Cohen for his Person Place Thing podcast and radio show for a second season. The second guest of 2018-2019 to be featured at Tribeca PAC is Founder and President of Bridgit.com, Jeffrey Ervine, on Thursday, March 21 at 7pm. Tickets to the recording are $10 and available online, at the door, and by phone at 212-220-1460.

Popular radio host Brian Lehrer, of WNYC's daily call-in program 'The Brian Lehrer Show,' will appear in conversation with Randy Cohen as part of the popular 'Person Place Thing' series at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan today, January 16 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $18 for members and $20 for the public. To reserve your seat, visit jccmanhattan.org or call 646.505.5708.

Irish Arts Center (IAC), a multidisciplinary center dedicated to bringing people of all backgrounds together through the excellence and dynamism of Irish arts and culture, announces its Spring 2019 season a cross-section of the exhilarating theater, music, dance, literature, art, and genre-defying performance coming from Ireland and Irish America, alongside educational events engaging participants with an array of rich traditions. With performances as wide-ranging as Margaret McAuliffe's acclaimed one-woman play The Humours of Bandon, Declan O'Rourke's epic song cycle Chronicles of the Great Irish Famine, and Paul Muldoon's performance adaptation of a 1773 Irish poem, IAC provides an intimate home for artists' boldest visions. As construction on IAC's landmark permanent new home in Hell's Kitchen takes place just beyond the organization's original location, IAC's vast ambition and accomplishment will be on full display, outside and in, throughout Spring 2019.

Popular radio host Brian Lehrer, of WNYC's daily call-in program 'The Brian Lehrer Show,' will appear in conversation with Randy Cohen as part of the popular 'Person Place Thing' series at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan on Wednesday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $18 for members and $20 for the public. To reserve your seat, visit jccmanhattan.org or call 646.505.5708.

The BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center is proud to partner with host Randy Cohen for his Person Place Thing podcast and radio show for a second season. The first guest of 2018-2019 to be featured at Tribeca PAC is Roundabout Theatre Company Artistic Director/CEO Todd Haimes on Monday, October 15 at 7pm.

59E59 Theaters (Val Day, Artistic Director; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) announces additional post show conversations scheduled during the run of THE ORIGINALIST. The talks feature conversations with attorneys, journalists and Supreme Court specialists as well as the cast and creative team.

Arts South Dakota, the South Dakota Arts Council and the Sioux Falls Arts Council are excited to welcome art enthusiasts from every corner of the state to converge at the Downtown Holiday Inn City Centre in Sioux Falls, SD for the 2018 South Dakota State Arts Conference on May 4 & 5, 2018. The South Dakota State Arts Conference occurs every five years, and 2018 is the first time the conference is taking place in Sioux Falls. Organizers are pleased to offer a reduced registration fee of $125 and a reduced hotel rate of $124 until April 16, 2018. For more information on visit www.ArtsSouthDakota.org.

Irish Arts Center (IAC), the arts and cultural center dedicated to projecting a dynamic image of Ireland and Irish America for the 21st century, is proud to welcome back fiddle player Martin Hayes, "one of Ireland's great musical exports" (WNYC), for a week-long residency, April 25-29, to take place in and out of their current home on 51st Street. Each of these five evenings, many of which are curated by Hayes himself, will feature special guests from within and beyond the world of Irish traditional music, breaking barriers and taking audiences on an unforgettable artistic journey.