Susan Birkenhead News

Bristol Riverside Theatre presents WORKING based on Studs Terkel's best-selling book and featuring songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), Stephen Schwartz (Pippin, Wicked), and James Taylor running November 1-20.  Directed by Keith Baker, the ensemble cast features Demetria Joyce Bailey, Philip Chaffin, Laura Giknis, Tamar Greene, Jenny Lee Stern, and Kevin Toniazzo-Naughton.

The Lilly Awards Foundation will present its fourth BROADWAY CABARET: BROADWAY STARS PERFORMING THE WORK OF WOMEN SONGRWITERS on Monday, October 17 at The Cutting Room (44 East 32nd Street).

Signature Theatre's Jelly's Last Jam is a stylish and swanky affair that radiates with soulful energy.

Signature Theatre's JELLY'S LAST JAM, directed by Signature Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's La Cage Aux Folles, West Side Story) and choreographed by Jared Grimes (Broadway's After Midnight), runs now through September 11 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre. The musical about famed and notorious jazz entertainer Jelly Roll Morton by George C. Wolfe, Susan Birkenhead, and Luther Henderson features the music of Jelly Roll Morton. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

Signature Theatre's JELLY'S LAST JAM, directed by Signature Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's La Cage Aux Folles, West Side Story) and choreographed byJared Grimes (Broadway's After Midnight), runs now through September 11 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre. The musical about famed and notorious jazz entertainer Jelly Roll Morton by George C. Wolfe, Susan Birkenhead, and Luther Henderson features the music of Jelly Roll Morton. Click below to watch highlights from the show!

Below, check out the cast of Jelly's Last Jam in the rehearsal room, plus watch Signature's talented, hardworking tech crew transform the MAX Theatre from a drag club on the French Riviera in La Cage aux Folles to the Jungle Inn, a 1920s jazz club, for Jelly's Last Jam!

Signature Theatre's JELLY'S LAST JAM, directed by Signature Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's La Cage Aux Folles, West Side Story) and choreographed by Jared Grimes (Broadway's After Midnight), runs August 2 - September 11 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre. The musical about famed and notorious jazz entertainer Jelly Roll Morton by George C. Wolfe, Susan Birkenhead, and Luther Henderson features the music of Jelly Roll Morton. Click below to watch a teaser for the show!

Signature Theatre has announced the cast of Jelly's Last Jam directed by Signature Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's La Cage Aux Folles, West Side Story) and choreographed by Jared Grimes (Broadway's After Midnight). The musical about famed and notorious jazz entertainer Jelly Roll Morton by George C. Wolfe, Susan Birkenhead, and Luther Henderson featuring the music of Jelly Roll Morton runs August 2 - September 11 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre.

WORKING is based on Studs Terkel's well-known book of interviews with U.S workers, which retells the accounts of men and women and presents the meaning that these jobs bring to their lives. This classic musical was first adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso and premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. The show later ran on Broadway briefly before entering the national regional theatre circuit. The show was updated in 2012 with two new songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, and features the classic numbers from artists such as Stephen Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, and James Taylor. WORKING runs at Main Street Theatre from May 21 - June 19, 2016. The show, directed by the talented Andrew Ruthven, reflects not only the struggles that we go through as a nation, but hits home on multiple levels with the diverse and hard working citizens of Houston.

Twenty-four years before SHUFFLE ALONG, Gregory Hines starred in another George C. Wolfe musical about African-American performing artists.

Today's big news: Heather Headley takes her first bows in Broadway's THE COLOR PURPLE, and the stars gather for CUTTING EDGE COMPOSERS at Feinstein's/54 Below!

Yesterday, Peter Birkenhead wrote an article for the Daily Beast about his mother, lyricist Susan Birkenhead's, struggles that she had overcame, including escaping an abusive husband and raising four children on her own.   

It's something most of us have to do at least 5 days a week, go to work. So you'd think a musical about folks and their working lives would resonate more. But the musical "Working", despite being loved by musical theater nerds, never really caught on. In fact it only ran for 24 performances on Broadway back in 1978. But thankfully the folks at Showtunes have done what they do and dusted this one off for a weekend so more people can discover how wonderful it is.

Bristol Riverside Theatre celebrates its 30th Anniversary with a classic, a murder mystery, two musicals, and a heartfelt comedic family tale.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced that award-winning film director Mira Nair will bring her exuberant and sumptuous MONSOON WEDDING to the stage in this highly anticipated world premiere musical based on the 2001 Bollywood hit.

The Omaha Community Playhouse is announcing its Alternative Programming series for the 2016-17 season.

Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and Managing Director Maggie Boland announce the full lineup for Signature Theatre's 2016/17 season, including the previously announced production of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's FREAKY FRIDAY.

32 Actors, 8 Writers, and 8 Directors will gather at Abingdon Theatre Company for an entire weekend of pure creativity to produce FETE 24.

32 Actors, 8 Writers, and 8 Directors will gather at Abingdon Theatre Company for an entire weekend of pure creativity to produce FETE 24.

Eric Yves Garcia has stepped away from the piano. I repeat, stepped away from the piano. The performer strides into the center stage light, his dark eyes twinkling, his jaw defined by just the right amount of stubble. This guy could be a movie star. I was excited. For the Metropolitan Room audience, Garcia's November 5 opening night of his new show Pour Spirits was about to be a down and dirty tell-all of some of New York's bacchanalian carousers as related by the handsome, attentive piano man of Chez Josephine, Bemelmans Bar, and other NYC nightspots. Garcia remained center stage for the better part of the show, allowing his inner storyteller and actor to take the reins, punctuating his alcohol-soaked dispatches from the wrong side of midnight with songs far afield of the traditional American Songbook.