Taylor James News

HBO released the first teaser for John Oliver's topical half-hour comedy series, LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER, premiering SUNDAY, APRIL 27 (11:00-11:30 p.m. ET/PT), with other weekly editions debuting subsequent Sundays at the same time on HBO. Check it out below!

Star of stage and screen, Tom Wopat will take the Stage at Rockwells for two performances on Friday, May 9th at 7:15 and 9:30 PM. Making a rare Westchester County appearance, the famed Broadway star, memorable Dukes of Hazzard actor and jazz and cabaret performer, has just released his eighth album, I've Got Your Number. With his warm baritone and far-ranging interpretive skills he offers new, intriguing musical twists to such Great American Songbook classics as 'The Good Life,' 'The Folks Who Live On The Hill,' 'Call Me,' 'Born To Be Blue' and 'I Won't Dance,' as well as contemporary songs from the likes of Paul Simon, Judy Collins, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Hornsby and James Taylor. Tickets are $30 and available at http://www.rockwellsusa.net/music.php.

Grammy, Oscar and Emmy award winning singer-songwriter Randy Newman has penned scores for films ranging from The Natural to Monsters Inc. This summer, Encores! Off-Center will present a rare opportunity to catch the man himself playing the devil in his darkly hilarious modern-day take on the Faust story. BroadwayWorld has confirmed that Newman's Faust is set to be featured in the 2014 Off-Center season for one night only on July 1. Additional casting has not yet been announced.

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter will make her New York Philharmonic debut in Mary Chapin Carpenter with the New York Philharmonic and Special Guests, a retrospective program featuring songs from throughout her career, some newly arranged for orchestra.

Five-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and keyboardist Michael McDonald lends his husky, soulful baritone to Pacific Symphony Pops for a concert featuring hits from his chart-topping career spanning more than four decades. From his 1970s beginnings singing back-up vocals with American rock band Steely Dan on songs including "Black Friday," to enhancing the funky R&B sound of The Doobie Brothers, to his award-winning solo career, McDonald has established himself as a timeless yet distinctive artist in pops music. One of the most popular vocalists to emerge from the '70s rock scene, McDonald commands the stage with his distinctive interpretations of classics like "What a Fool Believes," "On My Own," "Sweet Freedom," "I Keep Forgettin'," "Minute by Minute" and "Yah Mo B There." His more recent album, "Soul Speak," has been acclaimed as an "impeccable" crossover by BBC Radio since its release in 2008, when it also hit three different charts simultaneously.

PK Productions, by arrangement with Stanley Silverman and R&H Theatricals Europe, present CELEBRATING SILVERMAN with music by Stanley Silverman, and direction by Patrick Kennedy, and music direction by Peter Mitchell on Sunday, 6th April 2014 at London Hippodrome.

Men Are From Mars - Women Are From Venus LIVE!, the one-man fusion of theatre and stand-up starring Peter Story and based on the New York Times #1 best-selling book of the last decade by John Gray, is coming to Hartford The Bushnell's Belding Theatre for two performances on May 2 and 3 at 8:00 p.m. Moving swiftly through a series of vignettes, the show covers everything from dating and marriage to the bedroom. All tickets are $50 and are available online at www.bushnell.org, by phone at 860-987-5900, or at The Bushnell box office, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. The Bushnell engagement of Men are from Mars - Women are from Venus LIVE! is sponsored by United Technologies.

Gary Naylor enjoys a slice of life from cold Chicago and is grateful for the sentimentality being reined in just sufficiently to get him through the play.

LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER will debut SUNDAY, APRIL 27 (11:00-11:30 p.m. ET/PT), with other weekly editions debuting subsequent Sundays at the same time on HBO.

ONE NIGHT OF QUEEN performed by GARY MULLEN & THE WORKS is a spectacular live concert, recreating the look, sound, pomp and showmanship of arguably the greatest rock band of all time. Harris Center for the Arts delights in presenting them as part their current season. They have been hailed as the World's Premier Queen Tribute Band and have received rave reviews from over 300 Performing Arts Centers in the USA since 2008.

THE DOUBLE is a new film directed and co-written by Richard Ayoade, and starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska. The drama hits theaters this spring.

In this week's edition, we caught up with Jake Epstein, who is starring as 'Gerry Goffin' in Beautiful- currently playing at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

At last night's 56th Annual Grammy Awards, Grammy nominee Sara Bareilles appeared in a special performance with four-time GRAMMY winner and 2014 MusiCares Person of the Year Carole King.

A dream cabaret pairing comes to Segerstrom Center for the Arts when Grammy® Award-winning artist Jimmy Webb and Grammy and Drama Desk-nominated vocalist Maureen McGovern perform three concerts in their Cabaret Series debuts April 11 - 13 in Samueli Theater. This will also be Webb's Center debut, while McGovern appeared at the Center during the 2004 - 2005 Broadway Series as Marmee in the national tour of Little Women. The New York Times proclaims McGovern as "blessed with a vocal technique second to none" and says that Webb is "at the top of his game."

Men Are From Mars - Women Are From Venus LIVE!, the one-man fusion of theatre and stand-up starring Peter Story, is a light-hearted theatrical comedy based on the New York Times #1 best-selling book of the last decade by John Gray, will play the Marcus Center's Vogel Hall on March 14-15. Moving swiftly through a series of vignettes, the show covers everything from dating and marriage to the bedroom. Tickets go on sale this Sunday, January 26 at 12:00 pm. For tickets, visit the Marcus Center Box Office at 929 North Water Street, Downtown Milwaukee, by phone at 414-273-7206 or online at Ticketmaster.com or MarcusCenter.org.

It was announced today that Carole King will be honored as the 2014 MusiCares() Person of the Year tonight, Jan. 24, 2014.

Donna Vivino, the rising Broadway and vocal star, will celebrate the release of Beautiful Dreamer - her debut solo album from Ghostlight Records - with a special performance at 54 Below tonight, January 23 at 9:30 PM. The veteran of Broadway's 'Wicked' and 'Les Miserables,' Vivino will reprise her solo concert 'It's Not Easy Being Green' with special numbers from the new recording.

One of the most talented groups of musicians currently playing together - THE RINGERS, featuring Jimmy Herring, Wayne Krantz, Michael Landau, Keith Carlock and Etienne Mbappe, first debuted in early 2013 for a very exclusive tour on the east coast. The tour proved quite fulfilling for the iconic five-some, bringing together their varied backgrounds of Rock, Funk, Jazz, Blues and African styles.

Celebrity Series of Boston will present Newport Jazz Festival: NOW 60, on Thursday, February 13, 2014, at 8pm at Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Avenue Boston. Sponsored by Donna and Mike Egan. Media partner is Boston Public Radio 89.7 WGBH.

Men Are From Mars - Women Are From Venus LIVE!, the one-man fusion of theatre and stand-up starring Peter Story will play the City Theatre from Friday, March 28 through Sunday, March 30. The show is a light-hearted theatrical comedy based on the New York Times #1 best-selling book of the last decade by John Gray. Moving swiftly through a series of vignettes, the show covers everything from dating and marriage to the bedroom.