The Apollo News

BWW reviewer Natalie O'Donoghue selects her top picks from the Glasgow International Comedy Festival programme.

Amateur Night at the Apollo returns on February 2o at 7:30 p.m. In honor of the Apollo's 85th Anniversary, 850 tickets for Opening Night will be $8.50, made possible with support from sponsor Coca-Cola. The exciting program will feature a special performance by R&B artist Raheem DeVaughn.

In a concert inspired by adventure and Spanish exoticism, the Columbus Symphony will perform the Spanish Flamenco Festival at the newly renovated Palace Theatre on March 1 and 2. The auditorium of the 1926 historic venue received a six-month, $2.5 million facelift, and was reopened to the public in November 2018. Guest conducted by John Axelrod, musical director of the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, the program will feature local flamenco star Griset Damas and the Flamenco Company of Columbus. The full program includes Turina's Danzas fantasticas, Falla's La Vida Breve: Danse Espagnole No. 1, and concludes with the enchanting, rhythmic vitality of Dvo?ak's richly melodic New World Symphony (Symphony No. 9).

The Apollo Nights Summer Series is a new concert experience for the capital. Over one week in July 2019 at London's Eventim Apollo, legendary artists will take to the stage, as the Apollo's newly restored Art Deco interior is celebrated as the stalls area is transformed into an intimate dining experience for a truly spectacular evening, marrying the delights of the best in music and food. The first artists announced are Burt Bacharach and Joss Stone together in concert on 16th and 17th July, George Benson on 18th and 19th July and Marc Almond on 20th July.

Mischief Theatre, the Olivier award-winning company behind The Play That Goes Wrong, today announces it will take over the Vaudeville theatre with a season of new work from September 2019. Opening with comedy Groan Ups, the original Mischief company reunite to bring their unique inventive hilarity to the West End.

If you're a fan of watching uber-talented people NAIL a Broadway show that rivals professional productions anywhere, than you may TOTALLY be missing out if you don't already have a seat to a nearly SOLD OUT run of Cutting Edge Theatre's production of The Color Purple. The capacity crowd sat with anticipation among the authentic rustic, earthy timber slats, transporting us back in time to travel on an emotional and spiritual journey with these classic, beloved characters. Adapted from Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller and Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated film, this readapted stage musical has a fresh, joyous score of jazz, ragtime, gospel and blues. This stirring family chronicle follows the inspirational Celie, Brittney James-Crayton an African-American woman in the American South from the early to mid-20th century.

The Apollo Theater revealed the line-up for the third annual WOW - Women of the World Festival. Presented over four days in various spaces at the iconic cultural theater, the WOW Festival runs from March 12-17 and will feature workshops, activities, programming, and performances with artists, community leaders, writers, thinkers, activists, and leaders exploring a variety of issues across cultural, civic, and social boundaries with a focus on empowerment and activism.

On Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 8:00pm, Israeli-American cellist Amit Peled joins the Longwood Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Hob. VIIb/1 in Jordan Hall, led by Music Director Ronald Feldman.

Multi-GRAMMY Award-winning composer/pianist/educator Arturo O'Farrill and the non-profit The Afro Latin Jazz Alliance (ALJA) are thrilled to announce NYC's premier Afrobeat concert of 2019, ALJO + AFROBEAT = FELA!, featuring O'Farrill and his 18-piece Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) alongside Tony Award-Nominated Sahr Ngaujah (lead actor in the Tony-winning Broadway musical, Fela!). Today's singular forbearers of the Afrobeat genre take to the stage with O'Farrill to debut big band jazz arrangements of Fela Anikulapo Kuti's classic works as well as innovative collaborations with special guest artists Wunmi (vocals), Tosin Aribisala (drums/vocals), Bryan Vargas (guitar), and DJ Ausar. Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Fela!'s Broadway premiere in 2009, ALJO + AFROBEAT = FELA! will be presented in the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre @ Symphony Space on January 25 & 26, 2019. Artist interviews are available upon request.

Today, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) announced the initial line-up for the 2019 SCAD aTVfest, Atlanta's only festival dedicated to television. Now in its seventh year, the university's annual signature event celebrating the television industry will be held at SCADshow on February 7 - 9, 2019. Entertainment Weekly (EW) will serve as the first ever Official Media Partner for SCAD aTVfest.

Blue Boy Entertainment is bringing all new comedians to the Warner's Studio Theatre for GET RIGHT COMEDY NITE starring Kareem Blue, K'Rina Fort, Derek Furtado and JT Moore on Saturday, March 2 at 8 pm! This event sold out last time, so don't miss out - get your tickets starting January 25 at 10 AM!

Kinetic Element, a band based in Richmond, Virgina (USA) that finally made a mark in the prog world in its tenth year in 2016 by performing at ROSfest and Terra Incognita, and in 2017 at Progtoberfest, has been through some changes in the last couple of years. Sporting a new guitarist and vocalist, and venturing into vinyl for the first time, they composed and recorded their third studio album, “The Face of Life,” during 2017 and 2018. The band, founded and led by veteran multi-keyboardist Mike Visaggio, after breaking into the genre with their first album “Powered by Light” in 2009, garnered acclaim from around the progressive rock universe with their 2015 release of their second band album, “Travelog.” They began becoming known for their epic pieces,containing spiritually uplifting lyrics and symphonic style arrangements following in the footsteps of the founders of the style like Yes and Genesis, as have other great bands like Transatlantic, Knight Area, Frost, Also Eden, and others like them. Reviewers have said that while they can clearly hear the influences, Kinetic Element has molded them into something uniquely their own.

Following a smash-hit international tour, the new, interactive theatrical event, DJEMBE! The Show, makes its U.S. debut at the Apollo Theater (2540 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago), for a strictly limited engagement starting performances on March 19, 2019 (with an official premiere on Thursday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m.). DJEMBE! (JEM-bay) will engage audiences in a high-energy program of powerful storytelling and inspiring music, including iconic pop hits. Leading this lively musical journey will be the trio of Broadway talent Ben Hope (Once) as Emcee; critically-acclaimed Chicago musical theater artist Rashada Dawan (Caroline, or Change) on lead vocals; and Guinean master drummer and folklorist Fode Lavia Camara, backed by an ensemble of world-class musicians.

All That Remains and Attila have announced a massive co-headline North American tour that runs from February through April. They will be joined by Escape the Fate and Sleep Signals. The tour kicks off on February 28 in Reading, Pennsylvania and winds through U.S. and back before wrapping in early April. All tour dates are below.

Critically acclaimed stand-up comedian Chris Ramsey's sell out 106 date nationwide tour Chris Ramsey Live 2018: The Just Happy To Get Out Of The House Tour, which was filmed in front of a very special homecoming crowd of 6500 fans at Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena at the end of last year, will air on Comedy Central on Saturday 2nd February at 10pm. Following his first ever headline show at the venue in 2017, this is Chris' first proper Arena show filmed as a stand-up special.

BroadwayWorld is joining the chorus today of those wishing Michael Crawford a happy Birthday by featuring an interactive timeline of the star's career - that's featured on his web site. Responsible for (amongst other things) inspiring this very web site, created by Robert Diamond in 2003, take a look back through his multi-decade career below!

It's our first Comedy Night of 2019 and we're ready to deliver the laughs! Tickets are now on sale for the show featuring co-headliners Oscar Collazos and Marion Grodin on Saturday, February 9 at 8pm.  

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the nonprofit cultural center located at the National Register Historic Site of the Woodstock festival in Bethel, NY,  will celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the greatest festival of all time with exhibits, events and programs throughout 2019.

Milton Jones headlines the next Live At The Marlowe comedy night in February.

Public booking for Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's new production of Mary Poppins will open at 10am GMT on 28 January 2019. The musical, based on the stories of P. L. Travers and the original film, returns to its original West End home at the Prince Edward Theatre after fifteen years. Mary Poppins will begin previews on 23 October 2019 with opening night on 13 November and initially go on sale until 29 March 2020.