The Duplex News

Last year, Manda Leigh Blunt graduated from New York University with a dream many musical theatre writers share: to get their work seen and heard. All it took were inspiring words from another female artist to launch something truly ground breaking, just a few months later. "My friends and I attended a session with Judith Light, which was incredible," Blunt recounted. "A lot of what I was hearing, especially from the other women who attended, echoed what I had felt and had been hearing in the conversations all around me at NYU. Once you graduate, there seemed to be so few opportunities as a musical theatre writer still in the development process. You can have these big 29-hour readings or productions---if you get that---but there are fewer in-between moments where you can get yourself heard in a supportive environment, where a women-identified writer can say, 'This is where we are in this draft, and we're using this opportunity to move forward.'" So Blunt decided to do something about it. By that August, she founded Artemis Theatricals, a non-profit company with the mission to empower women storytellers in musical theatre through curated cabarets and additional styles of performance.

Prepare to mix your cabaret experience with an evening of Sci-Fi adventure as you are whisked away to ground zero of a multi-galactic war in another universe!

MAC and Broadway World Award winning performer, Kim Sutton, brings a bold new show, "Live to Tell, " a theatrical event conceived and created by Kim Sutton, Steven Ray Watkins, and Lennie Watts, to the Laurie Beechman Theatre this March for three performances. The "mischievous blonde bombshell and rebellious rabble-rouser," as she was described by Broadway World, celebrates her life with an eclectic musical set that samples 48 tunes by Madonna. Sutton recounts her childhood, years as a sailor, three brain surgeries and her 'inevitable transformation into a woman of substance."  Now recovered and well, Sutton pulls out all the stops in a show that's part intimate cabaret, part spectacle and part theater.  

3A Productions presents the world premiere of Cardiff by Leila Philip and Garth Evans at The Duplex (61 Christopher Street at 7the Avenue) January 25 through 28, 2017. Directed by Andrew Resto, Cardiff is based on a true story.

Granny's Blue-Mers, featuring Rev. Mary and her Ladies of Lustful Lyrics begin a series of concerts at some of New York's hottest hot-spots. First stop on this tour is a 10:30 p.m. show on Saturday, February 18 at the trendy Freddy's Bar, 627 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY, heralded by the New York Times and Esquire, among others.

Artemis Theatrical is continuing its first season with Love in Stop Motion in Concert! Music by Minhui Lee, Book and Lyrics by Clara Luthas, and directed by Lori Steinberg, the concert will be held at the Duplex NYC on Saturday February 4th at 7pm.

After two successful nights in 2016, Ben Rimalower will return with his acclaimed long-running solo plays, PATTI ISSUES (about his obsession with Broadway diva Patti LuPone and his relationship with his troubled gay father) and BAD WITH MONEY (about how an addiction to spending beyond his means has driven him to extreme lengths all his life).

Page 73 Productions (Page 73) has named John J. Caswell Jr. the 2017 P73 Playwriting Fellow. Selected from over 400 applicants, Caswell will receive a $10,000 award and additional $10,000 budgeted for developing several new plays over the course of the year.

A STAR IS BORN - presented live by award-winning cabarettist Molly Pope - will return to Feinstein's/54 Below for a one-night-only encore performance today, January 18 at 9:30 PM.

Whitney Houston was the voice of a generation.  Her countless hit singles will live forever in the songbook of our world.  I Believe In You And Me, I'm Every Woman, I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), I Have Nothing…the list goes on and on.  On the five-year anniversary of her tragic (and all too early) passing from this earth, New York based R&B singer Lea Anderson is gathering her band and special guest singers to pay tribute to one of the greatest voices pop music has ever known. 

Honeck-Moss Productions presents 'In The Works,' an exciting new series conceived as an opportunity for composers to try out new work in front of an audience and see how it plays in a supportive environment.  

Singer/Actress Jenna Esposito made her New York nightclub debut in 2004, and has been delighting audiences across the country ever since. Esposito is perhaps best known for her tribute to iconic pop singer Connie Francis-Jenna Esposito Sings Connie Francis-a show that has been a smash hit among audiences and critics since it debuted in 2009. Connie Francis herself has praised Jenna's work, raving, 'I've known and loved Jenna for years and love the way she sings. I'm so grateful for the love and respect she shows to the catalog of songs that has been so good to me through the years.' Now Esposito will be reprising her critically acclaimed show to launch the 2017 season of the BroadwayWorld.com Award-Nominated series NEW YORK CABARET'S GREATEST HITS at the Metropolitan Room on February 13 at 7 pm.

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) will honor the legendary Jan Wallman (1922-2015) in an afternoon of songs and stories.

Cabaret patroness Madame Mathieu has selected Broadway's Eric William Morris (Mamma Mia, 'Blue Bloods'), and Kelechi Ezie (Book of Mormon - Tour) as the guests of honor at the first 2017 edition of the Bistro Awards Critics' Pick Madame Mathieu's Soiree.

Professional vocalist, Natalie Cordone, will premiere her new solo cabaret in The Winter Park Playhouse Spotlight Cabaret Series - January 11 and 12, 2017. Playhouse Music Director, Christopher Leavy, will accompany on piano.

Granny's Blue-mers II: Down in the Alley premieres at the Duplex Cabaret Theater on Saturday, April 22 at 9:30 pm.

A STAR IS BORN - presented live by award-winning cabarettist Molly Pope - will return to Feinstein's/54 Below for a one-night-only encore performance on Wednesday, January 18 at 9:30 PM.

Kicking off their 4th season in style, (mostly)musicals will return to the E Spot Lounge on Monday, January 16 (at the new time of 7:30pm) with songsforaHAPPYnewYEAR -- the company's 21st entry in a series of themed cabarets.

Cabaret patroness Madame Mathieu has selected Broadway's Eric William Morris (Mamma Mia, 'Blue Bloods'), and Kelechi Ezie (Book of Mormon - Tour) as the guests of honor at the first 2017 edition of the Bistro Awards Critics' Pick Madame Mathieu's Soiree.

3A Productions presents the world premiere of Cardiff by Leila Philip and Garth Evans at The Duplex (61 Christopher Street at 7the Avenue) January 25 through 28, 2017. Directed by Andrew Resto, Cardiff is based on a true story.