Tom Waits News

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Diane Paulus, Artistic Director and William Russo, Managing Director; presents the last production of its 2013/14 Season, THE TEMPEST, adapted and directed by Aaron Posner and Teller from the play by William Shakespeare, with magic by Teller, music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, and movement by Matt Kent of Pilobolus.

I was just a little more than a year into my new side career as a cabaret show reviewer when I first saw a Karen Oberlin show. It was Valentine's Day night 2012 and Oberlin—with guitarist Sean Harkness and guest violinist Aaron Weinstein—would be performing her romance-laced set, Stringing Along With Love, at the Metropolitan Room. At the time, all I knew about Oberlin was that she was considered among New York's best female cabaret singers, and I hadn't researched her performing history pre-show. About a third of the way into her set I leaned over to my wife (it was Valentine's Day after all) and whispered, “You know, she has a real Doris Day quality in her voice and in the way she delivers some lyrics.” This immediately ratcheted up my appreciation for Oberlin since there are four passions I inherited from my Dad—baseball, reading the morning papers, sports writing and Doris Day (well, also Sophia Loren, but that's for another column). Since Dad had grown up during the prime of the Big Band Era of the 1940s, I heard the sultry sounds of a young Doris Day singing songs like “Sentimental Journey” on the family stereo more than a few times. Once I saw Day's strikingly adorable blondness on a record cover and her rocking body in one of her films, I knew what Dad was talking about. As popular, famous, and near iconic as Doris Day became, in my book, as a singer and screen beauty she's always been vastly underrated. Little did I know that Karen Oberlin had been doing a Doris Day tribute show so since 2001 at places like Firebird, Iridium, and the late Danny's Skylight Room, and produced a CD, Secret Love: The Music of Doris Day, in 2002. Karen Oberlin had instantly become my secret love.

John Hammond will perform at Bridge Street Live on Saturday, May 24th, 2014 at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $27 GA, $40 VIP, and available at http://41bridgestreet.inticketing.com/events/JHammond2014.

Wall Street Journal Speakeasy premiered Amanda Shires' new video for 'Look Like A Bird' from her lastest album, Down Fell The Doves. Check out the video below!

Joe's Pub at the Public has announced its upcoming performances, April 30 - May 11, 2014. Details below!

Will Friedwald's 'Clip Joint: A Video Music Mixtape' will premiere on Tuesday, April 29 at 7 PM at Stage 72 / The Triad (Green Room.

Internationally renowned guitar superstar Joe Bonamassa will play with the Fabulous Fox on Saturday, November 15th at 8pm. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 2 at 10am online at metrotix.com, by calling

Interdisciplinary choreographer David Neumann will present an evening of solos tonight, April 26 at 8pm at MASS MoCA's Hunter Center for the Performing Arts. A co-presentation by Jacob's Pillow Dance and MASS MoCA, the retrospective evening spans Neumann's career from his first choreographic endeavor, DOSE, to his current work-in-progress, I Understand Everything Better. The program, also including tough the tough (redux) (2008) and You Are In Control (2009), captures Neumann's exploration of lines between theatre and dance, audience and performer, movement and voice, mundane and theatrical.

The vaudevillian characters of Tom Waits music will come to life on stage in A Concert of Tom Waits Songs presented by Arts Centre Melbourne tonight 24 and Saturday 26 April 8pm, 2014 at Arts Centre Melbourne's Fairfax Studio. After a nine-month sell-out run in New York, international cabaret star Stewart D'Arrietta will take audiences on a rollicking journey through Waits' legendary songs, accompanied by renowned Australian guitarist Ross Hannaford (Daddy Cool / the Black Sorrows / Goanna), double bassist Philip Rex and drummer Danny Fischer.

Joe's Pub at The Public has announced its upcoming performances, running tomorrow, April 23 through May 4, 2014. Details below!

Teller first became known for magic, working with Penn (Jillette) in the act they formed in 1981. Today, following worldwide success, the duo is in residence at the Rio in Las Vegas. In between shows, Teller found time to direct (and co-produce with Penn) the 2013 documentary Tim's Vermeer. Now, he and co-director Aaron Posner have staged Shakespeare's play The Tempest and it is running at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts through April 27.

Spottiswoode & His Enemies release their sixth studio recording, English Dream on April 15, 2014 via Old Soul Records. Dubbed a 'genius' and a 'downtown ringleader' by the New Yorker, the British born Spottiswoode and his band of merry Enemies have drawn comparisons from Nick Cave and The National to Leonard Cohen, Serge Gainsbourg and Tom Waits. The music gives nod to 60's and 70's Brit Pop, Folk and the woozier side of Psychedelia in a style Jonathan Spottiswoode calls, Anglicana.

After sold-out performances in New York City and her hometown of San Francisco, cabaret singer Carly Ozard will debut her latest show Midler on the Roof at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, May 25, 2014 at cabaret institution The Duplex, 61 Christopher Street at 7th Avenue in New York City. Tickets are $10 (plus a 2-drink minimum) and advance reservations are highly recommended by contacting (212) 255-5438 or www.theduplex.com.

Joe's Pub at the Public has announced an exciting lineup of performances now through April 27. Check out the full schedule and details below!

Amas Musical Theatre and The Amas Musical Theatre Lab will present free staged readings of "Cookin! - A Taste of Things to Come," a new musical by Debra Barsha and Hollye Levin, with musical direction by Gillian Berkowitz. Directed by Tony Award nominee Lynne Taylor-Corbett (Swing!), the readings will be held on Monday, May 12th at 1pm & 4pm and Tuesday, May 13th at 4pm at St. Luke's Theatre.

OBERON, the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.)'s second stage and club theater venue, announces its May and June line up of exciting and original programming on the fringe of Harvard Square.

World renown master magician Teller co-directs the new A.R.T. production of William Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST along with Aaron Posner and the creative collaborators are featured in a new promotional video highlighting the recent Las Vegas opening of the new take on the classic.

Joe's Pub at the Public has announced an exciting lineup of events now through April 20, 2014. Check out the full schedule below and you're sure to find something that strikes your fancy!

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Diane Paulus, Artistic Director and William Russo, Managing Director; presents the last production of its 2013/14 Season, THE TEMPEST, adapted and directed by Aaron Posnerand Teller from the play by William Shakespeare, with magic by Teller, music byTom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, and movement by Matt Kent of Pilobolus. Scroll down for a first look at the production!

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts presents the world premiere of THE TEMPEST, produced by the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at The Smith Center in Las Vegas today, April 5-13, 2014. The Smith Center's first ever co-production, THE TEMPEST is adapted and directed by Aaron Posner and Teller from the play by William Shakespeare, with magic by Teller, music by Tom Waits and movement by Matt Kent of Pilobolus. THE TEMPEST will perform at The Smith Center's Donald W. Reynolds Symphony Park in a 500-seat climate controlled tent before moving to Cambridge, MA to begin performances at A.R.T.