Walter Donaldson News

The Philipstown Depot Theatre will host Phil Geoffrey Bond's My Friend, the Cat on Saturday, October 1 at 8pm. My Friend, the Cat, a hit at off-Broadway's Laurie Beechman Theatre in 2007, is being revived for this special one-night-only performance on the banks of the Hudson River. Featuring music by some of the greatest songwriters of the past century, the evening is intermingled with spoken text by Bond about his ten year relationship with one particularly mischievous feline.

During a 2014 private tour of the massive Rainbow Room renovation still underway before its early October opening that year, architect Michael Gabellini famously told guests, “The idea is to burnish history, to polish and move it into the present day, with an eye on the future.” Undertaken in 2010 after years of decline under the Cipriani family's disastrous rule, the project was more than even a dramatic facelift.

Sydney audiences were treated to a wonderful selection of music from shows from 1922 to 2010 as AUDRA McDONALD SINGS BROADWAY with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Monday night at the upstairs library at The Player's Club, young actor/vocalist Evan Stern collaborated with one of cabaret's treasures, the veteran pianist/arranger/vocalist Steve Ross on a show illuminating the influence of a southern upbringing on the work of iconic songwriter and Savannah, Georgia native Johnny Mercer. The piece was beautifully put together with Stern's intermittent repartee (never dropping a musical stitch), reflecting his skills as an actor as well as a writer.

I could probably write a one sentence review of Audra McDonald's concert at Bethesda's magnificent Music Center at Strathmore that would sum up my reaction quite well. It would read something like this: Audra is perfection and can do anything.

Whoopee, Musicals Tonight!'s next production, has a book by William Anthony McGuire, music by Walter Donaldson, and lyrics by Gus Kahn. It opened on December 4, 1928 at the New Amsterdam Theater. It starred Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting, and Buddy Ebsen. Performances run tonight, March 3 - 15, 2015 at The Lion Theatre.

“Are You Havin' Any Fun?” the formidable Barbara Cook breezily asks in song with the intimacy of an old friend. Having had her first paid (50 cents) singing job at the age of eight, Cook looks back on a lengthy career feeling lucky. It's been weeks since she's sung due to health issues laying her low, but Cook is not, she assures us, by any means down and out. “I like to feel people are on my side and you sure sound like you are.” Throughout her show last night as part of the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center's The Appel Room, the artist performs with honesty, commitment, and the compelling interpretation for which she's well known. She asks that lights be turned up in order to see those with whom she communicates.

Whoopee, Musicals Tonight!'s next production, has a book by William Anthony McGuire, music by Walter Donaldson, and lyrics by Gus Kahn. It opened on December 4, 1928 at the New Amsterdam Theater. It starred Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting, and Buddy Ebsen. Performances run March 3 - 15, 2015 at The Lion Theatre.

The Muny announced today its 2015 production of Oklahoma! will feature the Laurence Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award® nominated choreography of Susan Stroman. The Muny is honored to be the first theater in the world to recreate this extraordinary choreography, last seen in 2004. The Muny production will be directed by Rob Ruggiero, with music direction by Kevin Stites. Ms. Stroman's work will be recreated by Ginger 'Rodgers & Hammerstein's score is everything you dream a musical should be,' said Susan Stroman.

Today we are saluting one of Broadway's best-loved leading ladies in honor of her new cabaret show kicking off this week at 54 Below, the one and only Patti LuPone.

NEW DRAMATISTS, Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premiere playwright development workshop, proudly announces that they will honor five-time Tony Award winning director/choreographer Susan Stroman with their 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 65th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute, to be held today, May 22 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

NEW DRAMATISTS,Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premiere playwright development workshop, will honor five-time Tony Award winning director/choreographer Susan Stroman with their 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 65th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute. The sold out event will be held tomorrow, today, May 22 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

NEW DRAMATISTS,Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premiere playwright development workshop, proudly announces that they will honor five-time Tony Award winning director/choreographer Susan Stroman with their 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 65th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute, to be held Thursday, May 22 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Among the Stroman collaborators offering tributes will be Tony Award winner Boyd Gaines and New York City Ballet's Tiler Peck performing a selection from Little Dancer, Taylor Mac performing a selection from The Last Two People on Earth, Tony nominee Marin Mazzie performing from Bullets Over Broadway; and Contact collaborator John Weidman, and cast members from The Scottsboro Boys.The event co-chairs are Letty Aronson, Roy Furman, and Julian Schlossberg.

For DIRECTOR'S CHOICE, the fourth program of Pacific Northwest Ballet's 2013-2014 season, Artistic Director Peter Boal selects from his roster of acquisitions and increases them by one: The captivating mixed-bill program will feature a much-anticipated world premiere by Alejandro Cerrudo, resident choreographer of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. The program also reprises audience favorites TAKE FIVE...More or Less, Broadway-darling Susan Stroman's sunny slice of jazz-infused Dave Brubeck fun; and Susan Marshall's distinctive aerial duet, Kiss. Rounding out the lineup is Molissa Fenley's State of Darkness, a tour-de-force solo performance set to Stravinsky's riot-inducing The Rite of Spring. DIRECTOR'S CHOICE runs for seven performances only, today, March 14 through 23 at Seattle Center's Marion Oliver McCaw Hall.

For DIRECTOR'S CHOICE, the fourth program of Pacific Northwest Ballet's 2013-2014 season, Artistic Director Peter Boal selects from his roster of acquisitions and increases them by one: The captivating mixed-bill program will feature a much-anticipated world premiere by Alejandro Cerrudo, resident choreographer of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. The program also reprises audience favorites TAKE FIVE…More or Less, Broadway-darling Susan Stroman's sunny slice of jazz-infused Dave Brubeck fun; and Susan Marshall's distinctive aerial duet, Kiss. Rounding out the lineup is Molissa Fenley's State of Darkness, a tour-de-force solo performance set to Stravinsky's riot-inducing The Rite of Spring. DIRECTOR'S CHOICE runs for seven performances only, March 14 through 23 at Seattle Center's Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets start at just $28 and may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at PNB.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office, 301 Mercer Street.

In mid-August, the news website Bloomberg.com reported that 54 Below, the popular new nightclub that opened last June in the basement of the old Studio 54, needed a major cash infusion in the six-figure range if it was going to survive. Perhaps if they just book Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway on a regular basis-either individually or together-their bottom line will start singing a happy tune. The sisterly songbirds recently sold out a five-show run at the venue with a revival of their crowd-pleasing show 'Sibling Revelry.'

Popular Adelaide entertainer, Anya Anastasia, has branched out into a new area by bringing together a selection of acts into a cabaret variety show filled with music, dance, burlesque and more. She has called it Fear-Eater Theatre, which gives an indication that some of the material might be dark, edgy and even a little challenging.

Scot Albertson (Vocalist - Performer - Producer - Recording Artist) - www.scotalbertson.com) announces his sixth CD release concert, set for tonight June 17, 2013 at 7:30p.m. at Symphony Space Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre, located at 2537 Broadway & West 95th Street, New York City, NY.

Scot Albertson (Vocalist - Performer - Producer - Recording Artist) - www.scotalbertson.com) announces his sixth CD release concert, set for Monday June 17, 2013 at 7:30p.m. at Symphony Space Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre, located at 2537 Broadway & West 95th Street, New York City, NY.

American Stage Theatre Company has announced its After Hours events this March with everything from the comedy improv to cabaret music at its best. This month the stage will have five entertaining events.