Purlie - 1970 - Broadway Articles Page 2

The first Broadway revival of the American comedy Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by legendary Ossie Davis will officially open in September. Learn how to purchase tickets!

The ASCAP Foundation and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts will present The ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Fest. See who is taking part and learn how to purchase tickets!

Tony & Grammy Award winner and Academy & Emmy Award nominee Leslie Odom, Jr. will star in the new Broadway production of the classic American comedy Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by the legendary Ossie Davis.

Richard Wesley’s 'Black Terror' is co-produced by WACO Theater Center, which is based out of Los Angeles’ North Hollywood neighborhood. The production will be directed by WACO’s Co-Artistic Director, Richard Lawson, and will live-stream online this summer.

The criteria are that these shows have been nominated for Best Musical from the 3rd Tony Awards (the ceremony that started the Best Musical category) in 1949 to the nominations of what will now be the 74th Tony Awards in 2021. I will be determining their signs based upon their Broadway premiere date. With those rules in mind, here we go!

Melba Moore has been a success on Broadway, on television, in movies, and music for over 50 years. In an all new segment for 50PlusPrime.com, Moore meets talks about her commitment to helping young entertainers live their dreams, and shares a backstage visit as she prepares to rock New York City.

Women of Color on Broadway, a non-profit dedicated to supporting women of African, Latin, and Asian descent pursuing careers in musical theater, will present its Purple Crystal Honorary Awards in The Cooper Union's Great Hall on February 10, 2020. This year's honorees are Tony-award winners LaChanze and Melba Moore. The award celebrates the heroines of African, Latin, and Asian descent who paved the way for the next generation of women of color in theater.

Women of Color on Broadway is set to honor Tony Award-winners Melba Moore and LaChanze on February 10, 2020 at at The Great Hall in NYC.

 Lotus Music & Dance will celebrate its 30th Anniversary in 2019 with a benefit dinner and performance on Monday, March 25th. This year also marks the 100th Birth Anniversary of bharata natyam dance guru, T. Balasaraswati ("Bala"). They will honor legendary choreographer, George Faison with the inaugural Bala Award for Excellence . Other Honorees include Manhattan Borough President, Gale Brewer for her support of cultural diversity in the performing arts.

Lotus Music & Dance will celebrate its 30th Anniversary in 2019 with a benefit dinner and performance on Monday, March 25th. This year also marks the 100th Birth Anniversary of bharata natyam dance guru, T. Balasaraswati (“Bala”). They will honor legendary choreographer, George Faison with the inaugural Bala Award for Excellence . Other Honorees include Manhattan Borough President, Gale Brewer for her support of cultural diversity in the performing arts.

Producer/Executive Producer, Elynn Diamond will present Tony Award Winner, four-time Grammy Nominee, and R&B Hall Of Fame inductee, MELBA MOORE In Concert. Elynn's Co-Producer is Emmy Award-Winner Rick Traum. Ms. Moore will perform at the iconic Woodstock Playhouse on Saturday, March 30, 2019.

Purlie played by Ronald Edwards is a newfangled preacher man extolling the gospel of freedom. Tanasha West partners with him in the lead as love struck Lutiebelle and the key to Purlie's plan to win back Big Bethel - the family's symbol of freedom. Crystalyn Monet joins the cast as Aunt Missy apprehensive yet committed to Purlie's ambitious plan. While, Terry Kiser embodies the realist Gitlow, 'Deputy of the Color People', Missy's husband and Purlie's brother. Brian Christopher Roberson arrived in Atlanta just in time to portray Charlie Cotchipee who openly challenges the racist ideas of the old south which drives his plantation owning, Jim Crow believing father, Ol' Cap'n Cotchipee played by Ian Scott, also a newcomer to metro Atlanta, crazy. DeEtta West, sister to Cleavon Little who won the Tony for his role as Purlie in 1970, rounds out the cast as discrete yet alert Idella Landy, Charlie's childhood nurse and a former slave.

DeEtta West is featured in the role of Idella Landy in the production of Purlie, opening at the Orange Box Theater on September 29. DeEtta accepted the role as a personal tribute to her late brother, Cleavon Little, winner of the Tony Award in 1970 for his performance as Purlie in the hit show. The show runs through October 7, 2018 (Orange Box Theater @ Mark SQuared Studios, 1804 Montreal Court, Ste B, Tucker, GA 30084)

Melba Moore - the Tony Award Winning Singer & Actress headlines A Benefit Concert For The Caribbean featuring R&B and Caribbean artists who come together to sing, speak out and raise funds and awareness for Hurricane Relief In the U.S. Virgin Islands and other parts of the Caribbean.

BroadwayWorld has learned that acclaimed actress and Broadway vet Novella Nelson died on Friday, September 1st at the age of 77. 

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW will be hosting a Reunion Concert of the 1971 Broadway musical, INNER CITY. The original Broadway production, directed by Tom O'Horgan, featured music by Helen Miller and lyrics by Eve Merriam.  The show was based on Merriam's book "The Inner City Mother Goose," a collection of updated nursery rhymes reflecting life of the disenfranchised inhabitants of America's urban inner cities circa 1970. The production ran at Broadway's Barrymore Theater from December 1971 to March 1972. Featured cast member, Linda Hopkins, was awarded a 1972 Tony Award for her performance.

Chris Isaacson Presents has announced that four-time Grammy Award nominee and Tony Award-winner Melba Moore will appear in concert at the Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood celebrating the release of her new CD "Forever Moore." 

UP IN THE AIR, a tribute to dance legend Louis Johnson, will take place Monday, October 5, 2015 at 7:00 pm in the Peter Norton Theater at Symphony Space located at 2537 Broadway in New York City. The event has two purposes: to honor the life and work of Johnson and to raise funds to complete a feature length documentary about the renowned dancer entitled UP IN THE AIR.

Melba Moore will cover legends at the Metropolitan Room, April 13 at 9:30pm.

Broadway's 40 theatres aren't the only places to catch performances from your favorite stars! Well after Broadway orchestra's begin their overtures, ensemble members take their dance breaks, and performers belt out their eleven- o'clock numbers, the party continues at various cabaret venues throughout New York City. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you some cabaret highlights for this week as picked by our theatre editors, including: Melba Moore Live Covering Iconic Legends; Patti LuPone: The Lady with the Torch; Seth Sikes Is Still Singing Judy Garland; The Wedding Singer Reunion Concert; Reefer Madness Reunion Concert.

Melba Moore, a four-time Grammy nominee and winner of the 1970 Tony Award for 'Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical,' for her performance as 'Lutiebelle' in Purlie will appear at the Metropolitan Room on April 13 at 9:30 with a new show featuring songs made famous by legendary singers, including Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Nancy Wilson, Barbra Streisand, and Diana Ross. Joining Moore will be her special guest, actor/singer/songwriter Clifton Davis, who wrote hits for The Jackson Five. With a total of 11 top ten U.S. hits on the Billboard charts over the past 40 years, both singles and albums, Melba Moore continues into the 21st century as one of pop music's most enduring artists.

Broadway fans had plenty of reasons to celebrate this year, with dozens of shows having opened since January, hundreds of actors having made their debuts, and many more having returned to the stage for critically acclaimed performances. Not all news was good though, as we also suffered a loss of an incredible amount of talent. Below, BroadwayWorld sends a fond farewell to those who passed away in 2014.

Four-time Grammy Nominee and Tony Award Winner, R&B singer Melba Moore will be celebrating her birthday at Metropolitan Room on October 27 at 9:30pm. With a total of eleven top ten U.S. hits on the Billboard charts over the past 40 years, both singles and albums, Melba Moore continues into the 21st century as one of pop music's most enduring artists.

Melba Moore will play two shows at New York's Metropolitan Room on June 20, 2014, at 7pm & 9:30pm. Price $35.00 - $115.00.

As an undergraduate theater major in the early 1970s, I heard music everywhere. It seemed to pour out of every office and workspace around the department. (And in the LP era, if you wanted more than the radio, this meant schlepping a twenty pound record player and a dozen or so albums from your home to the campus, sometimes requiring back-and-forth trips from the car. If you go to that much trouble, you want to keep the music playing.) In the hushed costume shop with its quietly industrious all female staff, Broadway ruled, with Stephen Sondheim's recent Company and Follies in heavy rotation. It was 'men only' in the scene shop where I listened to male balladeers like James Taylor and Gordon Lightfoot while unhappily working off assigned crew hours. Jazz classes (my favorites) in the dance department were conducted to the pre-disco sounds of Isaac Hayes and the Temptations. And late night cast parties were never complete without spins of Bette Midler's first two albums.