Areas We Cover
Categories
Concerts / Events
-
Concert Review: PATTI LUPONE: A LIFE IN NOTES (Tour)
A NIGHT OF HIGH NOTES The beloved and versatile award-winning musical theater star Patti LuPone delighted those who packed Boston’s Symphony Hall last evening with a series of high notes, low notes, and everything in between with her musical memoir, A Life in Notes, conceived and directed by Scott Wittman and written by Jeffrey Richman. Accompanied…
-
Concert Review: A BROADWAY BIRTHDAY: SONDHEIM, LLOYD WEBBER AND FRIENDS! (Segerstrom Concert Hall)
A BITTERSWEET BIRTHDAY In the luminous world of musical theater, two names stand as colossi, casting long shadows across Broadway and the global stage. Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber, though walking parallel paths, have carved their legacies with distinct artistic chisels, leaving an indelible mark on the hearts of audiences and the annals of…
-
Music Review: CAMERATA PACIFICA (March 2024 Program)
STRING THEORY Arnold Schoenberg‘s Verklärte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”), Op. 4, is a string sextet in one movement composed in 1899. Love him or hate him (some of his challenging later music is impenetrably inaccessible given his twelve-tone technique), there are times when Schoenberg’s system of composition can reach through your soul, creating an otherworldly sound….
-
Music Concert Review: MAGIC HOUR IN LOS ANGELES: AMERICA’S CULTURAL RENAISSANCE OF 1974 (MUSE/IQUE at the Mark Taper Forum)
1974: THE YEAR THAT WAS Still haven’t heard of MUSE/IQUE, Los Angeles? I first discovered this prestigious outfit in 2012 on stage at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in a program called Ebony Meets Ivory, a celebration of the piano. Since then, I have thrilled at dozens of MUSE/IQUE events, and they just get more and…
-
Music Review: BERNSTEIN AND WOOTEN (LA Phil; Thomas Wilkins, conductor; Victor Wooten, bass)
WOO-HOO, WOOTEN The idea behind this past weekend’s program at the Los Angeles Philharmonic was the influence of jazz on the orchestra, featuring three pieces that cover a span of nearly 125 years. For these two performances, the Phil brought in Thomas Wilkins, Principal Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, to conduct. First up was…
-
Highly Recommended Concert: KRONOS QUARTET & GHOST TRAIN ORCHESTRA PLAY MOONDOG (The Town Hall in New York City, Tuesday April 16, 2024 at 8pm)
FLY ME TO THE MOONDOG Kronos Quartet and the jazz-chamber ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra will perform Music of Moondog at The Town Hall on Tuesday, April 16 at 8 p.m. The concert will be the first time both ensembles collaborate to present their album Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog live in New York City. The performance will also feature David Byrne, and…
-
Concert Series Review: STAVE SESSIONS (Celebrity Series of Boston at the Crystal Ballroom in Somerville)
LIGHTS! SOUND! MUSIC! Now in its eighth season, Celebrity Series of Boston offered four nights of innovative music in Somerville’s Crystal Ballroom with the Stave Sessions. Each evening offered a single intermission-free ninety minute performance. The first three evenings included virtuoso real-time performances of singing, flute, guitar, and keyboards mixed with impressive light shows, electronic…
-
Cabaret Review: EVERYTHING THE TRAFFIC WILL ALLOW (Klea Blackhurst’s Tribute to Ethel Merman)
BLOW, BLACKHURST, BLOW! When Klea Blackhurst burst onto the stage at Chelsea Table & Stage on March 10 to perform Everything the Traffic Will Allow, one might have well imagined the original Ethel Merman had come to life. Then Blackhurst belted out her first note and it was hard not to be convinced the diva…
-
Cabaret Review: MAX RAABE & PALAST ORCHESTER (“Dream a Little Dream” Tour at Symphony Hall, Boston & Carnegie Hall NY)
SMOOTH AS SILK Max Raabe & Palast Orchester brought its “Dream a Little Dream” tour to Boston last night, transporting the Symphony Hall audience to an era of Big Band swing and “hot jazz” in the Berlin and beyond of the 1920s and 1930s. (The show hits Carnegie Hall on March 21.) Bandleader Raabe, who…
-
Cabaret Review: IT’S DE-LOVELY: JEFF HARNAR SINGS COLE PORTER (Birdland and on Tour)
IT’S DELIGHTFUL, IT’S DE-LOVELY, IT’S DE-HARNAR It was as a 16-year-old boy in a suburb of Chicago that Jeff Harnar fell in love with the songs of Cole Porter. He encountered these songs not through his parents’ huge record collection or by attending local concerts, but rather through the old films he watched on television….
-
Highly Recommended Album and New York/L.A. Appearances: THINGS ARE LOOKING UP (Queen Esther)
THING ARE LOOKING UP, INDEED! The press release says, “Armed with original songs, formidable vocal chops and a powerhouse of a band, Queen Esther uses her Southern roots to create a sound she calls Black Americana.” But I call her latest album Things Are Looking Up simply the coolest jazz around. It’s a scintillating mix…
-
Event: JOE’S PUB GALA (April 8, Joe’s Pub at The Public)
CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF JOE’S PUB! Since 1998, Joe’s Pub has been a home for artists at all levels of development — from early-career artists to those at a critical stage in their careers (like the members of the Joe’s Pub Working Group) to international superstars like Adele and Alicia Keys, whose astounding show Hell’s…
-
Highly Recommended Event: KRISTIN: AN EVENING WITH FRIENDS FOR TODD (One-Night-Only Concert for Roundabout)
CELEBRATING GENIE TODD Monday, April 15, 2024 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre (124 W 43rd Street), Kristin Chenoweth — last seen on Roundabout’s stage in the superb On the Twentieth Century — will be joined by a remarkable roster of Roundabout favorites for a once-in-a-lifetime special benefit concert celebrating longtime leader Todd Haimes (1956-2023), a major force…
-
Music Review: LEGACY: DEBUSSY + HAMELIN (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra at The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
WHAT’S ON THE MENU? FRANCK AND HAMELIN Finally, I got to see pianist Marc-André Hamelin in person, thanks to the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, which presented him in two of four salon pieces that made up Legacy: Debussy + Hamelin — a program which which played last Saturday at The Wallis, a great venue for LACO’s…
-
Highly Recommended Jazz Music: BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB AND THEATER (March, 2024)
WHERE THE RHYTHM SWOOPS AND SWIRLS, THIS REALLY IS THE JAZZ CORNER OF THE WORLD From bands like The Hot Sardines, Hot Club of Cowtown and Maria Schneider Orchestra to cabaret stalwarts such as Karen Mason and Tedd Firth, there is nothing but excitement this month, March 2024, at Birdland Jazz Club — named after…
-
Extras | Concerts: TAYLOR SWIFT’S REPUTATION TOUR BREAKDOWN
The Reputation Stadium Tour, Taylor Swift’s first all-stadium venture, represents a significant chapter in her illustrious career, showcasing her evolution from a small-town girl to an international icon. This ambitious project not only highlighted Swift’s musical genius but also redefined the contours of live music entertainment. Commencing on May 8, 2018, in Glendale, Arizona, the…
-
Summer Concerts: PROVINCETOWN SUMMER 2024 SEASON (Mark Cortale Presents)
Indigo Girls, Jinkx Monsoon, Bianca Del Rio, Marilyn Maye, HBO’s Gilded Age Stars Denée Benton and Claybourne Elder Will Play Provincetown Town Hall This Summer and Broadway Stars Cheyenne Jackson & Melissa Errico, Announced at Provincetown Theater Producer Mark Cortale has announced a star-studded music and comedy season for the summer of 2024 at Provincetown’s largest entertainment venue,…
-
Highly Recommended Event & Streaming: TONY KUSHNER (The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures (The Center for Fiction, Brooklyn)
The Center for Fiction, a 200-year-old literary nonprofit that has created an immersive home for readers and writers in downtown Brooklyn, and Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, will co-present Story/Teller Arts with Isaac Butler: Tony Kushner on The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures (or iHo) on February 27…
-
Concert/Theater Review: CHILDREN OF EDEN IN CONCERT (Manhattan Concert Productions, Lincoln Center)
AN EDENIC PRODUCTION AT LINCOLN CENTER Full disclosure, I’d never heard of Stephen Schwartz’s 1991 musical Children of Eden before seeing this one-night only, concert performance at Lincoln Center‘s David Geffen Hall. As a lifelong devotee of American musical theater (aka Musical Theater Queen), that’s surprising. Though if I had to choose any production as first…
-
Concert Review: JAZZ, LOVE AND GERSHWIN: A CENTURY OF RHAPSODY IN BLUE (The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall)
IT’S VERY CLEAR: GERSHWIN IS HERE TO STAY The centerpiece of The New York Pops‘ Jazz, Love, and Gershwin: A Century of Rhapsody in Blue was quite obviously Gershwin’s iconic orchestral piece. And at the top of the evening, Musical Director Steven Reineke told the audience it would be “a thrilling performance, I promise you.” If…
Search Articles
Please help keep
Stage and Cinema going!
