Broadway at the Cabaret - Top 5 Picks for January 18-24, Featuring Kyle Dean Massey, Klea Blackhurst, and More!
By: Louisa Brady Jan. 17, 2016
Broadway's 40 theatres aren't the only places to catch performances from your favorite stars! Well after Broadway orchestras 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: "Merman's Apprentice" Starring Klea Blackhurst, Anita Gillette, & More; New Musicals at 54: Big Red Sun by Georgia Stitt and John Jiler; Bobby Conte Thornton at 54 Below; Kyle Dean Massey at 54 Below; and Whistle Down the Wind: In Concert.
Click here for BroadwayWorld's Full Cabaret Listings!
"Merman's Apprentice"
Where: Birdland NYC (315 W 44th Street)
When: January 18th at 7:00 PM
Tickets: $25 at http://www.birdlandjazz.com/event/1017871-mermans-apprentice-starring-new-york/
The evening will be a return engagement of June 2015's sold out concert of Merman's Apprentice celebrating the release of the Original Cast Album produced by John Yap for Jay Records! Once again, Birdland favorite Klea Blackhurst will star as Ethel Merman with a star-studded supporting cast lead by Tony Nominee Anita Gillette, Bill Nolte, Adam Grupper, Eddie Korbich, Brian Charles Rooney, F. Michael Haynie, Desi Oakley, Sarah Sessler, a six piece band with orchestrations by Lynne Shankel, led by Lawrence Yurman, and featuring 13 year old Elizabeth Teeter as Muriel Plakenstein.
Click here for more information.
New Musicals at 54
Where: 54 Below (254 W 54th Street)
When: January 19th at 7:00 & 9:30 PM
Tickets: $30-65 at http://54below.com/artist/new-musicals-at-54-big-red-sun-by-georgia-stitt-and-john-jiler/
New Musicals at 54 is a series produced by Programming Director Jennifer Ashley Tepper. Some of the 10 new and diverse musicals by a selection of today's most talented writers have had out-of-town productions, some have had workshops... now's your chance to be first to see them in NYC! Join us at New Musicals at 54 for one-night-only concerts celebrating each new show with songs, behind-the-scenes stories, and all-star casts!
Click here to learn more about the New Musicals at 54 series. Use code NEW20 when purchasing tickets to three or more shows in the series in a single order and receive 20% off tickets in the Main Dining Room or Bar Rail sections.
After years of development at institutions such as The York Theatre, ASCAP, The National Alliance for Musical Theater, and TheatreWorks Palo Alto, Composer Georgia Stitt and Playwright/Lyricist John Jiler are thrilled to present the score to their Harold Arlen Award-winning musical. Featuring a cast of six and a band of five, Big Red Sun tells the story of a family of musicians. Eddie and Helen Daimler were great swing musicians in the 1940s, but now in the early 1960s their teenage son Harry, a budding songwriter himself, lives alone with his mother and writes songs about his great war-hero father. In an effort to write more truthfully, Harry unearths a dark family secret. World War II carved a silent divide between those who fought and those who waited - a truth unshared. In a few short years, the simple melodies of Kern and Berlin were replaced by the dizzying energy of jazz and the beginnings of rock and roll. This is the story of a family that changed as much as their music did.
Featuring Jill Abramovitz, Adam Cochran, David Josefsberg, Betsy Morgan, Maurice Murphy, and Michael Philip O'Brien.
Band: Georgia Stitt (Piano), Randy Landau (Bass), Shannon Ford (Drums), Alec Berlin (Guitar), and Rob DeBellis (Flute, Clarinet, Sax).
Directed by Hunter Foster.
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Where: 54 Below (254 W 54th Street)
When: January 20th at 9:30 PM
Tickets: $20-65 at http://54below.com/artist/bobby-conte-thornton/
Feinstein's/54 Below is proud to welcome Bobby Conte Thornton in his solo show debut! A 2015 graduate of the University of Michigan's Musical Theatre Department, Bobby starred as Danny Zuko in Paper Mill Playhouse's production of Grease and co-starred as Enjolras with Tony nominee Norm Lewis in LES MISERABLES at The MUNY while pursuing his degree. He has opened for Tony winner Laura Benanti and appeared in tributes to Marvin Hamlisch (alongside Alan and Marilyn Bergman) and Stephen Schwartz (alongside Liz Callaway and Mr. Schwartz himself) at the historic Venetian Room in the San Francisco Fairmont. Upon graduation, Bobby performed in the world premiere of Ken Ludwig's A Comedy of Tenors at McCarter Theatre Center and Jessica Stone's all-male production of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum at Two River Theater. Joined by music directorKevin Stites (On the Twentieth Century, LES MISERABLES), the evening show's entitled Blame It On My Youth, offering songs written by artists ranging from Irving Berlin to Sting. Don't miss this fresh young talent in his debut here at Feinstein's/54 Below!
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Where: 54 Below (254 W 54th Street)
When: January 23rd at 9:30 PM (also January 30th & February 10th at 9:30 PM)
Tickets: $30-85 at http://54below.com/artist/kyle-dean-massey/
For his debut at Feinstein's/54 Below, Kyle Dean Massey, star of Broadway's Next to Normal, Wicked, and Pippin, as well as the ABC series Nashville, looks back, not at the things that were, but at the things that weren't. Come listen to Kyle share songs he heard nightly but never sang himself, the ones he played on guitar or belted in the shower, the ones that made him dance or mended his broken heart ... all songs he was not able to share the way he wanted until now.
Photo Credit: Cameron Bertron
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Whistle Down the Wind: In Concert
Where: 54 Below (254 W 54th Street)
When: January 24th at 7:00 & 9:30 PM
Tickets: $40-80 at http://54below.com/artist/whistle-down-the-wind-in-concert-the-nyc-premiere/
Bringing together the music of the world's most successful composer with the lyricist behind some of the best-selling albums of all time in an unprecedented one night only concert event unlike any before, Feinstein's/54 Below is proud to present the New York City premiere of a landmark musical by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman, Whistle Down the Wind. Containing the biggest international chart-topper from a musical in world history, "No Matter What," originally popularized by Boyzone, the powerful and gripping tale of a Southern girl on the brink of womanhood and the dangerous, mysterious escaped convict that she encounters in her family's barn whom she soon comes to believe to be none other than Jesus Christ himself, Whistle Down the Wind is an unforgettable story brimming with poignancy, poetry, and provocation. Furthermore, it contains one of the most diverse scores ever composed, merging the sounds of moving gospel, thrilling rock, pop perfection, country crooning, and traditional musical theatre in a masterful melange of a musical masterpiece delighting young and old alike. Presented for the very first time in Manhattan with the generous participation of both Lloyd Webber and Steinman, Whistle Down the Wind is the must-see musical theatre event of the Christmas season. Comprising an all-star cast populated with familiar faces from Broadway and beyond - many of them famously associated with the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber and the epic rock of Jim Steinman - Whistle Down the Wind at Feinstein's/54 Below promises to be simply divine. A memorable story of faith and a momentous score way ahead of its time in a concert event for the ages.
Produced by Van Dean. Musical Direction by Jacob Carr. Directed by Pat Cerasaro.
Featuring Josh Young, Emerson Steele, Brian Charles Rooney, Tyce Green, Jason Cotton, Jessica Hendy, Jessica Waxman, Melissa VanPelt, Joshua Colley, Peyton Ella, The Shapiro Sisters, Karine Hannah, and Rachel Levy.
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