Ashley Steves is a full-time freelance writer and editor based in New York specializing in arts and entertainment, politics and social issues. In addition to her position at BroadwayWorld as a Cabaret Writer, she is currently a staff writer at Theatre Is Easy, reviewing off-Broadway and off-off Broadway shows, and a recurring writer for New York Observer and Village Voice. A musician of 15 years, her work is driven by a love and passion for the arts and for arts education. She’s been obsessed with theatre since seeing PBS’s American Playhouse recording of Into the Woods in her sixth grade general music course. Her favorite musical is and will likely always be The Producers. You can find her on Twitter @NoThisIsAshley.
BWW Interview: 'Sweeney Todd' Original Sarah Rice On Her Upcoming Shows At Pangea, Working With Sondheim, and the Zen-Like Theremin
August 12, 2016
August 12, 2016
Name an opera or operetta and it is likely listed in soprano Sarah Rice's repertoire. Over her long and illustrious career, she has starred and performed in a myriad of productions all across the map, from Broadway to Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy. Strauss, Salieri, Sondheim--- it's there. Now, in her first solo show since 2013, Rice will debut her new show Music of the Night (borrowing, of course, from Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, in which Rice played Christine in the National Tour) at Pangea Restaurant Pangea Restaurant (2nd Avenue between 11th and 12th streets) on August 17, 18, and September 20, all at 7 pm. Alongside pianist Matthew Martin Ward (Eric Sedgwick for the September show) and special guest David Vernon, she will sing and play a set aimed to explain 'the things that go through your head at 4:00 AM,' covering classical, Celtic, television and movie themes, and musical theatre.
BWW Review: Paula Dione Ingram Shines Brightly Celebrating 'Black Broadway' in New York Cabaret Debut at Feinstein's/54 Below
September 2, 2016
September 2, 2016
2016 is one of Broadway's most diverse seasons, so much so it spawned a Twitter trending hashtag #TonysSoDiverse following the nominations for this past weekend's awards ceremony. 12 Black and non-Black actors of color were nominated for a Tony Award. For the first time in the Tonys' history, all four musical acting categories were won by Black actors, and if you walk down 45th Street, as soprano Paula Dione Ingram has, the block is lit up by 'Black Broadway.' It's a laudable moment in a theatre history that has not always been so and still continues to have a long way to go, the subject of Ingram's Dark Legacy: Bright Lights of Black Broadway, her debut show at Feinstein's/54 Below on June 4.
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