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Music News: Winter Rhythms Four, Karen Mason, David Sabella, Sharon McKnight, Ride the Cyclone and Space Dogs

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5 years ago

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What do you get when you combine four talented women on stage to sing about life in 2021? FOUR!, a new cabaret performance that will debut on the stages of Urban Stages as a part of their Winter Rhythms series. The four ladies are scheduled to sing a variety of popular tunes on December 16th at 9PM. Tickets available at Urbanstages.org.

Kea Chan (54 Below and Green Room 42), Mollie Downes (National tour Chicago) Jennifer Noble(Broadway’s King Kong) and Sarah Parnicky (Award winning Desperate Measures) bring the show to the stage with their accompanist John DiPinto. Vincent Scott (Urban Stages A Charmed Life) will direct the show which was conceived by Urban Stages Board member Craig Horsley.

“I have either known or seen the talents of these wonderful performers over the years and I am grateful to Urban Stages for giving me the stage I wanted to spotlight them in a fun and timely show,” Horsley says. “The past twenty months have been particularly hard on the theater community and the artists. I tried to take some of these singers’ experiences over that time period and present them with heart and humor and especially with hope for a better 2022.  What better way to do that than through song?”

Winter Rhythms won the Bistro Award for Outstanding Series and the Ruth Kurtzman Benefit Series MAC Award. Proceeds from Winter Rhythms benefit Urban Stages’ acclaimed Outreach Program, which brings over 200 free “arts in education” presentations to libraries and schools throughout the five boroughs.

Tickets for shows are on sale at urbanstages.org

Karen Mason is an acclaimed Broadway star and concert artist. Her new album Let the Music Play, is available in all digital formats and on CD from Zevely Records. The recording’s powerful and timely first single, the title cut “Let the Music Play,” was released earlier this fall. On the heels of her featured role opposite Ewan McGregor on the hit Netflix miniseries “Halston,” Mason presents this collection of theater music, pop classics and new compositions. Special guests Stephen Schwartz, who plays piano on a tender version of the beloved Wickedballad “For Good,” and David Friedman, who accompanies Karen on his poignant standard “We Can Be Kind.” The album – which features arrangements by Christopher Denny and Barry Kleinbort, in addition to contributions from Dick Gallagher, and Brian Lasser – is produced by Paul Rolnick. Listen to the new album at Spotify or Apple Music.

Following her sold-out album release concert at New York’s Feinstein’s/54 Below Karen, will return to the city for a very special three-night edition of her legendary Christmas show at The Laurie Beechman Theater from December 17-19. She will also celebrate the album and the holidays at New Hope, PA’s RRazz Room on December 11. Concert info and album details are at KarenMason.com.

David Sabella, an award-winning singer and actor, celebrates the release of his new CD “Time Heals” in the jewel-box room at Pangea (the Café Carlyle of the lower east-side) with his show, “Pandemic Relief.” The album, called “Time Heals,” was recorded live during two previous performances of “Pandemic Relief,” and features musical favorites from Broadway, the Great American Songbook, and pop music, re-set in new, illuminating arrangements by Christopher Denny, Gregory Toroian, the late Rick Jensen, and Music Director Mark Hartman. The trio is rounded out by Dan Gross on Drums, and Sean Murphy on Bass.

Sabella, best known for his years on Broadway in the musical Chicago, is also an award-winning actor, and an internationally recognized classical singer whom Luciano Pavarotti proclaimed “Excellent, not good, excellent!” In addition to originating the starring role of “Mary Sunshine,” Sabella joined the national touring company of Chicago for the historic opening of Mandalay Bay (Las Vegas) and then returned to the Broadway company to appear with Melanie Griffith as Roxie Hart. Sabella also starred in numerous productions, and in various leading roles Off-Broadway, at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. I

Sabella is also the author (with Sue Matsuki) of “So You Want to Sing Cabaret,” (2020, Rowman & Littlefield), The Owner and Chief Editor of www.CabaretHotspot.com, and one of NYC’s most sought after voice & performance coaches, www.davidsabella.com. 

Sharon McKnight writes me “The last time I performed in an open-to-the public “Sharon” show was January 2020 in San Francisco. Finally I’m getting hip and going with the flow. My next show will be on Thursday, December 9, at 8:00 PST and will be streamed from Feinstein’s at Vitello’s in Studio City, California.  It’s called “Between Holidaze”. You can come to the showroom at the restaurant in person or stream it in your underwearfrom home.  Don’t try to hide it.  I know you’re out there.  How many times have you had dress code options?  You can thank me later. The show will contain just a couple of “my kind of Xmas songs” and requests that have been made over the last almost two years.  The Live Stream can be viewed for 2 weeks following the night of the show.”  Go to SHARON McNIGHT “Between Holidaze” to learn more.

Ghostlght Records announced that Ride the Cyclone: World Premiere Cast Recording – based on the critically acclaimed musical that has sold out hit productions across the US and Canada – is available on CD online and in stores. The album was released in digital and streaming formats earlier this year. The show features book, music and lyrics by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. The album is produced by Brooke Maxwell, who also serves as music director and conductor, and provides arrangements and orchestrations. Kevin McCollum (Six, Mrs. Doubtfire, Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights, [title of show], The Drowsy Chaperone,Something Rotten!)and Morris Berchard (The Color Purple, Hand to God, Something Rotten!, Ragtime) serve as executive producers. Ride the Cyclone will be coming to theatres around the country. Sign up for news and updates at RideTheCycloneMusical.com. To stream or download the album, or order the CD, please visit ghostlightrecords.lnk.to/ridethecyclonePR

Ghostlght Records will also release the original cast album of the new musical Space Dogs on January 28, 2022. The show features music and lyrics by Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire, who also perform the show. Space Dogs will debut at New York’s MCC Theater, directed by Ellie Heyman, from January 11 to February 20, 2022. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, December 8, 2021. Starting today, customers who pre-order the digital album will immediately receive the track “The Space Dogs of the Cosmodrome.”  The album is produced by Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire, with Kurt Deutsch serving as executive producer. Pre-order now at ghostlightrecords.lnk.to/SpaceDogs

Space Dogs tells the heartbreaking, mind-blowing true story of Laika and the Chief Designer — a stray dog and the top-secret Russian scientist who sent her to space during the Cold War. The show is a sweeping, kaleidoscopic tale of invention, betrayal, international political intrigue, and the immortal friendship that exists between man and dog, as they journey together to the stars. More on the show is at mcc.theater/spacedogs.

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Suzanna, co-owns and publishes the newspaper Times Square Chronicles or T2C. At one point a working actress, she has performed in numerous productions in film, TV, cabaret, opera and theatre. She has performed at The New Orleans Jazz festival, The United Nations and Carnegie Hall. She has a screenplay and a TV show in the works, which she developed with her mentor and friend the late Arthur Herzog. She is a proud member of the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle and was a nominator. Email: suzanna@t2conline.com

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Music

Midnight: Todrick Hall Has Created a Musical Masterpiece That Broadway Cannot Afford to Ignore

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8 hours ago

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October 16, 2026

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“We don’t get to choose the roles we’re born into. We only get to choose how we play them.”

The Company of Midnight Photo by Valerie Terranova

Every so often, a musical comes along that reminds me why I fell in love with theater in the first place. Not because it is perfect, not because it follows the rules, but because it possesses that rare, electrifying combination of originality, extraordinary talent, emotional intelligence, and sheer theatrical audacity. Midnight, written, directed, choreographed, and starring Todrick Hall, is that musical. Currently playing at the Daryl Roth Theatre, it is, hands down, the best new musical I have seen this season. Frankly, I cannot imagine what could possibly surpass it.


Charlotte Odusanya and the Company Of Midnight Photo by Valerie Terranova

I have been a fan of Hall’s since his brilliantly inventive Beauty and the Beat video. His imagination, musicality, humor, and ability to transform popular culture into something uniquely his own have always fascinated me. But nothing, and I mean nothing, prepared me for what is happening at 101 East 15th Street.

Midnight is an astonishing achievement.

Todrick Hall and. the Company Of Midnight Photo by Valerie Terranova

First, there is the score. Gospel, rhythm and blues, soul, pop, rock, folk, and even opera collide in a glorious explosion of musical styles. This is a sung-through musical, with no spoken dialogue, and the vocal and instrumental arrangements are nothing short of extraordinary. Multiple harmonies overlap, voices soar into unexpected intervals, and riffs build upon riffs until the entire theater seems to vibrate with sound. The musical sophistication is staggering. I found myself sitting there in a state of absolute bliss, wondering how Hall had managed to assemble so many extraordinary voices in one production.

It is musical nirvana.
The choreography is equally relentless and inventive. Bodies move with the music rather than merely accompanying it, creating a continuous theatrical experience in which singing, dancing, and storytelling become inseparable. The show runs just under three hours, and while there are moments when Hall’s enthusiasm could benefit from a judicious editorial hand, the extraordinary quality of what he has created makes the time pass with remarkable ease.

Jimmy Brewer, Jeremy Beloate and Ciarán McCarthy The Company of Midnight photo by Valerie Terranova

Set in the nineteenth-century American South, Midnight follows twelve interconnected characters, six Black and six white, whose lives are defined by race, class, power, identity, and the complicated nature of love. At its center is Rail, a young enslaved Black man portrayed by Hall, whose emotional world becomes increasingly complicated by Lily Rose, played with irresistible sweetness by Charlotte Odusanya affection, and his forbidden attraction to Richard, a wealthy white neighbor portrayed by the phenomenally gifted Jeremy Beloate.

Jeremy Beloate photo by Valerie Terranova

Richard is engaged to Scarlet, played by Kennedy Caughell, whose privileged existence is built upon a social order that benefits her while denying others their humanity. Rail’s feelings for Richard place him in an impossible position, caught between love, survival, and a society that refuses to acknowledge his right to either.

Kennedy Caughell and the company of midnight Photo by Valerie Terranova

Hall’s writing refuses to reduce these characters to simple symbols of virtue or villainy. Their relationships are tangled, their desires frequently contradictory, and their decisions shaped by the world into which they were born. The musical understands that power is not simply something people possess; it is something that determines how they see themselves and everyone around them.
Then, after the first act, Hall does something extraordinary. After Rail is captured and brutally beaten by slave catchers, he wishes that white people could experience what it feels like to live in his shoes. What follows is a startling theatrical reversal: the racial hierarchy is inverted, with Black characters becoming the wealthy enslavers and white characters finding themselves enslaved. Think Finain’s Rainbow.
It is a daring, surreal device that transforms the musical from a historical drama into something far more provocative. Suddenly, the audience is forced to reconsider everything it has witnessed through an entirely different perspective. The same systems of domination remain, but the people occupying positions of power have changed.

Jimmy Brewer, Jeremy Beloate, Todrick Hall Photo by Valerie Terranova

What makes this so effective is that Hall does not simply ask us to imagine injustice. He makes us watch familiar characters experience it from the opposite side. The reversal exposes the arbitrary cruelty of a system in which one person’s humanity is determined by another person’s authority. It is bold, unsettling, and theatrically ingenious.

Then there are the voices.

Sidney Dupont, Ayana George, and Dwayne Clark Photo by Valerie Terranova

Ayana George, as Ethel, serves as one of the musical’s principal narrators, and her voice is simply magnificent. She possesses the kind of vocal authority that makes an audience surrender from the first note. There is richness, power, and emotional command in everything she sings, and she anchors the production with remarkable assurance.

Jeremy Beloate, as Richard, is another revelation. His voice is phenomenal, capable of extraordinary power while retaining a tenderness that makes his character’s emotional conflicts genuinely affecting. His musical exchanges with Hall are among the evening’s most compelling moments.

Charlotte Odusanya brings warmth and charm to Lily Rose, making her far more than a romantic counterpoint to Rail’s complicated desires. There is an innocence to her performance, but also an emotional intelligence that keeps the character from becoming sentimental.

Bella Coppola, Autumn Hurlbert and Kennedy Caughell Photo by Valerie Terranova

Kennedy Caughell brings formidable vocal and dramatic presence to Scarlet, while Autumn Hurlbert, whom television audiences may remember from Legally Blonde: The Musical — The Search for Elle Woods, gives Charlotte, Scarlet’s mother, an appropriately commanding presence.
Bella Coppola, whose work in Broadway’s Smash demonstrated her considerable talent, is fabulous as Violet, Scarlet’s sister. Her voice is yet another reason to marvel at the depth of this company.
Sidney DuPont, as Squeak, brings his own extraordinary theatrical energy to the production, while Dwayne Clark as Horace, Jimmy Brewer as Harry, and Ciarán McCarthy as Sylvester contribute to an ensemble in which there is simply no weak link.
Kolbi Jordan, as Happy, Lily Rose’s friend, is another vocal goddess. At a certain point, I stopped trying to decide whose voice I loved most. The level of talent on this stage is almost absurd.

Ciaran McCarthy, Todrick Hall, Kennedy Caughell and the company of midnight Photo by Valerie Terranova

What Hall has accomplished vocally is especially impressive because the musical demands so much more than beautiful singing. The performers must negotiate complicated harmonies, shifting musical styles, demanding choreography, and emotionally charged storytelling without the relief of spoken dialogue. There is nowhere to hide. Every thought, every confrontation, and every revelation must be communicated through music and movement. My only criticism is diction.

Todrick Hall and Charlotte Odusanya and the Company of Midnight Photo by Valerie Terranova

Hall himself is a magnetic performer, bringing charisma, vulnerability, humor, and tremendous physical energy to Rail. He commands the stage with the confidence of someone who knows precisely what he wants his audience to experience. Yet he is also the one person who might benefit most from an editor. Sometimes less really is more.

Hall has so many ideas, so much musical imagination, and such an abundance of theatrical invention that he occasionally seems reluctant to sacrifice any of it. A few passages could be tightened, and certain moments would gain power through restraint. The production does not need to prove its brilliance quite so frequently because its brilliance is already unmistakable.
I understand the temptation. When someone possesses this much talent and has created something so deeply personal, deciding what to remove must be excruciating. But a slightly leaner Midnight would be an even more formidable theatrical achievement.
That criticism, however, should not diminish what Hall has accomplished. Writing, directing, choreographing, and starring in a musical of this scope is an extraordinary undertaking. Doing all four with such conviction, musical sophistication, and visual imagination is almost incomprehensible.
The creative team deserves its own standing ovation.

Todrick Hall, Jeremy Beloate and the Company of Midnight Photo by Valerie Terranova

Morgan Large’s scenic design provides a theatrical environment capable of moving between historical realism and the production’s increasingly surreal landscape. Beck Jones’s costumes establish the divisions of class and status that become so essential to the story, while Jake DeGroot’s lighting gives the production both its visual grandeur and its darker emotional textures.

Lawrence Schober’s sound design is particularly crucial in a musical this vocally intricate. The overlapping harmonies, musical textures, and continuous shifts in style require extraordinary balance, and the result allows the audience to appreciate the remarkable complexity of the score.
Charles G. LaPointe’s hair and wig design completes the visual world with meticulous attention to character and period.
Musical supervisor, arranger, and music director Laurence Stannard deserves enormous credit for helping bring Hall’s ambitious score to life. Alongside co-original orchestrator Mark Crossland, he has helped shape a musical landscape that is rich, exhilarating, and astonishingly varied. Dramaturg Samuel Yates and casting directors Sujotta Pace and Stephen Kopel have also contributed to an evening whose dramatic ambition and exceptional company are inseparable from its success.
What makes Midnight truly remarkable, however, is that beneath its vocal fireworks and theatrical spectacle lies a question that transcends the historical setting.
How much of who we become is determined by the circumstances of our birth, and how much is determined by the choices we make once we understand those circumstances?
Hall takes that question and turns it inside out. By reversing the positions of the oppressed and the oppressor, he challenges the audience to confront not only the cruelty of historical injustice but the seductive nature of power itself. His musical asks whether people who have suffered under an unjust system would necessarily behave differently if suddenly given control of it.
That is a far more sophisticated question than simply dividing the world into heroes and villains. It is also what elevates Midnight beyond an evening of spectacular entertainment. This is a musical with something substantial to say, and it says it with extraordinary passion.
I fully expect Midnight to find its way to Broadway. In fact, I would be astonished if it did not. It has the scale, musical ambition, emotional force, and theatrical imagination to make that transition, although a little judicious trimming would serve it well.
And I am going considerably further out on a limb….come awards season, I expect Midnight to be a major contender across the board. Depending on its eligibility and where it ultimately lands, I believe it has the potential to dominate. I have seen an enormous amount of theater, and I do not make that prediction lightly. At this moment, I cannot think of another new musical that matches its combination of vocal excellence, originality, ambition, and sheer theatrical excitement.
Todrick Hall has created something exceptional. It is audacious, imperfect, emotionally charged, musically glorious, and utterly unforgettable.
There are productions that entertain us, productions that move us, and productions that remind us of what theater can accomplish when an artist refuses to think small. Midnight does all three.
If you love musical theater, do not miss this production. If you love extraordinary voices, prepare to be overwhelmed. And if you believe the American musical still has unexplored territory, Todrick Hall has just opened an entirely new door.
Midnight plays a limited engagement through November 8, 2026, at the Daryl Roth Theatre, 101 East 15th Street, until November 8th but I suspect it will either move or extend.
“Hello, good morning! It’s a new day!”
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Celebrity

The Glorious Corner

Published

1 day ago

on

October 15, 2026

By

G.H. Harding

MACCA SPEAKS, AGAIN — Paul McCartney’s promotional efforts for his latest album The Boys of Dungeon Lane, has been really remarkable. Between his efforts and the PR for the Michael Douglas and Sylvester Stallone memoirs, it’s been quite the fall so far. Even though Todd Rundgren in his now infamous interview in Vulture, claimed that “McCartney would go to a mall opening,” but I think what he’s done has been really good.

Credit manager Scott Rodger for the spirited jaunt.

Amy Poehler

But today I heard today what unquestionably must be one of the best interviews he’s ever done and that’s the Good Hang podcast with Amy Poehler.

I never been a huge fan of Poehler, but I must say, her efforts on this really knocked me out, as she covered everything from John, George and Ringo to Linda and got McCartney to talk a lot about his kids. Even 2009’s Nowhere Boy and the forthcoming Sam Mendes movies were referenced. It was McCartney, in a totally different light … a reflective and relaxed light for sure.

I know it seems like everyone and their mother has a podcast right now, but this one was extra-special.

I was knocked out. Take a listen

X FILES — (Via Deadline) Ryan Coogler’s long-gestating The X-Files reboot starring Emmy nominee Himesh Patel (The Odyssey, Station Eleven) and Danielle Deadwyler (The Bell Jar, The Chaperones), has been ordered to series at Hulu.

From Onyx Collective and 20th Television, the reimagining of Chris Carter’s classic series follows two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents, played by Deadwyler and Patel, who form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.

Sinners filmmaker Coogler wrote, directed and executive produced the pilot.

Like the Miami Vice reboot, currently in production, I don’t see it as a success. I mean, how can you do the X-Files with Mulder or scully? But we’ll see.

Crustacean

SHORT TAKES — One of my favorite restaurants in LA is closing, Crustacean on Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills. Fish-centric, but just a great, great spot. Been going for a decade. Very sad … Whatever happened to a follow-up date for John Cafferty at NYC’s Cutting Room? We’d love to see him there again … SIGHTING: PR-pasha David Salidor at Din in Brooklyn Heights … Sad to read about Mike Love’s recent health struggles. Here’s hoping for all the best … Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed will be back for another go-round. Apple TV announced Wednesday that it has renewed the dark comedy thriller for a second season. A writers room is underway, we hear, with Season 2 production slated for the first half of 2027. Starring Emmy winner Tatiana Maslany …There’s another trailer for the Blade Runner series on Prime. Take a peak:

Bruce Morrow

Happy 91 to radio’s Cousin Bruce Morrow. An icon for sure!

NAMES IN THE NEWS — Daryl Hall; Raspin Stuwart; Roy Trakin; John Hughes; Lorne Michaels; Robert Funaro; Ken Sharp; John Sykes; Tom & Lisa Cuddy; Sharon Bush; Anthony Pomes; Chris Carter; Max Sabrin; Michael Domino; Harrison Jordan; Steve Leeds; Steve Walter; Moe Kaplan; Dianna O’Neill; Jacqueline Boyd; Judy Kaufman; Chuck Pulin; Bob Gruen; Markos Papadatos; and CHIP!

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Cabaret

Live From The Hotel Edison Times Square Chronicles Presents Our Sinatra’s Christopher Gines

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2 days ago

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October 14, 2026

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Live From The Hotel Edison Times Square Chronicles Presents, is filmed from the Hotel Edison and is a podcast extension of T2C. We are back after a small hiatus.


Today on Live From The Hotel Edison Times Square Chronicles Presents Our Sinatra’s Christopher Gines. Our Sinatra, a Musical Celebration brings back the original creators/performers – Eric Comstock, Christopher Gines and Hilary Kole. This trio reunites after a quarter century after performing Our Sinatra at the Oak Room in December 1999

Gines has released solo music including his album The Way It Goes, featuring classic standards and theater tunes. Beyond singing, he has worked as an author, playwright, show creator, and nightclub promoter/owner in New York

See Christopher in Our Sinatra at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre running through November 29th.

I am so grateful to Christopher Gines  for his conversation, his candidness and his art that captures the imagination.

We are so proud because the show and our guests are featured on the TV screens in the lobby and the hotel rooms.

Thank-you Magda Katz for videoing and creating the content to go live, Rommel Gopez and The Hotel Edison for their kindness and hospitality, Broadway HD and Dr K and at 200 West 54th Street for giving me back my health and my smile.

We have been named by Variety Entertainment News as one of Summer’s Best Picks in the category of Best Television, Radio, Podcasts. The company we are in, has made us so humbled, grateful and motivated to continue.

“The Daily Geek Report” named host Suzanna Bowling on the list of Most Engaging Hosts.

You can catch us on the following platforms:

Pandora

Stitcher

Spotify:

Amazon:

Apple Podcasts:

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Celebrity

The Glorious Corner

Published

3 days ago

on

October 13, 2026

By

G.H. Harding

VICE 2028 — When Michael Mann tried to reboot his series Miami Vice in 2006, it was a commercial and critical disappointment. Miami Vice 85, the latest reboot, is well underway with a most impressive cast, including Austin Butler and Michael B. Jordan as the series lead characters Crockett and Tubbs.

Austin Butler and Michael B. Jordan

When Vice first hit TV screens in September of 1984, audiences had rarely seen anything as ambitious or creative. Mann -and Anthony (Buffalo Club) Yerkovich- hit on something new for the small screen. NBC’s head-honcho at the time Brandon Tartikoff, called them “MTV cops.”

Anthony Yerkovich

MTV was approaching its peak (27 million households) and this TV-show captured not only that, but both the angst and joy of the go-go 80s.

It propelled Don Johnson to mega-stardom, as well as Philip Michael Thomas. The two even recorded albums, which were not bad, but never fully realized.

One major key to the show’s success was the endless streaming of hit music -from Phil Collins; Dire Straits; Steve Jones; to INXS on down. This was before music supervisors came into play and it was often the label’s PR-people that propelled songs and artists to major success. The show also employed various music stars (like Collins and Franz Zappa) as guests stars and often, they were great. Zappa, as a cool-drug merchant on a yacht was great.

PR-man David Salidor was handling PR for The Funhouse, one of the key-clubs of the time, and remembers bringing producer Michael Attanasio down to the club. “They wanted something authentic and since they were going to be shooting in NY for the second season, the club was a perfect fit.”

I was a fan and remain a fan, and even when I watched the episodes now, they’re a bit dated, buy the symbiosis of what’s on the screen and the music remain pretty outstanding.

I honesty doubt whether Mann can do it again, but interest remains high … very high. See you in 2028 Miami Vice!

Read more here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/miami-vice-85-austin-butler-michael-b-jordan-1236727734/

And here’s a great take from Yerkovich on the creation: https://intelligentcollector.com/miami-vice-creator-anthony-yerkovich-on-the-style-packed-pilot-that-changed-tv-forever/

SHORT TAKES — I watched the 1998 movie Deep Impact over the weekend and the basic plot was an asteroid was about the hit the Earth and one of the plans President Morgan Freeman came up with was to build immense silos in the mountains. Sounds a tad like the TV-showParadise, right? Amazing …

Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow says she’s losing major money on her new album. Interetsing article from Female First. Take a read: https://www.femalefirst.co.uk/music/musicnews/sheryl-crow-says-losing-ton-money-latest-album-reflects-fame-cancer-ageing-radio-1451871.html … Great interview on Rory Kennedy’s The Trial of Alec Baldwin. Check it out: https://deadline.com/2026/10/the-trial-of-alec-baldwin-director-rory-kennedy-interview-1237154646/ … Happy Bday Daryl Hall.

NAMES IN THE NEWS — Bill Maher; Chuck LaBella; David Bowie; Steve Walter; Frank Ucciardo; Thomas Jay; Mark Biggs; Tugg Putt; Tom & Lisa Cuddy; Race Taylor; Chuck Nolan; Bill Evans; Dan Zelinski; David Foster; Michael Hutchinson; Walter Egan; Bill McCuddy; Eppy; Joe Lynch; Linda Wnek; and ZIGGY!

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Broadway

Falsettos Is Having a Love Affair With Its Audience—and Now It’s Going International

Published

4 days ago

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October 12, 2026

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Christian Borle, Stephanie J. Block, Brandon Uranowitz, Andrew Rannells, Betsy Wolfe, Tracie Thoms in 2026 – Photo Credit Jenny Anderson

Two sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts lead to a third performance and a London Palladium engagement for the beloved original revival cast.

Falsettos 2016 cast Photo by Joan Marcus

Apparently, one night with Falsettos was never going to be enough. What began as a single 10th anniversary reunion concert at Carnegie Hall has blossomed into something considerably more ambitious, with a third New York performance and a transatlantic engagement at London’s legendary Palladium. For a musical about love, family, heartbreak and the complicated business of being human, the response has been nothing short of extraordinary.


The original cast of the acclaimed 2016 Broadway revival will reunite for an additional performance on Monday, February 8, 2027, at 7 p.m. at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. The company will then cross the Atlantic for three performances at the London Palladium on February 23 and 24, bringing William Finn and James Lapine’s groundbreaking musical to another of the world’s great stages.

Betsy Wolfe, Andrew Rannells, Christian Borle, Tracie Thoms in Falsettos 2016 Photo Credit Joan Marcus

What a company it is. Tony Award winners Stephanie J. Block, Christian Borle and Brandon Uranowitz will be joined by Tony nominees Andrew Rannells and Betsy Wolfe, along with Emmy nominee Tracie Thoms. It is a remarkable gathering of performers whose chemistry helped make the 2016 revival one of Broadway’s most emotionally affecting productions.

Betsy Wolfe, Stephanie J Block, Tracie Thoms in Falsettos 2016 Photo Credit Joan Marcus

The demand has been almost comically enthusiastic. The original October 18, 2026, benefit concert sold out in fewer than two hours. A second performance, scheduled for November 2, disappeared even faster. Now a third Carnegie Hall date has been added, and London is getting its own opportunity to fall in love with this extraordinary cast.

Tony-nominated director and choreographer Ellenore Scott, who served as assistant choreographer on the 2016 revival, will direct the additional performances. Vadim Feichtner returns as music director and conductor, leading a band featuring many of the revival’s original musicians. This is not simply a concert of familiar songs performed by an impressive cast; it is a reunion of artists who helped give this particular production its identity.

For Wolfe, who is also among the producers bringing the reunion to the stage, the experience has become something far more personal than an anniversary celebration.

“Falsettos found all of us at such a pivotal moment, and we’ve had the extraordinary privilege of watching one another grow, as artists and as friends in the decade since,” she reflected. “I always believed there was more life in this piece and hoped we might one day return to it together.”

That hope has now grown from one night at Carnegie Hall into three New York performances and a London engagement, a development Wolfe describes as extraordinary. “Ten years later, it turns out there’s still more of this story for us to tell.”

Few musicals have examined the beautifully imperfect architecture of family with the wit, intelligence and emotional honesty of Falsettos. Through Marvin, Whizzer, Trina and the wonderfully unconventional family they create, Finn and Lapine explore relationships that refuse to fit into comfortable definitions. The musical’s humor is razor-sharp, its characters gloriously flawed and its heartbreak devastating precisely because the love at its center is so recognizable.

The work’s origins stretch back to Finn’s In Trousers in 1979, followed by March of the Falsettos in 1981 and Falsettoland in 1990. The latter two works were combined into Falsettos, which opened on Broadway in 1992. Set against the changing social landscape of the early 1980s and the emergence of the AIDS crisis, the musical transformed an intimate family story into something with profound cultural resonance.

When the revival opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre on October 27, 2016, it introduced the work to another generation, earning five Tony Award nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical. Its subsequent filming for PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center ensured that audiences beyond Broadway could experience the production’s exceptional performances.

A decade later, the affection has clearly not diminished. If anything, time has deepened the musical’s emotional resonance. What once felt like a groundbreaking examination of unconventional family relationships now stands as both a period piece and a remarkably enduring portrait of love, loss and the families we choose.

The February 8 Carnegie Hall performance will also give something back, with a portion of its proceeds benefiting the TDF Wendy Wasserstein Project, which introduces New York City students to live theatre and helps cultivate the next generation of theatregoers.

The concerts are presented by Betsy Wolfe, Colleen Cook and Cynthia Rose for Table for Three Productions, with the London engagement produced in association with Darren Bell Productions and QUBE Theatricals.

Presale registration is now open, with tickets available to registered patrons beginning Wednesday, October 14, at 11 a.m. Eastern. General sales begin Friday, October 16, at 11 a.m. Eastern. New York presale registration is available at falsettosreunion.com, while London registration is available through Darren Bell Productions. Tickets for the February Carnegie Hall performance will also be available through Carnegie Hall, by telephone at (212) 247-7800 or at the box office.

There is something wonderfully appropriate about a musical devoted to the complicated endurance of love inspiring such an enthusiastic reunion. The actors have grown, the world has changed, and the songs have acquired another decade of meaning. Yet the desire to gather in a theatre and experience this story together remains as powerful as ever.

It seems Falsettos has discovered that the only thing more difficult than saying goodbye is convincing its audience to let go.

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