Jimmy McHugh News

Billy Stritch has always embodied a suave elegance that evokes another era before tuxedos were replaced by ripped jeans and before cocktail hour was replaced by Netflix binges. His encyclopedic knowledge of The Great American Songbook is prodigious. He not only knows all the songs, he knows the history of them all. He is as stylish as the great pianists of that era: Oscar Peterson, Marion McPartland, Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum, and Dave Grusin. He is the upholder of a tradition that includes Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Doris Day, and Mel Tormé.

Signature Theatre is now streaming its production of After Midnight, beginning today, June 13 and running through August 4, 2021. This exhilarating song and dance extravaganza is set to the swinging sounds of Duke Ellington, Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields, Harold Arlen and more and framed by the poems of Langston Hughes.

Thanks to the successful vaccines and the re-opening of clubs and cabaret rooms, we are starting to see a slow return to the normality of gathering to hear the work of fellow artists. I was privileged to be at such a gathering this afternoon when I attended the PANGEA SUNDAY OPEN MIC & JAZZ BRUNCH. Jazz Brunch was created before the pandemic by multi-award-winning cabaret artist, Sue Matsuki and her awesome musical director and composer, Gregory Toroian. And it is back with a bang, playing to a sold-out house.

After Midnight at Signature Theatre is a revue featuring the music of Harold Arlen, Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh, and DC’s own Duke Ellington, and is set around the poems of Langston Hughes. The show features some of DC’s finest talent including Nova Y. Payton (a Signature regular) and Hamilton star Christopher Jackson as well as a stacked and extremely enthralling ensemble. With direction by Jared Grimes and music direction by Mark G. Meadows, the show proved to be a roaring success with over-the-top performances, fabulous design, and swinging music.

Signature Theatre will present After Midnight, running June 13 – August 4, 2021. This exhilarating song and dance extravaganza is set to the swinging sounds of Duke Ellington, Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields, Harold Arlen and more and framed by the poems of Langston Hughes.

Signature Theatre has announced the full cast and creative team for After Midnight, the fourth production in the Signature Features 2021 Season. Featuring a cast of 12, headlined by Christopher Jackson and Nova Y. Payton, After Midnight showcases 28 of the big band era’s most famous songs, all framed by the poetry of Langston Hughes. 

This reissue of Eastern Sounds was mastered from the original stereo tapes by GRAMMY®-Award winning mastering engineer Bernie Grundman and pressed utilizing Neotech’s VR9000 compound on 180-gram vinyl.

CLUB44 RECORDS has announced that Come What May, the enchanting new album from international Billboard #1 pop/jazz vocalist Jane Monheit, will be available on CD and digital and streaming formats on Friday, March 12. This dynamic all-new collection of songbook classics will honor Monheit’s 20th anniversary as a best-selling recording artist.

Today we celebrate Black History Month by taking a closer look at After Midnight. Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, it played for 273 performances at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. The revue is based on Cotton Club Parade, which ran in concert at Encores! in 2011 and 2012. The revue takes place 'after midnight' in New York's Harlem.

Signature Theatre has announced the full lineup for Signature Theatre’s 2021 Signature Features season, five fully-staged plays and musicals, made exclusively for the screen and professionally filmed in HD on set (multiple safety protocols were employed to ensure artists’ and crew’s safety).

With her last album, Mixtura, vocalist Luba Mason established her own musical genre, a “blend of different musical currents.'

Captured before an intimate gathering of invited friends, family and fans at Manhattan's renowned Power Station studio, the album features an unprecedented trio of vocals, vibraphone and bass featuring master musicians Joe Locke and James Genus and produced by longtime Prince collaborator Renato Neto.

Katrina from Katrina & The Waves releases her new album Hearts, Loves & Babys on Friday 28th August through her own label.

Today we rewind to 2014 to take a closer look at After Midnight, which at the time featured special guest star Vanessa Williams. After Midnight, directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, played for 273 performances at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. 

Pasadena Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman has announced the on -sale of tickets for the Los Angeles premiere of Ann - written by and starring Holland Taylor and directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein from May 27 to June 28, 2020, and a new production of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun with book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields, directed by Sarna Lapine, from July 28-August 23, 2020.

Jackie Draper and her musicians, along with her dance partner, will blast the blues with songs in English and French, on Thursday, October 24 at 7 PM at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. Draper's musical team is Music Director Gregory Toroian at the piano, Robbyn Tongue on woodwinds and Frank Wagner on bass, with guest artist/dancer Milo Saidl. Kimberly Vaughn directs.

To fans of Renée Marino, it must come as no surprise that this Jersey, Italian girl would perform a fantastic set while filling the room with her out-sized personality. Her story to becoming film and stage actress became the thrilling subject of yet another spectacular performance.

PAUL HOPE is keeping the Great American Songbook Alive with POPPA DON'T PREACH TO ME: FRANK LOESSER FROM HOLLYWOOD TO BROADWAY at OVATIONS NIGHT CLUB, located at 2536 Times Blvd Houston, TX 77005, on MONDAYS from September 16 through 30, 2019. Performances will be MONDAYS at 7:30PM (1930).

Bay Street Theater has announced the cast of Irving Berlin's ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (July 30- August 25) is now in rehearsal in New York City. The company will soon finalize rehearsals in Sag Harbor prior to the first preview on July 30. This show is one of the most beloved musicals of Broadway's Golden Age with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, based on the book by Dorothy and Herbert Fields and directed by Sarna Lapine (Sunday in the Park with George, Bay Street's Frost/Nixon).

Judy Holliday, the iconic star of stage and screen, comes alive at 59E59 Theaters in show that will keep you enthralled from the first minute to the last. The New York premiere of 'Smart Blonde,' written by Willy Holtzman and directed by Peter Flynn, stars a fabulous cast of four.