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Encores Artistic Director Jack Viertel today announced the creative teams for New York City Center's 2016 Encores season. J. Bernard Calloway, Chuck Cooper, Marva Hicks, Carly Hughes, Lachanze, Norm Lewis, Forrest McClendon, and J.D. Webster will star in Vernon Duke and John Latouche's jazzfilled fable Cabin in the Sky, running for seven performances at City Center from February 10-14. The 1940 musical will be directed by Tony Award winner Ruben SantiagoHudson with choreography by Camille A. Brown.

Rex Ingram in 'The Thief of Bagdad' 1940 with tiny Sabu. Actor Rex Ingram movies on TCM: Early black film performer in 'Cabin in the Sky,' 'Anna Lucasta' It's somewhat unusual for two well-known film celebrities, whether past or present, to share the same name.* One such rarity is – or rather, are – the two movie people known as Rex Ingram;† one an Irish-born white director, the other an Illinois-born black actor. Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” continues today, Aug. 11, '15, with a day dedicated to the latter. Right now, TCM is showing Cabin in the Sky (1943), an all-black musical adaptation of the Faust tale that is notable as the first full-fledged feature film directed by another Illinois-born movie person, Vincente Minnelli. Also worth mentioning, the movie marked Lena Horne's first important appearance in a mainstream motion picture.§ A financial disappointment on the...

The York Theatre Company continues the 2013-2014 season with the world premiere of the new musical, Inventing Mary Martin, conceived, written and directed by Stephen Cole, with music supervision and arrangements by David Krane, music direction by Lawrence Goldberg, co-directed and choreographed by Bob Richard, and original music and lyrics by legendary composers Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers amp Oscar Hammerstein, Vernon Duke amp Howard Dietz, Kurt Weill amp Ogden Nash, Nol Coward, Irving Berlin, Jule Styne amp Carolyn Leigh, Howard Dietz amp Arthur Schwartz, and Tom Jones amp Harvey Schmidt, among others. The four-member cast will feature Cameron Adams, Jason Graae, Lynne Halliday, and Emily Skinner.THe company just met the press and BroadwayWorld takes you inside the special presentation below...

The York Theatre Company continues the 2013-2014 season with the world premiere of the new musical , Inventing Mary Martin, conceived, written and directed by Stephen Cole, with music supervision and arrangements by David Krane, music direction by Lawrence Goldberg, co-directed and choreographed by Bob Richard, and original music and lyrics by legendary composers Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers amp Oscar Hammerstein, Vernon Duke amp Howard Dietz, Kurt Weill amp Ogden Nash, Noel Coward, Irving Berlin, Jule Styne amp Carolyn Leigh, Howard Dietz amp Arthur Schwartz, and Tom Jones amp Harvey Schmidt, among others.

American TV's great comedian of the 1950s

Early on in their careers, Woody Allen, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon and Mel Brooks all produced gags for the American comedian Sid Caesar, who has died aged 91. "Writing for Caesar was the highest thing you could aspire to," said Allen, adding: "at least as a TV comedy writer. The presidency was above that." Simon later based the play Laughter on the 23rd Floor on his experiences of working for Caesar's popular variety programme Your Show of Shows (1950-54), and Reiner's time with Caesar inspired him to create The Dick Van Dyke Show.

At the height of his fame in the 1950s, Caesar was making more than $1m a year and Your Show of Shows was drawing audiences of up to 25 million. Broadway theatre owners complained that as a result of his popularity, they always had empty seats on Saturday nights – the...

There are few stories more remarkable than that of Vernon Duke. He wrote the landmark show Cabin in the Sky, the beloved jazz standard Autumn in New York, and hit songs like I Can't Get Started and Taking a Chance on Love. Yet he also led a double life as the classical composer and pianist Vladimir Dukelsky. Only in America...

Virtuoso violinist heard on a string of classic Hollywood movie scores

The American violinist Israel Baker, who has died aged 92, was renowned among his fellow musicians but unknown to most of the millions who heard him play on the soundtracks of such movies as Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 shocker Psycho, where he led Bernard Herrmann's screaming violin effects accompanying the stabbing of Janet Leigh in the shower scene.

Baker belonged to a select group of musicians who could fit into any situation at a moment's notice and read any piece on sight. But while making a lavish living in the Hollywood film and recording studios, he also had a considerable concert career.

He was born in Chicago, the youngest of four children of Russian immigrants. At six he appeared on national radio, and from his late teens he played in orchestras. At 22 he was concertmaster of Leopold Stokowski's All-American...