Theater News

Wopat to Kick off Spring Season at Birdland

Tom Wopat
Tom Wopat

The New Season at Birdland, a series of concerts featuring top performers and composers, will begin on Monday, April 4 at 7pm with a concert by Tom Wopat.

Perhaps best known as “Luke Duke” from his seven seasons on the TV show The Dukes of Hazard, Wopat is one of the stars of the upcoming Broadway revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. He received a Tony nomination for his performance as Frank Butler opposite Bernadette Peters in Annie Get Your Gun, played Billy Flynn in the Broadway revival of Chicago, and also did a stint as Julian Marsh in the recent 42nd Street revival. He has released several albums on the Columbia and Capitol labels; his new CD, Dissertation on the State of Bliss, includes jazz interpretations of such Harold Arlen songs as “Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” “Come Rain Or Come Shine,” and “Accentuate The Positive.” Many of these will be included in Wopat’s Birdland set, along with theater songs and other standards. There is a $30 cover and a $10 food/drink minimum for the show.

The New Season at Birdland will also feature concerts by Maureen McGovern in a gala benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (April 11 at 9pm), actor-singer-guitarist-songwriter Jeff Daniels (April 19 at 9pm and 11pm), composer Laurence O’Keefe (April 25 at 7pm), songwriter Victoria Shaw (May 16 at 7pm), Stephanie d’Abruzzo (May 23 at 7pm), Toxic Audio (May 30 at 7pm), Malcolm Gets (June 13 at 7pm), Max von Essen (July 18 at 7pm), and Christine Ebersole (July 25 at 7pm). All concerts are presented by Jim Caruso in association with TheaterMania.com.

A famed jazz venue, Birdland is also the home of Jim Caruso’s Cast Party, the weekly Monday late night showbiz gathering featuring impromptu performances by musical theater, jazz, and nightclub stars.