Henry Carter Hull

Two shows of stand-up, taken from over 13 series', celebrating the best female comics.

Renato Palumbo returns with another Verdi classic, with the Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho, and the tenor Gregory Kunde as Otello.

It's only fair that the drummer who invented Afrobeat pays tribute to the drummer who invented hard bop. For the last few years that Tony Allen has been enjoying a second youth in Paris and elsewhere, we have tended to forget that his very particular style, of touching and pounding, comes as much from his African and Nigerian sources as from the rhythmic boppers that were Kenny Clarke, Max Roach, and, in particular, Art Blakey.

Spike Lee's adaptation of the Broadway show "Passing Strange" presents the portrait of a musician as a young man. In 1970s Los Angeles, a talented but rebellious middle-class African-American discovers punk rock. Through the intervention of a sincere choir director, the young man travels to Europe, where his talents blossom, but at the expense of those who care for him. The film is based on the life of musician Stew, who appears as narrator and commentator...

This entertaining and sharply written guide—for both beginners breaking into comedy and professionals seeking to improve their sets and advance their careers—examines the work of great comedians such as Louis C.K., Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Izzard, Moms Mabley, Hannibal Buress, Sarah Silverman, Richard Pryor, and more as a means of illustrating the most important techniques of performing and writing stand-up. Here, Stephen Rosenfield lays out a clear...

Inspired by the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger, a chapter book series about women who spoke up and rose up against the odds--including Simone Biles!Simone Biles was raised by her grandparents and had to overcome many hardships as a child. After trying gymnastics for the first time on a field trip from elementary school, Simone continued with the sport, working hard and reaching professional levels....

Burlesque was one of America’s most popular forms of entertainment in the first half of the 20th century. Gaudy, bawdy and spectacular, the shows entertained thousands of customers every night of the week. And yet the legacy of burlesque is often vilified, misunderstood, and left out of history. By telling intimate, surprising stories from its golden age through the women (and men!) who lived it, BEHIND THE BURLY Q reveals the true story of burlesque,...

Alicia Alonso wouldn't let her vision impairment keep her from dancing.

In 1975, the Broadway musical Chicago brought together a host of memes and myths—the gleefully subversive character of American musical comedy, the reckless glamour of the big-city newspaper, the mad decade of the 1920s, the work of Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, and the Wild West gangsterville that was the city of Chicago itself.The tale of a young woman who murders her departing lover and then tricks the jury into letting her off, Chicago seemed too...