Tony Danza, Chita Rivera, and More to Play 54 Below Next Week

Shows also include Write Out Loud 4 hosted by Taylor Louderman and 54 Salutes Frank Sinatra.

By: Sep. 25, 2022
Get Access To Every Broadway Story

Unlock access to every one of the hundreds of articles published daily on BroadwayWorld by logging in with one click.




Existing user? Just click login.

Next week, 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond. A recipient of the 2022 Tony Awards® Honor for Excellence in the Theatre, 54 Below celebrates Broadway musicals and writers of the past and present, promoting an ongoing engagement with their work. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com or call (646) 476-3551.

Tony Danza: STANDARDS & STORIES - SEPTEMBER 26, 28, 29, 30 & OCTOBER 1 AT 7:00 PM

Tony Danza and his band bring their hit show, Standards & Stories, to 54 Below for a limited engagement. Combining timeless music with wit, charm, storytelling, and a dash of soft shoe and ukulele performances, Danza performs a selection of his favorite standards from the Great American Songbook, as well as selections from the hit Broadway musical Honeymoon in Vegas (which Danza also starred in), while interweaving stories about his life and personal connection to the music.

Danza has been one of the world's most beloved and iconic entertainers for over 40 years. Perhaps best known for his starring roles on two of television's most cherished and long-running series, "Taxi" and "Who's The Boss," Tony has also starred in hit films such as Angels in the Outfield, She's Out of Control, Hollywood Knights, and Don Jon. Well established as a song and dance man, Tony has also starred on Broadway in The Producers, A View from the Bridge, and most recently received rave reviews for his performance in the Broadway musical comedy, Honeymoon In Vegas, with The New York Times calling his performance "sly genius," and a "career high." He received an Emmy nomination for his guest spot on "The Practice," and recently made a special guest appearance on "Blue Bloods." Danza also has a much buzzed about "Who's the Boss" sequel in the works, and just wrapped a co-starring role in the upcoming 20th Century Fox feature film, Darby Harper Wants You To Know.

$85-$105 cover charge ($95-$117 with fees). $140-$165 premium seating ($155-$183 with fees). $25 food & beverage minimum.

WRITE OUT LOUD: FROM CONTEST TO CONCERT VOLUME 4 - SEPTEMBER 26 AT 9:30 PM

This performance will also be livestreamed. For tickets and more information, click here.

Write Out Loud is back with Volume 4! Hosted by Taylor Louderman (Tony Award® Nominee, Mean Girls), Musical Direction by Benjamin Rauhala (Disney Princess- The Concert), and produced by Hannah Kloepfer with Sarah Glugatch and Josh Collopy.

Write Out Loud is a celebration of new musical theatre writers. The Write Out Loud team proudly presents the works of the 2022 Write Out Loud contest winners:

"Cool" by Natalie Myrick

"The Ugly Side of Me" by Emmet Smith

"It's Not Pretty to be Crazy" by Elyza Tuan

The 2022 Write Out Loud Contest finalists are Aislin Carpenter, Dillon Feldman, Ben Freeman & Andreas Nicholas, Alex Goldie Golden, Sarah Kaufman & Shane Dittmar, Lynn Lin, Artemis Montague, Connor Olney, Sheela Ramesh & Alison Luterman, Jacob Ryan Smith, and Amanda Yesnowitz & Deborah Abramson.

The Volume 4 performers include Ephie Aardema, Tee Boyich, Bebe Browning, Leana Rae Concepcion, DeMarius Copes, Jeff Heimbrock, Janet Krupin, Danny Marin, Bailey McCall, Artemis Montague, JJ Niemann, Emmet Smith, Jake David Smith, Esteban Suero, Elizabeth Teeter, Daniel Quadrino, Dani Wade, and Alex Wyse.

Past Write Out Loud winners include: Matt Copley, Ethan Carlson, Taylor Fagins, Chloe Geller, Anna M Johnson, Joriah Kwamé, Alexander Sage Oyen, Kailey Marshall, Matthew Peña, Indy Angel, Brandon Michael Lowden, Kat Siciliano, Mackenzie Szabo.

Past performers include: Major Attaway (Disney's Aladdin), Jessie Hooker-Bailey (Waitress), Gerard Canonico (Be More Chill), Jerusha Cavazos (The Prom, Between the Lines), Madison Deadman, Linedy Genao (Dear Evan Hansen), Jason Gotay (Bring It On, Freaky Friday), Troy Iwata (Be More Chill), Arielle Jacobs (Disney's Aladdin, In the Heights), Olivia Kaufmann (Mean Girls), Derek Klena (Moulin Rouge, Jagged Little Pill), Hannah Kloepfer, Andrew Kober (She Loves Me, Hair), Taylor Louderman (Mean Girls), Izzy McCalla (The Prom, Disney's Aladdin), Desi Oakley (Waitress), Marina Pires, Carrie St. Louis (Wicked), Shereen Pimentel (West Side Story), Gabriella Joy Rodriguez, Presley Ryan (Beetlejuice), Caesar Samayoa (Come From Away), Heath Saunders (Company), Allie Trimm (Bye Bye Birdie), Danielle Wade (Mean Girls), Gabe Violett ("The Voice"), Teal Wicks (The Cher Show, Wicked), Eleri Ward.

Listen to all Write Out Loud winning singles on Spotify (367.1K Monthly Listeners) and major streaming platforms! Visit writeoutloudcontest.com to learn more.

$55 cover charge ($62 with fees). $85 premium seating ($95 with fees). $25 food & beverage minimum.

BERNSTEIN ON BROADWAY: A CELEBRATION - SEPTEMBER 27 AT 7:00 PM

This performance will also be livestreamed. For tickets and more information, click here.

Join us at 54 as we celebrate the Broadway musicals of the genius composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein. Produced and hosted by theater journalist and historian Michael Portantiere, with Matthew Martin Ward as musical director/pianist, our event will showcase great songs from Bernstein's first Broadway hit, On The Town, as well as Wonderful Town, Candide, and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We will also feature some rarities, including samples of the score for which Bernstein wrote both music and lyrics for a 1950 Broadway production of Peter Pan.

The centerpiece of our show will be a tribute to West Side Story, marking the 65th anniversary of that immortal musical's Broadway opening with a special appearance by Broadway icon Chita Rivera, who will share her memories of creating the role of Anita in the original production in 1957.

Our cast includes Nikita Burshteyn (Romeo & Bernadette Off-Broadway), Samantha Rose Cárdenas (Follies at San Francisco Playhouse), Alex Getlin (Anything Can Happen in the Theater - The Songs of Maury Yeston), Ben Jones (54 Sings Broadway's Greatest Hits), Jay Aubrey Jones (Cats and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway), Albert Nelthropp (54 Sings Sinatra, 54 Sings Liza), and Megan Styrna (The Boys from Syracuse in Concert at 54 Below).

$50 cover charge ($56.50 with fees). $80 premiums ($89.50 with fees). $25 food & beverage minimum.

Clint Holmes: BETWEEN THE MOON AND NEW YORK CITY- THE SONGS OF Peter Allen, FEAT NIKKI RENÉE DANIELS! - SEPTEMBER 27 & 28 AT 9:30 PM

Grammy Award nominee Clint Holmes - the consummate entertainer, writer, performer, recording artist, and one of the country's finest vocalists - is back with a brand-new concert event celebrating the songs of the legendary Peter Allen.

Join Clint as he unleashes his ferocious talent in the show of a lifetime directed by award-winning director, WILL NUNZIATA (concert director for Tony Award® winner Lillias White and Platinum recording artist Jackie Evancho, director of Broadway-bound musical Little Black Book).

Between the Moon and New York City will traverse the songbook of Peter Allen and how it relates to not only Clint's story but to all of us.

"Peter was someone I loved as an entertainer, a songwriter, and a friend," Holmes states. "He was funny, fresh, fierce, and an absolute original. Of all the incredible artists I've been inspired by throughout my career, no one has moved me more than Peter. I feel like I've lived enough life to finally dig into this genius' body of work."

Songs in the show include hits "Don't Cry Out Loud," "I Honestly Love You," "I Go To Rio," "Arthur's Theme," "Once Before I Go," "Everything Old Is New Again," and many more.

"Clint's talent is boundless and he's one of the most magnetic performers I have ever witnessed and worked with," states Nunziata, who co-conceived the concert with Holmes and directs the show. "He is peerless when it comes to his acting, singing, and storytelling, and he also has a danger about him. Clint enters the stage and the molecules of the theatre change."

"I cannot wait to bring this show across the country and around the world to celebrate the memory and legacy of Peter Allen," Holmes adds. "The show's messages of love, family, hope, and pure fun are universal messages that are needed to be felt now more than ever."

Directed by WILL NUNZIATA, the show features Nikki Renée Daniels. It is music directed and arranged by Michael Orland with additional arrangements by Bill Fayne. Produced by Sunny Sessa.

$45-$50 cover charge ($51-$56.50 with fees). $75-$80 premium seating ($84-$89.50 with fees). $25 food & beverage minimum.

54 SALUTES Frank Sinatra, FEAT. Danny Gardner, Ben Jones, & MORE! - SEPTEMBER 29

AT 9:30 PM

Encore by popular demand! Join us for Frank Sinatra - The Second Century - A Celebration of Sinatra's Timeless Hit Songs!

SINATRA RETURNS! An all-star cast of Broadway and nightclub stars will perform the songs that propelled Ol' Blue Eyes into the stratosphere of superstars. Hear the hits that turned Sinatra into an icon for the ages, making him one of the rare show business beacons who continues to shine even in his second century. You'll hear songs like "One For My Baby," "Chicago," "My Way," "It Was a Very Good Year," and so many more.

This show comes courtesy of impresario Scott Siegel, who has created this enormously popular and enduring Sinatra series for 54 Below.

The show will be produced, written, directed and hosted by Scott Siegel, the creator of Town Hall's signature series, Broadway by the Year. He has written/directed/produced concerts for Michael Feinstein at Jazz at Lincoln Center and has, over the course of the last 21 years, created more than 400 major concerts all over the world. Music direction by Ron Abel.

Produced, written, directed, and hosted by Scott Siegel.

The performance on September 29 will feature Christopher Brian, Pete Caldera, Stella Katherine Cole, Willie Demyan, Stephen DeRosa, John Easterlin, Tony Award® nominee Willy Falk, Danny Gardner, Ben Jones, Anaïs Reno, Gabrielle Stravelli, Michael Winther, and more stars to be announced, including a surprise major special guest star!

$50 cover charge ($56.50 with fees). $85 premium seating ($95 with fees). $25 food & beverage minimum.

WOMEN OF THE WINGS VOLUME IV: A CELEBRATION OF FEMALE MUSICAL THEATRE WRITERS - SEPTEMBER 30 AT 9:30 PM

After three hit editions, this fourth volume of Women of the Wings returns to 54 Below to celebrate female musical theatre writers!

It's an evening of new work and classic favorites. You'll hear songs that make you laugh, songs that make you cry, and songs that make you think differently about the world around you... all created by women who have made their mark on musical theatre.

Created, produced, and directed by Megan Minutillo. Stay tuned for additional updates on the cast and writers - and be sure to connect with us on Instagram @womenofthewings.

Featuring Kathryn Allison, Amanda Briskin-Wallace, Maryanne Burr, Holly Hinchliffe, Erin Kommor, Alicia Krakauer, Samantha Massell, Molly Model, Avery Norris, Carolina Rial, Gabriella Joy Rodriguez, and Rebecca Zeller.

Music and Lyrics by Nicolette Blount, Elspeth Collard, Rachel Covey, Melissa Rose Hirsch, Nico Juber, Madeline Myers, Sam Rosenblatt, and Kira Stone.

Music directed by Andrea Yohe.

$35 cover charge ($40 with fees). $65 premium seating ($73 with fees). $25 food & beverage minimum.

54 SINGS BROADWAY'S GREATEST HITS! - OCTOBER 1 AT 9:30 PM

Previous volumes of this Scott Siegel concert event hit 54 Below like lightning! This was the show that every musical theater-lover had been waiting for... and now we're going to do it again, with a brand new line-up of 54 Sings Broadway's Greatest Hits!

If you skip through cast albums just to hear the very best songs in each show, this is the nightclub concert event for you. If you love the classics of the Great White Way, come and hear the songs that made Broadway great, that made your heart soar, that you used to sing (maybe still do) in the shower! But at 54 Below, you will hear the greatest Broadway songs of all time performed by today's greatest stars, singing them straight up, the way you want to hear them!

And who better to produce/direct/host this show than the creator of Town Hall's critically acclaimed Broadway by the Year series, Scott Siegel, creator of more than 200 major concert events centered on Broadway music! 54 Sings Broadway's Greatest Hits! will be a thrilling night that you won't forge. Music direction by Ron Abel.

The October 1 performance will feature Ryan Berkowitz, Luke Hawkins, Hannah Faith Marshall, Erika Mesa, and more stars to be announced!

$55 cover charge ($56.50 with fees). $90 premium seating ($95.00 with fees). $25 food & beverage minimum.

BROADWAY ACTS FOR ABORTION 2022 - OCTOBER 2 AT 6:30 PM

It's our 10th Anniversary, and A is For is going ALL out!

We are so excited to bring back a live audience to 54 Below, for the mayhem, the chaos, and the amazing night that is Broadway Acts for Abortion (BAfA).

BAfA brings together the best of Broadway, karaoke, live auctions, surprise guests, while raising critical funds and awareness about reproductive justice. BAfA is the only Broadway community fundraiser dedicated to abortion rights.

The night will feature Ann Harada, Patti LuPone, Lea DeLaria, Bonnie Milligan, Javier Muñoz, and more to be announced.

Hosted by Martha Plimpton and Jenn Lyon, this is going to be an unforgettable, star-studded event as we come together in solidarity and defiance, in support of abortion access. Directed by Greg Santos, with Music Direction by Dan Lipton.

All ticket purchases include the show (6:30pm-8:30pm), and the after party (immediately following), both at 54 Below. Doors open at 5:15pm.

Tickets from $150-$500.

LIVE FROM 54 BELOW

54 Below's new series is designed to make more shows accessible to fans all over the world. "Live from 54 Below" will feature LIVE performances of current shows on the calendar, streamed directly from Broadway's Living Room. Seven cameras will capture the excitement of being at the venue - all paired with the club's dramatic lighting and award-winning sound design. To recreate the live experience, all shows will be presented exclusively at the time of performance with an in-house audience and will not be available on demand afterwards.

The following performances will be streamed live. For tickets, visit www.54Below.com/LIVE

WRITE OUT LOUD: FROM CONTEST TO CONCERT VOLUME 4 September 26 at 9:45 PM ET / Tickets $15

BERNSTEIN ON BROADWAY: A CELEBRATION, WITH SPECIAL GUEST Chita Rivera September 27 at 7:00 PM ET / Tickets $25

SAFETY INFORMATION:

54 Below is committed to the health of its performers, staff, and guests and has created a Safety Plan to ensure safe conditions along with optimum performing conditions. The new policies require that performers, production, kitchen, and dining room staff, as well as all audience members show proof of vaccination to enter the premises. Additional information on our safety protocols can be found here.

54 Below has installed improved air circulation and filtering systems as well as added plexiglass barriers between some tables. Based on CDC and New York State guidelines at the time of performance, safety protocols and seating capacity may change, and policies may be adjusted as is appropriate.

Tickets and information are available at www.54Below.com.

MORE ABOUT 54 BELOW:

54 Below was founded as a place for the Broadway community to celebrate Broadway performers, both established and new, who sing not only the music of Broadway and the Great American Songbook, but also new material intended for Broadway and off-Broadway stages. The club features fine dining and superb scenic, lighting, and sound designs entirely imagined by Broadway designers. For performers, writers, musicians, and more, 54 Below gives opportunities to advance their craft, expand their repertoires, and develop their voices in a way that is more personal, making them stronger as artists. It gives Broadway fans an opportunity to see their favorite artists in a different way, deepening their relationship and understanding of their talent.

A recipient of the 2022 Tony Awards® Honor for Excellence in the Theatre, 54 Below celebrates Broadway musicals and writers of the past and present, promoting an ongoing engagement with their work. It is also a place for innovation in musical songwriting and performance. Collaborations born at 54 Below give rise to and help develop new theatrical projects and new musicals. In addition, its popular streaming video activities and audio recordings support these activities, helping to build a new Broadway audience worldwide, both in age and geography.

54 Below is one of the most in-demand performance venues in the city, presenting over 700 shows each year. Unique in its mission, it has become an indispensable member of the Broadway ecosystem, providing a place for seasoned and emerging artists to hone their craft, try out new work, grow their fanbases, and gather as a community. The management team includes Proprietors and nine-time Tony Award® winning Broadway producers Steve Baruch, Richard Frankel, and Tom Viertel, Creative and Programming Director Jennifer Ashley Tepper, and restaurant General Manager Mandisa Boxill.

Located at 254 West 54th Street, the club presents live shows at 7pm and 9:30pm. Late night programming will resume in the coming months. Tickets and information at 54below.com. All online and phone ticket purchases are subject to fees of 10% of ticket price, plus $1.50 facility fee.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter Keddy




Videos