Emma Degerstedt News

Paper Mill Playhouse presents the world premiere of My Very Own British Invasion with book by Tony award-winner Rick Elice (Peter and the Starcatcher). My Very Own British Invasion is produced in association with Hal Luftig, Craig Haffner and Rodney Rigby.

Join us for a special one-night only, fully orchestrated concert on January 8, 2019 at Weill Recital Hall at Carengie Hall. We will be joined by Natalie Weiss (Wicked), Tyce Green (Opener for Heart & Air Supply), Emma Degerstedt (Smokey Joe's Cafe), and Anne Fraser Thomas (How the Grinch Stole Christmas).

Paper Mill Playhouse presents the world premiere of My Very Own British Invasion with book by Tony award-winner Rick Elice (Peter and the Starcatcher).

Paper Mill Playhouse has announced casting and the creative team for the world premiere of My Very Own British Invasion with book by Tony award winner Rick Elice (Peter and the Starcatcher).  My Very Own British Invasion is produced in association with Hal Luftig, Craig Haffner and Rodney Rigby.  

Join us for a special one-night only, fully orchestrated concert on January 8, 2019 at Weill Recital Hall at Carengie Hall. We will be joined by Natalie Weiss (Wicked), Tyce Green (Opener for Heart & Air Supply), Emma Degerstedt (Smokey Joe's Cafe), and Anne Fraser Thomas (How the Grinch Stole Christmas).

The cast of the Off Broadway revival of Smokey Joes Cafe came to Broadway Sessions recently and blew the roof off The Laurie Beechman Theatre. These guys and gals have some of the best voices in the biz. Enjoy these highlights from Alysha Umphress, Emma Degerstedt, Dionne Figgins, Kyle Taylor Parker, Jelani Remy, Shavey Brown, Bronwyn Tarboton, Nicole Vanessa Ortiz, Antoinette Comer and Max Sangerman alongside "Rising Star" Peggy Sue Johnson. Smokey Joe's Cafe closes on November 4th, so make sure you catch the amazing cast before it's too late!

Producers Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel and Tom Viertel announced today that Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber & Stoller, the all-new incarnation of the record breaking Broadway hit, will close on Sunday, November 4, 2018. The show will have played 20 previews and 121 performances at Stage 42 (422 West 42nd Street). Previews began on Friday, July 6 and the production officially opened on Sunday, July 22.

It's a celebration!  The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director; Evans Haile, Executive Director) gathered to celebrate the release of three new original cast recordings of York productions from the 2017-2018 season:  Desperate Measures, Unexpected Joy, and Lonesome Blues. 

The York Theatre Company celebrates the release of three new original cast recordings of York productions from the 2017-2018 season: Desperate Measures, Unexpected Joy, and Lonesome Blues.

Get ready to rock with Leiber & Stoller's 'Ruby Baby!" Previously recorded by such legendary acts as The Drifters, Elvis Presley, and The Beach Boys, the revival's soulful take on this hit song features Max Sangerman, along with members of the cast and band of Smokey Joe's Cafe, jamming out together at Stage 42.

The new production of Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber & Stoller, officially opened on, Sunday, July 22. The vibrant nine-member ensemble led by director choreographer Joshua Bergasse brings new life to more than 30 classic songs including 'Stand by Me,' 'I'm a Woman,' 'Hound Dog,' 'Fools Fall In Love,' 'On Broadway,' 'Yakety Yak,' 'Pearl's a Singer,' 'Treat Me Nice,' 'There Goes My Baby,' 'Love Potion #9,' 'Jailhouse Rock,' and 'Spanish Harlem.' Check out a new video exploring the history of Leiber and Stoller and the Gibson guitar below!

This week's performers included: ANASTASIA (Christy Altomare, Zach Adkins, John Bolton); AVENUE Q (Grace Choi, Matt Dengler, Jason Jacoby, Nick Kohn, Maggie Lakis, Dana Steingold, Danielle K. Thomas); JERSEY BOYS (Aaron DeJesus, Mark Edwards, Austin Owen, Sam Wolf, Dianna Barger, Tristen Buettel, Natalie Gallo); SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE (Alysha Umphress, Dionne D. Figgins, Dwayne Cooper, Emma Degerstedt, Jelani Remy, John Edwards, Kyle Taylor Parker, Max Sangerman, Nicole Vanessa Ortiz; SUMMER (Ariana DeBose, Storm Lever,Angelica Beliard, Katherine Roarty, Anissa Felix, Mackenzie Bell, Kaleigh Cronin, Christina Acosta Robinson, Jessica Rush, Kimberly Dodson, Kaye Tuckerman, Jody Reynard and Rebecca Riker).

Broadway in Bryant Park is back! The 2018 program will bring the best of Broadway together for free performances for six consecutive weeks through Thursday, August 16. New Yorkers and visitors to the Big Apple are invited to come at 11 a.m. every Thursday with performances running from 12:30 p.m. EST - 1:30 p.m. EST on the Bryant Park Stage. Hosted by 106.7 LITE FM's on-air personalities, this year's annual presentation continues this week.

Broadway in Bryant Park is back! The 2018 program will bring the best of Broadway together for free performances for six consecutive weeks through Thursday, August 16. New Yorkers and visitors to the Big Apple are invited to come at 11 a.m. every Thursday with performances running from 12:30 p.m. EST - 1:30 p.m. EST on the Bryant Park Stage. Hosted by 106.7 LITE FM's on-air personalities, this year's annual presentation continues this week.

There's a good reason that Measure For Measure is considered one of Shakespeare's 'problem plays.' It's a weird blend between comedy (featuring that immortal device of classical theatre, the bed trick) and a surprisingly bleak, mildly misogynistic outlook on love, marriage, and human nature as a whole. It's many of the same reasons, ironically enough, that the Western genre is so difficult to pull off. Putting the two together, as Desperate Measures, the off-Broadway musical retelling of Shakespeare's play, did, seems like it should be a recipe for disaster. Although the cast album has its moments of, well, desperation, as a whole it's a charming, amusing score.

Alysha Umphress is one of Broadway's most sparkling talents, currently starring in Smokey Joe's Cafe Off-Broadway. Despite Umphress's talents and a general positive reaction to the show, New York Times critic Laura Collins-Hughes made a comment in her review about the actress's weight, and the Twitter-verse is calling it out as body shaming. The review reads:

When the smash hit revue SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE, celebrating the pop classics of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, opened on Broadway in 1995, director Jerry Zaks staged each beloved number with snazzy show-biz slickness and glitz, suggesting the ways they might have been performed by the artists who introduced them when in concert or on television variety shows.

The new production of Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber & Stoller, officially opened on Sunday, July 22. Let's see what the critics are saying...

The new production of Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber & Stoller, officially opened last night, Sunday, July 22. The vibrant nine-member ensemble led by director choreographer Joshua Bergasse brings new life to more than 30 classic songs including 'Stand by Me,' 'I'm a Woman,' 'Hound Dog,' 'Fools Fall In Love,' 'On Broadway,' 'Yakety Yak,' 'Pearl's a Singer,' 'Treat Me Nice,' 'There Goes My Baby,' 'Love Potion #9,' 'Jailhouse Rock,' and 'Spanish Harlem.'

The Original Cast Recording from the hit musical comedy Desperate Measures is available digitally today from Masterworks Broadway, with the CD set for release August 10. With music by David Friedman (Listen to My Heart) and lyrics by Peter Kellogg (Anna Karenina), the album is produced by Robert Sher with liner notes by Peter Filichia. Described by the Huffington Post as 'a good old-fashioned musical comedy... a happy surprise of a show filled with enjoyable songs,' Desperate Measures is currently running at New World Stages in New York City.