Queensborough Community College will host a Black History Month performance on Feb. 17 to honor some of the most renowned black artists of the past century.
“Black Stars of the Great White Way” will perform at 3 p.m. at Queensborough’s performing arts center, located at 222-05 56th Ave. in Bayside.
Tony-nominated performers Keith David, Ted Levy, Andre De Shields, Larry Marshall and Norm Lewis will sing tunes from “Eubie,” “Smokey Joe’s Café,” “Porgy and Bess,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Bubbling Brown Sugar.”
The stars’ collective careers have been inspired by Louis Jordan, Eubie Blake, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis Jr., said Susan Agin, executive and artistic director of Queensborough’s performing arts center.
“This is an unprecedented assemblage of Broadway’s best – all under one roof, on one stage and in one borough, Queens,” Agin said. “The house will rock with the world’s most recognized jazz, funk, ragtime and blues ever created.”
The show is directed by Chapman Roberts, whose vocal arrangements have been utilized in Broadway shows such as “Your Arms Are Too Short to Box with God” and “Five Guys Named Moe.”
Additional appearances in the show include trumpeter Longineu Parsons, tap dancer Omar Edwards, pianist Frank Owens, bassist Clyde Bullard, guitarist Keith Robinson, South African drummer Sipho Kunene, The York College Big Band, the Robert Mann Dance Centre, 14-year-old piano prodigy Julius Rodriguez and tap dancer Omar Edwards, of “Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk.”
For more information, contact the performing arts center’s box office at 718-631-6311. Tickets are available online.
