Julie Halston is an American treasure, and I didn’t know it until I witnessed her last night performing at the fabulous Birdland Jazz Club.
For just over an hour the Tony award winning star had the audience in the palm of her hands as she worked her magic telling stories about her life, both onstage and off.
It was a master class in acting and comedy – and boy, was it fun.
Picking up the baton so cruelly snatched away from the legendary Joan Rivers too soon, Halston stories about dating again after the death of her husband, certainly had Joan laughing from above. Her reading from Joan Crawford’s biography is genius while her observations about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might even make Oprah giggle.
This is what Birdland does best. It takes Broadway stars and lets them shine, standing alone onstage behind a microphone.
For her performance in the Broadway revival of You Can’t Take It With You, Halston received the Richard Seff Award from Actors’ Equity Association, as well as Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations. Her other Broadway appearances include On the Town, Anything Goes, Hairspray, Gypsy, and Twentieth Century, for which she received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination. Halston is a founding member of Charles Busch’s Theatre in Limbo, and has co-starred with Busch in Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, The Tribute Artist, and her Drama Desk Award-nominated performances in The Divine Sister and Red Scare on Sunset. Her solo show, Julie Halston’s Lifetime of Comedy, earned an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination. Her screen credits include Gossip Girl, The Good Fight, Almost Family, Divorce, and Sex and the City.
Halston also received the 2020 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award, recognizing a member of the theatre community who has made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service, or charitable organizations. She was honored for her dedication and advocacy in raising funds and awareness for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation.
ORDER A COPY OF ROB’S NEW BEST SELLING BOOK! Called “America’s Number ONE Gossip Columnist” by The National Enquirer. Rob ‘Naughty But Nice’ Shuter breaks celebrity news every day on his website NaughtyGossip.com where he delivers all the dish about the stars we love in his naughty but nice signature style. You can also catch him co-hosting and breaking celebrity news on Good Day New York, The Today Show, The Talk, Wendy Williams Show, CNN, Extra and Z100’s ‘Elvis Duran.’ Previously, Rob was the Huffington Post’s only celebrity columnist and the former executive editor of OK! Magazine. Rob has also hosted his own Saturday night talk show on Mark Cuban’s channel and his own daily morning show, ‘The Gossip Table,’ on VH1! Breaking some of the biggest entertainment stories, including Jamie Lynn Spears’s pregnancy news, Britney’s first post-meltdown interview, Eva Longoria’s wedding, and baby exclusives for Jessica Alba, Tori Spelling and Mathew McConaughey’s tots, Rob always knows where to find the best scoop. Before Rob was one of the world’s most successful entertainment reporters, he was a publicist working for Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, P. Diddy, Jessica Simpson and Jon Bon Jovi! Now he is bringing all this experience to his new show on I HEART MEDIA in his unique cheeky way, that is always a pinch and never a punch!