Rock Icon Melissa Etheridge Announces Solo Off-Broadway Show

Melissa Etheridge will unveil a solo show mixing her music and stories this fall off-Broadway. “Melissa Etheridge: My Window – A Journey Through Life” will play 12 performances only starting Oct. 13 at the midtown multi-stage venue New World Stages. (AP file)
Melissa Etheridge will unveil a solo show mixing her music and stories this fall off-Broadway. “Melissa Etheridge: My Window – A Journey Through Life” will play 12 performances only starting Oct. 13 at the midtown multi-stage venue New World Stages. (AP file)
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Rock Icon Melissa Etheridge Announces Solo Off-Broadway Show

Melissa Etheridge will unveil a solo show mixing her music and stories this fall off-Broadway. “Melissa Etheridge: My Window – A Journey Through Life” will play 12 performances only starting Oct. 13 at the midtown multi-stage venue New World Stages. (AP file)
Melissa Etheridge will unveil a solo show mixing her music and stories this fall off-Broadway. “Melissa Etheridge: My Window – A Journey Through Life” will play 12 performances only starting Oct. 13 at the midtown multi-stage venue New World Stages. (AP file)

Rocker Melissa Etheridge has found a new stage: The Grammy- and Oscar-winner will unveil a solo show mixing her music and stories off-Broadway.

“Melissa Etheridge: My Window – A Journey Through Life” will play 12 performances only starting Oct. 13 at the midtown multi-stage venue New World Stages.

“While I’ve been telling my life stories through my lyrics and concert tours for many years, this is going to be something new for me,” Etheridge said in a statement.

“I cannot wait to feel the exchange of energy and deep connection that’s provided by an intimate theater experience. That’s going to rock.”

Etheridge, best known for her songs “Come to My Window” and “I’m the Only One,” has been smitten by theater all her life and even stepped into the Green Day musical “American Idiot” for eight shows in early 2011 on Broadway, replacing Billie Joe Armstrong.

Like Bruce Springsteen’s recent Broadway run, her new show will have songs and stories, “from tales of her childhood in Kansas to her groundbreaking career highlights – with all of life’s hits and deep cuts between,” producers said in a statement.

Etheridge’s career and life have many twists, including winning an Oscar for writing “I Need to Wake Up” from Al Gore’s documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” being diagnosed with breast cancer, and receiving two Grammys.

The show has been written by Etheridge, with additional material by Linda Wallem-Etheridge, the co-creator and showrunner for the Emmy Award-winning Showtime series “Nurse Jackie.” It will be directed by Amy Tinkham.

Prior to hitting the New York stage, Etheridge will finish her One Way Out national concert tour and release a graphic novel “Heartstrings” with Z2 Comics.

Etheridge, Springsteen and Armstrong are just a few rock stars who have played New York stages in their own shows, a list that also includes Sting, David Byrne and Sara Bareilles.



Charles Dolan, HBO and Cablevision Founder, Dies at 98

A sign is displayed at Cablevision headquarters in Bethpage, NY, on Sept. 17, 2015. (AP)
A sign is displayed at Cablevision headquarters in Bethpage, NY, on Sept. 17, 2015. (AP)
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Charles Dolan, HBO and Cablevision Founder, Dies at 98

A sign is displayed at Cablevision headquarters in Bethpage, NY, on Sept. 17, 2015. (AP)
A sign is displayed at Cablevision headquarters in Bethpage, NY, on Sept. 17, 2015. (AP)

Charles F. Dolan, who founded some of the most prominent US media companies including Home Box Office Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., has died at age 98, according to a news report.

A statement issued Saturday by his family said Dolan died of natural causes, Newsday reported late Saturday.

"It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved father and patriarch, Charles Dolan, the visionary founder of HBO and Cablevision," the statement said.

Dolan's legacy in cable broadcasting includes the 1972 launch of Home Box Office, later known as HBO, and founding Cablevision in 1973 and the American Movie Classics television station in 1984. He also launched News 12 in New York City, the first 24-hour cable channel for local news in the US, Newsday reported.

The Cleveland native, who dropped out of John Carroll University in suburban Cleveland, completed the sale of Cablevision to Altice, a European telecommunications and cable company, for $17.7 billion in June 2016.

Dolan, whose primary home was in Cove Neck Village on Long Island in New York, also held controlling stakes in companies that owned Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and the New York Knicks and New York Rangers sports franchises, Newsday reported.

James L. Dolan, one of his sons, was the Cablevision CEO from 1995 until the 2016 sale to Altice. He now is the executive chairman and CEO of Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. The company owns the Knicks and Rangers, among other properties, according to the MSG Sports website.

A statement from MSG Entertainment, MSG Sports and Sphere Entertainment recalled Dolan's "vision."

"Mr. Dolan's vision built the foundation for the companies we are today, and as a member of our Boards he continued to help shape our future. The impact he made on the media, sports, and entertainment industries, including as the founder of Cablevision and HBO, is immeasurable," the statement said. "We do not expect this to directly or indirectly change ownership by the Dolan family."

Newsday, which Cablevision purchased in 2008, also came under the control of Altice with the sale. Patrick Dolan, another son of Charles Dolan, led a group that repurchased 75% of Newsday Media Group in July 2016. Patrick Dolan then purchased the remaining 25% stake in 2018.

At the time of his death, Charles Dolan and his family had a net worth of $5.4 billion, Forbes reported.

Dolan was a founder and chairman emeritus of The Lustgarten Foundation in Uniondale, New York, which conducts pancreatic cancer research.

He is survived by six children, 19 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. His wife, Helen Ann Dolan, died in 2023, Newsday reported.