92Y Announces Lyrics & Lyricists 2013 Season

92nd Street Y today announced the 2013 line-up for Lyrics & Lyricists™, 92Y's celebrated American Songbook series. Deborah Grace Winer returns for her fifth season as artistic director of the series, as well as one of the shows. Guest artistic directors leading the individual concerts are Rob Fisher (with host Sheldon Harnick), David Loud, Billy Stritch and Mark Lamos in his L&L debut.

Individual tickets and subscriptions are on sale now, with single ticket prices from $52. Please call 212-415-5500 or go to www.92Y.org/Lyrics for more information.

As Deborah Grace Winer says about the country's preeminent American Songbook series "we're really proud that the best of Broadway, jazz and cabaret talent has chosen to make Lyrics & Lyricists their home. It means we get to present concerts that are always musically top-flight. But what makes L&L different is that we get to present concerts that have something to say, because words are half our story, whether it's Sheldon Harnick explaining the art of a lyric or Tony Award-winning director Mark Lamos clueing us into Broadway's love affair with Shakespeare. Happily, critics and audiences have been as excited as we are about L&L's new directions."

L&L shows are Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 and 7 pm, and Monday at 2 and 7:30 pm. Subscriptions to the five-concert series running from January to June start at $225. Individual tickets start at $52; 92nd Street Y will also offer an "under-35" ticket price for all performances, with $25 individual tickets and $100 season subscriptions.

Lyrics & Lyricists: 2013 Season

January 12, 13, 14
THE VERY MODEL OF A MODERN MAJOR LYRICIST: W. S. Gilbert AND THE BROADWAY HE INSPIRED
Rob Fisher, Artistic Director
Sheldon Harnick, Host
"We all come from (W. S.) Gilbert," said Johnny Mercer. Broadway and pop lyricists worshipped at the feet of the original master of intricate rhyme and skewering wit. In this celebration of Broadway humor and satire, Rob Fisher (Anything Goes, Chicago), and Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello!) trace the comic DNA that found its way from The Mikado to My Fair Lady.

February 23, 24, 25
GIVE ME FEVER: THE MANY VOICES OF Peggy Lee
Billy Stritch, Artistic Director
As arguably the coolest singing icon of the times, Peggy Lee made hits of "Fever" and "Is That All There Is?" As a prolific lyricist, she teamed with legends like Harold Arlen and Duke Ellington to produce songs like "I'm Gonna Go Fishin'" and "He's a Tramp." Billy Stritch (Liza's at the Palace, 42nd Street) tours the hip musical landscape of Miss Peggy Lee.

April 6, 7, 8
TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE: THE MUSIC OF Vernon Duke
David Loud, Artistic Director
David Loud (Ragtime, Curtains) returns to salute Vernon Duke-who wrote songs like "April in Paris" and landmark shows like Cabin in the Sky (and led a double life as the classical composer and pianist Vladimir Dukelsky). Loud will celebrate Duke's remarkable story and enduring hits from "I Can't Get Started" to "Autumn in New York."

May 4, 5, 6
THE SONG IS YOU: Jerome Kern COAST TO COAST
Deborah Grace Winer, Artistic Director
With Show Boat, he invented the modern musical. The greatest songwriters lionized him. And his songs-from "All the Things You Are" to "The Way You Look Tonight"-remain a vital part of our cultural conversation. Series artistic director Deborah Grace Winer shows us why it's no accident Jerome Kern is "The Dean."

June 1, 2, 3
BRUSH UP YOUR SHAKESPEARE: THE BARD AND THE BROADWAY MUSICAL
Mark Lamos, Artistic Director
Wayne Barker, Music Director
Petruchio and Katherine backstage, Romeo and Juliet on a fire escape, Hamlet in the African bush-Shakespeare's influence on American song has been long-running and far-reaching: Kiss Me, Kate; West Side Story; The Lion King and more. Tony Award-winning director Mark Lamos (Cymbeline, Seascape) makes his L&L debut revealing the ties between Stratford-on-Avon and Shubert Alley.

ABOUT LYRICS & LYRICISTS
Long one of 92nd Street Y's most popular programs, the American Songbook series Lyrics & Lyricists™ was launched in 1970 when longtime Broadway conductor Maurice Levine and lyricist E.Y. "Yip" Harburg (The Wizard of Oz) took to the stage to talk about the then unusual topic of songwriting. Over the years the series has featured every great Broadway and Hollywood lyricist including Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Johnny Mercer, Stephen Sondheim, Dorothy Fields, and Alan Jay Lerner. Since 2004, L&L has featured original programs created by accomplished champions of the repertoire, including John Pizzarelli, Rob Fisher, Sheldon Harnick, Robert Kimball, Rex Reed, Billy Stritch, Lucie Arnaz and Ted Sperling. Each show is designed to celebrate the American Songbook through a blend of narrative and entertainment with a particular focus on lyrics. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org/Lyrics.

Lyrics & Lyricists is supported by The Henry Nias Foundation, courtesy of Dr. Stanley Edelman; Gilda and Henry Block; Kenneth Kolker; and the Estate of Sanford Goldstein, in memory of Harold W. and Ida L. Goldstein.