BWW Interviews: Steven Reineke Talks Cheyenne Jackson at Carnegie Hall

This Friday the New York Pops travels back in time to a classier time, where men were men and women wore dresses and everyone busted out their best clothing to go to a show. I'm of course referring to the 50's and 60s, two decades getting a lot of attention these days in popular culture. The New York Pops is no exception, as it prepares to celebrate this era with a Mad Men inspired program featuring Cheyenne Jackson.

Described as a "cool, swinging program," Cheyenne will take to the stage at Carnegie Hall to perform classics from that era, including songs such as "Luck Be A Lady", "Angel Eyes" and "Besame Mucho". Steven Reineke will conduct the event, and has brought in Mad Men composer David Carbonara to present a symphonic suite dedicated to the show. Guests are encouraged to dress up in their best attire from that era and join in the fun!

BWW sat down to talk with Steven about his inspiration for the evening, working with the talented Cheyenne Jackson, clothing designers and what comes next for the New York Pops:

What an exciting night you have planned this Friday! I assume you must be a huge fan of Mad Men?

Actually, I have a confession to make...I've never watched the show! *laughs* I hear it's terrific and I'm absolutely a fan of the era and have listened to a lot of the music from the show. I've also invited David Carbonara to come up from LA and he has prepared a suite of music we are going to play. It'll be a lot of fun.

So if you have never watched the show, where did the inspiration for this evening come from?

Cheyenne and I started talking about this a year ago, we both love the music of this era and I wanted to do a show to feature him completely. We agreed that this era and style fit his voice beautifully. We also wanted to do something that was very stylish and swank and you can't beat an event like this for style! It'll be a suave and sophisticated show.

And we hear you're not only encouraging the audience to dress up, you're even having a contest?

Yep! We're doing a "vintage attire" contest and asking people to dress in their coolest Mad Men era duds. Some of our staff will be choosing the winners based on photographs of patrons in the lobby that will be online for people to vote on. Should be a lot of fun.

Do you and Cheyenne have plans to bust out some Mad Men era duds?

I'm definitely joining in on the fun! I'm going to be wearing Hickey Freeman because they are my clothing sponsor, but it's perfect because their clothes fit right in. And I've altered my tux a bit and hired a stylist to cut my hair this week and give me a whole ‘Don Draper' kind of look. Cheyenne will have the duds as well, in fact, I believe Michael Kors is dressing him so he's going to have to heavy-duty professional help!

Other than the Mad Men Suite, what else do you have planned for the evening?

Well I don't want to give away too many surprises! I think I would rather tell people the artists we plan on honouring than give away all the songs. There will be a Tom Jones classic, some Dean Martin, Burt Bacharach and even some modern stuff. We've got an Amy Winehouse tune in there because her stuff is such a throwback to that era. So that will be a nice tribute to her as well.

This music really speaks to everybody. You've got an older generation who grew up with it but also the younger generations who are embracing it. Look at people like Michael Buble and Harry Connick Jr. Those guys are keeping this style of music alive and Cheyenne fits right into that mold. I think young people will love this show.

You are well known for your surprise special guests and twists on the traditional program, can you give us a hint at what you might have up your sleeve?

You know I'm not going to give anything away just yet! But I will say this, I always love pulling a rabbit out of my hat and Carnegie Hall offers that opportunity quite often. So yes, there will be some surprise special guests joining us. Also, as far as the guest list in the actual house and the audience...it's pretty impressive. It will include some very famous people. It's going to be a star-studded night all around, both on stage and off. The place to see and be seen.

So we've got a star studded night based on a television theme and Cheyenne Jackson on the bill - is there any chance we might see some of the Glee kids in attendance?

I'm not at liberty to say! *laughs* But seriously, I can't wait. I'm excited about all my concerts but this one in particular really has me jazzed. It's been a long time since I've been this jived up before a show. Plus it's almost completely sold out which is really exciting, once tickets were released they just went flying. I think there may be a few singles left however - so if you want to come out and have a fantastic night, we hope to see you!

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When and Where?

The New York Pops Presents Cheyenne Jackson's Cocktail Hour: Music of the ‘Mad Men' Era

Carnegie Hall
November 18th at 8PM

Tickets are priced from $37 to $108 and can be purchased in person at the box office, by phone at 212-247-7800 or online at www.carnegiehall.org

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