Broadway's HOLIDAY INN Cast Set for 'Making Of' Event at The Museum of Jewish Heritage

Rodgers & Hammerstein, An Imagem Company will continue to celebrate Irving Berlin - the iconic American songwriter behind "God Bless America," "White Christmas," "There's No Business Like Show Business" and countless others - with a special evening "The Making of Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical" at The Museum of Jewish Heritage on Tuesday, August 2.

The night will feature performances by cast members Bryce Pinkham, Lora Lee Gayer, Megan Lawrence, Megan Sikora and Corbin Bleu. Speakers will include Ted Chapin, R&H President and Chief Creative Officer; Gordon Greenberg, Holiday Inn's Director and Co-Book Writer, and Andy Einhorn, the show's Music Director. The stage production begins previews at Studio 54 on September 1.

This follows sold-out events at Eldridge Street Jewish Museum and Synagogue and Museum of the City Of New York earlier this summer. In addition to Holiday Inn, the summer of events roster is inspired by the Red Star Line exhibit "Via Antwerp: The Road to Ellis Island" - which honors Berlin as one of our great immigrants - at New York's Ellis Island Immigration Museum through September 4.

"The Making of Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical" explores the transition from film to stage ofHoliday Inn, the 1942 Academy Award-winning movie with songs by Irving Berlin that is making its Broadway debut this fall. This joyous musical features thrilling dance numbers, laugh-out-loud comedy, and a parade of hit songs, including "Blue Skies," "Cheek to Cheek," "Shaking the Blues Away," and more. Cast members from Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical will present a sneak preview of several songs from the show.

The event takes place on Tuesday, August 2 at 7:00 PM at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, located at 36 Battery Place, NY 10280. Admission is free but tickets are required. Please reserve at www.mjhnyc.org.

Founded by the legendary team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and headquartered in New York City, Rodgers & Hammerstein, An Imagem Company (formerly The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization) owns the rights to the world's most popular stage and film musicals, including Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I andThe Sound of Music. As an agency, R&H encompasses a music publishing company; a concert rental library; and a theatrical licensing branch that collectively represent more than 12,000 songs, 900 concert pieces, 200 writers, and 100 musicals, including works by Irving Berlin, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Schwartz, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Adam Guettel, Rodgers & Hart, Kern & Hammerstein, and many more. For more, go to www.rnh.com.

Irving Berlin was born Israel Beilin on May 11, 1888. One of eight children, his exact place of birth is unknown, although his family had been living in Tolochin, Byelorussia, when they immigrated to New York in 1893. When his father died, Berlin, just turned 13, took to the streets in various odd jobs, working as a busker singing for pennies, then as a singing waiter in a Chinatown Cafe. In 1907 he published his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy," and by 1911 he had his first major international hit - "Alexander's Ragtime Band."

Over the next five decades, Irving Berlin produced an outpouring of ballads, dance numbers, novelty tunes and love songs that defined American popular song for much of the century. A sampling of just some of the Irving Berlin standards includes "How Deep Is The Ocean," "Blue Skies," "White Christmas," "Always," "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better," "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Cheek To Cheek," "Puttin' On The Ritz," "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody," "Heat Wave," "Oh! How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning," "Easter Parade" and "Let's Face The Music And Dance." In a class by itself is his beloved paean to his beloved country, "God Bless America."

He was equally at home writing for Broadway and Hollywood. He wrote seventeen complete scores for Broadway musicals and revues, and contributed material to six more. Among the shows featuring all-Berlin scores were The Cocoanuts, As Thousands Cheer, Louisiana Purchase, This is the Army, Miss Liberty, Mr. President, Call Me Madamand the phenomenally successful Annie Get Your Gun. Among the Hollywood movie musical classics with scores by Irving Berlin are Top Hat, Follow the Fleet, On the Avenue, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Holiday Inn, Blue Skies, Easter Parade, White Christmas and There's No Business Like Show Business. His songs have provided memorable moments in dozens of other films, from The Jazz Singer (1927) to blockbusters like Home Alone (1991) and Titanic (1997).

Irving Berlin was a co-founder of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), founder of his own music publishing company, and with producer Sam Harris, builder of his own Broadway theatre, The Music Box. An unabashed patriot, his love for - and generosity to - his country is legendary, exemplified by his establishing The God Bless America Fund, which receives all income from his patriotic songs and distributes it to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director), in association with Universal Stage Productions, presents the first-ever Broadway production of Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical, starring Tony Award nominee Bryce Pinkham, Lora Lee Gayer, Tony Award nominee Megan Lawrence, Megan Sikora, Corbin Bleu and Tony Award nominee Lee Wilkof. With music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge's new book is inspired by the Academy Award-winning film, Holiday Inn. Directed by Gordon Greenberg and choreographed by Denis Jones, Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical will begin preview performances on September 1, 2016, and open officially on October 6, 2016, on Broadway at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street). The new musical features over 20 classic songs from the Irving Berlin catalogue including "Steppin' Out With My Baby," "Shaking the Blues Away," "Easter Parade," "Cheek to Cheek" and "Heatwave."

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