Lillias White and Lyons & Pakchar Set for 'Mentor Monday' at Birdland, 1/27

Broadway at Birdland has announced the upcoming Mentor Monday with Tony Award-winner Lillias White, featuring composing team Lyons & Pakchar, on Monday, January 27 at 10 PM.

Jim Caruso's Cast Party, Birdland's 'extreme' open mic, has announced the upcoming MENTOR MONDAYS segment, which takes place on the last Monday of every month. MENTOR MONDAYS pairs up-and-coming composers with established artists to create a featured performance for the historic Birdland stage. MENTOR MONDAYS gives emerging young composers the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collaborate with some of New York's most talented musical theater songsmiths, including Adam Guettel, Lisa Lambert, Frank Wildhorn, Amanda Green, John Bucchino and Georgia Stitt, as well as singers Jane Monheit and Billy Porter.

The upcoming "Mentor Mondays" segment will take place at 10pm, during the first hour of Cast Party on Monday, January 27. Lillias White, the Tony Award-winning singer/actress will be paired with Ethan Pakchar and Douglas Lyons, a young songwriting team who began collaborating while touring with The Book of Mormon. Matt Aument will provide piano accompaniment.

Contemporary composing team Lyons and Pakchar began collaborating while touring with The Book of Mormon. Douglas Lyons, who handles lyrics and music, is a Broadway actor who currently appears in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and has performed in Rent, The Book of Mormon and Dreamgirls. Ethan Pakchar, a guitarist and composer who has played for the Broadway productions of Wicked, The Book of Mormon and Newsies, provides orchestration and additional music. The two are developing 2 new musicals; '79, a pop/r&b show inspired from the score of their debut album "#LOVE(Live)", and Five Points which tells a story in the historic slum of the late 1850's NYC neighborhood. Their debut album #Love (Live) was digitally released December 2, 2013 and features artists such as Adrienne Warren, Christine Dwyer, Corey Mach, Mykal Kilgore and more.

Lillias White's amazing voice, powerful delivery and unique song styling has and continues to thrill and delight audiences in productions, including; headlining a talented cast in the Broadway production of The Life, garnering the covetous Tony Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk, and the Friends of New York award; and a powerful performance in FELA! for which she received a Tony nomination. Ms. White's has also received praise for the Broadway productions, Dreamgirls, Barnum, Cats, Rock 'N Roll! The First 5,000 Years, Once on This Island, Carrie, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Chicago. Her film and TV credits include a regular role on "Sesame Street" (for which she won an Emmy Award), the role of Bloody Mary in the PBS Great Performances presentation of "South Pacific," "Pieces of April," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and the voice of the lead muse in the Disney's animated "Hercules." Ms. White also performed with the Brooklyn Philharmonic in a concert of works by Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, George and Ira Gershwin, celebrating the orchestra's 50th anniversary. White has appeared in concert at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and has toured internationally with her one-woman show "From Brooklyn to Broadway." Additionally, she was featured on the 1990 hit single "Rescue Me" by pop-icon Madonna.

MENTOR MONDAYS is presented by Trevor McQueen, a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. Trevor made his Broadway debut as Little Jake in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters. Other credits include Prior in Angels in America (CMU), Fiddler on the Roof, Annie, and Sunset Boulevard with Liz Callaway (Pittsburgh CLO). He recently made his Birdland debut hosting Jazz Party, and has been consistently featured at Jazz at Andy's at the Fairmont Hotel in Pittsburgh, headlining with such jazz greats as legendary drummer Roger Humphries.

For the past ten years, Jim Caruso's Cast Party has been the spot for the Broadway, jazz and cabaret communities to celebrate each other with impromptu performances. Every Monday night at 9:30, Caruso, along with Billy Stritch and the Cast Party Symphony Orchestra, host a three-hour open mic/variety show at Birdland that has been called "musical come-what-mayhem!"

Ticket information: $25 cover, $10 food/drink minimum. For tickets and more information, visit www.birdlandjazz.com. For more information and reservations call 212-581-3080. Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street (between 8th & 9th Avenues) NYC.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series showcases performers and composers from the Great White Way and environs. Named for alto saxophonist and jazz pioneer Charlie "Bird" Parker who dubbed it "The Jazz Corner of the World," Birdland opened on December 15th 1949. For 60 years it has been home to jazz legends, from Parker, John Coltrane Duke Ellington and Count Basie to Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones, Diana Krall and everyone in between. The original 52nd street location was a cultural barometer and meeting place, inspiring the songs "Birdland" and "Lullaby of Birdland," and serving as a regular haunt for celebrities and cultural figures. The modern incarnation is a state of the art nightclub featuring award winning Southern and Cajun cuisine, first rate sound and lighting and a who's who of contemporary musical artists, 7 nights a week.

Students (with current ID) & Broadway Theatre-Goers (with Broadway ticket stub from same day of performance): 50% off music charge at 11PM shows only. Birdland serves American Fare with a Cajun Flair nightly from 5PM until Midnight and until 1AM on Friday and Saturdays. Parking is available across the street at 332 West 44th Street. Follow BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB on Twitter: @birdlandjazz, Facebook, Instagram, and on Pinterest.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride

To post a comment, you must register and login.