Naughton, Ziemba, Etc. Salute Rosemary Clooney in Jan.

The 37th season of Lyrics & Lyricists at the 92nd Street Y opens January 6-8 with "The Last Girl Singer: Rosemary Clooney...And Her Way with Words," the first New York tribute to Rosemary Clooney since her death in 2002. 

Deborah Grace Winer, journalist, playwright and Clooney's longtime friend and colleague, is artistic director and host.  The show features an all-star line-up of jazz and Broadway vocalists - James Naughton (Tony-winner for Chicago), John Pizzarelli (also on guitar), Paula West and Karen Ziemba (Contact, Chicago).  Debby Boone, Clooney's daughter-in-law, appears as a special guest on Sunday and Monday; Boone inherited the singer's collection of musical arrangements and used them to record the Concord CD "Reflections of Rosemary" in 2005.  John Oddo, Clooney's longtime artistic collaborator, is music director of the show and wrote the orchestrations.  The band features Clooney's longtime collaborators Bucky Pizzarelli on guitar, Jay Leonhart on bass and Joe Cocuzzo on drums, as well as George Rabbai on trumpet & flugelhorn and Mark Vinci on reeds.

"The great American singer Rosemary Clooney (1928-2002) is remembered for her role as the sassy Betty Haynes in White Christmas, in which she starred opposite Danny Kaye and her mentor, Bing Crosby.  But Clooney's true legacy is in her carefully chosen repertoire, which includes hundreds of gems from the pages of the American Songbook. In 'The Last Girl Singer: Rosemary Clooney… and Her Way with Words,' Deborah Grace Winer focuses on the lyricists – famous and otherwise – who wrote the songs Clooney performed and recorded," state press materials.

Songs by some of the lesser-known lyricists include "Come On-a My House," the novelty hit that made Clooney a star, by William Saroyan (the playwright) and Ross Bagdasarian (Saroyan's cousin – better known as Dave Seville of Alvin and the Chipmunks); "Let's Get Away From it All" by "Angel Eyes" lyricist Tom Adair (who wrote several of Frank Sinatra's greatest hits with composer Matt Dennis); "I'll Be Around" by the sophisticated, prolific but under-recognized Alec Wilder; "We'll Be Together Again" by Frankie Laine and "God Bless the Child," by Billie Holiday (both of whom are hugely famous as singers, but not as songwriters).  

Clooney's repertoire also included country-inflected songs (she grew up in Kentucky) like "Shotgun Boogie" by Tennesee Ernie Ford and "I'm So Lonesome" by Hank Williams; collaborations with major musical talents of the time, like Nelson Riddle, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington (their joint album featured "Blue Rose," written especially for Clooney by Billy Strayhorn); and songs like Dave Frishberg's "I Want to Be a Sideman," that reflected Clooney's respect and admiration of the musicians with whom she worked.

Lyrics & Lyricists continues to follow the format established in 2003, featuring five different shows designed specifically for L&L by five different artistic directors each season.  Each artistic director works with Kristin Lancino, artistic advisor to the 92nd Street Y Tisch Center for the Arts, the series' producer, and the Center's director, Hanna Arie-Gaifman, to create an original program in the L&L tradition: a seamless mix of information and entertainment with a particular focus on lyrics.   Upcoming shows will be devoted to Sheldon Harnick, Irving Berlin, Leo Robin and Noel Coward.

L&L shows are Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 3 and 8 pm, and Monday at 2 and 8pm.  Individual tickets are $60 and $50; subscriptions to the entire series are $250 and $220. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org.