SAMANTHA SPADE, ACE DETECTIVE Concert Event Comes to 54 Below

Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Samantha Spade, Ace Detective, a film-noir-detective-story-musical (in black and white), on April 25, 2017 at 7:00pm. Originally written for young people to perform at TADA! Youth Theater, this one-time concert event features a grown-up Broadway cast, including Tony nominees Adrienne Warren (Shuffle Along) as Veronica Venus and Marc Kudisch (Finding Neverland, Hand to God) as the villainous Greenstreet, along with Caitlin Kinnunen (Bridges of Madison County, The Prom) as Samantha. The hard-boiled new one-act musical tells the story of a misfit teen who escapes reality by entering a fantasy world of dames, palookas, grifters, chiselers, flatfoots and flim-flammers, where she is Samantha Spade, Ace Detective, the go-to gumshoe who always solves the case-for $25 a day, plus Twizzlers. Book and lyrics are by Lisa Diana Shapiro and music is by Georgia Stitt. This performance event is directed by Tony nominee Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Ragtime) and stage managed by Shelley Miles. With music director Georgia Stitt conducting from the piano, the band also features Elana Arian, Michael Croiter and Randy Landau.

The Huffington Post calls Samantha Spade "an engaging, fast-paced show that will appeal to all ages" with "a near-perfect balance between kid-friendly action and high-end satire" and "a first rate score that sticks in memory long after the curtain comes down." The New York Times cheers the way this "wry new family musical . . . creat[es] a colorful adventure about a black-and-white world," a "tongue-in-cheek version of a hard-boiled genre." Samantha Spade, Ace Detective was named National Youth Arts Best New Musical of 2014.

Georgia Stitt (Composer) is currently writing the original musicals Snow Child (for Arena Stage and Perseverance Theater), Juliette et Romeo (for Let It Show Productions in Moscow) and Blue Ridge Sky (with Hunter Foster), as well as an as-yet-untitled oratorio for choir and soloists. Her other shows include The Danger Year; Big Red Sun (Arlen Award winner with playwright John Jiler); Samantha Spade, Ace Detective (for TADA! Youth Theater with Lisa Diana Shapiro);Mosaic; and The Water. She has released three albums of her music: This Ordinary Thursday: The Songs of Georgia Stitt, (2007), Alphabet City Cycle (featuring Kate Baldwin) (2009) and My Lifelong Love (2011). Her choral piece with hope and virtue (using text from President Obama's 2009 inauguration speech) was featured on NPR as part of Judith Clurman's Sing Out, Mister President cycle. Georgia is on the Board of Directors for The Lilly Awards Foundation, honoring women in theater. Music Directing credits include this fall's Off-Broadway revival of Sweet Charity (starring Sutton Foster) and the film The Last Five Years (starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan), and she played a nun inThe Sound of Music Live! on NBC. She is married to composer Jason Robert Brown and they have two wonderful children.

LISA DIANA SHAPIRO (Playwright/Lyricist) is currently writing two new musicals for TADA! Youth Theater, an untitled show about refugee teenagers in New York and the high-school-set Cyra, No! Other musicals include book and lyrics forSamantha Spade, Ace Detective (music by Georgia Stitt) and Princess Phooey (music by Eric Rockwell) both commissioned and produced at TADA! Youth Theater. Samantha Spade has also been produced regionally and is the basis of Lisa's short film, Slingin' The Slang (http://samanthaspademystery.com/slingin-the-slang/). Lisa and Georgia were short-listed for the Kevin Spacey Artists of Choice award in 2015. Non-musical playwriting credits include Labor Pains, a Comedy in Nine Months, . . . and Into the Fire, Aces Wild, and the high-school tour show The End of the Story.

ABOUT FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW

54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, and Michael Feinstein, one of the world's great musical artists, have united to give New York an unparalleled destination for entertainment and dining. Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, is the performance venue in the grand tradition of New York City nightlife. A few blocks from the heart of Times Square and just below the legendary Studio 54, Feinstein's/54 Below is a classically designed state-of-the art nightclub in the theatre district that hosts audiences with warmth and style. Feinstein's/54 Below presents iconic and rising stars from the worlds of Broadway and popular music. The venue provides a food and beverage menu from early evening through the wee hours of the morning that is worthy of the world-class entertainment on the stage. In their description of the venue, The New York Times writes Feinstein's/54 Below "has the intimacy of a large living room with unimpeded views and impeccable sound; there is not a bad seat. Its sultry after-hours ambience is enhanced by brocade- patterned wall panels planted with orange-shaded lanterns. And the atmosphere is warmer and sexier than in Manhattan's other major supper clubs." Located at 254 West 54th Street, Feinstein's/54 Below features up to three shows nightly with cover charges ranging from $15-$105.www.54Below.com/Feinsteins