Sterling's Upstairs Announces Year-End Events

Los Angeles' newest supper club, Sterling's Upstairs at the Vitello's Restaurant in Studio City, Calif., is seeking 42 amateur or professional singers between 18 and 49 years of age to compete for the title of "LA's Next Great Stage Star."

The five week competition will be judged by entertainment industry professionals. The winner will receive a cash prize of $1000 and a headlining debut at the club in early 2007. Auditions will be held by appointment only between 6 and 10pm on November 6 and 7 at Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's, 4349 Tujunga Ave. Studio City, CA 91604. Appointments will be limited to the first 100 callers. Competition dates are November 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28; December 5, 11, 12.  If selected to compete, a nominal entry fee applies. For audition appointments and further details, call Michael Sterling & Associates at (818) 385-0007.

Also included in the year-end events are weekend headliners during November and December. Broadway veteran Kevin Earley in Earley Standards.  Earley, who starred as Trevor Graydon in Thoroughly Modern Millie on Broadway and appeared in the Broadway and National Touring Companies of Les Miserables, recently released his debut CD also entitled Earley Standards featuring classics from Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and George and Ira Gershwin.  Earley is a current Ovation Award nominee for the Los Angeles premiere of It Came From Beyond.

Musical theatre star, actress and impersonator, Amanda Abel, headlines December 1.   Abel has starred on Broadway in Late Night Comic and Off-Broadway in such shows as Lyle, You Call This Living?, Forbidden Broadway, and Nightclub Confidential.  She also starred in the Boston company of the hit Broadway show Stop The World, I Want to Get Off, for which she won the prestigious Boston Globe Award as Best Actress. Additional theatre credits include starring roles in Southern California productions of Gypsy; Say it With Music and On A Humorous Note.

On December 9 and 10, Ilene Graff appears on Sterling's stage. Although best known to audiences as Marsha Owens on the long running ABC hit series, "Mr. Belvedere," she made her professional Broadway starring debut years earlier in Promises, Promises.  Graff went on to play the role of Sandy for two years in the Broadway production of Grease, but her biggest Broadway triumph was creating the role of Cleo in the musical comedy hit, I Love My Wife. Other theatre credits include Charley's Aunt with Charles Grodin, Cabaret as Sally Bowles, Annie Get Your Gun as Annie Oakley, and Over Here directed by Christopher Hewett (Mr. Belvedere himself).

Since its June 9, 2006 opening, Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's has hosted Broadway stars, musical theatre stars, and television and recording stars such as Kathy Buckley ("America's First Hearing Impaired Comedienne"), Robert Townsend (A Talent for Murder), Erika Amato (Anything Goes), Julie Dixon Jackson (I Do, I Do), Kelby Thwaits (Pirates of Penzance), Bernadette C. Peters (actress whose current project is Come le formiche), Eydie Alyson (Nightingale ), two-time Grammy Award nominee Amick Byram, Joan Ryan (Sterling's Artist-in-Residence), Russ Lorenson (singer currently openings for Eartha Kitt, The Cafe Carlyle), Toni Morrell (My American Dream and Razzle Dazzle!), Renee Laramore (She Loves Me), Matt DeMars & Sierra Rein (cabaret, DeMars and Rein), Nelson Kole (Say It With Music), Nita Whitaker (On My Way to You: Songs White Girls Gotta Sing), Emmy Award nominee Stepfanie Kramer (former co-star of NBC's hit series "Hunter"), and Maripat Davis & Richard Osborn (Let's Fall in Love).

Sterling's Upstairs is produced by Michael Sterling of Michael Sterling & Associates, the Sherman Oaks-based entertainment public relations company. In addition to Sterling's Upstairs, Vitello's also offers outdoor dining, a luncheon buffet, and a variety of wines. Live opera, a long-time feature at Vitello's, is performed in the restaurant's downstairs Green Room four nights a week. Jazz nights, a Classic Movie and Dinner night and Comedy nights are also offered weekly. 

Reservations for all November and December events may be made by calling the recently new reservation Hot Line telephone number established specifically for Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's: (818) 981-3077.  Please note that this number is not located at Vitello's Restaurant

Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's opens its doors at 6:30 pm.  Seating for "LA's Next Great Stage Star" is between 6:30 and 7pm.  Each competition takes place between 7 and 9:15pm. There is a two-drink minimum and $15 cover charge per person. Seating for "Weekend" performances by Kevin Earley, Amanda Abel and Ilene Graff are once nightly between 6:30 and 7pm. For $50 a person this includes a four-course, prix-fixe menu which offers three entre choices, followed by a one hour show beginning between 8 and 8:15pm.

*Package Dinner and Performance prices may vary pending future performers at Sterling's Upstairs.  For more information on the performers, visit www.kevinearley.com, www.amandaabel.com, and www.ilenegraff.com.

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