George Street Presents Cuccioli and Mayes in 'A Holiday Cabaret' 12/20-12/21

George Street Playhouse is celebrating the December holidays in a big way with a series of musical performances for a special Holiday Cabaret.  The musical celebration will feature the talents of Tony Award nominee Robert Cuccioli, who is currently performing at George Street Playhouse in Conor McPherson's The Seafarer.  Mr. Cuccioli received a Tony Nomination and is perhaps best known for playing the title role in Broadway's Jekyll & Hyde.  

Joining Mr. Cuccioli will be fellow Tony nominee Sally Mayes from the recent Broadway revival of She Loves Me.  Christopher Howatt will serve as musical director and performer for the revue. Performances take place Saturday, December 20 at 2 and 8PM, and Sunday, December 21 at 2PM. 

In addition to offering this special performance, George Street Playhouse is also inviting audiences to participate in the celebration by sharing treasured holiday photos and stories, which will be featured in a special lobby display beginning during the run of Conor McPherson's The Seafarer currently playing on the GSP stage.  

Tickets for the Holiday Cabaret are priced at $20 and $30 and may be purchased through the George Street Playhouse Box Office 732-246-7717 or by visiting the Playhouse website www.GSPonline.org.  Groups of ten or more are eligible for a discount; for further information contact the GSP Group Sales Department at 732-846-2895, ext. 134.  George Street Playhouse has also partnered with their next-door neighbor, Catherine Lombardi's, to offer a $69 dinner/show package.  One phone call to the GSP Box Office procures your dinner reservation and a premium seat for the Cabaret. 

Robert Cuccioli who is currently on stage at George Street Playhouse in The Seafarer, most recently performed the role of Arthur in Camelot at the White Plains Performing Arts Center and Salieri in Amadeus at the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ.  Broadway credits include Jekyll & Hyde (1997 Tony Award nomination, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards), Javert in Les Miserables (Broadway debut).  Off-Broadway:  Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, Temporary Help, Enter The Guardsman, And the World Goes ‘Round (1991 Outer Critics Circle Award), Gigi, The Rotchschilds.  Tour:  Jekyll & Hyde (Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award), Camelot with Richard Harris (US and Canada).  Regional credits include Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (The Pajama Game, Bells are Ringing, Guys and Dolls, Funny Girl); The Shakespeare Theatre of NJ (Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Anotny & Cleopatra, Carnival, Enter The Guardsman); Paper Mill Playhouse (Guys and Dolls, The Sound of Music, Funny Girl, Oklahoma!, Lend Me a Tenor, Jesus Christ Superstar); McCarter Theatre (Fiction, The School for Scandal); The Guthrie (Antony & Cleopatra).  Television: Sliders, Baywatch, The Guiding Light.  Film:  Woody Allen's Celebrity, and the independent film The Stranger.  He is featured on the original cast recordings of Jekyll & Hyde (Atlantic), And the World Goes ‘Round (RCA Vi ctor), Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Ghostlight Records), and The New Picasso (Black Forest Productions). 

Sally Mayes made her Broadway debut in Cy Coleman's Welcome to the Club.  Her performance won critical praise along with a Theatre World Award and Outer Critics Circle nomination as one of Broadway's outstanding newcomers.  On Broadway, Sally is perhaps best known for her performance in the Roundabout Theatre revival of She Loves Me for which she won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations.  Urban Cowboy garnered her another Drama Desk nomination, (Featured Actress in a Musical), and she most recently appeared in Steel Magnolias. She has also starred in several Off-Broadway productions, including Closer Than Ever (Outer Critics Circle nomination), and Das Barbecue, Pete N'Keely (Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical),   She drew raves as Mae West in the National Tour of Dirty Blonde.  Film and television credits include City Hall and Bye Bye Birdie, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Sex and the City, and The Job. Sally also appears on countless cast recordings, including Closer Than Ever, She Loves Me, Das Barbecue, Bye Bye Birdie, Lost in Boston, Unsung Musicals, Unsung Sondheim, Night of the Hunter, etc.  Sally has four solo albums, The Dorothy Fields Songbook and Our Private World, The Comden and Green Songbook, The Story Hour, Boys and Girls Like You and Me, and her latest release, Valentine.  Her rare and much anticipated nightclub appearances have garnered her rave reviews from coast to coast, and she has been nominated for twelve Manhattan Association of Cabaret (MAC) awards and has won two Bistro Awards for excellence in Cabaret and recording.  

Christopher Howatt a singer and pianist, has supplied musical direction for various productions in regional and summer stock theaters along the East Coast. He has performed as a singer on the stages of Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls in Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the 92nd Street "Y," appearing with many of the world's most renowned conductors, including  Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Ricardo Chailly, James Levine and others. On the roster of the Metropolitan Opera Associate Chorus for two seasons, he has also appeared in New York as a member of the The Riverside Choir at The Riverside Church (who shared the stage with Luciano Pavarotti, Jessye Norman and Elton John in a benefit for his AIDS Foundation) and others. He is currently displaying both talents as Musical Director and performer with the vocal group "Boulevard East," which has performed in New York at Don't Tell Mama, The Encore, as well as the famed cabaret Odette's in New Hope, PA, and has twice been nominated as Best Vocal Group by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs.  In addition to theater, he has provided musical direction for acts as diverse as Allen and Rossi, Karen Wyman and Four On the Town, a Broadway musical revue.  Mr. Howatt has a number of diverse recordings to his credit, ranging from a recording of Stepan Wolpe's music, to Boulevard East's debut recording Timeless, to a Christmas recording (In The Spirit) with soprano Jessye Norman, to singing backup for The Pet Shop Boys on their recording of "Go West."  He is currently putting the finishing touches on his first solo effort, a recording of timeless and contemporary standards titled Songs My Mother Taught Me. 

Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint, George Street Playhouse has become a nationally recognized theatre, presenting an acclaimed mainstage season while providing an artistic home for established and emerging theatre artists.  Managing Director Todd Schmidt was appointed in October 2007.  Founded in 1974, the Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway including Anne Meara's Down the Garden Paths, the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill and the Broadway hit and Tony® and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was developed at GSP during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays.  

In addition to its mainstage season, GSP's Touring Theatre features five issue-oriented productions that tour to more than 250 schools in the tri-state area, and are seen by more than 75,000 students annually.   George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. Continental Airlines is the official airline of George Street Playhouse.  George Street Playhouse is grateful for the generous support of their print media sponsor, The Star Ledger. 

George Street Playhouse 9 Livingston Avenue, New BrunswickBox Office: 732-246-7717 www.GSPonline.org