Jessie Mueller, Stephen Schwartz, Marilyn Maye and More Coming Up at NJPAC This Fall

NJTV and NJPAC present a star-studded line-up of performers for the 3rd season of the award-winning American Songbook at NJPAC Series, hosted by Ted Chapin, and featuring stage and screen star Christine Ebersole, BEAUTIFUL's Tony Award-winner Jessie Mueller and Tony nominee Jarrod Spector, SiriusXM Broadway host/entertainer Seth Rudetsky and WICKED composer Stephen Schwartz over two nights of broadcast tapings.

NJTV, New Jersey's public television network, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) present a talent-rich line-up for season three of the award-winning American Songbook at NJPAC series. Performances will be taped before a live audience in NJPAC's Victoria Theater on Sunday, October 25 and Monday, October 26 for broadcast on NJTV, WLIW and THIRTEEN next year. Tickets for both shows are now on sale.

The multi-part music series will feature performances of American Songbook classics and more by stars of stage, screen and radio. Jessie Mueller and Jarrod Spector from the original cast of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, cabaret great Marilyn Maye, Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz and friends, jazz royal Catherine Russell, SiriusXM Broadway host and entertainer Seth Rudetsky with special guest Christine Ebersole, and award-winning Manhattan cabaret and recording artists KT Sullivan and Jeff Harnar will appear.

Performances will be followed by a Q&A session conducted by Ted Chapin, president and executive director of Rodgers & Hammerstein: An Imagen Company.

Tickets are now on sale for both of the American Songbook at NJPAC sessions, ranging in price from $39-$49. Tickets are available by telephone at 1-888-466-5722, online www.njpac.org, and at NJPAC's box office at 1 Center Street in Downtown Newark.Note: American Songbook sessions are taped before a live audience for future broadcast on NJTV, WNET and WLIW21. Audience members may appear on screen. For more about the performances, click here.

On November 9, 2015, The Real Sinatra Songbook, part of NJPAC's Sinatra Centennial series, focuses on some of the greatest songs ever written -- because they were inspired, commissioned, published and sometimes even composed by Sinatra. Classic tunes like "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night in the Week)," "Close to You" and "This Love of Mine" will be played the way they were meant to be heard, with top vocalists and finger-snapping arrangements.

Ticket holders are invited to attend a pre-curtain panel discussion, Sinatra Standard Time, with Sinatra historian and author Charles L. Granata and music critic Will Friedwald in the Chase Room at 6pm. This conversation and Q&A features an array of Sinatra colleagues and music experts, who will illuminate the importance of Sinatra's contributions to the American Songbook, with an emphasis on songs featured in the concert.

Prepare to be dazzled by a performer The New York Times calls "supremely confident." Beloved on Broadway for her roles in Swing!, Into the Woods and the New York Spring Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, Laura Benanti recently joined the cast of ABC-TV's Nashville and has been seen on The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie and The Sound of Music LIVE with Carrie Underwood. Benanti will perform at NJPAC on Saturday, November 21.

This highly celebrated, four-time Tony-nominated actress took Broadway by storm at the age of 18 in The Sound of Music. She received a Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Tony nod for her starring role in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown at Lincoln Center, where she also starred in Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play. She earned a Tony Award for best featured actress in a musical for her portrayal of Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy and nominations for Into the Woods and Swing! Other roles included The Wedding Singer (Broadway) and The Most Happy Fella and Wonderful Town (City Center Encores!).

New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in downtown Newark New Jersey, is among the largest performing arts centers in the United States. NJPAC is the artistic, cultural, educational and civic center of New Jersey; where great performances and events enhance and transform lives every day. As New Jersey's Town Square, NJPAC brings diverse communities together, providing access to all and showcasing not only the state's, but the world's best artists while acting as a leading catalyst in the revitalization of its home city. Through its extensive Arts Education programs, NJPAC is shaping the next generation of artists and arts enthusiasts. Since opening its doors in 1997, NJPAC has attracted over eight million visitors (including more than one million children) in its continuing mission to nurture meaningful and lasting relationships with each of its constituents. Visit www.njpac.org for more information.