FEBRUARY HOUSE's Gabriel Kahane Kacie Sheik & Julian Fleisher to Perform Joe's Pub Solo Shows, 6/4 & 6/11

The Public Theater is presenting the world premiere of February House, with music and lyrics by Gabriel Kahane and book by Seth Bockley, beginning today, May 8th in The Public's Martinson Theater, and running through June 10th. Three stars of the show – composer and lyricist Gabriel Kahane, actress Kacie Sheik, and actor Julian Fleisher have all been tapped by Joe's Pub at The Public Theater for solo performances this June.

February House is based on actual events at a dilapidated house in Brooklyn Heights that became, in the early 1940's, a bohemian commune of sorts for intellectual misfits that included poet W.H. Auden, novelist Carson McCullers, and composer Benjamin Britten.

Gabriel Kahane
June 4 at 9:30pm
$15

Gabriel Kahane, composer and lyricist of the Public's February House, returns to Joe's Pub for an intimate solo show. His most recent recording as a singer-songwriter, Where are the Arms, was hailed by the New York Times as "an album of empathy and reverie... conveying "emotional intelligence along with its extravagant poise." As a composer of concert works, he has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, the Caramoor Festival, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, for whom he serves as Composer-in-Residence from 2011-2013 through a Music Alive! grant from Meet-the-Composer. He has performed and/or recorded with, among others, Sufjan Stevens, Chris Thile, Brad Mehldau, and composer/conductor John Adams. In October, he makes his Carnegie Hall solo debut in a concert devoted to his music. A MacDowell Colony Fellow in 2010 and 2011, Gabriel lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Kacie Sheik
June 4 at 7:30pm
$15

Kacie Sheik of Broadway's "Hair" and The Public Theatre's February House will play her first solo concert in 5 years at Joe's Pub on Monday, June 4th. The evening will include brand new material for Sheik's upcoming EP, cover songs of pop/rock hits as well as special guests from the Broadway community. Singer-songwriter and Broadway actress Kacie Sheik completed almost 1,000 performances as Jeanie in The Public Theatre's Tony Award winning production of "Hair-The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical"(Central Park, Broadway, The West End, National Tour). Kacie received a Helen Hayes nomination for her performance, resulting from the show's National Tour opening engagement at The Kennedy Center. Prior to her hippie life, she worked alongside Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen and writer/director Ben Elton as the heroine rock chick "Scaramouche" in the Original American company of their smash hit musical "We Will Rock You". Kacie has been seen in "Julie."

Julian Fleisher
June 11 at 7:00pm
$20 Advance / $25 Door

Before the art of song was divided into narrow stylistic slices, before there was Jazz or Pop or Rock, there was Nightclub Singing. Like Sammy Davis, Jr, Ethel Water and Mel Tormé before him, Julian Fleisher mixes masterful interpretations of a wide range of popular songs with kick-ass showmanship and a generously endowed band.

Son of world-renowned concert pianist Leon Fleisher, Julian was first heard as a boy soprano, a student of the classical repertoire at the prestigious Peabody Conservatory of music in his hometown of Baltimore. After a four year stint as an undergraduate at Yale-where he sang in concerts, and on stage in roles ranging from The Threepenny Opera's Mack the Knife to Guys and Doll's Sky Masterson, Julian took on New York, the inevitable next step in any young entertainer′s journey. Now, he′s enjoying a reputation as one of that city′s most exciting young nightclub stars. His collaborations with a growing roster of celebrities-turned-singers now has him on a new trajectory: Host Extraordinaire. Molly Ringwald, Isaac Mizrahi, Ana Gasteyer, Martha Plimpton, Lauren Graham, Jennifer Holliday, Keith Carradine, and Kiki & Herb.

Tickets are on sale now online at www.joespub.com, by phone at 212-967-7555 or in person at The Public Theater box office (1 PM to 6 PM), located at 425 Lafayette Street, NYC.

JOE'S PUB at The Public Theater, reopened October 4th, 2011 from a top to bottom renovation, debuted in October 1998 and quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance. With its genre-blind booking and vast diversity of interests, the stage at Joe's Pub gives voice to a world of varied and stellar artists. Joe's Pub is open seven days a week, regularly hosting as many as three shows a day. Dinner and drink service is available during every performance. In addition to its reputation of presenting internationally known stars, Joe's Pub has also developed into a premier showcase stage for up-and-coming musicians and emerging artists from a variety of disciplines.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 and is now one of the nation's preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals, and productions of classics at its downtown home and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public Theater's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day onstage and through extensive outreach programs. Each year, more than 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe's Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public Theater's productions have won 42 Tony Awards, 158 Obies, 42 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. Fifty-four Public Theater Productions have moved to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; For Colored Girls…; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring In 'da Noise, Bring In 'da Funk; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Passing Strange; the revival of HAIR; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Merchant of Venice. For more information, visit www.publictheater.org.

Photo Credit: T. Charles Erikson

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