Dorothy Fields News

Though Ervin Drake's 'The Friendliest Thing (Two People Can Do),' from his 1964 hit What Makes Sammy Run?, has been called the first song from a Broadway musical to be directly about having sex, Suzanne Carrico employs no vampy winks or purring vocals as she observes with heightened intellectual interest the unnecessity of foreplaying drinks and dances when a couple in lust could simply get right to it.  (Yes, I just made up two words in that sentence.  Deal with it.)  Her new show at The Metropolitan Room, opening less than three weeks afters winning the MAC Award for Outstanding Debut, is named for this suggestive showtune but the self-described geek cleverly treats the song as a subtext to Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields' 'Welcome To Holiday Inn,' sandwiching the cerebral sexuality between slices of broader, comical pass-making.  This is either the smartest show about sex or the sexiest show about smarts in town.In outstanding company both offstage (Mary Cleere Haran is her director) and on (she's got music director/arranger Tedd Firth on piano and Steve Doyle on bass), Carrico has the kind of sunny, uncomplicated voice that can fill Harold Arlen and Leo Brown's 'Hooray For Love' with perky glee, matched with the kind of acting skill that can explore the dark dramatic longings of Arlen and Johnny Mercer's 'I Had Myself a True Love,' climaxing in an anguished belt that is far more about the woman she portrays than her ability to vocally shine.She calls this her hanky-panky show and most every number has something to do with sex.  There's the sweet simplicity with which she approaches Jimmy Roberts and Joe DiPietro's 'I Will Be Loved Tonight,' where a woman who has gone too long without a lover's touch anticipates how the evening's date will end, and the wry exasperation of 'Toothbrush Time,' William Bolcom and Arnold Weinstein's tense contemplation on why last night's lover is taking so long to get out of the apartment.  She savors the snazzy jazz jauntiness of Michael John La Chiusa's 'The Thief' and turns George Gershwin and B.G. DeSylva's 'Do It Again!' into a lopsided debate between the mind and the libido (guess who wins).The very funny sexpot character song, 'Femininity' (Jay Livingston/Ray Evans), is given an interesting personal twist as she introduces it with some of her own feelings as an adolescent girl surprised by the different way boys would look at her once she started developing.  Her admiration for the romantic passion expressed by Alan and Marilyn Bergman fuels her detailed story-telling in 'Like a Lover' and 'The Island.And for those who believe that hanky-panky is never complete without a bit of cuddling after, she finishes the evening with a very satisfied and satisfying 'Embraceable You' by the Gershwins.

The thing that always strikes me about Euan Morton, from his New York debut in Taboo to his Obie-winning stint in Measure For Pleasure and various other plays, musicals, concerts and cabarets, is that the guy seems incapable of expressing a dishonest emotion.  While some performers may dazzle you with their creativity or their exceptional craft, Morton draws you in with a comforting safety that makes artistry out of sincerity.  He opens his four-week run at The Oak Room (through March 29th), titled Here and Now, with Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's 'Pure Imagination,' glowing with a naturally boyish earnestness and a gentle smile.

Andrea Marcovicci returns to 'Lyrics & Lyricists'™ with an evening of gems from the post-1965 repertoire to refute the notion that rock 'n' roll killed the art of songwriting. At the final 'Lyrics & Lyricists' of the 2009 season - Did the American Songbook Really End in 1965?

The Town Hall, Times Square's landmark concert venue, presents KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler in 'A Swell Party: RSVP Cole Porter' Monday, June 9, 2008 at 8:00PM.

New Repertory Theatre in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts announces the World Premiere of According to Tip, a play with music by Dick Flavin, starring Tony and Emmy award-winner Ken Howard. Just in time for election season, According to Tip will open for the press on Friday, June 27, 2008 and will play through Sunday, July 13, 2008. 'Just in time for election season, New Rep brings you the World Premiere of According to Tip. Featuring Broadway and TV star Ken Howard, this play traces the colorful and historically memorable career of Thomas P. 'Tip' O'Neill, former Speaker of the House. Tip will escort you back in time from Barry's Corner in Cambridge to the White House. Get the inside scoop on politics during the Red Scare, Watergate, and Vietnam in this touching played filled with humor, music, and beguiling Irish wit,' press notes state. New Repertory Theatre presents provocative and intelligent works of both established and emerging playwrights in an intimate setting that involves and engages the audience. New Rep has earned a reputation for dynamic productions that honor the writers and feature talented professional actors from the New England theatre community as well as guest artists from around the U.S. New Rep has received Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards for outstanding acting, scenic design, direction, and production. Programming at New Repertory Theatre is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Lead Sponsor for According to Tip, Bank of America. The Artists Rick Lombardo (Director) is now in his twelfth season as New Rep's Producing Artistic Director. Earlier this year: A Streetcar Named Desire, A Pinter Duet: The Lover & Ashes to Ashes, The Clean House, and Dessa Rose. Last season: The Pillowman, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (which he also adapted), Silence, and The Wild Party, as well as Hamlet for Actors' Shakespeare Project. Other New Rep Credits: Ragtime (IRNE Awards-Best Director of a Musical and Best Musical); Bill W. and Dr. Bob (which he also directed Off-Broadway in the spring of 2007 at New World Stages in NY); Romeo and Juliet; Into the Woods (multiple IRNE Awards); Quills; Approaching Moomtaj; The Threepenny Opera; A Girl's War; his new musical adaptation of Moliere's Scapin; Waiting for Godot (IRNE Award, Best Drama); Sweeney Todd (2004 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director, IRNE Award for Best Director, and Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Production); The Weir (IRNE Award, Best Drama); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Director); The Scarlet Letter; American Buffalo; A Moon for the Misbegotten; Twelfth Night; Beast on the Moon; Das Barbecu; Tartuffe; and The Real Thing; among others. Additional credits include the world premiere of Moby Dick: An American Opera, for which he received the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre by Northern Ohio Live. He is honored to be a two-time recipient of the Elliot Norton Award from the Boston Theatre Critics Association for Outstanding Director. Ken Howard (Tip) Ken Howard launched his acting career in 1968 when he won a role in the original Broadway production of Promises, Promises, for which he won both a Tony and an Emmy. He originated the role of Thomas Jefferson in 1776 for which he won a Theatre World Award. He returned to the role for the 1972 film version. He won a Tony for his work in Child's Play in 1970. From 1976 - 1981, he starred in as the title character in the TV series The White Shadow. He earned an Emmy in 1980 for his narration of The Body Human: Facts for Boys. Other film and television includes: The Thron Birds, The West Wing, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Crossing Jordan, Rambo, Cane, Smother and Michael Clayton. Upcoming work includes: Conrad in Still Waters, Sheriff Sedgewick in Two: Thirteen, Officer Ford in The Beacon, and Phelan Beale in the film adaptation of Grey Gardens. Dick Flavin (Playwright) is a nationally known writer and speaker. He has made thousands of speaking appearances all across America, chiefly addressing groups on the subject of how to use humor as a strategy in business and in life. His television commentaries have appeared on NBC-TV, CNN and WBZ-TV in Boston. He is the winner of seven New England regional Emmy Awards for writing and commentary. He was the narrator of The Teammates, an ESPN documentary that was nominated for three national Emmy Awards. Known as the 'Poet Laureate of the Boston Red Sox,' he has written countless poems and song parodies about the team and its history, some of which are being compiled into a compact disc and DVD. The most well-known of them, Teddy at the Bat, a salute to Red Sox legend Ted Williams that is based on Ernest Lawrence Thayer's immortal Casey at the Bat, has been performed by Mr. Flavin at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, at Fenway Park and in cities and towns across the country. He was the co-host of and contributing writer to Red Sox Stories, a weekly television series that ran during the 2007 baseball season. He has also written and performed special material for the Boston Pops and Symphony orchestras. In addition to According the Tip, his play on the life and times of the late Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, Mr. Flavin has also written I Feel a Song Comin' On, a soon to be produced musical about the lyricist Dorothy Fields.

Westport Country Playhouse (Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe, artistic directors, and Jodi Schoenbrun Carter, managing director) will present two of Broadway's most versatile performers, Sandy Duncan and Karen Ziemba, in a reading of the new comedy, The Real Tabasco, written by Deborah Grace Winer, formerly of Westport, on Monday, April 14, 7 p.m. The reading is part of the Playhouse's 'Funny Mondays' series, showcasing both new and classic comedies, followed by audience feedback, often with the playwright in attendance.

Journalist and playwright Deborah Grace Winer was recently named Series Artistic Director of the 92nd Street Y's legendary American Songbook series Lyrics & Lyricists (beginning with the 2009 season). This month, she comes to the 92nd Street Y as host and artistic director of L&L's I've Got Your Number: Romance, the Rat Pack and Carolyn Leigh, which runs March 29-31. Winer's Carolyn Leigh tribute features vocalists Debby Boone, Loston Harris, James Naughton, and Karen Ziemba. John Oddo is music director, and Mark Waldrop is stage director.

Sweet Charity, the Tony Award winning musical packed with lively choreography previews March 13, opens March 20 and runs through May 18 at Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook Terrace

The Town Hall, Times Square's landmark concert venue, presents KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler in A Swell Party: RSVP Cole Porter on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 8:00PM. This special musical evening event, commemorating Cole Porter's birthday, also features Loren Schoenberg.

Ruben Studdard, notable as the winner of 'American Idol' Season 2, will reportedly star in the 30th Anniversary national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical Ain't Misbehavin' with Frenchie Davis.

This New Year's Eve, HBOrings in 2008 with a special singing-and-dancing edition of 'Cathouse,' as the working girls from the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, Nevada's famed legal brothel, display previously unseen talents on Cathouse: The Musical. The all-new, adults-only special debuts Monday, December 31

Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace Theatre (100 Drury Lane) announces its exciting 2008 season; includes 'Sweet Charity,' 'Mame,' and 'Miss Saigon.'

The Metropolitan Room (34 West 22 St. between 5th & 6th) announces its upcoming September concert schedule. Guests include Suzanne Carrico, Jimmy James, Penny Fuller, Cary Hoffman and Marilyn Maye.

For two and a half glorious hours your only care in the world should be deciding which of the magnificent songs you'll be humming on your way out of the theatre.

Andreasong and the 92nd Street Y, home of the long-running 'Lyrics & Lyricists' series, have announced the release of Kurt Weill In America, the new CD of the original concert conceived, written and directed by Andrea Marcovicci

Broadway and TV star Paige Davis will succeed Molly Ringwald as the title character of Sweet Charity, which is currently playing on national tour.

'The Women of Tin Pan Alley,' a one-act, one-woman revue of popular songs by women from the first half of the twentieth century, will be performed at Theater II, Gunston Arts Center on March 13, 19, 20 at 8 PM, with a 5:15 PM matinee on March 24.

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) will present 'Intimate Nights: The Golden Age of Cabaret ~ A Discussion About the History of New York's Nightlife,' the third in this season's ongoing MAC Seminar Series, focusing on all aspects of Live Entertainment

Tony winner Bob Martin, currently featured as 'Man in Chair' in The Drowsy Chaperone, will star in 'The Broadway Musicals of 1928,' which kicks off the seventh season of The Town Hall's acclaimed Broadway by the Year series.