Johnny Mercer News

Karen Oberlin and Steve Ross bring you, for one night only, CHEEK TO CHEEK: THE SONGS OF ASTAIRE AND ROGERS one week from tonight on Wednesday, June 11th at 7pm at 54 Below.

The Yale Institute for Music Theatre announces the creative teams and casting for the two original book musicals, Afterland, music and lyrics by Benjamin Velez and book and lyrics by Kathryn Hathaway, and Clouds are Pillows for the Moon, music by Tidtaya Sinutoke and book and lyrics by Ty Defoe, which will be developed in an intensive lab setting in New Haven, June 3-15. The Institute culminates with open rehearsal readings of each project, presented as part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, on June 14 and 15.

Renowned foodist and television personality Alton Brown today announced the return of Alton Brown Live! The Edible Inevitable Tour, on the heels of the successful inaugural run to 46 US cities.

A vacant building on Howard Street, Evanston's first craft brewery and an 18-hole public golf course are sites for the three off-campus productions in the S.I.T.E. Festival, co-presented by Northwestern University's Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts -- formerly known as the Theatre and Interpretation Center. The plays will run through June 7.

Queens Theatre (QT) is celebrating its 25th Anniverary with a Gala on June 2, 2014 at 6:00 pm at Queens Theatre (14 United Nations Avenue South, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY 11368). The gala will honor Euripides Pelekanos who is the co-founder and CEO of Queens favorite burger spot, Bareburger.

Back in the 50s, the era that was innocence personified, Broadway musicals were written to entertain first. Of course, Stephen Sondheim and other more serious composers were beginning to change the face of the American musical with the goal to enlighten, but shows like Li'l Abner, with book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, lyrics by Johnny Mercer & music by Gene De Paul and based on Al Capp's 1934 comic strip, showed us the wild hillbilly lifestyle to make us laugh rather than think. Underneath the surface, to be sure, there is political satire and an uplifting message about appreciating the worth of that lesser known patch of American culture, kind of like what 60sTV audiences found in The Beverly Hillbillies.

100 students from four local New Jersey Schools - Maple Avenue School (Newark), LINK Community School (Newark), Marion P. Thomas Charter School (Newark), and Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts (East Orange) - came together for the first time to perform four sections of their unique collaborative musical theater piece Big Deal on May 21. The new one act is the culmination of an innovative musical theater partnership between NJPAC and Johnny Mercer Foundation (JMF). The students wrote and rehearsed the musical over nine months in four separate parts and put the pieces together for the first time in front of their family and friends

Fifty years since the start of his career, Peter Nero is one of the preeminent pianists and conductors in the country. The two-time Grammy Award winner will 'tickle the ivories' for Peter Nero's Broadway at the State Theatre on Saturday, June 14th.

A new collection of standards by cabaret performer Mark Farris titled MY ROMANCE is now available.

The Dogs of Desire, Albany Symphony Orchestra's groundbreaking chamber ensemble, will present the world premiere of composer David Mallamud's new work, "Glam Guignonl," with libretto by Rochelle Bright ("Donny Vomit") and Michael Cooper ("Lizardman").

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its great line-up of amazing talent for the month of June 2014, featuring Freddy Cole, Stacey Kent, Ravi Coltrane Quartet, Tierney Sutton Quartet, Native Soul, Lorna Luft, Jane Monheit, Jim Caruso's Cast Party Celebrates the Tony Awards, and more!

The National New Play Network (NNPN), the country's alliance of non-profit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, in collaboration with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and Stanford University's National Center for New Plays, will host nearly fifty playwrights, directors and dramaturgs July 26 - August 3, 2014 as part of a week-long workshop for new works by MFA students from New York University-Tisch School of the Arts, Hunter College, University of California-San Diego, and the Juilliard School. A committee of NNPN Core Members has selected six scripts written by Hilary Bettis, Nathan Cann, Bennett Fisher, David Jacobi, Georgette Kelly, and Amy Witting. The Workshop will also feature projects by the National Theatre School of Canada's Geoffrey Simon Brown and Atlanta's Alliance Theatre's Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Prize-winner Tsehaye Geralyn Hebert.

The Fulfillment Fund is proud to announce the 7th Annual "The Songs of Our Lives" concert, which will pay special tribute to the songs of internationally acclaimed Songwriter's Hall of Fame and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, songwriter Lamont Dozier and the legendary Songwriter's Hall of Famer, two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, singer-songwriter, David Crosby. "The Songs of Our Lives" is a benefit concert showcasing award-winning songwriters performing the hit songs they have written over the course of their career. The Songs of Our Lives provides a unique opportunity to experience these pieces as the songwriter envisioned them. The intimate setting of this event gives guests the chance to be up close and personal with these artists. Award-winning songwriter Charles Fox, a longtime Fulfillment Fund board member along with his wife Joan Fox, created "The Songs of Our Lives" as an opportunity to combine entertainment and philanthropy in a meaningful way to support the Fulfillment Fund's important work in the community. Songwriters who have participated in The Songs of Our Lives include Academy and Grammy Award winning songwriters such as Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Hal David, Mac Davis, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, David Foster, Steve Karmen, Jerry Leiber, Kenny Loggins, Barry Mann, Alan Rich, Mike Stoller, Cynthia Weil, Paul Williams, Bill Withers, and many others. Freda Payne as well as Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence (Formerly of The Supremes) have been added to the program as well.

Artists in Partnership (AIP), a non-profit cultural arts organization, will host its 12th Annual Cabaret Festival today, May 15-18 at the Long Beach Public Library, 111 West Park Avenue, Long Beach, NY. All performances are FREE to the public. The festival will be a celebration of the cabaret genre honoring the Great American Songbook with performances by renowned local and New York City-based artists.

Artists in Partnership (AIP), a non-profit cultural arts organization, will host its 12th Annual Cabaret Festival today, May 15-18 at the Long Beach Public Library, 111 West Park Avenue, Long Beach, NY. All performances are FREE to the public. The festival will be a celebration of the cabaret genre honoring the Great American Songbook with performances by renowned local and New York City-based artists.

It's been rumored, talked about, discussed and we've been reporting on it for what feels like forever -- and now, it's official! Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that it will present Tony & Emmy Award winner Kristin Chenoweth as 'Lily Garland' and Golden Globe & SAG Award winner & Tony nominee Peter Gallagher as 'Oscar Jaffe' in a new Broadway production of the classic musical ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Warren Carlyle. ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY features music by Cy Coleman and book & lyrics by Betty Comden & Adolph Green.

'Somewhere Over the Rainbow,' the iconic song from 1939's The Wizard of Oz, will be honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, now celebrating its 45th anniversary.

Artists in Partnership (AIP), a non-profit cultural arts organization, will host its 12th Annual Cabaret Festival May 15-18 at the Long Beach Public Library, 111 West Park Avenue, Long Beach, NY. All performances are FREE to the public. The festival will be a celebration of the cabaret genre honoring the Great American Songbook with performances by renowned local and New York City-based artists.

After a sold-out engagement last September, two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole (Grey Gardens, 42nd Street) returns to Feinstein's at the Nikko with her newest concert, 'Strings Attached," for two performances only - Saturday, June 14 (7 p.m.) and Sunday, June 15 (7 p.m.). Joined by The Aaron Weinstein Trio, Ebersole will celebrate the release of her recent CD, 'Strings Attached.' The evening will include classic standards from the '20s, '30s and '40s, featuring songs by such legends as Fats Waller ("Jitterbug Waltz"), Cole Porter ("Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye"), Johnny Mercer ("This Time the Dream's on Me") and George Gershwin ("Shall We Dance") to name a few. Tickets for Christine Ebersole range in price from $60 - $85 and are on-sale now and available by calling 866.663.1063 or visiting www.ticketweb.com.

Philadelphia Theatre Company announces four of its five plays for next year's 40th Anniversary season including Lisa D'Amour's disturbing yet bracingly funny drama Detroit, the Tony Award nominated Outside Mullingar by Pulitzer, Oscar and Tony Award-winning writer John Patrick Shanley, the runaway hit of this year's Humana Festival of New American Plays, brownsville song (b-side for tray) by rising playwright Kimber Lee, and Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair's musical whodunit Murder for Two, nominated for this year's Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Awards. A final mainstage production will be announced shortly.