Johnny Mercer News

Tonight, April 28 at 9:30pm, Krysta Rodriguez (Smash, The Addams Family), Lindsay Mendez (Dogfight, 35mm: A Musical Exhibition), and Barbara Walsh (Company) will join bright new composer and lyricist team Tim Rosser and Charlie Sohne at 54 Below.

When you're a cabaret reviewer on the evening show prowl between Monday night and Saturday evening (although not every night, thank goodness), you'd like to think that the God of Cabaret would make Sunday a day of rest. No such luck, since the weekend allows clubs to book shows as early as brunch time. I learned this again early this month when I felt compelled to attend three shows starring charming female singers-Corinna Sowers-Adler at Stage 72 (the Triad), Eva Kantor at the Laurie Beechman, and Lianne Marie Dobbs at the Metropolitan Room. I didn't break my personal Sunday record of four shows in one day set in late January (yes, I should be committed), but there was a two-hour break in this mix so it still turned out to be an 8-hour cabaret extravaganza. (Thank you, oh God of Cabaret, for press comps!) While it would have been sweet for the musical marathon to have been a clean sweep of excellent shows, as Meat Loaf might croon, 'Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad.'

Cabaret warhorse Ricky Ritzel pays homage to Broadway legend Elaine Stritch in a hilarious and poignant evening of nonstop fun. From Angel in the Wings to A Little Night Music, Elaine Stitch has introduced and covered some of the greatest songs of the 20th Century. Now, Mr. Ritzel puts his unique spin on them in this loving tribute to one of Broadway's greatest treasures.

Jump on the bandwagon and join in on the rip-roarin'and rootin'-tootin' fun as Rider University's Westminster College of the Arts presents 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers', running April 24-28 in the Bart Luedeke Center Theater on the main campus of Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Landmark on Main Street's Main Stage Cabaret Series continues with Tony DeSare on Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 8 PM. Landmark thanks our Landmark thanks our Main Stage Cabaret Series Sponsors Fern & Hersh Cohen, Susan Isaacs and Elkan Abramowitz, Sandy & Eric Krasnoff, Jane & Martin Schwartz and Dot & Ed Slade. Additional thanks to our program sponsors Garden City Hotel, Carol & Sandy Krieger and AD Lubow. We gratefully acknowledge our Season Sponsor Pall Corporation and our Partners in Performing Arts: Harding Real Estate, Town of North Hempstead, Bank of America, The Peter & Jeri Dejana Family Foundation and Winthrop University Hospital their support of our full season of programming.

Daughter of TV royalty Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz, Lucie Arnaz performs a fiery, explosive, and heartfelt musical tribute to the rhythm of her roots and a love note to the man who introduced La Conga to the United States, her father, Desi Arnaz. 'Latin Roots' is an eclectic Latin American mix that sizzles with sophistication and sassy spice to songs from Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and Johnny Mercer alongside tunes by Agustín Lara, Rafael Hernandez, and Margarita Lecuona.

Cabaret warhorse Ricky Ritzel pays homage to Broadway legend Elaine Stritch in a hilarious and poignant evening of nonstop fun. From Angel in the Wings to A Little Night Music, Elaine Stitch has introduced and covered some of the greatest songs of the 20th Century. Now, Mr. Ritzel puts his unique spin on them in this loving tribute to one of Broadway's greatest treasures.

The greatest songwriters revered him. And his songs-from 'All the Things You Are' to 'The Way You Look Tonight'-remain a vital part of our cultural conversation. It is no accident that Jerome Kern is also known as 'The Dean.' Author and Lyrics & Lyricists series artistic director Deborah Grace Winer takes the helm as artistic director/writer/host for The Song is You: Jerome Kern Coast to Coast, on May 4, 5 and 6. Winer is joined by vocalists Karrin Allyson, Debby Boone, Jeffry Denman, bassist Jay Leonhart, Howard McGillin, Paula West and Karen Ziemba, with special guest Barbara Carroll.

Two college veterans are friendly trumpet rivals looking for spots in Artie's Shaw's big band in this hilarious musical comedy, SECOND CHORUS (1940), available in a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack May 14 from Film Chest on the HD Cinema Classics label.

On Saturday, May 4th the Kupferberg Center presents An Evening with Michael Feinstein in the Colden Auditorium at 8:00 pm as part of the Kupferberg Center's Best of the Best Series.

The freshest revival of a classic in years has opened at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and this one is most definitely not your grandmother's movie musical.

Ghostlight Records will present the Original Cast Recording of the musical DOGFIGHT with a digital release on April 30 and the CD in stores on May 21. The show - which debuted Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre last year - features music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (A Christmas Story), a book by Peter Duchan (IFC Films' Breaking Upwards) and directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Wicked, Glengarry Glen Ross). DOGFIGHT is based on the Warner Bros. film and screenplay by Bob Comfort. To pre-order the album, please visit www.sh-k-boom.com/dogfight.html.

Tickets go on sale today for New York City Center Encores! Off-Center, a new series featuring seminal Off-Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today's most innovative artists, opening on July 10. In keeping with City Center's founding mission to make the arts accessible to all, the majority of tickets will be $25.

Christine Baranski, Kelli Barrett, Walter Bobbie, Jeremy Cohen, Dalton Harrod, Randy Skinner, Shonn Wiley, Karen Ziemba,New York City Ballet Principaldancer Joaquin De Luz and American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Irina Dvorovenkowill star in Rodgers and Hart's On Your Toes, the final Encores! presentation of the 2012-13 New York City Center season. Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, On Your Toes will have guest music direction by Encores! founding music director Rob Fisher and will play seven performances, from May 8 - 12 at New York City Center, W. 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues). The "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" ballet, originally choreographed by George Balanchine, will be staged by Susan Pilarre, who served as a Ballet Mistress of the show's 1983 Broadway Revival.

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment present an all-new revival of one of the greatest musicals of all time, SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, with book by Lawrence Kasha and David Landay, lyrics, music and new songs by Johnny Mercer, Gene de Paul, Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn. SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS features musical direction by Dennis Castellano, choreography by Patti Colombo and will be directed by Glenn Casale. SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS opened on Saturday, April 13, and runs through Sunday, May 5, 2013 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. BroadwayWorld was there for the opening celebrations and brings you photos below!

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment present an all-new revival of one of the greatest musicals of all time, SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, book by Lawrence Kasha and David Landay, lyrics, music and new songs by Johnny Mercer, Gene De Paul, Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, based on the MGM Film 'The Sobbin' Women' by Stephen Vincent Benet, originally directed for Broadway by Lawrence Kasha and originally produced on Broadway by Kaslan Productions, Inc., SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS will feature musical direction by Dennis Castellano, choreography by Patti Colombo and will be directed by Glenn Casale.

The American Theater Group in Rahway, New Jersey presents the East Coast Premiere of Jonathan Brielle's HIMSELF AND NORA, a musical which tells the romance of James Joyce and Nora Barnacle. Broadway World caught up with the show's author/composer/lyricist to talk about the piece.