Johnny Mercer News

Winner of the 2012 Fred Ebb Award, musical theatre composer/lyricist Sam Willmott will showcase his work with The Songs of Sam Willmott at the York Theatre tonight, April 8th at 6:30 PM. Presented by the Fred Ebb Foundation in association with the York Theatre Company, the free concert event will feature Tony nominee Tony Sheldon (Priscilla: Queen of the Desert) with Etai BenShlomo (Wicked), Griffin Birney (Fun Home), Alyse Alan Louis (Mamma Mia!), Grace McLean (The Last Goodbye), Matthew Schechter (Mary Poppins), and Sam Teldaldi (Fantasy Football: The Musical). The band includes Gregg Monteith and Peter Sachon. Sam Pinkleton directs with musical direction by Matt Aument. Rachel Sussman produces.

Tonight, April 6, 2012 at 8:00 pm, the Kupferberg Center for the Arts presents Bill Cosby in an exclusive NYC performance at the Colden Auditorium at Queens College. On Today, 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.

On 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.

New York City Center goes Off-Broadway this summer with the launch of Encores! Off-Center, a new series featuring seminal Off-Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today's most innovative artists. In keeping with City Center's founding mission to make the arts accessible to all, the majority of tickets will be $25.

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.

It's April 1st. Do you know when your Spring is coming? During another longggggg New York winter, the good news is that there were a ton of warming cabaret shows. The bad news is that there were so many, even during this seemingly endless winter our intrepid reviewer Stephen Hanks didn't have enough time to review them all right after the performances. So in what is becoming a seasonal ritual, here he offers yet another compilation of 13 'catch-up' cabaret show reviews.

The YALE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC THEATRE (Mark Brokaw, Artistic Director) has selected two original book musicals, The Last Queen of Canaan, with music by Jacob Yandura and book and lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik, and Mrs. Hughes, with music and lyrics by Sharon Kenny and book by Janine Nabers, to be developed in an intensive lab setting in New Haven, June 4-16. The residency culminates with open rehearsal readings of each project, presented as part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, on June 15 and 16, 2013.

Winner of the 2012 Fred Ebb Award, musical theatre composer/lyricist Sam Willmott will showcase his work with The Songs of Sam Willmott at the York Theatre on Monday, April 8th at 6:30 PM. Presented by the Fred Ebb Foundation in association with the York Theatre Company, the free concert event will feature Tony nominee Tony Sheldon (Priscilla: Queen of the Desert) with Etai BenShlomo (Wicked), Griffin Birney (Fun Home), Alyse Alan Louis (Mamma Mia!), Grace McLean (The Last Goodbye), Matthew Schechter (Mary Poppins), and Sam Teldaldi (Fantasy Football: The Musical). The band includes Gregg Monteith and Peter Sachon. Sam Pinkleton directs with musical direction by Matt Aument. Rachel Sussman produces.

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.

Superman finds his Lois Lane! Joining Edward Watts (Superman) in the New York City Center Encores! production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman will be Jenny Powers as Lois Lane and David Pittu as the evil Dr. Sedgwick, along with Erich Bergen, Alli Mauzey, James Saito and Will Swenson. Superman will play at City Center for seven performances, tonight, March 20 - 24, and will be directed by John Rando with choreography by Joshua Bergasse and music direction by Rob Berman.

Triple threat actress/singer/dancer Betty Hutton is perhaps one of the greatest yet lesser known musical film stars of the 40s and 50s. Star of Annie Get Your Gun and The Greatest Show on Earth, Hutton possessed a uniquely energetic style that can be most realistically described as 'manic'. It seems that she was in constant motion, never stopping for an instant and propelling her musical numbers through her electric singing and dancing to new heights of excitement. Diane Vincent was so taken by Robert Osborne's 2000 interview with Hutton on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) that she knew she had to research and put together a show to celebrate the lady's immeasurable talent. And here it is, some 13 years later, the world premiere of Nuttin' But Hutton, a revue in two acts with music both familiar and unfamiliar from all of Hutton's films.

Nicky Phillips has a very ambitious new adventure on her hands, having just launched a new company called 'Your Broadway Song' which she plans to expand within both Toronto and NYC. The company designs custom Broadway themed songs for various special occasions, and kicked off with a song written for Canadian legend Colm Wilkinson. BWW spoke to Nicky about how the idea for Your Broadway Song evolved, her feelings on Canadian Musical Theatre and her sources of inspiration.

The supremely talented singer and pianist Michael Feinstein collaborates with legendary composer-conductor-pianist André Previn for an album celebrating Previn's repertoire from his lesser-known catalog of pop songs, including many that were written for film. The album, titled Change of Heart: The Songs of André Previn, is set for release by Telarc International on April 16, 2013.

Wednesday night was the second of Marilyn Maye's first 54 Below run (which will continue until March 16) and she sashayed around the stage in front of an almost full house like a woman of 35. Like most of her shows, Maye's performance was a 'live' cabaret Master Class for budding cabaret performers and seasoned professionals alike, and this 'Maye-den Voyage' never went adrift (thanks in part to solid and unobtrusive support from Tedd Frith on piano, Tom Hubbard on bass, and Jim Eklof on drums).

On April 6, 2012 at 8:00 pm, the Kupferberg Center for the Arts presents Bill Cosby in an exclusive NYC performance at the Colden Auditorium at Queens College. 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.

Cabaret Icon Michael Feinstein returns to the McCallum Theatre with 'The Sinatra Project,' for two performances - tonight, March 1 and Saturday, March 2 -- dedicated to the great Frank Sinatra. Michael reflects Sinatra's sensibility by interpreting the songs in conceptually different styles from Sinatra's own renditions. The results are fascinatingly unique and memorably beautiful. Billed 'The Sinatra Project', the concert is presented in two parts on these consecutive evenings. In the second concert, Michael reinterprets songs by such greats as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peggy Lee, and more. 'The second volume is really about Sinatra and his friends,' says Michael. 'It's about the people he influenced and who influenced him.'

Superman finds his Lois Lane! Joining Edward Watts (Superman) in the New York City Center Encores! production of It's a Bird…It's a Plane…It's Superman will be Jenny Powers as Lois Lane and David Pittu as the evil Dr. Sedgwick, along with Erich Bergen, Alli Mauzey, James Saito and Will Swenson. Superman will play at City Center for seven performances, March 20 - 24, and will be directed by John Rando with choreography by Joshua Bergasse and music direction by Rob Berman.

PlaidBird Productions and The Metropolitan Room will present "Bird Amongst the Blossom-A Tribute to the First Blossom Dearie Songbook" at The Metropolitan Room on Thursday, March 21st, 2013 at 9:30pm. Reservations recommended. Featuring Jaye Maynard (vocals), Jon Delfin(Musical Director/piano) and Leon Lee Dorsey (upright bass). Additional Direction: Mary O'Brady. Tickets are $20.00 and available at 212-206-0440 or http://metropolitanroom.com.

Today, February 23 and February 24 and 25 Lyrics & Lyricists tours Miss Peggy Lee's hip musical landscape with guest artistic director Billy Stritch and vocalists Barbara Fasano, La Tanya Hall and Gabrielle Stravelli. Cabaret legend Marilyn Maye, who frequently includes Peggy Lee classics in her shows, joins the show as a special guest.