Johnny Mercer News

Johnny Mercer Foundation and Kaufman Center Present CELEBRATE! SONGS FROM THE JOHNNY MERCER FOUNDATION. 'Broadway Close Up Series' spotlights new songwriters in dazzling performances with Teacher/Mentors Tony Nominated composers Craig Carnelia & Andrew Lippa, Grammy Winning songwriter Lari White & Marilyn Maye Shine. Photos from the event inside!

Acclaimed international concert and cabaret artist Anna Bergman returns to Feinstein's at Loews Regency (540 Park Avenue @ 61st Street) tonight, October 15 and October 21, 22, 28 & 29 (8:00pm) with her show "You & the Night & the Music: An Evening of Musical Imports & Exports". This showfeatures her musical director and arranger Alex Rybeck, Jered Egan on bass and is directed by Jeff Harnar.

In a reprise of her highly-praised March 2012 run of her cabaret show, 'Illusions,' at the Metropolitan Room that served as a launch party for her new CD of the same name, Marissa Mulder proved again that her rise as a New York cabaret princess is no illusion.

PlaidBird Productions and The Laurie Beechman Theatre will pres- ent Jaye Maynard in "Bird Amongst the Blossom-A Tribute to the First Blossom Dearie Songbook" at West Bank Cafe on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012 at 7pm and Sunday, October 28th, 2012 at 1pm.

You know that saying that 'two is better than one?' Well it couldn't have been a more enjoyably appropriate description than the swingin'-est concert to hit Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in some time: the double-bill of jazz powerhouses Jane Monheit and John Pizzarelli. The two talented stars--each accompanied by their own incredible traveling bands--played to an almost-packed house this past Friday, October 5 as the rousing season opener for the 2012-2013 Cabaret Series at the Center.

Johnny Mercer Foundation and Kaufman Center present 'New Music from The Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project' tonight, October 11 at Merkin Hall as part of the Kaufman Center Broadway Close Up Series. The evening, celebrating the first seven years of the Johnny Mercer Foundation's Songwriters Project at Northwestern University, will feature faculty members, Broadway composers and Tony nominees Craig Carnelia (Is There Life After High School?) and Andrew Lippa (The Addams Family), Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Lari White and cabaret performer Marilyn Maye with Mike Renzi.

One for My Baby, set to a score of some three dozen Harold Arlen classics and billed as "a song-and-dance celebration ofbig-city nightlife at the end of World War II," will have a private, industry-only workshop at the New 42nd Street Studios, 229 West 42 Street, tonight, October 11 and October 12.

The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel welcomes one of the finest and most noted cabaret stars, Andrea Marcovicci, in her long-awaited Cafe Carlyle debut. Ms. Marcovicci's four week engagement at the Carlyle's iconic venue runs through October 27th. Check out photos from the concert below!

Johnny Mercer Foundation and Kaufman Center present 'New Music from The Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project' on October 11 at Merkin Hall as part of the Kaufman Center Broadway Close Up Series. The evening, celebrating the first seven years of the Johnny Mercer Foundation's Songwriters Project at Northwestern University, will feature faculty members, Broadway composers and Tony nominees Craig Carnelia (Is There Life After High School?) and Andrew Lippa (The Addams Family), Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Lari White and cabaret performer Marilyn Maye with Mike Renzi.

The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel welcomes one of the finest and most noted cabaret stars, Andrea Marcovicci, in her long-awaited Cafe Carlyle debut. Ms. Marcovicci's four week engagement at the Carlyle's iconic venue runs tonight, October 2nd through October 27th.

ImprovBoston recognized its past and took a bold step toward the future this morning as the company made two big artistic announcements. Current Artistic Director Will Luera will transition to Artistic Director Emeritus and the theater is welcoming its first full-time Artistic Director, Michael Descoteaux. The transitions will begin effective October 1 and Descoteaux will begin his new position full time on January 1, 2013.

Vital Theatre Company has announced the world premiere of Fancy Nancy The Musical, opening September 29th, 2012 at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre at 2162 Broadway. With a book by Susan DiLallo, music by Danny Abosch, and direction and choreography by Sam Viverito, Fancy Nancy The Musical is based on the bestselling children's book series by Jane O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. This magnifique musical-that's fancy for great show-begins performances on September 29th, 2012 with a "pink carpet" press opening.

This week marked the third X FACTOR/GLEE combo Thursday on Fox and both shows continued to deliver the chill-inducing trills and riff-tastic runs we have come to expect from the entertainment extravaganzas showing off TV's top vocalists, performers, celebrities, hottest songs and guest stars. Evidently, Sarah Jessica Parker and Britney Spears sure can spice up and heat up a cooling late-September autumnal soup!

Acclaimed international concert and cabaret artist Anna Bergman returns to Feinstein's at Loews Regency (540 Park Avenue @ 61st Street) on October 15, 21, 22, 28 & 29 (8:00pm) with her show "You & the Night & the Music: An Evening of Musical Imports & Exports". This showfeatures her musical director and arranger Alex Rybeck, Jered Egan on bass and is directed by Jeff Harnar.

The Development Wing dedicated itself to nurturing new musicals via partnerships with regional, not for profit theaters held an intimate one-night-only benefit concert featuring Broadway stars singing songs from four new musicals and several tunes by great American songwriters like Johnny Mercer and Fats Waller. The event 'Broadway Under the Stars' took place at a sprawling, historic estate in the bucolic countryside of Tewksbury, New Jersey home of Cherie King and her husband composer, lyricist and book writer, Jonathan Brielle, Artistic Director of The Development Wing.

The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel welcomes one of the finest and most noted cabaret stars, Andrea Marcovicci, in her long-awaited Cafe Carlyle debut. Ms. Marcovicci's four week engagement at the Carlyle's iconic venue runs October 2nd through October 27th.

Currently playing at the Metropolitan Room on Friday nights through September (at 9:30 pm), Two for the Road starring singer Shaynee Rainbolt and musical director/pianist Donn Trenner is a transcendent cabaret show infused with romantic nostalgia. While the pairing of Rainbolt, a critically-acclaimed jazz singer (and multiple MAC and Bistro-Award winner), with Trenner, an Emmy-nominated musical director, conductor, and arranger (who has played piano for a Hollywood Walk of Fame full of stars including Ann-Margret, Shirley MacLaine and Bob Hope) seems as close to a cabaret show slam dunk as you get, there is an intense connection between these two performers that is palpable from the moment Rainbolt wraps her luscious voice around Trenner's jazzy piano riffing for the show's opening number.

The Development Wing which has dedicated itself to nurturing new musicals via partnerships with regional, not for profit theaters will hold an exclusive, intimate one-night-only benefit concert featuring Broadway stars singing songs from three new musicals at the historic Tewksbury, New Jersey home of Cherie King and her husband composer, lyricist and book writer, Jonathan Brielle, Artistic Director of The Development Wing.

Acclaimed cabaret singer, Broadway performer and host of The Broadway Breakfast on Sirius/XM Radio, Christine Pedi will perform her hilarious holiday show, There's No Bizness Like Snow Bizness at Savannah Georgia's Charles Morris Center on November 29, 2012. Proceeds from this one-night concert will benefit the American Traditions Competition. The multi-part competition is held January 15-19, 2013 at the Lutheran Church of the Ascension and the Lucas Theatre for the Arts.