Before heading to Broadway Mark Nadler's Russian on the Side will play at the Marines Memorial Theatre in San Francisco starting October 16th, 2008- November 16th, 2008. For tickets please call 415-771-6900.
"In Russian on the Side, Mark Nadler takes audiences on a zany 90-minute journey from Stravinsky to Sondheim. Filled with music from celebrated American songwriters of the twentieth century such as Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Cole Porter, and Ira Gershwin, Nadler tickles the ivories and dishes scintillating gossip about some of the world’s greatest composers," press notes state. Following a second out-of-town engagement in the late summer, Russian on the Side will receive its Broadway premiere this fall.
Nadler starred in and co-wrote the off-Broadway Gershwin revue, American Rhapsody, which was nominated for a 2001 Drama Desk and two
Lucille Lortel Awards and received the Manhattan Association Of Cabarets (MAC) Award for Outstanding Musical Revue. Regularly appearing at New York City’s landmark cabaret The Algonquin, Nadler created and starred in over a dozen shows based on the great American Songbook. He has received four MAC awards for Outstanding Musical Comedy Performer and was awarded the Backstage Bistro Award for "Continuing to Raise the Standards of Cabaret Performance” (2003), as well as Outstanding Singer/Instrumentalist and Outstanding Direction.
Nadler has performed at
Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops Orchestra, New York City’s Town Hall, and has been a soloist with the Baltimore, Indianapolis and Oregon Symphonies as well as, The National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. He has played in almost every significant nightclub in both New York City and Los Angeles, and has performed abroad in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, Holland and Australia. On Broadway, Nadler appeared as “The Fingers on the Keys” in
Dame Edna: The Royal Tour and as “Pinky Pickles” in
The Sheik of Avenue ‘B,’ as well as numerous productions off-Broadway and regionally. He also co-wrote, directed and starred in
The Nose Knows, a tribute to
Jimmy Durante for the "Reel to Real" series at Lincoln Center and arranged and coached
Glenn Close's performance of "Bye Bye Blackbird" for the 1985 film
Maxie.
The Broadway-bound production of
Russian on the Side is directed by
Mark Waldrop, whose credits include
Bea Arthur On Broadway and the Drama Desk award-winning off-Broadway revue,
When Pigs Fly, for which he also provided book and lyrics. Mr. Waldrop most recently directed
Into the Woods at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater;
Romeo & Bernadette (New Jersey's Paper Mill and Miami's Coconut Grove Playhouses);
Gypsy starring
Betty Buckley (Paper Mill) and again, starring
Judy Kaye (at the 5th Avenue);
Adventures in Love (St. Paul's Ordway Theater) ; and Rodgers and Hammerstein's
Cinderella (Maryland's Olney Theater.) At the MUNY in St. Louis, he directed
Damn Yankees and a record-breaking production of
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Mr. Waldrop also served as production supervisor and contributed special material for
Bette Midler's Divine Miss Millennium Tour. As a lyricist Mr. Waldrop is the proud recipient of the
Edward Kleban Award.
Russian on the Side is being produced by
Michael Alden, recent Tony Award® nominee for
Grey Gardens (Best Musical 2007). Other credits include
Bridge & Tunnel (2006 Special Tony Award®),
Bad Dates at The
Laguna Playhouse (directed by
Judith Ivey), and
Palm Beach at The
La Jolla Playhouse (directed by
Des McAnuff). In 2001 Alden produced B
at Boy: The Musical at the Union Square Theater in New York (2001
Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical, and Drama Desk-nominee), which went on to a West End run at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London. His other stage credits include the Off-Broadway production of
Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell, and
Save it for the Stage: The Life of Reilly, written and starring Tony Award® -winner
Charles Nelson Reilly. Mr. Alden has also enjoyed great success as a film producer, having produced the award winning
UnZipped (1995),
The Hours (2002) starring
Nicole Kidman, and under his own production banner, the hit comedy
Kissing Jessica Stein (2001).
Michael Alden Productions is in development on the romantic comedy film
At Long Last Love directed by
Jerry Zaks. For the stage, Mr. Alden is preparing the Broadway premiere of
Palm Beach directed by
Des McAnuff, and Geraldine Aaron’s London hit,
My Brilliant Divorce directed by
Jerry Zaks.
