GEORGE M. COHAN: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION A New 3-CD Set, Benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

"George M. Cohan: The Ultimate Collection"-- a specially priced three-CD set celebrating the father of the modern Broadway musical--is being released on July 4th, which Cohan always claimed as his birthday. Ten percent of all revenues will go Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The set may be ordered here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374790699068.

Produced by ASCAP Award-winner Chip Deffaa, a noted authority on Cohan (and the author of both the Off-Broadway show "George M. Cohan Tonight!" and its film adaptation), the set celebrates "the Man Who Owns Broadway," as Cohan was known in his day.

"No one in theatrical history ever did as many things as well as Cohan," Deffaa says. "He wrote book, music, and lyrics for hit Broadway shows that he starred in, directed, choreographed, and produced or co-produced. He gave Broadway its beat, its pace, its snap. In the early 20th Century, Cohan made America--not Europe--the pace-setter for musical theater. With fresh, infectious songs like 'I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy,' 'You're a Grand Old Flag,' and 'Give My Regards to Broadway,' he remade the American songbook.

"Every year around the Fourth of July, TCM broadcasts 'Yankee Doodle Dandy,' the film about Cohan. It's a great picture--my all-time favorite," Deffaa says. "But there was a lot more to Cohan than any one film could ever contain. I've produced various albums celebrating Cohan--and hope to produce more--because all of us who love Broadway are in his debt. His contemporaries recognized his importance. Master songwriter Irving Berlin kept a portrait of Cohan in his office all of his life; and after Cohan's death, it was Berlin who launched the drive to get a statue of Cohan placed in Times Square. In time, Oscar Hammerstein took over the leadership of that drive, which got us the the statue of Cohan that we see today on Broadway at 46th Street. Cohan was an American institution--the first member of his profession ever honored with a Congressional Medal, which President Franklin Roosevelt presented to him in 1940.

"This set is officially being released on July 4th because Cohan always claimed that as his birthday. One biographer claims Cohan was actually born on July 3rd. Either way, it's good to have this set out in time for the Fourth of July. And Cohan was always so so extraordinarily charitable personally--and donated his services in countless benefit performances in his time--we're honoring his legacy by releasing this specially priced set as a benefit for a favorite Broadway charity of today."

The first CD, "George M. Cohan: Rare Performances Curated by Chip Deffaa," features performances by Cohan himself singing his own songs, reflecting on his fabulous career, and even rehearsing one of his plays. This CD also includes some rare early performances of Cohan's songs by his contemporaries--everyone from Nora Bayes to Cohan's first wife, Ethel Levey!

The second CD in the set is the original cast album for Deffaa's show, "The George M. Cohan Revue" (which is published and licensed by Samuel French Inc. / Concord Theatricals).

The third CD in the set is "The George M. Cohan Songbook," with artists from today's Broadway and cabaret communities doing a deep dive into the Cohan songbook, offering dozens of Cohan songs--not just the songs that everyone knows, but rarities found nowhere else, including some never-before-recorded Cohan songs.

The singers heard on the second and third album include Jon Peterson (award-winning star of both the stage play and the film "George M. Cohan Tonight!"), Seth Sikes, Stephen Bogardus, Molly Ryan, Eric William Morris, Joan Jaffe, Hal Blankenship, Dawn Swearingen, Michael Townsend Wright, David Herzog, Jed Peterson, Alec Deland, Bobby Belfry, Katherine Paulsen, David Warren, Cathy Remmert, Lynelle Johnson Steffan, and Chip Deffaa, with musical direction by Richard Danley, Sterling Price-McKinney, Michael Lavine.

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