Lincoln Center's 'American Songbook' Features Luker, Rivera et al. in March

Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook finishes up its twelfth season celebrating the diversity of American popular song with a final week of different and dazzling concerts. For 16 nights of pop, folk, cabaret, country, rock, and show tunes, the series explored the best of the golden age of musical standards through to today's most dynamic contemporary songwriting.

Week Four will bring to the stage gifted interpreters of song, including Broadway's reigning lyric soprano Rebecca Luker (above left), on March 2nd. Currently starring in Mary Poppins, Luker made her solo concert debut with American Songbook in 2005, and her new show coincides with the release of a new CD, Greenwich Time. The intriguing new singer/composer Gabriel Kahane (above center) brings his contemporary compositions and deft baritone to the Allen Room on March 3rd. On March 4th another relatively new voice, Todd Snider, brings his touching folk melodies and dry humor to the Songbook series. One of the hottest composers on the theater scene - Jeanine Tesori ("Shrek The Musical" and "Caroline, or Change") will perform an evening of her music along with special guests. The series will close with an evening with one of Broadway's most enduring divas, the fabulous Chita Rivera (above right).

American Songbook is presented in the spectacular Allen Room of Frederick P. Rose Hall. The Allen Room possesses one of New York's greatest settings - a stunning vista of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline that provides an evocative backdrop for the performers.

Tickets can be purchased online at Lincoln Center's website AmericanSongbook.org, via CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, or at the Frederick P. Rose Hall Box Office.

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Lincoln Center's American Songbook Week Four
March 2 - 6, 2010; The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street

Tuesday, March 2, 2010, 8:30 pm: Rebecca Luker Currently the star of Mary Poppins, for which she was nominated for Tony and Outer Critics Circle Awards, Luker has starred in Nine, The Sound of Music, Phantom of the Opera, Music Man, Showboat, and The Secret Garden. Her Songbook show coincides with the release of a new CD entitled Greenwich Time. Her pure, lyric soprano and sweet vulnerability have made her a favorite of Broadway directors and audiences alike, and her career has expanded to include opera, television, film and a dizzying number of concert dates with the country's leading symphony orchestras. Luker has recorded more then 20 CDs, from Broadway cast albums to celebrations of the songs of Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Lerner and Lowe, Stephen Sondheim, and others.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010, 8:30 pm: Gabriel Kahane Composer, singer and pianist Kahane writes and performs music that bridges the classical, pop and theatrical worlds. One hears folk song strumming and string quartets, pop piano and brass chorales in his self-titled debut album. The Public Theater's inaugural Musical Theater Fellow, Kahane is currently writing a musical called February House, and his piano piece, Django: Tiny Variations on a Big Dog was premiered by his father, classical pianist Jeffery Kahane, at Alice Tully Hall. The most resonant work thus far in his short, impressive career is his song cycle, Craigslistlieder, sung in his mesmerizing baritone.

Thursday, March 4, 2010, 8:30 pm: TODD SNIDER Known for the wry humor in his work, Snider is an Americana singer/songwriter whose lyrics are sad and funny, vulnerable and entertaining, all at the same time. His musicianship is the equal to his top-shelf lyrics, as he plays piano, harmonica, harp and stellar guitar in addition to vocals. On the music scene since his debut CD in 1994, Snider's latest release, produced by veteran producer Don Was, is entitled The Excitement Plan. Critics say that it shows Snider to be "the sharpest and funniest protest singer working today."

Friday, March 5, 2010, 8:30 pm: Jeanine Tesori Four of Tesori's scores for Broadway shows have been nominated for Tony Awards: Thoroughly Modern Millie, Caroline, or Change (in a formative collaboration with Tony Kushner), Twelfth Night (at Lincoln Center Theater) and Shrek The Musical. She received the Olivier award for Caroline, or Change in London, and she has received Drama Desk and Obie awards in addition to being cited by ASCAP as being "the first woman composer to have two musicals currently running on Broadway." Tesori also writes for films, including the scores for Nights in Rodanthe, Winds of Change, and Show Business. Featured performers in Tesori's Songbook show include the great Chuck Cooper, Daniel Breaker, and Broadway Inspirational Voices. Of her music Tesori has said she writes music to illustrate the story, the words. "I need something to illuminate"- indeed.

Saturday, March 6, 2010, 8:30 and 10:30 pm: Chita Rivera One of the greatest entertainers of our time, the legendary Broadway star has won two Tony Awards - for Kiss of The Spider Woman in 1993 and The Rink in 1984, and received seven additional nominations for her roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago, Bring Back Birdie, Merlin, Jerry's Girls, Nine and Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life. Rivera started out as a ballet dancer and was chosen by George Balanchine to study at the School of American Ballet. A chance audition with a friend got her a part in the chorus of Call Me Madam and her theater career was born. But it was her electric performance as Anita in the original Broadway production of West Side Story in 1957 that made history, and she has continued to be the toast of Broadway ever since. The first Hispanic to be awarded a Kennedy Center Honor (2002), in 2009 she was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.

Since it was launched in 1998, American Songbook has been dedicated to celebrating the extraordinary achievements of the popular American songwriter from the turn of the 20th century to the present day. Spanning all styles and genres from Tin Pan Alley and Broadway to the eclecticism of today's songwriters working in pop, cabaret, rock, folk and country, American Songbook traces the history and charts the course of the American song from its past and current forms to its future direction.

Artists who have appeared on the American Songbook series include Andy Bey, Betty Buckley, Ann Hampton Callaway, Calexico, Liz Callaway, Neko Case, Rosanne Cash, Michael Cerveris, Kristin Chenoweth, Peter Cincotti, Eric Comstock, Victoria Clark, Rodney Crowell, Alan Cumming, Dean & Britta, Mos Def, Christine Ebersole, Kurt Elling, Sutton Foster, Mary Cleere Haran, Darius de Haas, Joe Henry, Fred Hersch, Jane Krakowski, Judy Kuhn, LaChanze, k.d. lang, Bettye Lavette, Amos Lee, Patti Loveless, Rebecca Luker, Patti LuPone, Nellie McKay, Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley, Del McCoury, Audra McDonald, Lori McKenna, Alan Menken, Jane Monheit, Megan Mullally, Kelli O'Hara, Tonya Pinkins, John Pizzarelli, Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Steve Ross, Stephin Merritt with The Magnetic Fields, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nico Muhly, Bernadette Peters, Jimmy Scott, Patti Smith, Sufjan Stevens, Stew, Billy Stritch, Elaine Stritch, Paulo Szot, The Fountains of Wayne, They Might Be Giants, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, Deborah Voigt, Lillias White, Dar Williams, Lizz Wright, David Yazbek and John Lloyd Young. The series has also presented concerts highlighting the music of composers and lyricists such as Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Harold Arlen, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Leonard Bernstein, Jason Robert Brown, William Bolcom and Arnold Weinstein, John Bucchino, Michael John LaChiusa, Cy Coleman, Ricky Ian Gordon, Adam Guettel, Frank Loesser, Alan Menken, Cole Porter, Andy Razaf, Richard Rodgers, Arthur Schwartz, Duncan Sheik, Stephen Sondheim, Billy Strayhorn, Charles Strouse, Jule Styne, Jimmy Van Heusen, and David Zippel.