Lindsay Mendez, Julia Murney & More Will Pay Tribute to Ethel Merman as Part of Lyrics & Lyricists

From Momma Rose to Annie Oakley to Reno Sweeney, nobody belted the big roles like Ethel Merman, who never had a flop in over three decades encompassing Broadway's Golden Age. George Gershwin told her never to take voice lessons, and he and fellow scribes from Berlin to Porter worshipped Merman as a muse. Tony Award-winning music director Ted Sperling pays tribute to the star and the songs she inspired in Everything's Coming Up Ethel: The Ethel Merman Songbook.

"Ethel Merman inspired Broadway's best songwriters to write for her unique talent with everything from torch songs to comedy, and she had an amazing instinct for what would be successful," comments Ted Sperling. "We're interpreting this material - from well-known hits to a few hidden treasures - presenting the songs with new arrangements that will let us hear them with fresh ears. And you'll hear some great stories, since everyone has a Merman story!"

The blue-chip Broadway cast of vocalists includes Lindsay Mendez (Wicked); Julia Murney (Wicked); Emily Skinner (Side Show); Clarke Thorell (Hairspray); and NaTasha Yvette Williams (The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess).

For information on the creative team and cast, please click here.

Since 1970, Lyrics & Lyricists, the pioneering American Songbook series, and one of 92Y's signature series, has celebrated the work of songwriters like Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Dorothy Fields, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Sheldon Harnick, and David Zippel with champions and interpreters of the American Songbook including Rob Fisher, Kathleen Marshall, Ted Chapin, Mark Lamos, and Billy Stritch. Lyrics & Lyricists receives underwriting support from Gilda and Henry Block; Kenneth Kolker z"l; The Henry Nias Foundation, courtesy of Dr. Stanley Edelman; The Edythe Kenner Foundation; and the Hite Foundation, Inc.