Martha Plimpton, Rebecca Luker et al. Set for Lincoln Center's 'American Songbook' Series this Season

Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook returns on January 13th for its twelfth season celebrating the diversity of American popular song. For 16 nights of pop, folk, cabaret, country, rock, and show tunes, the series will explore the best of the golden age of musical standards through to today's most dynamic contemporary songwriting.

The 2010 season opens with rock's gritty queen, Marianne Faithfull who will perform songs from her four decade-long career as well as Brecht/Kurt Weill compositions. On the 16th Songbook will feature an opportunity to hear the acclaimed stage actress Martha Plimpton make her solo concert debut. Although her chops as a dramatic actress are unquestioned, it was her recent performance in Pal Joey that established her as a musical star as well. On January 17th David Hidalgo and Louie Perez, two of the founding members of the band Los Lobos, will explore their four decades of writing and performing songs that are some of the best in Latin roots-rock. Broadway songstress Rebecca Luker, originally scheduled to perform on January 14th, has postponed her show until March 2nd.

American Songbook will be 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 beginning November 1st 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. 

Lincoln Center's American Songbook 2010 Season Week One - January 13-16, 2010 The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010, 8:30 pm: Marianne FaithfulL has a four-decade career covering rock's greatest era. She started singing sweet pop in the 1960s with a voice that matched. Her well-documented professional and personal involvements with the various members of the Rolling Stones brought her quickly into darker territory, and her addictions changed her voice into a smoky instrument layered with life and pain. Faithfull has performed standards, country, Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht and has recorded 21 albums, including her astounding 1979 comeback, Broken English. She is currently touring for her latest, Easy Come, Easy Go, produced by the great Hal Willner, who also produced her 1987 hit, Strange Weather.

Friday, January 15, 2010, 8:30 pm: DAVID HIDALGO & LOUIE PEREZ of LOS LOBOS: An Evening of Storytelling and Songs With nearly forty years of songwriting and performing under their belts, Hidalgo and Perez have a lot to say and even more to sing about. From their high school days in East L.A. to their continuing participation in Los Lobos, they have written great songs that have become part of the American roots rock repertoire. With 18 albums and three Grammy awards to their credit, Los Lobos are still successfully touring and recording. Hidalgo and Perez will perform some of their favorite songs and discuss their collaborative creative process, the influences on their music and the enduring challenge of writing and performing.

Saturday, January 16, 2010, 8:30 and 10:30 pm: Martha Plimpton SINGS? Three-time Tony and Emmy nominee Martha Plimpton has astonished audiences with her limitless range as an actress. In the past four years, Plimpton has starred in Shakespeare's Cymbeline (Lincoln Center), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Public), Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia (Lincoln Center), Top Girls (Manhattan Theatre Club), Pal Joey ( Roundabout) and is a respected member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble. Plimpton has appeared in more than 30 films including The Goonies, Mosquito Coast, Running on Empty, Beautiful Girls, Parenthood and 200 Cigarettes. Her recent television appearances include Law & Order: SVU, Grey's Anatomy and The Good Wife, as well as co-starring in the upcoming HBO series How to Make it in America. Martha's role in Pal Joey put her on everyone's list of great musical performers, and she has a club act that is wry, delightful and brimming with interesting musical choices

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.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of superb artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. As a presenter of over 400 events annually, LCPA's programs include American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, and the Mostly Mozart Festival and Live From Lincoln Center.

LINCOLN CENTER PRESENTS AMERICAN SONGBOOK 2010
At The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall
Broadway at 60th Street

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Marianne Faithfull
Tickets: $45, 65, 80, 95

Friday, January 15, 2010 at 8:30 pm
David Hidalgo & Louie Perez of Los Lobos: An Evening of Storytelling and Songs
Tickets: $45, 65, 80, 95

Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 8:30 and 10:30 pm
Martha Plimpton Sings?
Tickets: $40, 55, 70, 85