Michael Feinstein Returns To Bay Street Theater For Special Benefit Show 6/22

Considered this generation's Frank Sinatra, singer Michael Feinstein returns to Bay Street Theatre for a special benefit performance on Monday, June 22 at 8pm. This five-time Grammy nominee is known as one of the premier interpreters of American popular song.

Feinstein has dedicated his career to protecting and promoting the work of the great American songsmiths, ranging from Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin, to lesser-known song writers. His latest CD, The Sinatra Project, celebrates the music of "old blue eyes" with a modern twist. He has performed in venues from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl, as well as college campuses and nightclubs throughout the world. He hosted and produced The Great American Songbook, a PBS special and DVD set that traces the history of popular music in the United States, and is currently producing a new PBS television series, "Michael Feinstein: Man on a Mission," that will follow his discovery of songs from around the world.

This year marks Feinstein's 25th anniversary as a professional performer. He started playing piano by ear at the age of five. As a teenager, he played at weddings in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. After graduating from high school he worked at various piano lounges before moving to Los Angeles at the age of 20. It was there that he was introduced to Ira Gershwin in 1977, and became his assistant for the next six years. During that time, he was granted unprecedented access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, which he has since performed and recorded.

Feinstein's talents go far beyond his voice. He is designing a new piano for Steinway and will serve as the new artistic director of the Carmel Performing Arts Center in Indiana. Feinstein was also recently elected to the Library of Congress' National Sound Recording Advisory Board to preserve America's musical heritage.

Tickets to Michael Feinstein's benefit performance at Bay Street are $100 and will help to support The Roddy McDowall Production Fund, proceeds of which are used to enhance Bay Street's productions on the Elaine Steinbeck Stage. Tickets can be purchased through www.baystreet.org or by calling the Bay Street Theatre Box Office at 631-725-9500, open daily 11am-6pm. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Box Office located on the Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, NY.

Bay Street Theatre is a not-for-profit institution, dedicated to presenting new, classic and contemporary works of the highest quality, which challenge as well as entertain, speak to the diversity of the community and champion the human spirit. Bay Street's commitment extends to educational programs for all ages to foster the continued value of theatre as a vital art form for future generations.