Michael Feinstein Working on New Musicals of The Thomas Crown Affair & The Gold Room

Michael Feinstein tells the Hartford Courant today that he's working on two new musicals for the stage, one based on the 1968 film 'The Thomas Crown Affair' and the other 'The Gold Room'.

For 'The Thomas Crown Affair', he's working with Warren Brown on lyrics. The Thomas Crown Affair is a 1968 movie by Norman Jewison starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. A remake was released in 1999 starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo.

The other show, 'The Gold Room' just had a reading in New York starring Victoria Clark and Jonathan Groff and is said to be about The Life of Barbara Hutton. Barbara Woolworth Hutton (November 14, 1912 - May 11, 1979) was an American socialite dubbed by the media as the "Poor Little Rich Girl" because of her troubled life.

Michael Feinstein, one of the premiere interpreters of American popular song, has been a household name since the success of his 1988 one-man Broadway show, Isn't It Romantic. He enjoys an active performance calendar, including major concert halls, symphony orchestras, intimate jazz clubs and college campuses. More than a mere performer, he is nationally recognized for his commitment to the American popular song, both celebrating its art and preserving its legacy for the next generation.

Feinstein is currently co-producing the upcoming biopic of George Gershwin, produced by Oscar winner Marc Platt (American Beauty) and written by Pulitzer Prize winnerDoug Wright (I Am My Own Wife, Grey Gardens). He is also preparing the PBS-TV series, "Michael Feinstein: In Search Of," which discovers treasures of popular music around the world, to start airing in 2010. Michael is designing a new piano for Steinway called "The First Ladies," inspired by the White House piano.

Feinstein will also serve as the Artistic director of the Carmel Performing Arts Center, a $160 million three-theatre performing arts center in Carmel, Indiana which will host an annual international Great American Songbook festival, along with diverse live programming and a museum to house his rare memorabilia and manuscripts. Michael has written the score for two new stage musicals: The Day They Saved Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and The Gold Room, the latter scheduled to open in London's West End.

Michael started playing piano by ear when he was five and, as a teenager, he played at weddings and parties in Columbus, Ohio. After graduating from high school, he worked in local piano lounges for two years, moving to Los Angeles when he was 20. Through the widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant, he was introduced to Ira Gershwin in July 1977. He became his assistant for six years, granting him access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, which he has since performed and recorded. Gershwin's influence provided a solid base upon which Michael has evolved into a captivating performer, composer and arranger of his own original music, and an unparalleled interpreter of music legends such as Irving Berlin,Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer and Duke Ellington.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.