Robert Lopez and
Jeff Marx, who won a Best Original Score Tony last year for co-writing
Avenue Q, will host
Avenue Q Swings! at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Monday, June 27th at 7:30pm.
Billy Porter,
Billy Stritch, Toxic Audio,
Jason Robert Brown,
Marc Shaiman and Sherie René Scott have been signed as some of the stars of the concert, with more to be announced shortly.
Two 50 year-old Steinway grand
pianos at the Greenwich House Music School will be replaced with proceeds from the one-night-only performance, which will put
Avenue Q songs through a number of new jazz, classical and other arrangements. Mary Ann McSweeney, who plays bass for
Avenue Q and is also a composer/arranger, will provide musical direction for the show.
Lopez studied piano at the Greenwich House for 15 years, and even wrote much of
Avenue Q's score with Marx at the school. The R-rated puppet musical would open on July 31st 2003 at the Golden Theatre to win three Tonys--the triple crown of Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book (Jeffy Whitty).
John Tartaglia,
Stephanie D'Abruzzo,
Rick Lyon,
Ann Harada and
Jennifer Barnhart were among the original cast members of the show.
Porter's Broadway credits include
Miss Saigon, Five Guys Named Moe, Grease, Smokey Joe's Cafe, and the Actor's Benefit concerts of
Dreamgirls and
Hair; his CD
Ghetto Superstar was recently released on Sh-K-Boom Records. Pianist-singer-composer Stritch has worked with
Liza Minnelli as her producer and arranger; albums include an eponymous one,
Jazz Live, Waters of March and
In Your Dreams (on which he collaborated with
Christine Ebersole). Toxic Audio's CDs include
Toxic Audio, Chemistry and
Word of Mouth. Brown is the composer-lyricist of
Songs for a New World, Parade and
The Last 5 Years; he is also an arranger, orchestrator and conductor.
Shaiman wrote and arranged the music for
Hairspray, and collaborated on its lyrics with
Scott Wittman; he has also written songs for films. Scott is Tony nominated for her current role in
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and has also starred in
Grease, Rent, Aida and
The Last 5 Years.
Tickets to
Avenue Q Swings! range from $75 to $250, with the $250 tickets gaining the buyer access to a special post-show reception with the cast. Tickets are available through Ticket Central beginning June 1, 2005--call 212-279-4200. The Lucille Lortel Theatre is located at 121 Christopher Street.
For more information on the Greenwich House,
click here.
For more i212-279-4200
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