Stritch, Naughton, Ziemba and More Pay Tribute to Johnny Mercer, 11/18

On what would have been Johnny Mercer's 100th birthday - November 18, 2009 - and to celebrate the 40th Anniversary season of the 92nd Street Y's American Songbook series, Lyrics & Lyricists, 92Y presents a one-night-only, all-star performance of I Remember You: A Lyrics & Lyricists Centennial Tribute to Johnny Mercer.

L&L artistic director Deborah Grace Winer teams up with Robert Kimball as co-artistic directors; Kimball's forthcoming volume, Johnny Mercer's Complete Lyrics, is slated for release by Knopf on October 20. The sold-out show features performances by Karen Akers, Lucie Arnaz, Anna Bergman, Klea Blackhurst, Barbara Carroll, Eric Comstock, Barbara Fasano, Jason Graae, La Tanya Hall, LOSTON HARRIS, SYLVIA MCNAIR, James Naughton, Steve Ross, DARYL SHERMAN, Billy Stritch, KT Sullivan, MARLENE VERPLANCK, Paula West, Julie Wilson and Karen Ziemba, with Sheldon Harnick as one of the evening's speakers.

Savannah, Georgia native Johnny Mercer was born on November 18, 1909, and died on June 25, 1976. He wrote more than 1500 songs and six Broadway shows in a career that spanned nearly fifty years. His work is a catalog of American classics, including "Moon River;" "Hooray for Hollywood;" "That Old Black Magic;" "Jeepers, Creepers;" "Fools Rush In;" "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road);" "Accentuate the Positive;" "Days of Wine and Roses" "Skylark;" "Dream;" "Something's Gotta Give;" "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening;" "Out of this World;" and "Autumn Leaves." His work appeared in over 90 films, and he was nominated for eighteen Academy Awards, winning four. In addition to his songwriting, he wrote six Broadway shows, he was himself a top radio personality and recording artist. He also co-founded Capitol Records and nurtured the talents of musical legends such as Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole.

This L&L tribute to Mercer celebrates not only his birthday, but his appearance during the inaugural season of L&L on March 14, 1971, when he and L&L founder Maurice Levine chatted on stage at the Y about the then-overlooked art and craft of writing lyrics. That performance was recorded and is available on CD as An Evening with Johnny Mercer.

Since that first season, Lyrics & Lyricists has featured every great Broadway and Hollywood lyricist and composer, including Betty Comden and Adolph Green, E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, Stephen Sondheim, Dorothy Fields, Alan Jay Lerner and many more. L&L paved the way for more recent series like Lincoln Center's American Songbook, Carnegie Hall's American Popular Song Celebration and City Center's Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert. Since 2004, the 92nd Street Y has been inviting accomplished champions of the repertoire - artists like Rob Fisher, Sheldon Harnick, Robert Kimball and Ted Sperling - as well as active lyricists like Martin Charnin and David Zippel - to present original programs in the Lyrics & Lyricists tradition: topflight concerts celebrating the American Songbook - that also inform - with a particular focus on lyrics. Deborah Grace Winer became artistic director of the overall series in 2008.

The Lyrics & Lyricists series is partially underwritten by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation. The November 18 performance of "I Remember You: A Lyrics & Lyricists Centennial Tribute to Johnny Mercer" is underwritten by The Henry Nias Foundation, courtesy of Dr. Stanley Edelman.

Founded in 1874 by a group of visionary Jewish leaders, the 92nd Street Y has grown into a wide-ranging cultural, educational and community center serving people of all ages, races, faiths and backgrounds - about 300,000 people each year.

Since launching its concert series in 1934, what is now the 92nd Street Y Tisch Center for the Arts has presented acclaimed classical musicians and exciting newcomers. The Center is also home to 92Y's legendary American songbook series, Lyrics & Lyricists, and to 92Y's summer Jazz in July festival, with artistic director Bill Charlap. The Tisch Center's literary program, the Unterberg Poetry Center, presents the country's oldest and arguably most illustrious reading series as well as an extensive writing program that gives working adults access to teachers who are published authors - a rarity outside M.F.A. programs. The 92nd Street Y Tisch Center for the Arts is endowed through the generosity of the Joan and Preston Robert Tisch family.

For more information, visit www.92Y.org.

 

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