Lincoln Center to Welcome Lindsay Mendez and Marco Paguia in AMERICAN SONGBOOK IN THE PENTHOUSE, 3/29-30

Now in its 15th season, Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook celebrates the best in American singing and songwriting with a new chapter in the Songbook story: "American Songbook in the Penthouse," a series of weekend-only performances by performers and composers presented in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, an intimate yet elegant venue that brings artists closer to the audience in a cabaret-style setting. "American Songbook in the Penthouse" embraces adventuresome performers and celebrates composers and lyricists, both newer and veteran. With a seating capacity of just 225, the Kaplan Penthouse allows acoustic performers to be heard the way they intend - near to the audience and without elaborate amplification. The size of the space also allows performers to interact with their audience to make them an integral part of their performance, something difficult to do in a larger, more formal venue.

The first weekend of Kaplan Penthouse performances the fifth week of American Songbook 2013 runs March 29-30. March 29th belongs to Lindsay Mendez and Marco Paguia, she is the star of the acclaimed off-Broadway musical Dogfight and he is the Tony Award-winning music director of Peter and the Starcatcher. They will present an evening of popular songs with a jazz trio. Saturday, March 30th brings "kamikaze cabaret" artist Meow Meow to the Kaplan Penthouse stage. Part singer, part performance artist, part comedienne, Meow Meow puts the purr in performance.

Complimentary glasses of wine and bottled water will be served to audience members, who will be seated at cocktail tables. The Kaplan Penthouse was the site for American Songbook shows before the series moved to The Allen Room in 2005, and like The Allen Room it has stunning city views.

TICKETS can be purchased online at Lincoln Center's website www.AmericanSongbook.org, via CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, at the Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, or at the Frederick P. Rose Hall Box Office. For more information, visit AmericanSongbook.org.

Lincoln Center's American Songbook 2013 Season
Week Five: March 29 - 30, 2013

"American Songbook in the Penthouse"
Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 165 West 65th Street

Friday, March 29, 2013, 8:00 pm Lindsay Mendez & Marco Paguia
Broadway rising star Lindsay Mendez and pianist & music director Marco Paguia will join together to perform jazz, pop, soul and contemporary songs by singers and songwriters who inspire them. Ms. Mendez appeared in many notable shows including the revival of Godspell, Everyday Rapture, and the Broadway revival of Grease, but it was her recent turn in Dogfight that set the theater world talking. Marco Paguia is the music director of the Tony-winning Broadway production of Peter and the Starcatcher and also music directed Broadway's Everyday Rapture. Through their collaboration, Mr. Paguia will showcase Ms. Mendez's vocal versatility as she sings a more jazz-inflected repertoire.
Tickets start at $25

Saturday, March 30, 2013, 8:00 pm Meow Meow
with Lance Horne, musical director
"Cabaret diva of the highest order" (New York Post), international sensation Meow Meow entertains audiences with her unique brand of "kamikaze cabaret" and outré performance art exotica with a personality that walks the line between devastating dominatrix and damsel in distress. Both hilarious and poignant, the multi-award winning performer is as at home in the smoky bars of Berlin as on London's West End stages and in the Sydney Opera House, and from punk cabaret bands to the London Philharmonic. Meow Meow now adds Lincoln Center as another notch on her (rather glittering) performance belt.
Tickets start at $25

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 Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, Keren Ann, Kate Baldwin, Laura Benanti, Andy Bey, Stephanie Blythe, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jonatha Brooke, Betty Buckley, Ann Hampton Callaway, Calexico, Bill Callahan, Liz Callaway, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Neko Case, Rosanne Cash, Michael Cerveris, Kristin Chenoweth, Peter Cincotti, Victoria Clark, Barbara Cook, Eric Comstock, Gavin Creel, Rodney Crowell, Alan Cumming, Michael Daves, Dean & Britta, Mos Def, Dirty Projectors, John Doe, Christine Ebersole, Kurt Elling, Raúl Esparza, Marianne Faithfull, Sutton Foster, The Fountains of Wayne, Bebel Gilberto, Mary Cleere Haran, Darius de Haas, Joe Henry, Fred Hersch, Jane Krakowski, Leslie Kritzer, Judy Kuhn, LaChanze, k.d. lang, Bettye LaVette, Amos Lee, Patti Loveless, The Low Anthem, Rebecca Luker, Patti LuPone, Nellie McKay, Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley, Del McCoury, Audra McDonald, Lori McKenna, Nellie McKay, Alan Menken, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jane Monheit, Thurston Moore, Megan Mullally, Alexi Murdoch, Kelli O'Hara, Joan Osborne, Ozomatli, Tonya Pinkins, John Pizzarelli, Martha Plimpton, Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Steve Ross, Stephin Merritt with The Magnetic Fields, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nico Muhly, Stephen Oremus, Elaine Paige, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Anika Noni Rose, Jimmy Scott, Patti Smith, Todd Snider, JD Souther, Sufjan Stevens, Stew, Billy Stritch, Elaine Stritch, St. Vincent, Paulo Szot, They Might Be Giants, Chris Thile, tUnE-yArDs, Leslie Uggams, Suzanne Vega, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, Deborah Voigt, Lillias White, Dar Williams, Shara Worden, 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, William Finn, Michael Friedman, Gabriel Kahane, Michael John LaChiusa, Cy Coleman, George and Ira Gershwin, Ricky Ian Gordon, Adam Guettel, David Hidalgo and Louie Pérez, Lance Horne, Frank Loesser, Alan Menken, Cole Porter, Andy Razaf, Richard Rodgers, Arthur Schwartz, Duncan Sheik, Stephen Sondheim, Billy Strayhorn, Charles Strouse, Jule Styne, Jeanine Tesori, Jimmy Van Heusen, and David Zippel.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter of more than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, LCPA offers 15 series, festivals, and programs including American Songbook, Avery Fisher Artist Program, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Books, Lincoln Center Dialogue, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project, Midsummer Night Swing, Martin E. Segal Awards, Meet the Artist, Mostly Mozart Festival, Target Free Thursdays, and the White Light Festival, as well as the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS. As manager of the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln Center complex and the 11 resident organizations. In addition, LCPA led a $1.2 billion campus renovation, completed in October 2012.