Photo Flash: Ebersole and Stritch at Birdland

Stephanie J. Block (9 to 5) and lyricist David Zippel (Pamela's First Musical) joined the throngs at Birdland to kick off the holiday season with Christine Ebersole and Billy Stritch's opening night.  The duo will run through Saturday night, with shows at 8:30 and 11pm.

Christine Ebersole and Billy Stritch return to their musical home to perform a special seasonal showcase entitled Winter Wonderland, featuring classic holiday & wintertime standards including "White Christmas," "All I Want For Christmas Is You" andKay Thompson's "The Holiday Season," mixed with more-recent favorites. Additionally, the duo will perform songs from her recenltly-released CD, "Sunday In New York."

Christine Ebersole last graced Broadway stages with her tour-de-force dual-role performance as both 'Little' Edie Beale and Edith Bouvier Beale in the critically-acclaimed musical Grey Gardens, for which she won universal critical raves and the 2007 Tony Award® for Best Actress in a Musical, her second in this category. Ben Brantley of The New York Times called it, "Possibly the greatest performance I've ever seen in a musical."

In addition to her reputation as one of the leading ladies of the modern stage, she has also taken Hollywood by storm, in feature films including classics like Amadeus and Tootsie, and as a cast member of the 1981-82 season of NBC's Saturday Night Live.

One of the premier pianists and singers on the New York jazz and cabaret scene, he made his Broadway debut in the 2001 Tony®-winning revival of 42nd Street and continues to dazzle audiences in nightclubs and concert halls around the world. A "musician with chameleon-like skills" who "sings and plays the piano with real drive" (The New York Times), Stritch is also a gifted composer, who continues a longtime association with Liza Minnelli, as a producer and arranger of her work. He will be performing onstage in the upcoming Liza's at the Palace on Broadway, opening December 2nd.

Remaining performance times are Friday, November 28 & Saturday, November 29 at both 8:30pm and 11:00pm

Birdland, 315 West 44th Street (between 8th & 9th Aves), New York City

Created by acclaimed performer, writer, producer & presenter Jim Caruso, BROADWAY AT BIRDLAND is a weekly concert series on Sunday and Monday evenings, showcasing legendary Broadway performers and composers, as well as up-and-coming musical theater talents. Started as a companion piece to the hugely popular and hilarious weekly impromptu variety show Jim Caruso's Cast Party (which follows Mondays at 9:30pm). BROADWAY AT BIRDLAND has recently hosted such diverse performers asChita Rivera, Jeff Daniels and Lucie Arnaz.

Billy Stritch, Christine Ebersole, Jim Caruso, Stephanie J. Block and David Zippel

Stephanie J. Block and Billy Stritch