Tom Toce Releases SONGWRITER IN THE HOUSE

Songwriter, two-time Jeopardy! Champion and puzzle creator, Tom Toce, has released his second recording, Songwriter in the House, on Retrograde Music.

Songwriter in the House is a collection of original songs by Toce, recorded in studio in the summer and fall of 2016. It closely follows the format of his popular live shows of the same name, performed in 2015 and 2016 at the Metropolitan Room in New York City. Toce sings his own songs here, with genres including pop, folk, and country.

The recording features 12 tracks, including two collaborations: "Younger Than My Years," by Tom Toce and Jeep Rosenberg and "More and More" with music by Joe Mulroy and lyrics by Tom Toce.

Toce is New York City-based, and prolific in the musical theater and cabaret genres as both a songwriter and producer. Some of his popular shows include Harvard-Yale Cantata - a competition between Harvard and Yale performers and songwriters - which played to great acclaim at Feinstein's/54 Below in 2015 and 2016, and Mr. Victor's Cabaret for Hipsters: Songs of the 1990s, a show he produced and directed in 2015 at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. In addition, Toce has produced several shows at Urban Stages for their annual festival, Winter Rhythms, including a reading of his musical A Charles Dickens Christmas, with lyrics by Toce set to music by Douglas J. Cohen, with a book by Bob Scott.

A winner of more than a dozen ASCAP Awards, he was one of 9 songwriters honored by the organization, along with Stephen Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, and John Bucchino, at Andrea Marcovicci's 60th birthday concert at Town Hall in 2009. Tom's song "Shalom, Santa," with music by Douglas J. Cohen, won the 2014 MAC Award for Best Comedy Song. Other MAC nominations include one in 2016 for Male Debut for his show Songwriter in the House, which played at the Metropolitan Room and featured Tom performing his own songs; Best Recording in 2014 for his debut CD, the cast album of Hopelessly in Love (LML) featuring the talents of cabaret stars Carole J. Bufford, Jack Donahue, and Jennifer Sheehan, and another Best Comedy Song nomination in 2013 for "Bye-Bye, Aloha, Yo!," with music by Jeff Lazarus. Tom produced and directed award-winning cabaret artist Marissa Mulder's 2014 solo show, Living Standards, which played to packed houses at the Metropolitan Room and received rave reviews.

A long-time champion of Toce's is cabaret star, Andrea Marcovicci, who recorded two of his songs for her groundbreaking New Words album and has sung several others in her various cabaret shows, including the world premiere of "The Night I Fell in Love With Paris" at her 2011 and final engagement at the legendary Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel.

He has also has written a number of shows for children, including THE BABE AND I (book and lyrics) at the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival, CURIOUS GEORGE (book and lyrics) for Theatreworks USA, and two other Theatreworks USA shows (lyrics) with music by Doug Cohen. An earlier anthology of his songs called Can It Be Love? was presented at the sorely missed Eighty-Eights in Greenwich Village and starred Tovah Feldshuh.

An all around terrific wordsmith, Toce is a two-time Jeopardy! Champion and Jeopardy! Hall of Fame member, whose prowess with words extends beyond songwriting. He creates a cryptic puzzle each month for Contingencies, the national magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. Toce is on the board of the American Popular Song Society as well as Theatreworks USA.

Songwriter in the House is available at all major digital retailers.