Callaway, Allen, Graae et al. Honor Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty at Benefit Concert

Tony nominated actresses Liz Callaway and Jonelle Allen team up with Jason Graae, Terron Brooks, Kamilah Martin and talented young performers from Orange County's Musical Theatre University to honor Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty for both their contributions to musical theatre and their support of emerging musical theatre writers and artists at a benefit concert on Sunday, February 28 at a private, oceanfront estate in Dana Point, California.

The musical evening will feature songs from Ragtime, Suessical, Once On This Island, Lucky Stiff, A Man of No Importance, My Favorite Year and more. All proceeds from the concert will support the construction of the new "South Orange County Performing Arts Center", a state of the art performing and visual arts venue which will be located on the campus of Dana Hills High School, home of The South Orange County School of the Arts (SOCSA). The new theatre will offer a home to dozens of regional professional and non-professional performing arts organizations.

The concert is under the direction of David Green, Founder and Director of Musical Theatre University, an intensive training ground for talented young performers with aspirations for careers on Broadway. Mr. Green's alumni include Susan Egan, Stephanie J. Block, Matthew Morrison, Anneliese vanDerPol, Krysta Rodriguez, Lindsay Mendez and more.

Also honored that evening will be Lee Childress who, along with her husband John, founded the MACY Awards in 1970 to honor outstanding high school musical theatre programs, teachers and talented high school performers in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The MACY Awards were the first such recognition program in the nation to honor high school musical theatre.

Liz Callaway was Tony Nominated for her performance in Baby. Other Broadway credits include Cats, Merrily We Roll Along, Miss Saigon and The Three Muskateers. She recorded the Academy Award nominated song "Journey To The Past" for the animated feature "Anastasia". Jonelle Allen was Tony-nominated for her performance in "Two Gentlemen Of Verona" for which she received The New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Outer Drama Critics Circle Awards. Other Broadway Credits include Finian's Rainbow, the original Off-Broadway cast of Hair and George M. Jason Graae has appeared on Broadway in A Grand Night For Singing, Falsettos, Stardust and Snoopy and appeared as "Houdini" in the Los Angeles production of Ragtime. Kamilah Martin appeared on Broadway in Rent and was an original "Dynamite" in Hairspray. She has spent the last three years as a "Harlette" with Bette Midler. Terron Brooks appeared on Broadway in The Lion King and Hairspray and starred as "Eddie Kendricks" in the NBC-TV telefilm "The Temptations".

The Ahrens and Flaherty songbook includes Ragtime, for which they received the Tony Award for Best Score and the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical, as well as two Grammy nominations; Once On This Island which received eight Tony nominations including Best Musical, Book and Score; Grammy-nominated Suessical; and the Twentieth Century Fox animated feature Anastasia, for which they received two Academy Award and two Golden Globe nominations.

For information about the event visit www.musicaltheatreuniversity.com or www.socsarts.org.

 

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