Johnny Mercer News

Fast-Rising Cabaret Stars Will Dazzle Royal Room Fans from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day: Carole J. Bufford, Nicolas King, Jennifer Sheehan, Wayne Hosford & Ariana Savalas The Colony Hotel - which The Palm Beach Post has hailed as "probably the best place for cabaret on the planet" - plans another sizzling, song-filled summer with some really hot and fast-rising performers straight from Manhattan's leading cabarets - several of whom are making their Royal Room debut and other performers who are returning favorites for loyal fans of the Royal Room Supper Club. The Colony Hotel's world famous Royal Room is widely celebrated for presenting "immaculately staged cabaret performances" by well known Grammy- and Tony-winning stars (Conde Nast Traveler, February 2011).

Guest artistic director Mark Waldrop serves as referee in 92nd Street Y's Lyrics & Lyricists'™ Mad Dogs & Educated Fleas: Noel & Cole, A Battle Of Wits, through tonight, May 7. Interpreting the songs of these two master lyricists are vocalists La Tanya Hall, Jeff Harnar, Edward Hibbert, Colleen McHugh and T. Oliver Reid with special guest Harriet Harris.

BrightSide Theatre wraps up their inaugural season with, "My Way: A Tribute to Frank Sinatra" conceived by David Grapes and Todd Olson and book by Todd Olson. Frank Sinatra is the icon of cool - from classic elegance to contemporary "fedora" hipster. "My Way: A Tribute to Frank Sinatra" celebrates the pivotal moments of Sinatra's life which would solidify his legendary status. The show runs from Friday, June 15, 2012 8 p.m. (reception following) at the Theatre at MeileySwallow Hall, North Central College, 31 S. Ellsworth, Naperville, IL 60540 until Sunday, July 1, 2012. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m.

Fast-Rising Cabaret Stars Will Dazzle Royal Room Fans from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day: Carole J. Bufford, Nicolas King, Jennifer Sheehan, Wayne Hosford & Ariana Savalas The Colony Hotel - which The Palm Beach Post has hailed as 'probably the best place for cabaret on the planet' - plans another sizzling, song-filled summer with some really hot and fast-rising performers straight from Manhattan's leading cabarets - several of whom are making their Royal Room debut and other performers who are returning favorites for loyal fans of the Royal Room Supper Club. The Colony Hotel's world famous Royal Room is widely celebrated for presenting 'immaculately staged cabaret performances' by well known Grammy- and Tony-winning stars (Conde Nast Traveler, February 2011).

The Town Hall presents Lea Salonga: The Journey Continues. The Tony and Olivier Award-winning actress and recording artist will perform in concert tonight, Friday, May 4, 2012 at 8pm. Tickets, priced at $55, $50 and $45, are now available via Ticketmaster.com (800-982-2787).

92nd Street Y today announced the 2013 line-up for Lyrics & Lyricists™, 92Y's celebrated American Songbook series. Deborah Grace Winer returns for her fifth season as artistic director of the series, as well as one of the shows. Guest artistic directors leading the individual concerts are Rob Fisher (with host Sheldon Harnick), David Loud, Billy Stritch and Mark Lamos in his L&L debut.

The Johnny Mercer Foundation and the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University will once again produce a weeklong songwriting intensive for emerging songwriters and writing teams, 18-30 led by award-winning master teachers Andrew Lippa, Craig Carnelia and Lari White.

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY will continue its Spring 2012 season with the debut of multi-award winning singer JENNIFER SHEEHAN in her new show "I Know A Place." Sheehan and her trio traverse the vast spectrum of music that was the sensational soundtrack of the '60s. Plus, she shares how younger generations are falling in love with these classic songs just as their parents did. Brimming with songs and stories, "I Know A Place" features music by songwriters such as Burt Bacharach, The Beatles and Antonio Carlos Jobim and songs made famous by Barbra Streisand, Petula Clark, Carole King and more. It will run from May 23 through June 2 at the Loews Regency Hotel (540 Park Avenue at 61st Street).

The Bistro Award-winning singer Grace Cosgrove premieres "Spend an Evening with Grace" in a five-show prime-time engagement at the Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, beginning Sunday, April 29. Directed by the legendary Marilyn Maye, "Spend an Evening with Grace" opens up a wide panorama of American classics -- from Johnny Mercer to Laura Nyro, and from Burt Bacharach back to Cole Porter. As she ranges through a number of distinct stylistic territories, Cosgrove, who is also an Edward R. Murrow and Emmy Award-winning television editor, weaves together these widely dispersed songs into a storybook of Americana.

The Camp Broadway Kids, which is comprised of 58 theatre-loving kids, ages 12-16, are set to perform in the New York Pops 29th Birthday Gala titled 'Journey On' at Carnegie Hall on Monday, April 30. Under the direction of Camp Broadway's Artistic Director,Tony Parise (Broadway credits include Me and My Girl and 42nd Street), the cast, which was selected from a nation-wide pool of over 500 auditionees, will perform alongside Broadway stars during musical numbers honoring the work of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the Tony Award-winning and Oscar-nominated songwriting team of such renowned Broadway musicals as Ragtime, Once On This Island, Seussical, My Favorite Year, A Man of No Importance, The Glorious Ones and the feature film Anastasia.

The Old Globe's 2012-13 Season will feature the World Premieres of two new musicals: Allegiance - A New American Musical by Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak. The season also includes George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion in celebration of the classic play's 100th anniversary and the World Premiere of a new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House by Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey and Kirsten Brandt. Two recent Broadway hits will make their San Diego debuts at the Globe: David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People and Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities. Rounding out the season are the West Coast Premiere of Bekah Brunstetter's Be a Good Little Widow and the Southern California Premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney's The Brothers Size.

Goody Goody, the American Classics resident female vocal trio of Valerie Anastasio, Mary Ann Lanier (Somerville) and Heather Peterson, with pianist Robert Humphreville, performs a unique concert saluting the popular girl groups of American popular music, from the jazzy stylings of the Boswell Sisters, the tight harmony of the Andrews Sisters, the 50s sounds of the McGuire Sisters and the Chordettes, and the classic ensembles of the 60s with the Shirelles and the Supremes, through to the Roches and solo singers like Carole King. Featured hit songs include Bei Mir Bist Du Schon, Lollipop, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?, I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time, On the Atcheson, Topeka, and the Santa Fe, and Baby Love. Performances are Friday, May 18 at 7:30pm at Pickman Concert Hall of the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts and Sunday, May 20 at 3 pm at Follen Community Church, 755 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, Massachusetts.

The Town Hall will present Lea Salonga: The Journey Continues. The Tony and Olivier Award-winning actress and recording artist will perform in concert on Friday, May 4, 2012 at 8pm. Tickets, priced at $55, $50 and $45, are now available via Ticketmaster.com (800-982-2787).

Janis Siegel, Laurel Masse, and Lauren Kinhan, who form the singing group JaLaLa, recently wowed a packed Joe's Pub with a tight 75-minute program that was short on patter but long on wonderful harmonic collaboration, reminiscent of the great girl groups from the Boswell Sisters in the 1930 to The Ronettes and The Chiffons in the '60s.

Spring comes to Millennium Park with Chicago-based actress and singer McKinley Carter in the finalCabaret with a View concert of the season on Monday, April 9, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. on the enclosed stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Titled Spring Forward/Fall Back, the evening will feature music inspired by the renewal and possibility of springtime.

The Canadian Music Theatre Project is Canada's first incubator for the development of new musical theatre works by Canadian and international composers, lyricists and book-writers. The first two works being developed are COME FROM AWAY, by David Hein and Irene Sankoff (My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, 2010 New York Music Theatre Festival "Outstanding New Musical" and "Excellence in Writing" awards), under the direction of David Ferry and musical direction of Callum Morris and CENTRAL PARK TANGO, by Robert Gontier and Nicky Phillips (Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project, In Flanders Fields), under the direction of Jim Betts and musical direction of Aaron Eyre.

On last night's fourth season premiere episode of 'Tosh.0,' Daniel Tosh announced that he will be going out on tour this spring. Tosh Tour Twenty Twelve will travel nationwide starting on Thursday, April 5 in Austin, TX at the Bass Concert Hall.

Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) will play host this summer to the world premiere of The Nutty Professor, a new musical comedy directed by the King of Comedy himself, Jerry Lewis. The Broadway at TPAC Special Event will run from July 24 to August 19 in TPAC's James K. Polk Theater. Featuring music by Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Marvin Hamlisch (A Chorus Line) and a book and lyrics by three-time Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), The Nutty Professor is based on the classic 1963 film in which Lewis starred and co-wrote.

Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) will play host this summer to the world premiere of The Nutty Professor, a new musical comedy directed by the King of Comedy himself, Jerry Lewis. The Broadway at TPAC Special Event will run from July 24 to August 19 in TPAC's James K. Polk Theater. Featuring music by Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Marvin Hamlisch (A Chorus Line) and a book and lyrics by three-time Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), The Nutty Professor is based on the classic 1963 film in which Lewis starred and co-wrote.

The Fresh Beat Band, Nickelodeon's popular preschool music group and stars of the hit TV series of the same name, are adding a second leg (50 cities, 70 performances) to their current sold-out nationwide concert tour. More than 200,000 fans will have seen the live show by the end of the first run making it one of this year's most successful music tours. After a brief break from the road, the tour will resume Aug. 23 in Melbourne, Fla. The band will travel to theaters and amphitheaters across the country including New York City's Beacon Theater, Los Angeles' Nokia Theater L.A. LIVE, Atlanta's Fox Theater, the Chicago Theater, Vienna's Wolftrap, The Great Allentown Fair and the historic Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.