Nellie McKay News

Lucie Arnaz (They're Playing Our Song), Sarah Uriarte Berry (A Light in the Piazza), Carole Demas (Grease), Loni Ackerman (So Long, 174th Street) and Nancy Opel (Urinetown), join the cast of The Town Hall's Broadway Originals on Sunday, October 17th at 3:00 PM.

Lucie Arnaz (They're Playing Our Song), Sarah Uriarte Berry (A Light in the Piazza), Carole Demas (Grease), Loni Ackerman (So Long, 174th Street) and Nancy Opel (Urinetown), join the cast of The Town Hall's Broadway Originals on Sunday, October 17th at 3:00 PM.

This week, in collusion with the premiere of BroadwayWorld's new intensive songwriting discussion series Modern Music Masters, comes a stirring collection of stunning clips from the various live performances - and many, many covers - that have made singer/songwriters Nellie McKay and Jason Mraz known to fans around the globe! We take a look at some of McKay and Mraz's best live performances as well as cast a glance at how their work has been used in other media - in films (RUMOR HAS IT), on television (AMERICAN IDOL, WEEDS) and in live performance - as well as take a look at next week's GLEE cover of the Grammy-winning Mraz-penned duet 'Lucky' which will be performed on the show by Dianna Agron and new cast member Chord Overstreet! Be sure to pick up McKay's HOME, SWEET, MOBILE HOME and Mraz's LIFE IS GOOD EP which were released in stores and on iTunes earlier this week! Be sure to pick both of them up - and check out the Modern Music Masters interviews and Sound Off reviews while you're at it! After all, BroadwayWorld is the world's number one source for all the most cutting-edge live music news, theatre news and GLEE news!

This week, in conjunction with BroadwayWorld's new songwriter discussion series Modern Music Masters that premiered on Monday, we are taking a listen to two new releases from the astonishingly accomplished first two artists selected to participate in the songwriting celebration series: the winsome, witty wordplay and guileless wacky charm of Nellie McKay, and the wordy gravitas and overall commitment to excellence of Jason Mraz. With Nellie McKay's new studio album of original material - HOME, SWEET, MOBILE HOME - she reveals many new sides and angles to her versatile and varied sound that has previously been firmly established by her notable prior releases. On Jason Mraz's LIFE IS GOOD EP the fans around the world are treated to a handful of newly-written material performed in the hypnotic and energetic style Mraz is so famous for in his live concert events - one of the few artists who are even better live than in the studio and whose voice sounds even more impressive (high praise indeed). Both of these performers have what it takes to perform a song with the utmost conviction, and their songwriting ability alone would warrant much praise, but it is the fact that they can hold an audience's rapt attention so seemingly effortlessly only magnifies their appeal to connoisseurs of the crème de la crème of singer-songwriters who write to the best of their abilities. These are two of the very, very best songwriters around. Two true masters. With them in the world writing music and performing it, life is much, much more than merely good! It's great... or it very well could be genius.

Today we begin a new comprehensive academic music discussion series on BroadwayWorld in which I speak to the most cutting-edge artists in the recording industry, on Broadway and in Hollywood about their influences and experiences in the industry with an emphatic emphasis on the songwriting process itself and what drives and inspires it. While these discussions may be on occasion only tangentially theatre-related, the insights provided by the various participants is a demonstrative way in which to illuminate perhaps the most mysterious of all the arts: music. Peering into the psyche of the composer and lyricist, we may begin to understand what the craft of composition and lyric-writing is all about and why musical theatre tends to attract the most talented and innovative songwriters, both in the twentieth-century and today (as this column proves).

Today we talk to the world's foremost authority on twentieth-century music, the incomparable cabaret artist and Broadway performer known for his countless albums and appearances on film, television and stages worldwide, the affable and well-spoken - and encyclopedic - Michael Feinstein! In this SOUND OFF Special Interview he does BroadwayWorld the special honor of diagramming a lesser known gem - in this case, one of Cole Porter's final compositions - in his inimitable and illuminating style, as well as opening up about his new PBS reality series. We simultaneously speak to acclaimed directed Amber Edwards (WORDS & MUSIC: JERRY HERMAN) who also provides her insights on how to approach documentation of a life as rich, varied and hectic as Feinstein's. Lest we forget, he also owns and operates the premier cabaret club in Manhattan, Feinstein's At The Regency! Talking everything from Ira and George to iPods and Glee, Feinstein and Edwards share their insights and experiences in championing the twenty-first century Great American Songbook on television and on the internet in 2010 and bringing Feinstein's formidable talents to a whole new generation. All of that, and more show tunes than you can shake a stick at! Be sure to tune into your local PBS station next Wednesday at 8 PM for the premiere episode of MICHAEL FEINSTEIN'S AMERICAN SONGBOOK!

Today we are taking a listen and a look at the wildly imaginative music and lyrics of Nellie McKay. Her new album HOME SWEET MOBILE HOME drops this month and in this column you will find a sneak preview HD live performance capture of McKay performing her new hit single from the album, "Caribbean Time" in addition to some of her past triumphs. Mckay is in a class - and a world - all her own and the wit, charm and dexterity both in her compositional and performance abilities are truly awe-inspiring to behold whether you are a Broadway baby or a pop music fan - or virtually anyone else, for that matter. See if you don't agree! McKay is AOK!

Today we are taking a listen to the Original London Cast Recording of Jerry Mitchell's sexily studious stunner of a show, LEGALLY BLONDE, and the remarkable score by Laurence O'Keefe (of BAT BOY fame) along with his wife, an accomplished and gifted lyricist in her own right, Neil Benjamin. They are the strongest male/female composing team since Betty Comden and Adolph Green and LEGALLY BLONDE possesses one of the most sharply satirical, witty and effortlessly enjoyable and winning scores in decades, surely as good if not better than any score on Broadway right now. While critics and audiences were less than enraptured with it on Broadway, the MTV telecast and subsequent reality show casting the next Elle Woods - alongside the smash-hit national tours - bodes well for its future in the States. The West End production is ten times the success the show was on Broadway so Elle & Crew have finally arrived - and in style. It's the age of Elle! Plus, A BONUS: A review and link to a new song by another blonde bombshell in her own right, but a bit brainier one than Elle Woods: Nellie McKay! And a link to a download of her new single 'Caribbean Time'! Top hats off and a salutatory Dickensian 'ello' to Elle and Nellie!

The High Line is a 1.45-mile-long elevated rail structure set to open in 2008 as a public open space. Running through the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell's Kitchen, it was built in the 1930s to remove dangerous trains from Manhattan's streets.

Highline Ballroom is located at 431 West 16th Street between 9th Avenue and 10th Avenue. Tickets may be purchased through Ticketweb, online at ticketweb.com or at the Highline Box Office from noon until doors close at 866-468-7619.

Yesterday, July 26, The New York Civil Liberties Union presented their annual Broadway Stands Up for Freedom Concert, supporting the youth programs of the New York Civil Liberties Union. Hosted and musical directed by Seth Rudetsky, the starry line-up of performers includes: Nellie McKay (The Threepenny Opera), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent), Anthony Rapp (Rent), Rebecca Luker (Mary Poppins), J. Robert Spencer (Next to Normal), Kate Baldwin (Finian's Rainbow), Carrie Manolakos (Mamma Mia), De'Adre Aziza (Passing Strange), Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys), Dana Steingold (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Liana Stampur and Clinton Curtis and performers from the cast of Hair and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

Highline Ballroom is located at 431 West 16th Street between 9th Avenue and 10th Avenue.

The fall 2010-2011 season at The Town Hall is set to include the annual BROADWAY CABARET FESTIVAL. All Broadway Music! All Broadway Stars! All Weekend Long, October 15 - 17, 2010.

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998 and has quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance. With its genre-blind booking and vast diversity of interests, the stage at Joe's Pub gives voice to a world of varied and stellar artists.

On Monday, July 26, The New York Civil Liberties Union will present their annual Broadway Stands Up for Freedom Concert, supporting the youth programs of the New York Civil Liberties Union. Hosted and musical directed by Seth Rudetsky, the starry line-up of performers includes: Nellie McKay (The Threepenny Opera), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent), Rebecca Luker (Mary Poppins), J. Robert Spencer (Next to Normal), Kate Baldwin (Finian's Rainbow), Carrie Manolakos (Mamma Mia), De'Adre Aziza (Passing Strange), Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys), Dana Steingold (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Liana Stampur and Clinton Curtis and performers from the cast of Hair and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998 and has quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance. With its genre-blind booking and vast diversity of interests, the stage at Joe's Pub gives voice to a world of varied and stellar artists.

Highline Ballroom is located at 431 West 16th Street between 9th Avenue and 10th Avenue. - Tickets may be purchased through Ticketweb, online at ticketweb.com or at the Highline Box Office from noon until doors close at 866-468-7619.

Highline Ballroom is located at 431 West 16th Street between 9th Avenue and 10th Avenue. Tickets may be purchased through Ticketweb, online at ticketweb.com or at the Highline Box Office from noon until doors close at 866-468-7619. We are a full-scale restaurant. Our menu is American Continental with a Southern flair. We also have a full bar with all premier liquors and domestic and international cold beer, and we serve a full menu at all of our concerts. A $10 food and/or beverage minimum is standard for table seating during shows.

Highline Ballroom is located at 431 West 16th Street between 9th Avenue and 10th Avenue. Tickets may be purchased through Ticketweb, online at ticketweb.com or at the Highline Box Office from noon until doors close at 866-468-7619. We are a full-scale restaurant. Our menu is American Continental with a Southern flair. We also have a full bar with all premier liquors and domestic and international cold beer, and we serve a full menu at all of our concerts. A $10 food and/or beverage minimum is standard for table seating during shows.

'Whoa, Nellie!' and 'Mirror Mirror,' highlight the Chase Brock Experience season at the Connelly Theater, July 8 - 11. 'Whoa, Nellie!,' set to Nellie McKay's album 'Obligatory Villagers,' and 'Mirror Mirror,' set to a commissioned piano score by award-winning Broadway and opera composer Michael John LaChiusa, are as different as night from day.