Shaken AND Stirred: Music of the 60s
Wednesday, April 23, 2014 • 6:30 Cocktails • 7:30 Light Supper & Entertainment
Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012
Please join us for the West Village Chorale’s 1960’s-themed “GALA 2014,” featuring Cocktails, Continental Cuisine and cool tunes from amazing headliners. Performers include Broadway actress and recording artist Klea Blackhurst; Grammy award-winning composer Henry Krieger, Tony Award winner and Oscar nominee for Dreamgirls; and award winning composer and pianist Jimmy Roberts. And we are thrilled to have as our Emcee for the evening’s festivities Tony-nominated playwright and screenwriter Douglas Carter Beane.
Douglas Carter Beane
Douglas Carter Beane is an American playwright and screenwriter. His works include the screenplay of To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, and several plays including The Country Club and The Little Dog Laughed, which was nominated for the 2007 Tony Award for Best Play and As Bees in Honey Drown, which ran at New York’s Lucille Lortel Theatre in 1997. Beane wrote the book for Xanadu, a stage musical adaptation of the 1980 film of the same name, adding new plot twists and humor parodying the original movie. The musical opened on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre on July 10, 2007 and subsequently, Beane won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. In 2011, Beane was hired to ‘doctor’ the book for the musical Sister Act alongside Bill and Cheri Steinkellner for which he was nominated for a Tony. Beane wrote the book of the Broadway Musical Lysistrata Jones and rewrote the book for a new adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella which opened in 2013. His new play for Lincoln Center is The Nance, starring Nathan Lane and directed by Jack O’Brien. Beane has also revised the libretto for the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of the operetta Die Fledermaus. Beane is also the artistic director of the Drama Dept. Theater Company in New York.
Klea Blackhurst
An American actress with a stellar career in theatre, music, TV and radio in the US as well as the London stage. She is best known for Everything the Traffic Will Allow, her tribute to Ethel Merman. She has a recurring role as deranged Nancy Grace parody “Shelby Cross” on The Onion news Network on IFC. She has also appeared on The Caroline Rhea Show, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Sesame Street, Law & Order: SVU, and A Prairie Home Companion. She made her screen debut in the award-winning short film, Andy Across the Water written and directed by Leo Geter.
Among many accolades, Ms. Blackhurst earned the inaugural Special Achievement Award from Time Out New York magazine for her performance in Everything the Traffic Will Allow in 2001.
Ms. Blackhurst’s recordings include: Dreaming of a Song: The Music of Hoagy Carmichael; Autumn in New York: Vernon Duke’s Broadway; and Everything the Traffic Will Allow. She is also featured in Jules Styne in Hollywood on the PS Classics label, and the original cast recordings of Bingo and Radio Gals; Lost in Boston IV; Unsung Irving Berlin; and The Best of Off Broadway.
Lewis Flinn
Musical projects include music and lyrics for Lysistrata Jones, with book by Douglas Carter Beane (Walter Kerr Theater, Broadway, Dallas Theater Center, Transport Group, licensing through Tams-Witmark Music Library), On Girl, with book and lyrics by Steven Sater; Like Love, with book/lyrics by Barry Kaplan; The Winner, with Joe Sutton; and Down There, with book/lyrics by Brian Crawley. He has also composed scores and songs for over 50 productions including Douglas Carter Beane’s Broadway play The Little Dog Laughed, and Charles Busch’s The Tribute Artist, Divine Sister, Die Mommie Die and The Third Story. Other theaters include Second Stage Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, MCC, South Coast Rep, Playwright’s Horizons, Drama Dept., Lincoln Center Theatre, The Vineyard Theater, Geffen Playhouse (LA), Hartford Stage, Cleveland Play House, Old Globe, Primary Stages, adobe theatre co, and the Acting Company. In addition, he has been a guest artist at Cornell, Dartmouth, and Princeton University. His songs have been featured in Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series and recorded by artists including Jennifer Holliday.
In the world of TV and film, he recently wrote the themes and music for “The Power of 10” with Drew Carey for CBS/Sony and “Million Dollar Password” with Regis Philbin, also for CBS and all international versions. His numerous commercial scores include campaigns for Microsoft, Life Cereal, SAAB, and the AFL-CIO. A longtime collaborator with fashion designer Zang Toi, he has composed and performed runway music for over 14 collections. He was lead singer and songwriter for the 90’s jazz/rock band Acoustic Blue. His most recent release was a collection for cello and piano, entitled “New Music For The End of the World”.
A graduate from Princeton University (BA Music Composition) and Phillips Exeter Academy, he has received awards and grants from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, A.S.K. Theatre Projects, the Drama League, the National Music Theatre Network, The Dramatist Guild, the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, the National Alliance of Music Theaters, and the Gilman-Gonzalez foundation. He lives in New York City, with partner Douglas Carter Beane, their children, Cooper and Gabrielle.
Nancy Anderson
Nancy Anderson made her Broadway Debut as Mona in A Class Act and she played the roles of Helen and Eileen in the Broadway revival of Wonderful Town. PBS “Great Performances” audiences knew her for her Olivier- and Helen Hayes- Nominated performance of Lois/Bianca in the West End premiere of Kiss Me Kate. Nancy is also featured in the “Great Performances” broadcast of South Pacific in Concert at Carnegie Hall starring Reba McIntyre.
Off-Broadway, Nancy received a 2000 Drama Desk Award Nomination for her portrayal of all the Women in Jolson & Co at the York Theater and the 2005 Drama Desk Nominations as the title role in Fanny Hill. Regionally, Nancy has played leading roles coast to coast, including the title role in Peter Pan and Ilona in She Loves Me (at Papermill Playhouse, NJ), Gloria in Damn Yankees (at Papermill and Fifth Avenue Theater in Seattle), Oolie/Donna in City of Angels at The Goodspeed Opera House, Miriam Aarons in Darko Tresjnak’s production of The Women at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater, Ordinary Days at South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa, CA, and Helen Hayes nominated performance in Side By Side By Sondheim at the Signature Theater in Arlington, VA.
She has appeared with Michael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall in his Valentine Tribute Concert “Hooray For Love Songs” and is the 2011 winner of the Noel Coward Cabaret Award Competition. She has appeared as a guest vocalist with Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, the Bob Hardwick Sound and is frequently seen at the legendary jazz club, Birdland with Ross Patterson and His Little Big Band featuring songs from her debut album, “Ten Cents a Dance”.
Nancy is thrilled to announce her continued involvement with the new musical Far From Heaven starring Kelli O’Hara and directed by Michael Grief. Nancy will reprise her role as Eleanor in the New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons in May of 2013.
Henry Krieger
Born and raised in NY, Mr. Krieger is an American composer who has written the music for the Broadway musicals Dreamgirls, The Tap Dance Kid, and Side Show, as well as other works for musical theater. Among the many awards and accolades he has earned, Mr. Krieger was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Score for Dreamgirls , won two Grammy awards for Dreamgirls, one for 2007 Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, and one for the 1982 Best Show Album.and received 3 Academy Award nominations for the songs he wrote for the 2006 film. The Tap Dance Kid won two Tony’s in 1983. Side Show received four Tony nominations including for best Show in 1997. Among other projects, Mr. Krieger is currently working on the score for a musical about Tammy Faye Baker starring Kristin Chenoweth as Tammy Faye with lyrics by David Yazbek and directed by Robert Longbottom, the director of the Broadway production of Side Show and the 2009 revisal of Dreamgirls. A new production of Side Show opens at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in June and is directed by Bill Condon, the director of the Dreamgirls movie.
Among other projects, Mr. Krieger is currently working on the score for a musical based on the 1984 film The Flamingo Kid.
Craig Pomranz
Craig Pomranz, award-winning cabaret artist, was in elementary school when he discovered he could overcome his tremendous shyness through music. He auditioned for Camelot at The Muny (the nation’s oldest and largest outdoor theater located in St. Louis, MO) and won the role of Tom of Warwick opposite John Cullum and Sally Ann Howes, thus launching a professional career. Years later, when arrived in New York it wasn’t long before he was playing to sold-out crowds at three clubs at once: Freddy’s, East Five Three and Mickey’s. He performed at Ted Hook’s Onstage, The Duplex, The Ballroom, The Horn Of Plenty, and (pre-comedy) Caroline’s. Craig next became a highly sought-after studio singer, and worked frequently with composer/artists signed to Arista records. He recorded with Barbara Cook and Faith Prince, among others, and contributed to cast recordings for The Secret Garden, Rags and Breakfast at Tiffany’s to name a few. Hearing him sing, whether in person or on his CD, My Heart Don’t Skip A Beat, you’re treated to a dazzling voice, and a way with the audience that’s descended from a great saloon style. His performances in support of My Heart Don’t Skip A Beat have created a buzz for more, with hotly anticipated return bookings at both the Metropolitan Room in Manhattan, and The Gardenia in Hollywood in the coming months.
Jimmy Roberts
Jimmy Roberts is the composer of the second-longest running Off Broadway musical in theater history (I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change nominated for the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards). Written with playwright Joe DiPietro, I Love You received both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations as Best Musical when it opened in 1996. It has since played in all fifty states as well as over 25 countries around the world.
Mr. Roberts also composed The Thing About Men (2003), again with Joe DiPietro’s book and lyrics (New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical). Songs were featured in two other off -Broadway musicals: A…My Name Is Still Alice and Pets! For television, he composed the theme for the weekly PBS show Theater Talk. His children’s musical, The Velveteen Rabbit, toured the United States for well over a decade.
Mr. Roberts also created and performed special piano arrangements for the Grand Piano Marathon at Merkin Concert Hall (2008) and is currently at work on two new musicals: All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go (from a play by Catherine Filloux) and The Truth About Light with book and lyrics by British author Warner Brown.
Other performances include: Merkin Concert Hall; the Time Warner Center; the 92nd Street Y; Steinway Hall; St. Peter’s Church (Midday Jazz); and the National Arts Club in New York. Other engagements include the Catalina Jazz Club (Los Angeles); Mark Twain House (Hartford); and the “Music at Meyer” series (San Francisco).
Murray Weinstock
Many years a Greenwich Village resident, Murray Weinstock has been entertaining audiences in New York and around the globe since the Summer of Love. A man of many musical hats – pianist, singer/songwriter, producer, and arranger – he has recorded for Warner Bros., Atlantic, Electra, and Columbia Records. Cutting his teeth with BeBop trumpeter Howard McGhee, Murray toed the line between jazz and rock, recording and touring with luminaries Manhattan Transfer, John Sebastian, Richie Havens, and Esther Phillips, as well as his own groups, the Fifth Avenue Band (Warner Bros.) and the Camaros (Electra).
Through his own production company, he wrote, arranged and produced national TV and radio commercials including the CBS Network campaigns “We’ve Got the Touch” featuring Richie Havens & Phoebe Snow, and “Share the Spirit” featuring Marc Cohn & Patti Austin. Some of the other celebrities that he worked with are Bobbie Short, Sylvia Syms, Valerie Simpson, Ray Price, Paul Shaffer, Carol Kane and Diane Keaton.
Weinstock’s on-screen performances include The Lemon Sisters (with Carol Kane and Diane Keaton) and Looking for an Echo (with Armand Assante), and his voice can be heard on TV in vocal cameos ranging from Welcome Back, Kotter to The Martha Stewart Show.
In 2004, Weinstock’s musical career literally went to the dogs, with the release of his nationally acclaimed CD, “Tails of the City.” Murray and his original songs from a dog’s point of view were featured on NPR’s All Things Considered with Melissa Block.
Visit www.dogtunes.com for CD and performance updates.
