92Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists will present MAKIN’ WHOOPEE: Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn and the Jazz Age.
The Artistic director is Robert Kimball and the host is Charles Osgood.
MAKIN' WHOOPEE features Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Christine Andreas, Jason Graae, Howard McGillin, and William Bolcom & Joan Morris. Vince Giordano and Peter Yarin are the Co-Music Directors and Patricia Wilcox is the Stage Director.
Performances are:
Sat, January 7 at 8 pm. Tickets are 62 & $52.
Sun, January 8 at 2 pm. Tickets are $67 / $55.
Sun, January 8 at 7 pm. Tickets are $62 & $52.
Mon, January 9 at 2 pm. Tickets are $62 / $52.
Mon, January 9 at 8 pm. Ticket are $67 & $55.
Under-35 ticket price of $25 available for Saturday and Sunday evening shows
Songwriting duo Donaldson & Kahn were a hit-making powerhouse in the ‘20s and ‘30s, teaming up on “Yes Sir, That's My Baby,” “Love Me or Leave Me,” "Makin’ Whoopee” and dozens more. Musical theater historian and returning guest artistic director Robert Kimball inaugurates the 2012 Lyrics & Lyricists™ season with Makin’ Whoopee: Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn and the Jazz Age, honoring the men who gave the Roaring Twenties its soundtrack. Joining Kimball are host Charles Osgood, Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks (toting vintage band charts), and vocalists Christine Andreas, Jason Graae, Howard McGillin, and the team of William Bolcom & Joan Morris.
L&L shows are Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 and 7 pm, and Monday at 2 and 8 pm. Individual tickets range from $67 to $52. There is also a special under-35 ticket price of $25 for the Saturday and Sunday evening shows.
Noted historian of the American musical theater, Robert Kimball is artistic advisor to the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts and the Cole Porter Musical and Literary Property Trusts. A longtime advisor to Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert® he is best known for editing sumptuous volumes of the complete lyrics of Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser and Johnny Mercer.
Charles Osgood is the award-winning host of TV’s “CBS Sunday Morning” and radio’s “The Osgood Files.” Though a newsman, Osgood often plays piano and banjo on the air and is known for his lifetime love of music.
Director/choreographer Patricia Wilcox returns to L&L having directed last February’s salute to Burton Lane. Wilcox has also directed musical productions for the Kennedy Center, Houston Symphony and Minnesota Pops, and choreographed numerous tours, commercials and TV shows, as well as numbers for Olympic Gold Medal ice skaters at the Vancouver and Turin Games.
Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks are renowned for bringing hot vintage jazz (featuring authentic ‘20s and ‘30s arrangements) to the New York scene, from the Rainbow Room to HBO’s hit series Boardwalk Empire. The band can be heard on the Grammy-nominated soundtrack to the show, Boardwalk Empire: Volume 1.
Pianist/musical director Peter Yarin has performed with the Nighthawks for the past six years.
Christine Andreas received Tony nominations for her roles in Oklahoma! and On Your Toes, and recently appeared on Broadway in La Cage aux Folles. New York Nightlife and Bistro Award-winner
Jason Graae has appeared on Broadway in A Grand Night for Singing and Falsettos. He has recorded over 40 CDs, including his latest, Perfect Hermany: Jason Graae Sings Jerry Herman.
Howard McGillin is best known for his lengthy run as “The Phantom” on Broadway; he has also appeared in She Loves Me, Kiss of the Spider Woman and in Tony Award-nominated roles in Anything Goes and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Performing duo William Bolcom & Joan Morris' repertoire runs the gamut of American music from ragtime to the end of the 20th century, and includes 24 recordings, including their Grammy nominated debut After the Ball. Bolcom is also a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer of music from opera to art songs.
Coming up in 2012:
February 11, 12, 13- SONGS OF AMERICA: FROM STEPHEN FOSTER TO BOB DYLAN AND BEYOND
TED SPERLING, Artistic Director, Host
JEFFREY KLITZ, Music Director, piano
JAMIE LEONHART, vocals
KECIA LEWIS EVANS, vocals
CLARKE THORELL, vocals
Additional artists TBA
The American Songbook has always sung America’s praises. But it has also sung America’s pain, and folly and foolishness. Ted Sperling explores the full spectrum of songs about America, from buoyant to bellicose, reaching back to Foster and forward to Dylan, giving new meaning to the “traditional American song.”
