TV: PIECE OF MY HEART Company Celebrates Bert Berns on Opening Night!

Piece of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story, a new musical based on the life and songs of legendary songwriter Bert Berns, produced by Merged Work Productions (lead producers) and Jack Thomas(Executive Producer), opened last night, July 21, 2014, at the The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center. BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was on hand for the festivities and you can check out what the full gang had to say after the curtain went down below!

The full cast of Piece of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story includes Zak Resnick as Bert Berns, Drama Desk Award nominee Leslie Kritzer as Jessie, Theatre World Award-winner Linda Hart as Mom,Joseph Siravo as Wazzel, Tony Award nominee de'Adre Aziza as Candace, Derrick Baskin as Hoagy, and Teal Wicks as Ilene, Bryan Fenkart as Young Wazzel, with an ensemble that includes Carleigh Bettiol, Teresa Gattison, Shonica Gooden, Sydney James Harcourt, Jessica McRoberts, Ralph Meitzler, Harris Milgrim, Michael Millan,Heather Parcells, Gabrielle Ruiz, Amos Wolff, and Mark Zeisler.

Bert Berns, whose life is also the subject of the just-released book Here Comes the Night, was born in New York in 1929 and died tragically of a heart attack at just 38 years of age. But in his short career, Berns left an indelible mark on popular music; he made fifty-one pop chart singles in seven years and became one of the most successful songwriters of the 1960s. Piece of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story tells his remarkable story, once dubbed by Rolling Stone "one of the great untold stories of rock and roll," through his hit songs, which include "Twist and Shout," "Tell Him," "I Want Candy," "Hang On Sloopy," "Cry Baby," "Piece of My Heart," and many more.