Barbara Cook and Brian Stokes Mitchell Join Starry NY POPS Gala 4/27

On Monday, April 27, at 7:00pm in Carnegie Hall, The New York Pops honors Feinstein's at Loews Regency on its tenth anniversary and congratulates Michael Feinstein and Jonathan Tisch for leading this great New York institution. The stars who make Feinstein's at Loews Regency the perfect intimate setting for American popular song will take the stage at Carnegie Hall to celebrate New York's quintessential supper club in grand style. The all-star 26th Birthday Gala concert will also include a salute to New Amsterdam Rediscovered, a joint Dutch-American initiative celebrating the 400th anniversary of the exploration of New York Harbor and the Hudson River. Liz Smith will host the concert evening.

The concert will feature The New York Pops conducted by Steven Reineke, Music Director-Designate. The most recent additions to the program are Barbara Cook, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Tony Martin, who join a star-studded lineup of performers that includes Cheyenne Jackson, Brian d'Arcy James, Idina Menzel, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Anika Noni Rose, Ashford & Simpson, and Michael Feinstein. 

Tony Award-winning actress Barbara Cook first came to prominence in the 1950s after starring in the original Broadway musicals Candide (1956) and The Music Man (1957) among others. Considered "Broadway's favorite ingenue" during the heyday of the Broadway musical, Miss Cook then launched a second career as a concert and cabaret artist soaring from one professional peak to another. Lauded for her excellent lyric soprano voice, Cook is particularly admired for her vocal agility, wide range, warm sound, and emotive interpretations. Today Cook is widely recognized as one of the "premier interpreters" of musical theatre songs and standards, in particular the songs of composer Stephen Sondheim. Whether on the stages of major international venues throughout the world or in the intimate setting of New York's Café Carlyle, Barbara Cook's popularity continues to thrive - as evidenced by her 1997 birthday concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Albert Hall in London; a succession of triumphant returns to Carnegie Hall where she made a legendary solo concert debut in 1975; an ever-growing mantle of honors including the Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards; and her citation as a Living New York Landmark and induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

Brian Stokes Mitchell, dubbed "the last leading man" by the New York Times, enjoys a spectacular career that spans Tony Award winning performances on Broadway, a multitude of television and film appearances, and performing at our Nation's capital. His Broadway career includes the starring role of Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, for which he received a Tony Award nomination and the Helen Hayes Award, as well as FrEd Graham/Petruchio in Kiss Me, Kate!, for which he won the 2000 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Other Broadway performances include Ragtime (Tony nomination), August Wilson's King Hedley II (Tony nomination), and Kiss of the Spider Woman. Brian Stokes Mitchell has also added to his successful theater career a growing list of impressive concert performances. A frequent performer in Washington, D.C., Stokes most recently performed on the West Lawn of our Nation's Capital with Tom Hanks and Ossie Davis for the National Memorial Day Concert, which was filmed by PBS. He has been a frequent guest at the Kennedy Center and appeared in the title role of Sweeney Todd at last year's tremendously successful Sondheim Celebration. In 1988, Stokes made his Carnegie Hall debut in the televised Gershwin Gala with the San Francisco Symphony and has since performed there many times. 

Tony Martin has gained worldwide popularity and recognition as a multi-talented, multi-faceted singer, actor, entertainer and recording artist - is one of the only entertainers to have four "stars" on Hollywood's legendary "Walk of Fame" for his heralded work in motion pictures, television, radio and recordings. As an actor, Martin also appeared in more than 20 classic Hollywood films, including "Show Boat," "Til the Clouds Roll By," "Here Come the Girls," "Easy to Love," and "Hit the Deck." He is respected as a singer and recording artist. Some of Martin's top sellers include such hits as "Begin the Beguine," "To Each His Own," "I Get Ideas" and "There's No Tomorrow." He became a household television name to millions of viewers as the star of his own hit variety series, "The Tony Martin Show," in the 1950's. He also led his own radio orchestra on a two-and-a-half hour popular radio show every Saturday night. He diversified his radio popularity by playing Grade Allen's boyfriend on "The Burns and Allen Show."

The New York Pops <www.newyorkpops.org> is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States, and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Led by newly appointed Music Director-Designate Steven Reineke, the orchestra performs an annual subscription series and birthday gala at Carnegie Hall, enjoying one of the highest subscription renewal rates of any series at Carnegie Hall. The New York Pops was founded by former NBC Music Director Skitch Henderson in 1983 with a mission to create greater public awareness and appreciation of America's rich musical heritage. Along with performing at Carnegie Hall, The New York Pops tours throughout the world and gives free concerts in New York City parks through its Summermusic program. The orchestra's media projects include performing music for the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular on NBC, nationwide radio broadcasts, and numerous recordings. The New York Pops' extensive education programs allow thousands of public schoolchildren to participate in concert and music-making experiences at Carnegie Hall and in schools throughout the five boroughs of New York City.

Proceeds from the 26th Birthday Gala support The New York Pops and its free Education Programs. 

To purchase tickets call Carnegie Charge at 212-247-7800. Tickets are also available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, or online at www.carnegiehall.org.Gala

Tickets range from $1,000 for one concert ticket and dinner seating to $50,000 from one premier firsttier box and dinner table for eight.

For more information about the benefit dinner dance at the Pierre call646-435-4875.Single tickets for the concert range from $55 to $150 and are open to the public. To purchase tickets call CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800.

Tickets are also available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, or online at www.carnegiehall.org.

Gala Tickets range from $1,000 for one concert ticket and dinner seating to $50,000 from one premier firsttier box and dinner table for eight. For more information about the benefit dinner dance at the Pierre call646-435-4875