Coleman Benefit Will Pay Tribute at the 92nd St. Y on May 23

By: BWW News Desk Apr. 19, 2005

Written by Maya Cantu

A starry tribute to the songs of the late Cy Coleman will be unveiled at the 92nd Street Y's Kaufmann Concert Hall on May 23rd. The 8 o'clock gala benefit, entitled It Started with a Dream, will be preceded by cocktails and a buffet dinner at 6 and followed by a dessert reception.

Scheduled to appear are some of Broadway's brightest stars--among them, Lucie Arnaz, Stephen Bogardus, Barbara Cook, Robert Goulet, Randy Graff, Sheldon Harnick, Dee Hoty, Judy Kaye, Michele Lee, Donna McKechnie, James Naughton, Billy Porter, Elaine Stritch, Lillias White and Tom Wopat. Coleman collaborators David Zippel and Wendy Wasserstein will also lend their luster to the proceedings.

Cy Coleman enjoyed a long-lived, varied career, and was renowned for his versatility as a musical theatre composer. A child prodigy, he found fame as a pop tunesmith (teaming with lyricist Carolyn Leigh for such hits as "Witchcraft") and as a jazz musician before setting his sights on the Broadway stage. Unlike other Broadway composers, Coleman often developed musical wanderlust and easily changed style from score to score. I Love My Wife made use of groovy 70s pop, On the Twentieth Century was a mock-operetta and City of Angels pulsed with the sounds of film noir and 40s jazz. Other Coleman shows include Wildcat, Little Me, Sweet Charity (which is regarded as his masterpiece and is currently in the midst of a drama-ridden revival), Seesaw, Barnum, the flop Welcome to the Club, The Will Rogers Follies and The Life. Exactly Like You, a rewrite of Welcome to the Club, received productions at Goodspeed and the York Theatre in the late 90's.

Coleman was working on several musicals when he passed away on November 18th 2004, including Pamela's First Musical (with book by Wendy Wasserstein and lyrics by David Zippel), The Great Ostrovsky (book and lyrics by Avery Corman) and In the Pocket (book by Larry Gelbart and lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman). Pamela's First Musical is currently seeing its world premiere production at TheatreWorks in Northern California, while The Great Ostrovsky was produced at the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia in March of 2004. In the Pocket, which is the new title of Like Jazz, will open on Broadway in Spring of 2006.

Tickets for It Started with a Dream range from $500-$18,000. Reservations can be made by calling calling Erica Lebensberg at (212) 415-5488 or e-mailing her at elebensberg@92Y.org. More information on the benefit can be found at http://www.92y.org

Videos

Email:
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

Coleman Benefit Will Pay Tribute at the 92nd St. Y on May 23

LATEST NEWS