Gets, Jenkins, Etc. Part of June Bway at Birdland Line-Up

The June line-up for Broadway at Birdland, featuring some of Broadway's most acclaimed performers and songwriters, has been announced.

The concerts take place at Birdland, located at 315 West 44th Street, on Sunday and Monday nights at 7 PM.  Jim Caruso's Cast Party and TheaterMania.com present.

On Sunday June 3rd, Jack Donahue and his band, led by Randy Ingram (piano), will perform songs from the new CD, "a small blue thing" (Two Maples Music). He will perform such songs as Kenny Rankin's 'Haven't We Met,' 'You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby,' Cole Porter's 'Let's Do It,' Kurt Weill's 'Lost in the Stars,' and Jay Leonhart's 'Robert Frost.'  Donahue will be joined by Matt Clohesy on bass, Jared Schonig on drums, Marcus Parsley (trumpet), and 2-time Grammy winning guest vocalist Peter Eldridge.  There is a $25 cover, $10 food/drink minimum for his show.

On Monday, June 4 and 11, Broadway's Malcolm Gets will salute his long-time friend and musical hero, composer/conductor/pianist Wally Harper.  Malcolm Gets recently starred opposite Kristin Chenoweth in the Encores! production of The Apple Tree, and starred in the Broadway musical Amour.  Off-Broadway credits include Polish Joke, Boys and Girls, A New Brain, Hello Again, Merrily We Roll Along, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Finian's Rainbow and the Encores! The Boys From Syracuse.  He is perhaps best known for his work on the television series "Caroline in the City."  There is a $30 cover and $10 food/drink minimum for Malcolm Gets.

On Sunday, June 10 Todd Londagin and his 17-piece Big Band return to Birdland.  A trombone playing, tap dancing singer, Londagin has traveled the world with his family jazz band, since he was seven.  A pop vocalist with a jazz sensibility and an affinity for popular American songwriting from the 1930's through the 1950's, Londagin's sound has broadened thanks to his 14 years as co-founder of the highly acclaimed Billboard Top-20 Flying Neutrinos and 8 years as bandleader for some of New York's most prestigious events.  There is a $25 cover and $10 food/drink minimum for Todd Londagin

On Monday, June 18 composer Tom Kitt and lyricist Amanda Green will return to Birdland performing songs from their shows and up-coming projects.  Scheduled special guests include Kelli O'Hara, Celia Keenan-Bolger, the Tom Kitt Band, and cast members from the recent Broadway musical, High Fidelity. They will perform songs from High Fidelity, Feeling Electric, and Debbie Does Dallas.  The winner of two MAC Awards, a Bistro Award and a 2004 Jonathan Larson Award, Amanda Green is the daughter of famed lyricist, Adolph Green.  She recently penned additional lyrics for a production of Styne, Comden and Green's Hallelujah, Baby at Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage.  She also co-starred in and wrote the lyrics for For the Love of Tiffany: a Wifetime Original Musical, which played the 2003 New York International Fringe Festival.  Her other credits include the LA musical Up the Week Without a Paddle and her hit revue Put A Little Love in Your Mouth: The Tongue-in-Cheek Songs of Amanda Green. 

Before his collaboration with Amanda Green on High Fidelity, Tom Kitt was represented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival with the musical Feeling Electric, starring Amy Spanger and Anthony Rapp. An arranger, musical director, orchestrator, musician and conductor as well as a composer, Kitt has worked on Broadway's Laugh Whore, Urban Cowboy and An Evening with Mario Cantone, as well as off-Broadway's Debbie Does Dallas and Sherie Rene Scott's solo evening at The Zipper Theater. He is the leader of the Tom Kitt Band.  There is a $25 cover and $10 food/drink minimum for Tom Kitt and Amanda Green.

On Sunday, June 24 Broadway's Capathia Jenkins (Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Caroline Or Change, The Civil War) and award-winning composer Louis Rosen will offer a "sneak preview" of the new songs Rosen has composed to the words of the renowned poet Nikki Giovanni, which will be recorded by PS Classics. They will also perform songs from their highly acclaimed debut CD "South Side Stories."   Pianist Kimberly Grigsby and bassist Dave Phillips will be joining the duo.  There is a $25 cover and $10 food/drink minimum for Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen.

For reservations, call (212) 581-3080 or visit www.birdlandjazz.com.

Photo of Malcolm Gets by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.