Jay Alan Zimmerman Brings The Holiday Songs of “Broadway's Beethoven” to Lincoln Center as Part of Broadway's Future Songbook Series

Broadway's Future Songbook Series - presented by Arts and Artists of Tomorrow continues its twenty-sixth season on Saturday, December 10th in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center located at 111 Amsterdam Avenue and 65th Street.

Produced, Directed and Hosted by John Znidarsic, the concert spotlights the Holiday Songs of Jay Alan Zimmerman. Show time is 2:30PM and admission is FREE.

The acclaimed Broadway's Future Songbook Series always celebrates the end of each year with its popular Holiday Songbook Concert - featuring a variety of songwriters debuting new holiday works. Over the years, we have heard the songs of hundreds of songwriters including Joe Iconis, Andrew Lippa, John Bucchino, and Jason Robert Brown.

However, Jay Alan Zimmerman has been featured in the annual concert so many times that he now has an actual piano/vocal Naughty & Nice Holiday Songbook available on Amazon.com. This is a heartfelt and hilarious collection of new holiday songs written by Jay. What is so incredible is that throughout the years, he has become deaf, but has still kept composing - and is lovingly known as "Broadway's Beethoven." His award-winning Incredibly Deaf Musical was seen at the Duke on 42nd Street.

Featured songs will include the comical and completely irreverent Youtube favorite, "Holiday Zombie," the touching "A Party High," a twist on the traditional ("Carol LOVES The Bells"), and one we all need this year more than ever "Peace On Earth." Performed by a diverse cast, this concert will also be accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing,

PERFORMERS: Angel Desai, Casey Erin Clark, Tiffan Borelli, Tony Ramos, Stephanie Joiner, Doug Shapiro, Stephen Drabicki, Jonathan Fisher, Ray Zanders, Mariana Barbosa, Matt Case and bassist/performer Ritt Henn. Even Zimmerman's son Zachary - who grew up watching these concerts - will perform with his father.

When the "man in the red hat" John Znidarsic first met the "guy in the red sneakers" Jay Alan Zimmerman, he was a just a kid from Iowa singing with Norm Lewis at the New Victory Theater in a workshop production of a new show with HAIR songwriters Galt MacDermondt and Jim Rado. Flash-forward to the 2001 terrorist attacks when Zimmerman, who lived a mere 1000 feet from the Twin Towers, was forced from home but still managed to put on a holiday show of his original songs.

Znidarsic heard about it and invited him to perform at his Holiday Songbook Series that season, thus starting a new tradition. A tradition they continued even after Zimmerman become profoundly deaf and created the award-winning Incredibly Deaf Musical seen at the Duke on 42nd Street. Znidarsic simply dubbed him "Broadway's Beethoven" and kept inviting him to write new songs.

Each holiday song was originally composed for and presented by a different vocalist including Kevin Massey (Gentleman's Guide, Memphis), Kara Lindsay (Wicked, Newsies), Matt Lutz (Bonnie & Clyde), Kelly Ellenwood (Phantom of the Opera), and jazz singer Gabrielle Stravelli. But that's only part of the story...

Znidarsic also encouragEd Zimmerman to be open about his deafness and to introduce the series to songs with sign language. Together they started a wireless captioning program for people with hearing loss - a program now in its fifth year at Lincoln Center thanks to the support of the New York Public Library. Using Globetitles software to deliver captions to mobile devices, this Songbook-tested system recently expanded to Broadway for Deaf West's Spring Awakening, the Broadway Accessibility Symposium, and City Center - thanks to the support of Tony-winning composer Jeanine Tesori.

Last year Zimmerman packed Feinstein's/54 Below for a special one-night holiday concert featured in Playbill, The New Yorker, Broadway World and Broadway Dot Com, but this is his only live holiday show this year and it's free, so expect a crowd. The full piano/vocal Naughty & Nice Holiday Songbook is available on Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1519665628

Jay Alan Zimmerman's Naughty & Nice Holiday Songbook plays Lincoln Center's Bruno Walter Auditorium in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (111 Amsterdam Avenue and 65th Street) on December 10th, 2016, 2:30pm. Tickets are free but seating is limited; patrons are advised to get in line early. Live captioning will be available via Globetitles and Total Caption and seen on mobile devices using the link nypl.org/captions.