Kudisch to Direct Bway Musicals of '59, with Skinner, Etc.

The Town Hall will present "Broadway By the Year: The Broadway Musicals of 1959" on Monday April 30 at 8 PM.  The critically acclaimed series, now in its seventh season and created, written and hosted by Scott Siegel, will be directed by two-time Tony nominee Marc Kudisch, whose long list of Broadway credits includes, most recently, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Assassins.

The show will feature music from a uniquely rich season in the American musical theatre; 1959 spawned such classics as Gypsy and The Sound of Music (which also pitted two of the First Ladies of the American Theatre, Mary Martin and Ethel Merman, against each other for Tony Awards). In addition, Once Upon A Mattress brought a talented young comedian named Carol Burnett to prominence as the unglamorous but winning Princess Winifred the Woebegone.

The cast for "1959" includes Emily Skinner (Jekyll and Hyde, Side Show), Bruce Vilanch (multiple Emmy-winner and star of Hairspray), Nancy Lemanager (Never Gonna Dance), Mark Jacoby (Sweeney Todd, Phantom of the Opera), Sara Jane McMahon (The Pirates of Penzance).

Scott Siegel created the "Broadway by the Year" series and the "Broadway Cabaret Festival" series for The Town Hall.   He also conceived and produces both "Broadway Unplugged" and The Nightlife Awards at The Town Hall, and most recently began his tenth year as host of The Town Hall Feature Film Seminar Series.  Scott and his wife Barbara are authors (47 books, including The Encyclopedia of Hollywood) and critics ("The Siegel Column" and "The Two of Clubs").

The final Broadway By the Year presentation for the season will be the June 18 The Broadway Musicals of 1964, Part II.

"Broadway by the Year" is made possible, in part, by a generous gift from The Edythe Kenner Foundation. 

Limited tickets are still available at $45 and $40 through TicketMaster 212-307-4100, or by visiting the Town Hall Box Office, 123 West 43o Street, 212-840-2824, or visit www.the-townhall-nyc.org.

Photo of Marc Kudisch by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.