LYRICS & LYRICISTS to Celebrate Cy Coleman, 3/19-21

From Sweet Charity to City of Angels, "Witchcraft" to "The Best is Yet to Come," Cy Coleman lived on both Broadway and the pop charts, with firm roots in the jazz world. He wrote standards made famous by such singers as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole, and partnered with lyricists like Carolyn Leigh, Dorothy Fields and Peggy Lee. Grammy-winning singer-pianist Billy Stritch, a friend and protégé of Coleman, celebrates the jazz side of this versatile, quintessentially New York composer in Witchcraft: The Jazz Magic of Cy Coleman.

"I fondly remember spending many afternoons at his office talking about music, singers and the business in general," comments Billy Stritch. "To me, Cy's music was infused with the feeling of New York City: sharp, swingy and full of life. These afternoons first planted the idea of doing a show dedicated to this material - stand-alone songs not written for shows. I'm especially excited that we'll be performing some previously unreleased material, thanks to my co-writer Andy Propst, who found it while researching his new book."

Joining Stritch on vocals is a quartet of singers well-known to cabaret and concert audiences: Debby Boone, La Tanya Hall, Nicolas King, and Gabrielle Stravelli. Co-writer Andy Propst recently published You Fascinate Me So: The Life and Times of Cy Coleman, the first comprehensive biography of Coleman.

http://www.92y.org/Event/L-L-Jazz-Magic-of-Cy-Coleman.aspx

Since 1970, Lyrics & Lyricists, the pioneering American Songbook series, and one of 92Y's signature series, has celebrated the work of songwriters like Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Dorothy Fields, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Sheldon Harnick, and David Zippel with champions and interpreters of the American Songbook including Rob Fisher, Ted Chapin, Mark Lamos, Kathleen Marshall, and Billy Stritch. Lyrics & Lyricists receives underwriting support from Gilda and Henry Block; Kenneth Kolker z"l; The Henry Nias Foundation, courtesy of Dr. Stanley Edelman; The Edythe Kenner Foundation; and the Hite Foundation, Inc.