Photo Flash: Inside Jim Caruso's Cast Party at Birdland with Lillias White, Ethan Pakchar, Douglas Lyons & More

On Monday, January 27, Broadway, jazz and pop performers jammed Jim Caruso''s Cast Party at Birdland, as they have every Monday for the past ten years! The evening was made especially meaningful with the 5th "Mentor Monday," a monthly musical segment that pairs up and coming composers with established artists. Presenter Trevor McQueen combined Broadway''s Lillias White with writers Ethan Pakchar and Douglas Lyons, a young songwriting team who began collaborating while touring with The Book of Mormon. The resulting performance was the song, "Not Meant To Be in Love," accompanied by Matt Aument, which gave Lillias ample opportunity to be vampy and campy and otherwise leave the audience helpless with laughter. It was a perfect way to introduce the community to Lyons & Pakchar''s clever wordplay and catchy melodies!

Also present and/or taking part in the impromptu open mic performances were folk-rock singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke (currently performing her one-woman show, My Mother Has Four Noses at The Duke on 42nd Street through May 4), Todd Buonopane (Cinderella), Broadway''s Tony Sheldon, Hands on a Hardbody star Keala Settle, actress/singer Aisha deHaas, folk singer Christine Lavin, Tony-winning lyricist Lisa Lambert (The Drowsy Chaperone), and 94-year old songwriter Ervin Drake, who wrote the Billie Holiday hit "Good Morning Heartache," among many other standards.

Jim Caruso''s Cast Party, hosted by Caruso, with Billy Stritch at the piano, Steve Doyle on bass and Daniel Glass on drums, takes place at Birdland (315 West 44 Street, NYC) every Monday night at 9:30pm.

Photos by Seth Walters