Photo Flash: Linda Lavin Brings 'MOMENTS LIKE THIS' To Birdland
By: Eddie Varley Apr. 08, 2009
On Monday, April 6, Linda Lavin returned to the Broadway at Birdland stage with a new show, along with musical director/singer Billy Stritch, Steve Doyle on bass, and Steve Bakunas on drums.
The show, "Moments Like This" is a new show that gave the sold-out Birdland audience a chance to meet the Broadway and television star up-close and personal as she recalled her roots in the theater, her love of torch songs, and a life-long obsession with the big bands of the 1940's.
Linda's varied musical choices range from Cole Porter to Trisha Yearwood, and the musical relationship with pianist/singer Billy Stritch only adds to the party atmosphere this hostess-with-the-mostess exudes.
Linda Lavin first burst on the New York musical comedy scene with roles in Oh, Kay!, It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman and On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever. She also won kudos for her straight acting roles in Little Murders and Last of the Red Hot Lovers. TV beckoned and she soon became a household name as the star of the sitcom "Alice." During the nine seasons it was on the air, Linda nabbed two Golden Globe awards and an Emmy nomination. She even sang "There's a New Girl in Town" over the opening credits of the show. Following this success, she focused her attentions once again on the stage. She earned renewed respect, in addition to critic's awards, for her diversified Broadway work in Gypsy, The Sisters Rosensweig, Collected Stories, Broadway Bound (1987 Tony award), Death Defying Acts (Obie award), The Diary of Anne Frank (Tony nomination) and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (Tony nomination). She also appeared in Carol Burnett's autobiographical play Hollywood Arms portraying Burnett's grandmother, and most recently in Paul Rudnick's The New Century at Lincoln Center.
An award-winning composer and performer, Billy Stritch has produced, arranged for and sung onstage with world-renowned icons including Liza Minnelli, Christine Ebersole, Marilyn Maye and Charles Aznavour, and was a guest conductor for The Rosie O'Donnell Show. As a composer, Stritch co-penned the 1994 Grammy Award-winning song, "Does He Love You?," recorded by Reba McEntire and Linda Davis, which has sold over four million copies nationwide and was named one of the Top Ten Country Songs of that year. Stritch has headlined every famed nightspot in Manhattan, including Rainbow and Stars, The Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room, The Russian Tea Room, The Blue Note and Birdland. In 2001, he landed the role of piano-playing crooner Oscar in the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of 42nd Street, opposite Ebersole - which led to a long-standing and hugely celebrated professional partnership, across dozens of stages and television shows. Stritch is also the winner of the Nashville Music City News Award, a BMI Song of the Year Award and four awards from the Manhattan Association of Clubs and Cabarets
Photos by Steve Sorokoff
Billy Stritch, Linda Lavin, Steve Doyle and Steve Bakunas
Joel Grey and Linda Lavin
Paul Rudnick, David Zippel and Linda Lavin
Linda Lavin, Mike Doyle and Edward Hibbert
Linda Lavin and Tyne Daly
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