Raissa Katona Bennett Brings KERN To Don't Tell Mama This Fall

Broadway actress-singer, MAC and Bistro Award winner, Raissa Katona Bennett, returns to the cabaret stage in November with her celebration of the Great American Songbook, Can't Help Singing - The Music of Jerome Kern. The show plays Nov.1st at 7pm & Nov. 2nd at 8pm at Don't Tell Mama in the heart of the theater district. Kern chestnuts like "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "All the Things You Are" and "The Way You Look Tonight," will make an appearance in a varied and entertaining repertoire that is fun and romantic.

Pianist, Mark Berman (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), joins Raissa as Musical Director for this engagement, with Tom Hubbard on bass. Don't Tell Mama is located at 343 W. 46th Street, and reservations, which are essential, can be made here: https://tinyurl.com/y4jb98pp. For information, call: 212.757.0788 x4. The cover charge is $20 ($15 for MAC), and as an added treat, each ticket buyer will receive a complimentary CD of the live show recording (from the much-missed Feinstein's at the Regency). Additional copies are available for $10. Don't Tell Mama is a CASH ONLY ROOM.

"Raissa Katona Bennett, breathing life into Kern, shows how 'actable' the music of Jerome Kern is in her delightful new show. Each song is a little play, and she's ready to feel every emotion as they occur, bringing us right up to the emotional edge with her." - Broadwayworld.com

Raissa Katona Bennett is a creative and multi-disciplinary presence in the cultural life of New York City. As a performer, she appeared on Broadway as Christine in Phantom of the Opera, and has numerous off-Broadway credits. Her New York nightclub credits as a headliner include Feinstein's, Metropolitan Room, Iridium and the Beechman. She has been a Guest Star in events at The Supper Club, Rainbow Room, 88's, Don't Tell Mama, Chita's, The Algonquin, and Radio City Music Hall, as well as Lincoln Center's Rose Hall and the Town Hall as a guest artist of the Mabel Mercer Cabaret Conventions. Raissa crisscrossed the U.S.A. in the First National Tours of Parade and CATS, and has appeared as a soloist with symphony orchestras nationwide. Last Holiday season, Raissa appeared as a soloist for Holiday Pops with the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra and Chorale.

She recently appeared at Carnegie Hall in The Mabel Mercer Foundation's Salute to Jerome Kern, and last spring, made her Law and Order SVU debut as Judge Joan Callahan. Raissa also appeared recently in her hometown of Norwalk, in Music Theatre of Connecticut's production of the Tony Award winning musical, FUN HOME, playing Helen.

For nine years (through 2016) Katona Bennett produced and hosted Concerts for City Greens, a series she founded to expose culturally and socio-economically diverse audiences of all ages to art events in city settings, and to promote the 'greening' of cities. The series included talent from the theater, jazz and cabaret worlds, all of whom donated their time and talents. In one memorable season, the series produced a songwriting contest with a particularly noteworthy panel of judges: Michael John LaChiusa, Amanda McBroom, David Friedman, Ann Hampton Callaway & Neil Sedaka. Katona Bennett received the 2010 Bistro Award and 2011 MAC Award for Outstanding Achievement as the creator, producer and host of Concerts for City Greens. In 2014, she was awarded a special Ruth Kurtzman Benefit Series MAC Award.

Raissa Katona Bennett is passionately involved in training rescue dogs with behavioral issues to make them more adoptable. She has volunteered extensively, in this capacity and as a dog foster, with the ASPCA, the Humane Society and Shih Tzu Fur Baby Rescue.

CAN'T HELP SINGING - THE MUSIC OF Jerome Kern was recorded live at Feinstein's at the Regency in 2011, with Musical Director-Arranger Don Rebic on Piano, and Tom Hubbard on Bass. The CD is available on LMLMusic.com, Amazon, iTunes and other digital retailers.

To post a comment, you must register and login.