Ripley & Cerveris Join Town Hall Cabaret Fest

Alice Ripley, Tony Award®-winner for her starring role in Next to Normal, and Michael Cerveris, Tony Award®-winner for Assasins and 4-time Tony Award® nominee, join the cast of THE TOWN HALL's Broadway Melody Makers on Friday, October 15th. The evening celebrates legendary composers of The Great White Way and is the first concert in THE TOWN HALL's 5th Annual Broadway Cabaret Festival. This three-concert series, written and hosted by Scott Siegel for THE TOWN HALL, takes place over one weekend and includes Betty Buckley in Concert on Saturday, October 16 at 8PM and Broadway Originals on Sunday, October 17th at 3PM. Tickets are $55 and $50 at Ticketmaster.com, (800) 982-2787, or at The Town Hall Box Office (123 West 43rd Street) between noon and 6PM (except Sundays), 212-840-2824. For more information, visit www.the-townhall-nyc.org.

Broadway Melody Makers on October 15th, is directed by Scott Coulter, with musical direction by Ross Patterson. The cast also includes Broadway performers Nellie MacKay (Threepenny Opera), Tom Wopat (Annie Get Your Gun, A Catered Affair), and Mary Testa (Xanadu, On the Town). The concert will feature songs by Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, and so many others down through the decades to the likes of Jule Styne and Cy Coleman, among others.

Betty Buckley on Saturday, October 16, 2010 at 8:00 PM is one of only a handful of women who can be referred to as A real BROADWAY star and a true legend. Tony Award® winner and three-time Grammy® nominee, she has acted in films, starred on television, and on Broadway. Buckley made her Broadway debut in 1969 and has been called "The Voice of Broadway" by New York Magazine. Her rendition of "Memory" in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats established her reputation. She has recorded 12 solo albums and now tours extensively across the U.S. each year. She is also a composer; her first recording contains mostly songs she wrote.

BROADWAY ORIGINALS! on Sunday, Oct 17th , 2010 at 3:00 PM is directed by Michele Lee, (Seesaw, Bravo Giavonni) who also performs in the show, with musical direction by John Fischer. The afternoon features songs and memories with performers reprising songs they introduced either in the original Broadway production or revival. The cast includes Tony Award® nominees Christiane Noll (Ragtime), Stephanie D'Abruzzo and John Tartaglia (Avenue Q), Christa Moore (Big, Gypsy) and Maureen Silliman (Shenandoah, I Remember Mama), joined by the legendary Jo Sullivan Loesser (The Most Happy Fella) and more to be announced.

Following the Sunday performance on October 17th, The Town Hall will honor Tony ® and Emmy ® Award winning theatre legend Elaine Stritch, (who is currently starring in A Little Night Music) and Merryl H. Tisch, (Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents) with The Town Hall ‘ Friend of the Arts' Award. The award is presented annually to individuals in recognition and appreciation for their abiding interest in the development, enrichment and support of the arts. Tickets are $500 each and include a ticket to the Broadway Cabaret Festival's Broadway Originals concert at 3PM at The Town Hall.