STAGE TUBE: O'Hara, Szot & NY Pops Pay Tribute to Lerner and Loewe Promo

On Friday, April 16, 2010 at 8:00PM, The New York Pops will celebrate Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe at Carnegie Hall with a vibrant program of the timeless music created by the iconic songwriting duo. Headlining the program are Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot, the stars of the Tony award-winning Broadway revival South Pacific. Tenor Michael Slattery, The Clurman Singers, and dancers from the New York Theatre Ballet join The New York Pops and Music Director Steven Reineke for this thrilling collection of classic favorites from My Fair Lady, Camelot, Paint Your Wagon, Gigi and Brigadoon. BroadwayWorld brings you a behind-the-scenes conversation between O'Hara, Szot and Reineke at Sardi's, featuring a special impromptu performance of "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady by O'Hara.

Frederick "Fritz" Loewe (1901-1988) and Alan Jay Lerner (1918-1986) make up one of the most important song writing duo of the twentieth century. The New York Times wrote that "The team's finest songs are marked by a contemporary conversational fluency and precision of phrase, joined to a graceful Old World melodicism that looks back often wistfully to the turn-of-the-century operetta."

Between 1943 and 1960, the pair wrote six original musicals for Broadway, as well as an Oscar-winning movie musical. Their first big hit came in 1947, with Brigadoon, a musical that includes such famous numbers as "The Heather on the Hill", "From This Day On", and the classic romantic ballad "Almost Like Being In Love". In 1951 came Paint Your Wagon, which included such songs as "They Call The Wind Maria", "I Talk To The Trees" and "Wandrin' Star".

Then in 1956, My Fair Lady delivered a warmth and sophistication that made it one of the best-loved musicals of all time. The show ran for 2,717 performances in its original Broadway production (and even more in London) and has been revived on Broadway several times. The 1964 film version, with a screenplay by Lerner, won seven Oscars.

In 1958 the team wrote the music, screenplay and lyrics for the classic film musical Gigi (directed by Vincente Minnelli), which had a superb score including "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" and "I Remember It Well", and which won 9 Academy Awards, including one for Best screenplay and one for the title song.

Although they were to work together one last time on the unsuccessful 1974 film The Little Prince, their last successful collaboration came in 1960 with Camelot, a delightful score which included "I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight", "Camelot", "The Simple Joys of Maidenhood", "How to Handle a Woman", and "If Ever I Would Leave You".

Tickets for the concert are $33, $37, $46, $74, $94 and $104; Tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street. Tickets may also be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or online by visiting www.carnegiehall.org. For more information, visit www.newyorkpops.org.