Town Hall to Feature Elaine Stritch, BROADWAY ORIGINALS!, et al. in 2011 Cabaret Festival

The Town Hall, New York's landmark theatre and concert venue, has announced the critically acclaimed Seventh Annual Broadway Cabaret Festival October 16th, October 22nd and October 28th. Broadway Originals!, Elaine Stritch At The Town Hall, and A Tribute To Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, will be presented in a new format of three consecutive weeks. The festival is created, written and hosted by Scott Siegel.

On Sunday, October 16th at 3PM, Broadway Originals! features an afternoon of songs and memories with performers reprising songs they introduced either in the original Broadway production or revival. Current casting includes Yvonne Constant (La Plume de Ma Tante - 1958), Daisy Eagan (The Secret Garden), Bob Stillman (Grey Gardens), Christopher Fitzgerald (The Producers), Alexander Gemignani (Le Miz, Assasins) and Marilyn Michael's (Catskill's on Broadway) and The Manhattan Rhythm Kings (Crazy for You) with additional casting to be announced.

On Saturday, October 22, the incomparable Broadway legend Elaine Stritch takes the stage with her show Elaine Stritch at The Town Hall at 8PM. Ms. Stritch comes to The Town Hall following her triumphant engagement at The Carlyle.

The Broadway Cabaret Festival concludes on Friday, October 28th with A Tribute To Judy Garland and Gene Kelly. The evening will feature interviews on stage with Lorna Luft about Judy Garland, and Susan Stroman about Gene Kelly. The performers include: Broadway dancer Noah Racey (Never Gonna Dance, Curtains), Elizabeth Stanley (Million Dollar Quartet), Carole J. Bufford (11 O'Clock Numbers at 11 O'Clock at Feinstein's at the Regency), and the New York Song and Dance Company, with additional performers to be announced.

"The Broadway Cabaret Festival, now spread over three weeks rather than one weekend, will give each of these concerts a chance to more fully have the limelight," said Siegel. "And the addition of the live movie musical tribute to Judy & Gene is an exciting new show that combines what we do best at Town Hall: Inform and entertain. Having Lorna Luft and Susan Stroman as my co-hosts to talk about these iconic movie stars and have the very songs we're talking about performed by today's great stars are very exciting. The combination of song and dance in this musical tribute, with the added ingredient of a night full of iconic movie numbers live on stage, should provide quite a capper to The Town Hall's Seventh Annual Broadway Cabaret Festival."

Tickets for all three performances of the Broadway Cabaret Festival are $55, $50, and $45 and are on sale through TicketMaster, (800) 982 2787 ,www.ticketmaster.com, or The Town Hall Box Office (123 West 43 Street) between noon and 6 PM (except Sundays) at 212-840-2824 .

Now celebrating its 90th Anniversary Season, The Town Hall was built in 1921 by a group of suffragettes and began as a lecture hall and public forum for debates where "American Town Meetings on The Air" was broadcast live for 25 years. Over the decades, the stage has been graced by Eleanor Roosevelt, Carl Sandberg, Margaret Sanger, Billie Holiday, Igor Stravinsky, Bob Dylan, MiLes Davis and most recently, The Dalai Lama and President Obama. Today the hall flourishes as a popular, affordable venue, boasting the hottest acts in rock, pop, folk, cabaret, world music, comedy and dance, including Billy Joel, Blondie, Elvis Costello, Natalie Merchant, Graham Nash, Liza Minnelli, Cyndi Lauper, Norah Jones, Andre Watts, Henry Rollins, Joe Jackson, Pink Martini, Regina Spektor, Bryan Adams, Aimee Mann, Robin Williams, Dawn Upshaw, Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Al Gore, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Mercer, Don Rickles, Jay Leno, Dave Matthews, Vanessa Williams, and Ben Folds. For over a decade, The Town Hall has hosted live broadcasts of Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion." In its annual show, "Rising Stars," The Town Hall gives recent graduates from the nation's leading performing arts schools a chance to showcase their talents and perform on the legendary stage. The Town Hall Educational Outreach Program helps schools build their arts programs and advance student learning through standards-based, collaborative arts residencies. Over the past two-and-a-half decades, The Town Hall has produced the Feature Film Seminar Series and a number of new and critically acclaimed musical series, which include Not Just Jazz, Broadway By The Year®, The Broadway Cabaret Festival and The Summer Broadway Festival.

For more information, visit www.the-townhall-nyc.org.

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos