Ziemba, Harnick, Etc. Set for Lyrics & Lyricists 'in 06-'07

The 92nd Street Y has announced the 2007 line-up of Lyrics & Lyricists, the Y's American Songbook series, now in its 37th season.  Lyrics & Lyricists continues to follow the format established in 2003, featuring five different shows designed specifically for L&L by five different artistic directors each season.  Among the artists featured next season will be Ann Hampton Callaway, Karen Ziemba, Sheldon Harnick and Andrea Marcovicci.

This season, L&L returns to a January-June schedule and opens with the first New York tribute to Rosemary Clooney since her death in 2002, presented by Deborah Grace Winer and featuring Ann Hampton Callaway, James Naughton, Karen Ziemba, John Pizzarelli and special guest Debby Boone.  

"The Last Girl Singer: Rosemary Clooney and Her Way with Words" will be presented from January 6th through 8th, 2007. Created by Deborah Grace Winer, it will be directed by Marc Waldrop with musical direction by John Oddo. Boone, who is Clooney's daughter-in-law, will appear on January 7th and 8th only.  "The great American singer Rosemary Clooney (1928-2002) is remembered for her role as the sassy Betty Haynes in White Christmas, in which she starred opposite Danny Kaye and her mentor, Bing Crosby.  But Clooney's true legacy is in her carefully chosen repertoire, which includes hundreds of gems from the pages of the American Songbook."

Host Sheldon Harnick (lyrics for Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello, She Loves Me) and artistic director Rob Fisher (former musical director at Encores!) will continue last season's conversation about songs and songwriting, with Part 2 of "Collector's Items: Other People's Songs," from February 10th through 12th.   Vocalists will be announced.

"Rob Fisher and Sheldon Harnick first teamed up at L&L in 2004 for a show on Ira Gershwin, and they have returned each year since then.  Last season, they garnered rave reviews for the show in which Harnick presented an evening of the lyrics he most admires, with insightful commentary about why they made his 'favorites' list. This season, Harnick returns to explore some of the lyrics that inspired him to be a songwriter, including songs by Ira Gerwhin, Lorenz Hart and Yip Harburg." Harnick will host, while Fisher will be on piano.

American Songbook historian Robert Kimball will explore all-American songwriter Irving Berlin from March 17th through 19th.  Hosted by CBS newsman Charles Osgood, the evening will feature Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, with co-music director Sam Davis on piano.  Vocalists will be announced.

"Jerome Kern said of his friend Irving Berlin (1888-1989), 'He has no place in American music; he is American music.'  A Russian-born cantor's son who became America's foremost songwriter, Berlin wrote hundreds of songs that have become part of American culture, including 'God Bless America,' 'Puttin' on the Ritz,' and 'There's No Business Like Show Business.'  Music historian Robert Kimball was a longtime friend of Berlin and co-editor with Linda Emmet (one of Berlin's daughters) of The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin.  At L&L, he explores how Berlin's work over the course of 80 years reflected the evolving cultural landscape of America."

Andrea Marcovicci will offer a glamorous tribute to the prolific but relatively under-recognized lyricist Leo Robin ("Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend") in May.  Gregory Harrison (Chicago, Follies) and Jennifer Sheehan will also perform in "Thanks for the Memories: The Lyrics of Leo Robin," which will feature musical direction by Shelly Markham.  Additional vocalists will be announced.

Lyricist Leo Robin (1900-1984) wrote the words to classics like Bob Hope's signature song "Thanks for the Memory" (for which Robin won an Academy Award, with longtime collaborator Ralph Rainger); "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" (with Jule Styne), made famous by both Carol Channing and Marilyn Monroe; and "Beyond the Blue Horizon" (with W. Frank Harling and Richard Whiting).  Robin and Rainger were the leading film songwriting duo of the 1930s and early 1940s.  Robin also wrote the songs for two more Broadway shows – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949) and The Girl in Pink Tights (1954).

Steve Ross will make his first appearance at Lyrics & Lyricists with a show devoted to Noel Coward from June 2nd through June 4th.  Created and hosted by Ross, who will sing and accompany himself on piano, "Noel Coward and His Ladies" will feature a script by Barry Day.  Additional vocalists will be announced.

"'Noel Coward and His Ladies' pays tribute to Coward the songwriter through the work of the talented and glamorous female stars who inspired and performed so many of his elegant and sophisticated songs.  Among the 'ladies who crossed Coward's path were his lifelong friend Gertrude Lawrence, who starred with him on Broadway and in London's West End; cabaret and Broadway stars Elaine Stritch and Mary Martin; the French actress Yvonne Printemps; and Florence Henderson, who appeared in Coward's 1963 musical The Girl Who Came to Supper before she became a household name as the mother in television's 'The Brady Bunch.'"

The granddaddy of American songbook programs, Lyrics & Lyricists was launched in 1970 when longtime Broadway conductor Maurice Levine and lyricist E.Y. "Yip" Harburg took to the stage of the 92nd Street Y to talk about the then unusual topic of songmaking. The series has featured every great Broadway and Hollywood lyricist and composer, laying the groundwork for more recent series like Lincoln Center's American Songbook, Carnegie Hall's American Popular Song Celebration and City Center's Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert.

L&L shows are Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 3 and 8 pm, and Monday at 2 and 8pm.  Individual tickets are $55 and $45; subscriptions to the entire series are $250 and $220.

For more information, visit www.92Y.org.