Baby Jane Dexter, Anna Bergman Come To The Metropolitan Room In April

This month the Metropolitan Room welcomes back two great singers with vastly different styles and personas - the garrulous blues mamma Baby Jane Dexter, who reprises "If" by popular demand for nine shows from April 16 to May 2, and the cosmopolitan chanteuse Anna Bergman, who brings her Richard Rodgers tribute show, "My Heart Stood Still," for four shows spanning two weeks, from April 18 to April 29.

Dexter's encore engagement celebrates the CD release of "If" which she recorded live at the Metropolitan Room when she premiered the show in November of last year. At the time Times critic Stephen Holden said her "booming pop contralto is one of the more formidable voices on the New York nightclub stage." Featuring songs from Rodgers & Hammerstein, Leslie Bricusse, Burt Bacharach & Hal David, Harry Nilsson, Lucinda Williams, Kander & Ebb and Bonnie Bramlett, "If" (subtitled "what might have been... what could have been... what is!") is music directed by Ross Patterson, who supplies all the arrangements. Boots Maleson kicks on bass. The show is conceived and directed by Elissa Patterson. The new album is mixed and mastered by the highly respected veteran producer/engineer André Gauthier.

Bergman premiered "My Heart Stood Still: The Love Songs of Richard Rodgers" uptown in the fall.0 Here she luxuriates in the melodies of the theatrical legend whose collaborations with the lyricists Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Martin Charnin and Stephen Sondheim among others yielded some of the most indelible songs of all time. Directed by Eric Michael Gillett, music directed by Paul Greenwood and accompanied by Alex Rybeck on piano, Bergman concocts a love potion whose vocal ingredients derive in equal measure from her background in theatre, opera and continental cabaret.

"If" performs 9 times: 3 consecutive Thursdays through Saturdays April 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, April 30, May 1, May 2, all at 7:30pm. Dexter's music charge is $25. "My Heart Stood Still" performs 4 times: Saturdays April 18 and 25 at 9:45pm, and Wednesdays April 22 and 29, both at 7:30pm. Bergman's music charge is $20. For reservations call 212/206-0440. Rated "Best of New York" by New York Magazine, the Nightlife and Bistro Award-winning Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, celebrates its third anniversary in May. www.metropolitanroom.com

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