BROADWAY SESSIONS Celebrates Composers & Writers Tonight

BROADWAY SESSIONS is described as an evening of musical performances, games and open mic featuring a new Broadway guest each week. The show is created and hosted by Ben Cameron (Bway Wicked, Aida and Footloose) and features musical director Joshua Stephen Kartes on piano.

Tonight, October 9th, Broadway Sessions celebrates the music of Carner and Gregor, Loesel and Burkell, Joey Contreras, Jeff Thomson, Drew Gasparini and Adam Overett.

Sam Carner and Derek Gregor's award winning musical Unlock'd was produced Off-Broadway in 2013. Songs from their musical, Island Songs, have received multiple MAC award nominations. Their short children's musical, Love, Splat was featured as part of TheatreWorksUSA's The Teacher from the Black Lagoon and Other Stories. They are the creators of "The Barely Legal Showtune Extrvaganza". Carner and Gregors music has been performed in concert venues all over the world.

Joey Contreras is an award winning songwriter who was recently named one of Playbill's "Contemporary Musical Theatre Songwriters You Should Know." He first made a splash with his debut album, "Love Me, Love Me Not: The Music of Joey Contreras". A staple at many New York concert venues, Joey's music has reached international status, having been performed by students and performers all over the world. As producer of the Playbill Video series, Hot Off the Ivories, and through an Artist-in-Residency with Broadway Dreams Foundation, he has developed creative ways to develop and premiere new contemporary musical theatre work. His current musicals include All the Kids are Doing It (w/ Kate Thomas), and A Year in Jackson (w/ Laura Kleinbaum), while his new album "Young Kind of Love" comes out in Fall 2014.

Drew Gasparini is a composer/ performing singer/songwriter. Gasparini has written the musicals Crazy Just Like Me, Above my Pay Grade, Circles, Innapropriate Stories Told at a Bar and Make Me Bad. His recording credits include Overboard ('08), Drew Gasparini Band ('12) and I Could Use a Drink ('13). He is the recipient of the 2006 John Lennon songwriters award and was a contributing composer for NBC's SMASH and Oxygen Networks The Next Big Thing.

Composer Jeff Thomson is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, as well as the Dramatist Guild Musical Theatre Writing Fellowship. His songs have been performed by such artists as Diana DeGarmo, JoJo, Adam Lambert, Elizabeth Gillies, Frankie Grande and was a featured songwriter in the acclaimed songbook series at Lincoln Center. Projects include an arena rock musical adaptation of Allan Moyle's Pump Up the Volume, a dance pop musical adaptation of the cult film Jawbreaker, the upcoming original American musical TRAILS and most recently he was chosen to write the music for an upcoming animated movie musical for Amazon Studios in Los Angeles.

Adam Overett is a Composer/lyricist/librettist: MY LIFE IS A MUSICAL (critically acclaimed world premiere at Bay Street Theatre in 2014;"Inspired" - NYT); POPESICAL (Lyric Theatre, LA; Joe's Pub, NYC); CALL IT COURAGE (Zach Theatre, Austin TX, five Payne Award nominations); co-writer of WE THE PEOPLE: AMERICA ROCKS (2011 Lortel nominee, Best Off-Broadway Musical); "My Sky" (sung by Stephanie J. Block on No More Revivals album). Dramatists Guild Fellow (2011). Actor: Broadway and national tour companies of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (u/s Fabrizio). National tour: DIRTY DANCING (Neil Kellerman). Off-B'way and regional: MURDER FOR TWO (Marcus u/s). Graduate of Yale University. www.adamoverett.com. @adamoverett

Scott Burkell and Paul Loesel's songs have been performed at Carnegie Hall (Michael Feinstein: Now and Then Series), Lincoln Center (American Songbook Series), Joe's Pub, Birdland, Symphony Space, The Kennedy Center, and the Chicago Humanities Festival. Their songs have been premiered by Kristin Chenoweth (Carnegie Hall), Rebecca Luker (The Kennedy Center), Marin Mazzie, Jason Danieley, Stephanie J. Block, Susan Egan, and Liz Callaway. Together they have received the Jonathan Larson Award, and as a composer, Paul is the recipient of the 2010 Burton Lane Award. Recordings of their work appear on Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley's Opposite You, Stephanie J. Block's This Place I Know, and Rebecca Luker's Greenwich Time. (Sorta) Love Songs, their debut CD, will be released in November 2010 on the Sh-K-Boom Records label. Their musical Six of One, (re-titled The Extraordinary Ordinary), received a Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Grant, an ASCAP workshop, a CAP21 workshop, and a production in the Philly Fringe Festival. Musical revues include Love Songs and Other Crap (MAC Award nomination) and Sorta Love Songs (Birdland, album available on Itunes) Ella Minnow Pea, their new musical, received a production at the University of Michigan.

Performers scheduled to sing include Danielle Wade (winner of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Over the Rainbow: Search for the Next Dorothy. ) Wade will offer an evening of Carner and Gregor music October 13th at The Metropolitan Room. Felicia Finley (Mamma Mia, Aida, The Wedding Singer), Brad Greer (The Broadway Boys), Ben Cameron (Wicked, Aida), Adam Kaplan (Newsies), Mike Backes, Diana Huey, Ashley Piccialo, Virginia Cavaliere and more.

The evening will also feature performances by vocalists Bligh Voth and Justin Hermosilla and a sneak peak of Ben Rimalower is Bad with Money.

Pre show Open Mic "Singing for Shots" challenge starts at 10:15.

Broadway Sessions takes place every Thursday evening at The Laurie Beechman Theater inside The West Bank Café, located at 407 West 42nd Street (corner of 42nd Street and 9th Avenue). Call 212-695-6909 for more information. Doors open at 10pm for open mic. Showtime at 11. $5 drink specials all night. $5 cover includes a donation to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. Past performances can be viewed on Broadway Sessions YouTube channel. For more information, visit www.BroadwaySessions.net.

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