Broadway at Birdland to Continue 'Mentor Mondays' with John Bucchino, 12/30

Jim Caruso's Cast Party, Birdland's 'extreme' open mic, is proud to announce the upcoming MENTOR MONDAYS segment, which takes place on the last Monday of every month. MENTOR MONDAYS pairs up-and-coming singers and composers with established artists to create a featured performance for the historic Birdland stage. MENTOR MONDAYS gives emerging young performers the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collaborate with some of New York's most talented musical theater songsmiths, including Adam Guettel, Lisa Lambert, Frank Wildhorn, Amanda Green, John Bucchino and Georgia Stitt, as well as singers Jane Monheit and Billy Porter.

The upcoming "Mentor Mondays" segment will take place at 10pm, during the first hour of Cast Party on Monday, December 30. John Bucchino, the award-winning composer of Broadway's A Catered Affair will be paired with Kennedy Caughell and Adam Kaplan, both of whom recently graduated from Elon University.

Kennedy Caughell recently graduated from Elon University with a BFA degree in Musical Theatre. She now lives in New York City. Adam Kaplan graduated in 2012 with a BFA in Musical Theatre from Elon University. He is currently on Broadway in Disney's Newsies and was a 2012 finalist in NYMF's Next Broadway Sensation competition.

John Bucchino's songs have been performed and recorded by renowned pop (Art Garfunkel, Judy Collins), theatre (Liza Minnelli, Patti LuPone, Kristin Chenoweth, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald), cabaret (Barbara Cook, Michael Feinstein), and classical (Yo-Yo Ma, Deborah Voight, Nathan Gunn) artists as well as The Boston Pops, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in venues including Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Opera, The Hollywood Bowl, The Sydney Opera House, London's O2 Arena and The White House. Among his honors are two Drama Desk nominations, The Johnny Mercer Songwriter Award, The ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, The Jonathan Larson Award, The Kleban Award, The Los Angeles Ovation Award (for the revue It's Only Life), The DVD Premiere Award (for the song "Better Than I"), and the first annual Fred Ebb Award.

He has written scores for the musicals Urban Myths, Lavender Girl, Broadway's A Catered Affair (nominated for 12 Drama Desk Awards, and winner of the New York Drama League Award for Best Musical, with a book by Harvey Fierstein), It's Only Life, the Dreamworks animated film JOSEPH, KING OF DREAMS, and lyrics for the children's musical SIMEON's GIFT (with a book by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton and music by Ian Fraser). Some recordings of his work are: GRATEFUL, THE SONGS OF John Bucchino (with companion songbook), SOLITUDE LESSONS (another collection of original songs), ON Richard Rodgers' PIANO (solo piano interpretations of Rodgers songs on the composer's own Steinway, voted Best Instrumental CD by Show Business Weekly), and the PS Classics releases of the cast albums of It's Only Life (with companion songbook) and A Catered Affair. As part of their Julie Andrews Collection, Harper Collins published a children's book, based on John's song, called "Grateful, A Song of Giving Thanks" which was awarded the Parents' Choice Gold Award.

MENTOR MONDAYS is presented by Trevor McQueen, a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. Trevor made his Broadway debut as Little Jake in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters. Other credits include Prior in Angels in America (CMU), Fiddler on the Roof, Annie, and Sunset Boulevard with Liz Callaway (Pittsburgh CLO). He recently made his Birdland debut hosting Jazz Party, and has been consistently featured at Jazz at Andy's at the Fairmont Hotel in Pittsburgh, headlining with such jazz greats as legendary drummer Roger Humphries.

For the past ten years, Jim Caruso's Cast Party has been the spot for the Broadway, jazz and cabaret communities to celebrate each other with impromptu performances. Every Monday night at 9:30, Caruso, along with Billy Stritch and the Cast Party Symphony Orchestra, host a three-hour open mic/variety show at Birdland that has been called "musical come-what-mayhem!"

TICKET INFORMATION: $25 cover, $10 food/drink minimum. For tickets and more information, visit www.birdlandjazz.com. For more information and reservations call 212-581-3080.

ABOUT BROADWAY AT BIRDLAND: The Broadway at Birdland concert series showcases performers and composers from the Great White Way and environs.

ABOUT BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB: Named for alto saxophonist and jazz pioneer Charlie "Bird" Parker who dubbed it "The Jazz Corner of the World," Birdland opened on December 15th 1949. For 60 years it has been home to jazz legends, from Parker, John Coltrane Duke Ellington and Count Basie to Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones, Diana Krall and everyone in between. The original 52nd street location was a cultural barometer and meeting place, inspiring the songs "Birdland" and "Lullaby of Birdland," and serving as a regular haunt for celebrities and cultural figures. The modern incarnation is a state of the art nightclub featuring award winning Southern and Cajun cuisine, first rate sound and lighting and a who's who of contemporary musical artists, 7 nights a week.

Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street (between 8th & 9th Avenues), New York, NY 10036. Discounts: Students (with current ID) & Broadway Theatre-Goers (with Broadway ticket stub from same day of performance): 50% off music charge at 11PM shows only. Birdland serves American Fare with a Cajun Flair nightly from 5PM until Midnight and until 1AM on Friday and Saturdays. Parking is available across the street at 332 West 44th Street. For more information, visit www.BirdlandJazz.com, or follow BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB on Twitter: @birdlandjazz, Facebook, Instagram, and on Pinterest.

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