CAROL & PATTI: TOGETHER AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME Plays Davenport's in Chicago, 2/16-17

What would happen if Carol Channing and Patti LuPone were double-booked with their one-woman shows in the cabaret space at Davenport's Piano Bar? For one weekend only, two of their biggest fans will imagine how a night with these two musical theater legends sharing the stage might transpire.

Best friends and frequent collaborators Christopher Pazdernik and Aaron Benham will pay loving tribute to their two favorite musical theater icons in a brand new show, Carol & Patti: Together Again for the First Time. The show will contain real-life and imagined stories from Carol and Patti's lives in show business, punctuated by both songs they made famous and songs they've never sang before! The co-written show features Pazdernik as Patti LuPone alongside Benham as both Carol Channing and pianist.

Previous collaborations between Pazdernik and Benham include three hit cabaret revues at Davenport's: It's an Art: the Songs of Stephen Schwartz; Nobody's Side: Broadway's Cult Classics; and Un-Type Cast; all of which featured Benham as Music Director, Pazdernik as Director and Host, and some of Chicago's most in-demand musical theater performers. Last summer, they also worked together on the hit revue at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theater, Time After Time: The Songs of Jule Styne, with Pazdernik serving as Creative Consultant and Benham as Music Director and Arranger, which earned him a nomination for Best Musical Direction (Resident Non-Equity) in the 2012 Broadway World Awards.

Aaron Benham has worked across the Chicago-land area as music director, composer, arranger and pianist. His musical direction credits include The Fantasticks (Promethean Theater Ensemble), the Chicago Premiere of Avenue Q (NightBlue Performing Arts), The Second City aboard the Norwegian Epic, and currently Parade (Harper College). His original music has been heard at Hey Ladies!, Democracy Burlesque, FunEmployed, and The Fine Print Theater. Additionally, he served as Music Supervisor on Rise of the Numberless (Bailiwick Chicago/New Colony) and has been heard playing piano for The Baker's Wife (Circle Theater) and Putting It Together (Porchlight Music Theater). He also runs a private studio for piano and voice instruction and is a Collective Member with Bailiwick. This summer, he will return to Theo Ubique as Music Director and Arranger for A Cole Porter Songbook.

Christopher Pazdernik has been a Chicago-based director, choreographer and producer for the last five years. His directing credits include Miracle on 34th Street (Porchlight Music Theatre), Songs for a New World (Elmhurst College), workshop productions of the new musicals Far From Freud and Perpetual Possibility, and numerous summer stock productions in his home state of Wisconsin. His choreography credits include the recent Chicago premiere of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Bailiwick Chicago), The Full Monty (Villlage Players), Bombs Away (Bailiwick Repertory) and Show Us Your Love (Bailiwick Chicago). He has assisted Jeff Award winners L. Walter Stearns and Nick Bowling as well as Jeff nominee Tom Mullen. He serves as a Collective Member at Bailiwick Chicago, where he was Associate Producer on the Jeff-nominated production of Violet, and as an Artistic Associate at Porchlight Music Theater, where he has directed numerous benefit concerts.

Carol & Patti: Together Again for the First Time runs tonight, February 16 & the 17th, 2013 at Davenport's Piano Bar & Cabaret, 1383 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago. Showtimes are Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 7 PM. Tickets are available by calling 773-278-1830 or by visiting www.davenportspianobar.com. Tickets are $9 plus a 2 drink minimum.

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