Jim Caruso is proud to announce that Broadway/television veteran ILENE GRAFF will be performing her concert, "First You Dream" at Birdland on Monday, April 19 at 7pm. This concert will be part of the long-running Broadway at Birdland series, showcasing performers and composers from the Great White Way.
Accompanied by her Musical Director-husband Ben Lanzarone, Graff will perform material ranging from Harold Arlen to the Beatles, the Bergmans to Sondheim, all with unique interpretations and arrangements.
Ilene Graff is best known to audiences as Marsha Owens, the mom on the long running ABC comedy "Mr. Belvedere." She made her professional Broadway debut years earlier on the musical stage in Promises Promises, the Neil Simon, Bacharach/David hit, where she understudied the leading lady and sang backups from the orchestra pit. She performed the role of Fran Kubelik in New York before starring in the National Tour. One of her biggest Broadway triumphs was creating the role of Cleo in the Cy Coleman, Michael Stewart musical comedy hit I Love My Wife, directed by Tony Award winner Gene Saks. She can be heard on the show's Original Cast Album. Other theatre credits include: Charley's Aunt with Charles Grodin, Cabaret as Sally Bowles, Annie Get Your Gun as Annie Oakley, and Over Here directed by Mr. Belvedere himself, Christopher Hewett. Ilene created the role of Donna in the world premiere of composer/arranger/producer husband Ben Lanzarone's musical, You and Me, with book and lyrics by Lloyd J. Schwartz; she won the Artistic Directors' Award of the Valley Theatre League for her performance. She had the thrill of performing the role of Mama Rose in a Los Angeles revival of Gypsy as well as entertaining Jerry Herman himself at a performance of Jerry's Girls and is very proud to have co-starred in ABC/Disney's film version of "South Pacific," working with Glenn Close and Harry Connick, Jr.
Ilene Graff in "First You Dream"
Monday, April 19 at 7pm
Birdland, 315 West 44 Street, NYC
$25 cover, $10 food/drink minimum
212-581-3080 or
www.birdlandjazz.com
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