Lesley Gore, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Lauren Flanigan have been added to the bill for LANCE HORNE's return to Birdland Jazz Club. The Emmy Award winning composer, musician, vocalist and producer, will present his special new show on Monday, October 20 at 7:00 PM as part of the "Broadway at Birdland" series.
"Lance & the Ladies" is a musical party celebrating not only Lance's birthday but his friendships with women and his love of the female voice. Special guests include the previously-announced Julia Murney, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Gabrielle Stravelli and Julie Garnye. Direct from his acclaimed collaboration with Meow Meow at Berkeley Rep, Lance will present world premieres of songs from the new musical The $trip, selections from The Night Before My Wedding - Horne's opera written with Neil Gaiman - and numbers from his acclaimed CD First Things Last. There will be private reading of the collaboration with Gaiman on Monday, November 10. Horne will also headline all-star "Lance & the Ladies" concerts later this season in Los Angeles, San Francisco and London, which will be featured on an upcoming album.
Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street in Manhattan. Tickets are $30 with a $10 minimum. Visit BirdlandJazz.com for more information.
First Things Last - the exciting album Bridging pop, rock, theater and jazz - was called "sensational" by BroadwayWorld.com and "a decidedly impressive listen" by TheaterMania.com. It features the vocal talents of American stage and screen stars Alan Cumming ("The Good Wife"),Amanda Palmer (The Dresden Dolls), Cheyenne Jackson ("30 Rock," "Glee"), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent), Ricki Lake (Hairspray, "The Ricki Lake Show"), Meow Meow (Edinburgh Festival Winner), Lea DeLaria ("Orange Is The New Black") and Alexandra Silber (Master Class at The Kennedy Center), as well as West End stars like Aneurin Barnard (Spring Awakening), Julie Atherton (Mamma Mia!, Avenue Q), Paul Spicer (Avenue Q), Emma Williams (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and Hannah Waddingham (The Wizard of Oz, Spamalot).
Alan Cumming's chilling performance of the opening number "American" was called "a hard-bitten declamation of one American's beliefs and admissions with white-hot-bitter fervor" by The Huffington Post. The song was praised by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for its powerful political potency. Other highlights are "January" - the dark and haunting lament from acclaimed performance artist Meow Meow - to the bright and hopeful "Leap," as performed by London's Emma Williams.
Horne's compositions range from the raw emotion of "Tell Me The Truth," as sung by Aneurin Barnard, to the loopy humor of "The Little Prince," brought to life by Amanda Palmer. Horne flexes his jazz chops with the bluesy "Hurry Up & Take Your Time," given a sensual reading by vocalist Lea DeLaria. The balled "Anyone Who's Ever Been In Love" - performed on the album by rising theater star Alexandra Silber - went on to become a #1 Eurochart dance hit. Horne himself chimes in for the charming samba "Little White Asparagus Blues," which was written forT.R. Knight to sing in the documentary Asparagus! Stalking The American Life, but ended up on the cutting room floor.
First Things Last - which debuted with concurrent concert events at Lincoln Center's American Songbook and London's West End - was recorded at Yellow Sound Lab in New York, Abbey Road in London, Two Sugars, Inc in Los Angeles and the Bridge Sound & Stage in Boston. The disc also features Christian Campbell and Julie Garnye on backup vocals.
LANCE HORNE is an Emmy Award winning composer, lyricist, singer, pianist, producer and music director of his own work, as well as collaborating with exciting artists around the world. Writing in genres from musical theater to rock, classical stage to film scores and work for television, Mr. Horne maintains an active performance schedule on both US coasts, the UK, and Australia.
Mr. Horne co-produced Alan Cumming's debut album I Bought A Blue Car Today (Yellow Sound) and debut at Lincoln Center Songbook Series, concurrent with multiple seasons at the Sydney Opera House, the Vaudeville on London's West End, the Geffen, Feinstein's at the Regency, the Astaire Awards, and a live appearance in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Also in London, he appeared with Meow Meow at the Hippodrome in La Clique andat the keys at the Vaudeville for Notes Unleashed: The Music of Lance Horne.
He has also served as Music Director for Alan Cumming, Liza Minnelli, Meow Meow, Justin Vivian Bond, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Justin Vivian Bond & Carol Channing, Michael Urie and Becki Newton of "Ugly Betty," Courtney Act (Logo TV's "RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 6, "Australian Idol"), Amanda Palmer at Sydney Opera House, the NBC Orchestra and performances with Ben Folds, Sandra Bernhard, Jake Shears, Thomas Lauderdale (Pink Martini) and the Portland Symphony, Sydney Dance Company, Pina Bausch's Tanzfestival, Seoul Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, Atlanta Symphony, The Dresden Dolls and opening for/working with Dwight Yoakam, Death Cab for Cutie, Tex Perkins, Adam Lambert, Ann Hampton Callaway and the New York Pops. For American Repertory Theater in Boston, he was co-Music Director and co-arranger for Prometheus Bound by Steven Sater and Serj Tankian (System of a Down) and directed by Diana Paulus.
Lance has played Command Performances for President Obama, the First Lady, and Queen Elizabeth with Kristin Chenoweth. His work has been heard at Carnegie Hall, American Opera Projects, Sirius XM Satellite Radio, Toronto's Luminato Festival, and in frequent residencies at Sydney Opera House and Joe's Pub. He holds a Bachelors and Masters in Music Composition from The Juilliard School, and is currently completing his DMA at CUNY Graduate Center.
He wrote the theme song for "The Ricki Lake Show" - the new syndicated TV program that lunched in 2012 - in addition to songs and arrangements for the musical revue Vegas - The Show!, currently running at Planet Hollywood Casino. He has also provided arrangements for the Boston Pops and the Broadway production of Little Women. His film scores include Ready? OK!, starring Carrie Preston ("True Blood," Duplicity) and Michael Emerson ("Lost"). Recordings include Little Women (Ghostlight), A Season's Promise (New World Records), The Battery's Down Season 2 (Sh-K-Boom), Julie Atherton's No Space for Air (Speckulation), Songs From An Unmade Bed (Ghostlight), One Life, Many Voices (ABC), One Life to Live: Prom Night - The Musical (ABC), and his remixes with DJ Morel. His compositions for TV include several Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades on NBC and the holiday song "All Together at the Lincoln Center Tree Lighting, which was published by G. Schirmer.
Mr. Horne received a 2008 Daytime Emmy for Best Original Song ("Chemistry": One Life to Live), 2010 Bistro for Best Album (Alan Cumming), 2006 Jonathan Larson Award (composer-lyricist), the Interlochen Ovation Award and ASCAP'S Young Composer and Emerging Songwriter Awards. Composition residencies include The Public Theatre, Ars Nova, NYTW, Orchard Project, New Harmony Project, O'Neill NMTC, TheaterWorks Palo Alto, and Franklin Furnace. Former teaching includes a decade at Juilliard School & Precollege, NYU, Paris EAMA, guest artist in communications at Stockholm HyperIsland and in theater at Interlochen Arts Academy.
His opera Three Lost Chords was praised in The New York Times for its "lyrical, long-lined vocal writing supported by an eclectically angular score" when it debuted at New York's Zipper Theater in 2008. The next year, Ourboros, his classical composition for flute and piano, debuted at Zankel Hall. Projects in in development include the new animated film Bremen, the musicals The $trip and Amandine, contributing material to The Etiquette of Death at LaMama, a marionette show for Macy's and a live event for Sydney Mardi Gras. More information is at www.LanceHorne.com.
"FIRST THINGS LAST" TRACK LISTING:
1. American (Alan Cumming)
2. In the Name of the Father (Bryce Ryness)
3. Orpheus (Daphne Rubin-Vega)
4. Leap (Emma Williams)
5. Strange Bird (Cheyenne Jackson)
6. January (Meow Meow)
7. Every Moment (Julie Atherton)
8. Haircut (Ricki Lake)
9. Last Day on Earth (Hannah Waddingham)
10. Little White Asparagus Blue (Lance Horne)
11. Anyone Who's Ever Been In Love (Alexandra Silber)
12. Hurry Up & Take Your Time (Lea DeLaria)
13. 6 Hours (Paul Spicer)
14. The Little Prince (Amanda Palmer)
15. Tell Me The Truth (Aneurin Barnard)
Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos
Videos