Lyrics & Lyricists' SUNNY SIDE UP 'Served' At 92nd Street Y 4/4-4/6

The 92nd Street Y continues the 2009 season of Lyrics & Lyricists with SUNNY SIDE UP, featuring the Lennon/McCartney of their time, DeSylva, Brown & Henderson. Subtitled "Roaring through the Twenties," the show focuses on the megastar songwriting team of Prohibition-Era Tin Pan Alley who turned out hits like "You're the Cream in My Coffee," "Button Up Your Overcoat," "The Best Things in Life Are Free" and the definitive college musical, Good News.

Musical theater historian and guest artistic director Robert Kimball has previously created L&L shows on Mack Gordon, Johnny Mercer and Irving Berlin. Charles Osgood returns to the L&L stage as host, and vintage big band Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks provide authentic sizzling-‘20s arrangements.

 

The program stars Nancy Anderson, Jeffry Denman, Jason Graae and Tony Award winner Randy Graff, please note one cast update - Megan Sikora (Curtains, Wonderful Town, Wicked) replaces Meredith Patterson, who has withdrawn due to a scheduling conflict.

L&L shows are Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 3 and 8 pm, and Monday at 2 and 8 pm. Individual tickets are $60 and $50. There is also a special under-35 ticket price of $25 for the Saturday and Sunday evening shows.

Coming up in 2009

May 9, 10, 11
THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY: IRA AFTER GEORGE
Rex Reed, Artistic Director, Host
Tedd Firth, Music Director
Caitlin Carter, Stage Director
Lucie Arnaz, vocals; Polly Bergen, vocals; Kurt Reichenbach, vocals; Tom Wopat, vocals; Linda Purl, vocals.

June 6, 7, 8
SUNDAY IN NEW YORK: MEL TORMÉ IN WORDS AND MUSIC
Billy Stritch, Artistic Director, Vocals, Piano
Mark Waldrop, Stage Director
Marilyn Maye, vocals; La Tanya Hall, vocals; Hilary Kole, vocals; Johnny Rodgers, vocals & piano.

Long one of the 92nd Street Y's most popular programs, the American Songbook series Lyrics & Lyricists^TM was launched in 1970 when longtime Broadway conductor Maurice Levine and lyricist E.Y. "Yip" Harburg (The Wizard of Oz) took to the stage to talk about the then unusual topic of songwriting. Over the years the series has featured every great Broadway and Hollywood lyricist including Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Johnny Mercer, Stephen Sondheim, Dorothy Fields, and Alan Jay Lerner. In 1978, Lyrics & Lyricists began celebrating composers as well as lyricists and, in 1982, the series evolved from first-person histories of the American musical theatre to narrated musical revues. In 2004, the 92nd Street Y reinvented the format yet again when it asked several accomplished champions of the repertoire - artists like John Pizzarelli, Andrea Marcovicci, Rob Fisher, Sheldon Harnick, Robert Kimball and Ted Sperling - to present original programs in the Lyrics & Lyricists tradition: seamless mixtures of information and entertainment with a particular focus on lyrics. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org/lyrics.

The Lyrics & Lyricists series is partially underwritten by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation. The performances of Lyrics & Lyricists' "Sunday in New York" show are underwritten by Gilda and Henry Block and Kenneth Kolker. The evening performances of L&L on April 5 and May 10 are underwritten by The Henry Nias Foundation, courtesy of Dr. Stanley Edelman. The May 11 evening performance of "The Man That Got Away: Ira After George" is underwritten by Nancy and Jeffrey Lane.

Founded in 1874 by a group of visionary Jewish leaders, the 92nd Street Y has grown into a wide-ranging cultural, educational and community center serving people of all ages, races, faiths and backgrounds - about 300,000 people each year. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org.

 

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