Jim Caruso's Cast Party presented the return of songwriter Georgia Stitt in Concert on Monday, March 30 at 9pm, in continuation of the Broadway at Birdland series.
In celebration of the March 31st release of ALPHABET CITY CYCLE (PS Classics), Georgia Stitt and her talented friends returned to Birdland. There was featured performances by Broadway talents Julia Murney, Tituss Burgess, Kate Baldwin, Graham Rowat, Laura Osnes, Kathleen Monteleone and Kevin Greene, as well as a New York City debut of newcomer Ashley Marks. The rocking house band included Shannon Ford on drums, Randy Landau on bass and Christian Hebel on violin.
Georgia Stitt is a composer and a lyricist. Her musicals Big Red Sun (winner of the Harold Arlen Award in 2005 and written with playwright John Jiler) and The Water (premiered at the University of Michigan in 2004 and written with collaborators Jeff Hylton and Tim Werenko) are both in development. At present she is developing a musical revue with composer/lyricist David Kirshenbaum, currently titled Sing Me A Happy Song. In spring of 2007 she released her first album, This Ordinary Thursday: The Songs of Georgia Stitt, on the PS Classics label. The recording features stellar performances by such contemporary theater luminaries as Sara Ramirez, Kelli O'Hara, Faith Prince, Carolee Carmello, Susan Egan, Tituss Burgess, Keith Byron Kirk, Andrea Burns, Matthew Morrison, Will Chase, Jenn Colella, Lauren Kennedy and Cheyenne Jackson, and the CD's songbook of printed music is now available through Hal Leonard. Aside from contributing two songs to the 2008 MTV movie The American Mall, Georgia has also written songs that are included on Susan Egan's solo albums Coffee House and Winter Tracks (LML Records) and Lauren Kennedy's album Here and Now (PS Classics).
Stitt was the assistant music director for the NBC TV special Clash of the Choirs, the on-camera vocal coach for the NBC reality TV show Grease: You're The One That I Want, and the Production Music Coordinator for the Disney/ABC TV musical Once Upon A Mattress starring Tracey Ullman and Carol Burnett. On Broadway she was the assistant conductor of the 2003 Little Shop of Horrors revival and the associate conductor of the Encores! production of Can-Can starring Patti LuPone. Also on Broadway: Avenue Q, Sweet Smell of Success, The Music Man, Titanic, Annie, and the national tour of Parade. She has also served as musical director and arranger/orchestrator for The Broadway Divas in concerts in New York, California and Australia and was a music consultant for the feature film The Stepford Wives, directed by Frank Oz.
In 2005 she served as an arranger for the Boston Pops Orchestra (Keith Lockhart, conductor) in their 75th Anniversary Tribute to Stephen Sondheim at Tanglewood and Boston's Symphony Hall. www.georgiastitt.com.
Photos by Steve Sorokoff
Broadway at Birdland
Ashley Marks
The starry group of singers
Jim Jacobs and Jim Caruso
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