Photo Flash: Christine Ebersole and Billy Stritch Bring Their 'FAVORITE THINGS' to Birdland

On Monday night, the Broadway at Birdland concert series kicked off a four-night run starring Tony Award-winning actress/singer Christine Ebersole and Grammy Award-winning composer/pianist/singer Billy Stritch in OUR FAVORITE THINGS. The show will run through Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, with shows nightly at 6pm. BroadwayWorld has photos from the concert below!

OUR FAVORITE THINGS celebrates songs from the duo's past concerts and recordings, including "Surrey With The Fringe on Top," "Small Hotel," "My Favorite Things," as well as a few new surprises. Ebersole and Stritch are also introducing a few tunes to kick off the holiday season, complete with their signature tight harmonies, luxurious vocals and snappy conversation!

For over 30 years, two-time Tony Award winning actress, Christine Ebersole has captivated audiences on the Broadway stage, television series and specials, films, concert appearances, and recordings. She received virtually every Off-Broadway award and her second Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Musical for her dual role as both Edith Bouvier Beale and "Little Edie" Beale in Grey Gardens. Acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, the show was nominated for ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and its CD was nominated for a Grammy award. Other Broadway and Off Broadway credits include Blithe Spirit with Angela Lansbury, 42nd St, (Tony Award) Steel Magnolias, Dinner At Eight (Tony Nomination) Talking Heads (Obie) Camelot, opposite Richard Burton and Richard Harris, Oklahoma, and Geniuses at Playwights Horizons. Television roles include The First Lady on "Madame Secretary" for CBS, "Royal Pains" (3 seasons on TBS), "Sullivan and Son," "American Horror Story;Coven," "Law and Order SVU," and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." Christine was a regular cast member in the 1981/82 season of "Saturday Night Live." Films include Tootsie, Amadeus, Richie Rich, Black Sheep, My Favorite Martian, True Crime, Dead Again, The Wolf Of Wall Street, and The Big Wedding where she composed and sang the song Gently Down The Stream for the film's end credits . Christine continues to appear in numerous concert halls and Cabaret venues throughout the country, including performances at City Center Encores!, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, the Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Feinstein's, and Café Carlyle. A recording artist as well, Christine has released several CDs, including the recently released "Christine Ebersole: Strings Attached." She is ecstatic to be reunited with Billy Stritch for an unforgettable evening of "Our Favorite Things."

Billy Stritch is one of the premier singer-pianists on the New York and national jazz and cabaret scene and is thrilled to be reuniting with Christine Ebersole for this week of shows at Birdland. Billy hails from Sugar Land, Texas but has made New York his home for over twenty years. His most recent Broadway credit was as musical supervisor and pianist for Liza Minnelli's Tony Award winning show "Liza's At The Palace" for which he also reconceived the vocal arrangements of the legendary Kay Thompson and The Williams Brothers. In addition to his twenty-two year association with Liza, Billy also accompanies and arranges for Linda Lavin, Marilyn Maye, and Paulo Szot. On stage, he originated the role of Oscar the rehearsal pianist in the 2001 Broadway revival of "42nd Street", performing the role for 488 performances. He also performed in and created the arrangements for "The Best Is Yet To Come - The Music of Cy Coleman" at New York's 59E59 Theater off-Broadway in 2011. His latest solo CD release is "Billy Stritch Sings Mel Tormé", a salute to one of his musical heroes. He is featured on numerous albums including Linda Lavin's "Possibilities", "Sunday In New York" with Christine Ebersole, and "Dreaming of a Song - the Music of Hoagy Carmichael" with Klea Blackhurst. The readers of Broadway World named him NYC's top musical director of 2012 for his work on the acclaimed show "Marilyn Maye by Request". Other awards include BMI Song of the Year, Grammy nomination ("Does He Love You" recorded by Reba McEntire), four Backstage Bistro awards and six MAC awards.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series takes place every week at Birdland, located in the heart of the theater district at 315 West 44 Street. Visit www.BirdlandJazz.com for more information.

Photo Credit: Kevin Alvey

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