Raissa Katona Bennett Is Back With Jerome Kern And A New CD!

Broadway actress-singer, MAC and Bistro Award winner, Raissa Katona Bennett, returns to the cabaret stage in April celebrating the release of her third recording, CAN'T HELP SINGING - THE MUSIC OF Jerome Kern. This romantic celebration of Kern's greatest hits, including "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "All the Things You Are" and "The Way You Look Tonight," will play April 26th & May 3rd at 7pm at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Pianist, Jon Weber, joins Katona Bennett as Musical Director for this engagement. The Laurie Beechman Theatre is in the rear and downstairs at the West Bank Café, 407 West 42nd Street, NYC 10036. For tickets/reservations call 212.695.6909 or visit: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/986039.

CAN'T HELP SINGING - THE MUSIC OF Jerome Kern was recorded live at Feinstein's at the Regency in 2011, with Musical Director-Arranger Don Rebic on Piano, and Tom Hubbard on Bass. The CD will be released April 6th on LMLMusic.com, Amazon, iTunes and other digital retailers.

"Raissa Katona Bennett, breathing life into Kern, shows how 'actable' the music of Jerome Kern is in her delightful new show. Each song is a little play, and she's ready to feel every emotion as they occur, bringing us right up to the emotional edge with her." - Broadwayworld.com

"A tart tongued commentator on modern life...her theatrical soprano...is an effective vehicle for witty story telling." - Stephen Holden, The New York Times.

Raissa Katona Bennett is a creative and multi-disciplinary presence in the cultural life of New York City. As a performer, she appeared on Broadway as Christine in Phantom of the Opera, and has numerous off-Broadway credits. Her New York nightclub credits as a headliner include Feinstein's, Metropolitan Room, Iridium and the Beechman. She has been a Guest Star in events at The Supper Club, Rainbow Room, 88's, Don't Tell Mama, Chita's, The Algonquin, and Radio City Music Hall, as well as Lincoln Center's Rose Hall and the Town Hall as a guest artist of the Mabel Mercer Cabaret Conventions. Katona Bennett crisscrossed the U.S.A. in the First National Tours of Parade and CATS, and has appeared as a soloist with symphony orchestras nationwide.

For nine years (through 2016) Katona Bennett produced and hosted Concerts for City Greens, a series she founded to expose culturally and socio-economically diverse audiences of all ages to art events in city settings, and to promote the 'greening' of cities. The series included talent from the theater, jazz and cabaret worlds, all of whom donated their time and talents. In one memorable season, the series produced a songwriting contest with a particularly noteworthy panel of judges: Michael John LaChiusa, Amanda McBroom, David Friedman, Ann Hampton Callaway & Neil Sedaka. Katona Bennett received the 2010 Bistro Award and 2011 MAC Award for Outstanding Achievement as the creator, producer and host of Concerts for City Greens. In 2014, she was awarded a special Ruth Kurtzman Benefit Series MAC Award.

This spring Katona Bennett makes her Music Theatre of Connecticut debut as "Helen" in the Tony Award winning, FUN HOME. The production, the very first professional regional theatre production in New England, opens on April 20th in Katona Bennett's hometown of Norwalk, Connecticut. For more information and tickets, call 203.454.3883 or visit: http://www.musictheatreofct.com.

She will also appear at the opening festivities this spring for BJ Ryan's Magnolia Room, a new entertainment venue and restaurant opening in Norwalk featuring top Broadway and Cabaret talent. For more information call 203.866.7922 or visit: http://www.bjryansmagnoliaroom.com/

Visit Raissa Katona Bennett online at: http://www.raissakatonabennett.com/

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