The Fourth Annual Harvard-Yale Cantata Comes to Feinstein's/54 Below

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, again presents a cast of Harvard and Yale grads in The Fourth Annual Harvard-Yale Cantata. Join us for a unique evening at Feinstein's/54 Below, with Team Harvard looking to avenge another lucky one-point victory by Team Yale, who won in HY III for the second year in a row by a score of 32-31. Last year wasn't a pure win for Yale, as they were buoyed by some great songs and performances from their Princeton teammates. Harvard was bogged down (they say) by being paired with Columbia. No excuses in HY IV, as we're back to a straight up Harvard v. Yale competition.

The Harvard team will be led by 2018 graduate Brian Ge, who will be both team captain and music director. Songwriters will include the late and greatly-missed Michael Friedman (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), the brilliant songwriters Dan Wilson ("Closing Time," "Not Ready To Make Nice," and "Someone Like You") and Anne Preven ("Listen" and "Torn"), as well as some other yet-to-be-decided Harvard alumni. Performers are still being assembled.

The Yale team will feature songs by Maury Yeston (Broadway's Nine, Grand Hotel, and Titanic), the multi-talented David Brody (Prairie Home Companion, The Delaware Water Gap String Band, The Klezmer Conservatory Band), Tom Toce (MAC Award-winning songwriter), and more. Performers will be announced as the date approaches.

Judges have not yet been selected, but in the past have included veteran songwriters Marcy Heisler (NYU; Ever After and "Taylor the Latte Boy") and Amanda Green (Brown University; Broadway: Hands on a Hard Body, High Fidelity) and SNL's Rachel Dratch (Dartmouth).

The show is formatted after the Harvard-Yale Regatta. There will be seven heats, each with a Harvard song pitted against a Yale song. The show is produced by Tom Toce (Yale, 1978), who also hosts, in association with Victoria Ordin (Yale, 1995) and Brian Ge (Harvard, 2018). Musical direction and accompaniment will be provided by Brian Ge for Harvard and Ian Miller (Yale, 2016).

"The Harvard-Yale Cantata" plays Feinstein's/54 Below (254 West 54th Street) on Thursday, September 13, at 9:30. There is a $35-$40 cover charge ($60 premium) and a $25 food and beverage minimum. Tickets and information are available at www.54Below.com. Tickets on the day of performance after 4:00 are only available by calling (646) 476-3551.

Tom Toce (Y '78) is a veteran theater and cabaret songwriter. He won the MAC Award for Comedy Song for "Shalom, Santa" in 2014. He has directed and produced numerous cabaret shows in NYC over the past few years, including the first three Harvard Yale Cantatas in 2015 & 2016 at Feinstein's/54 Below, Living Standards, starring Marissa Mulder, and Hopelessly in Love: The Lyrics of Tom Toce, both at the Metropolitan Room. The HIL recording was also nominated for a 2014 MAC Award. As a performer, Tom was nominated for a 2016 MAC Award for his debut show Songwriter in the House, which played to great acclaim at the Metropolitan Room in 2015-16. Tom has written a number of shows for children, and his cabaret songs have been sung and/or recorded by Jane Monheit, Andrea Marcovicci, Tovah Feldshuh, Maude Maggart, KT Sullivan, and many others. Tom is a two-time Jeopardy! champion (his encyclopedic knowledge of the Great American Songbook helped) and a member of the Jeopardy Hall of Fame, for high score in a single game. More at www.tomtocemusic.com

Victoria Ordin (Y '95) writes about theater and cabaret in New York, having abandoned the low pay world of academia for the no pay world of arts criticism. Her work has appeared in the Weekly Standard, Huffington Post, Cabaret Scenes, and Broadway World. For four years, the native Angeleno wrote prolifically on Victorian Chick, her bicoastal memoir and culture blog. She is currently at work on the first of three book projects: an epistolary novel about two 40-something Manhattan writers who've never dated but fight like a married couple.

Ian Miller (Y '16) was born and raised in St. Louis, MO, and graduated from Yale University with a BA in Music. He is currently based in NYC as a music director, pianist, singer, and educator, with a focus on musical theater. While at Yale, Ian served as the music director for the Black Church at Yale as well as the singing group Shades, with whom he produced a studio album and performed at the White House for Barack and Michelle Obama. He spent a year singing with the Yale Whiffenpoofs, the oldest collegiate a cappella singing group in the United States, with whom he travelled to 26 countries across 6 continents. Ian currently is on faculty at the Nightingale-Bamford School, is a performer with the Story Pirates, and is the music director of "AHRC on Broadway," a musical theater program for adults with intellectual disabilities.

Brian Ge (H '18) Brian Ge (H '18) is a music director, pianist and conductor based out of New York City. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Mr. Ge studied classical piano and conducting at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division, performing internationally with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin. He has won numerous awards and competitions including the AMFS Concerto Competition in 2011 and 2012, as well as the Juilliard Pre-College Concerto Competition in 2013. As a music director and pianist, Mr. Ge has been involved in various musical theater productions on and off Harvard's campus, most recently including the world premieres of Jagged Little Pill and Burn All Night at The American Repertory Theater. Other notable productions include Violet (A.R.T.), Ragtime on Ellis Island and The Pirate Princess (A.R.T.). Mr. Ge graduated cum laude with bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Harvard University in 2018.

MORE ABOUT FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW

Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, is a performance venue in the grand tradition of New York City nightlife. A few blocks from the heart of Times Square and just below the legendary Studio 54, Feinstein's/54 Below is a classically designed state-of-the art nightclub in the theatre district that hosts audiences with warmth and style. Feinstein's/54 Below presents iconic and rising stars from the worlds of Broadway and popular music and has set a new standard for culinary excellence worthy of the world-class entertainment on the stage.

In their description of the venue, The New York Times writes, "Feinstein's/54 Below has the intimacy of a large living room with unimpeded views and impeccable sound; there is not a bad seat in the house. Its sultry after-hours ambience is enhanced by brocade-patterned wall panels planted with orange-shaded lanterns. And the atmosphere is warmer and sexier than in Manhattan's other major supper clubs."

Located at 254 West 54th Street, Feinstein's/54 Below features up to three shows nightly with cover charges ranging from $5-$105. 54Below.com/Feinsteins

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