Lucky Star – Madonna at 50: A Birthday Celebration

Melissa Young goes from "Redheaded Broadway" to "Blonde Ambition!"

Melissa Young in Lucky Star – Madonna at 50: a birthday tribute- Original takes on an original artist at Davenports Piano Bar and Cabaret located at 1383 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, Thursdays August 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2008 at 8:00PM and Saturday August 16 at 10 PM at the Duplex Piano Bar and Cabaret in New York City.

Melissa Young, has been performing in and around Chicago for over 11 years and is delighted to be presenting her newest solo cabaret performance about the woman who has taught her time and again about breaking the societal mold of what a female should and can be. Learning to make her own rules and follow in her idols foot steps is where Melissa's passion originated and for that, she always gives credit to Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone. Brass, sass, and a willingness to show her ass (as she did this past June for a Season of Concern benefit concert) is how Melissa Young lives... thanks to inspiration from Madonna.

In Lucky Star – Madonna at 50: A Birthday Tribute, Young performs the music of America's most original artist, Madonna, in celebration of her 50th birthday on August 16 of this year. Over 20 of Madonna's songs get a musical makeover through American musical idioms. Lucky Star is a tribute show that dares to ask such musical questions as: What if Madonna met Disney to revamp "Papa Don't Preach?" or if the next hit show on Broadway was Material Girl: the musical? Jazz, Country, Swing, and even Raggae all meet Madonna, America's most loved and hated pop icon. Darly Nitz, co-creator of the longest running cabaret show in Chicago history (The Nitz & Howe Experience) as well as the "best party in town" directs, with Mark Burnell, a long-time Chicago pianist–in and out of the jazz and cabaret world–plays and musical directs.

Nick Green of The Chicago Reader has said "Melissa Young ensures that the show is open, inviting and an awful lot of fun." Kennette Crockett of the Windy City Times has said of Melissa's performance in BackStage Theatre Company's dirty summertime revue Everything's Sexy, "Melissa Young possesses all the passion and sharpness that one expects of the work." Interviewed many times over by Lawrence Bommer and Nina Metz for The Chicago Reader, The Chicago Sun Times and The Chicago Tribune, Melissa Young repeatedly woos Chicago audiences with her wit and fast paced humor.

Melissa Young, a proud member of the Chicago Cabaret Professionals, has had the pleasure of working with many off-loop theater companies, as well as starred with 1981 Miss America Susan Powell and Broadway's Nat Chandler in Show Stoppers at the Valentine Theater in Toledo, Ohio.

Tickets for Lucky Star at Davenports are $15 with a 2 drink minimum. For information and reservations, call (773) 278-1830. More information can also be found at www.melissayoung.com.

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