Pasadena POPS Season Finale Brings Two Tony Winners For The Best Of Hit Shows That Traveled From Broadway To Hollywood

Michael Feinstein and the Pasadena POPS close out their popular outdoor summer concert series at the Los Angeles County Arboretum on Saturday, September 8 with Broadway Goes to the Movies. The POPS season finale will provide a quintessential Feinstein experience with some of Broadway's greatest performers recreating songs from hit shows that traveled from 42nd St. to Hollywood. "This program is going to celebrate all the different musical aspects of Broadway and Hollywood," says Feinstein, who has put together a program spanning the Broadway canon from My Fair Lady to The Sound of Music to Jersey Boys. Highlights include "The Impossible Dream," "Can't Take My Eyes off of You," and "There's No Business Like Show Business," among many other beloved showtunes.

Feinstein has enlisted a showcase of spectacular entertainers for the POPS annual movie night. Two-time Tony Award winner and Broadway legend Christine Ebersole, best known for her acclaimed role in Grey Gardens, brings her formidable talent to several songs she's performed on Broadway throughout her illustrious career. Ebersole will be joined by two Jersey Boys - another Tony Award winner, John Lloyd Young, who starred as Frankie Valli on Broadway and also in the film version, and another tremendously gifted singer from the Jersey Boys movie, Erich Bergen, who just finished a stint as the lead in the Broadway production of Waitress. Known to many from his appearances on TV's Madam Secretary, Bergen will be performing some of his favorite musical theatre selections for this spectacular season finale under the starlit summer sky.

It's the last chance to catch the best outdoor dinner party in town with spacious table seating and fine linens, or lawn seating for those who want to bring a blanket. Each option carries on the tradition of picnic-dining with your family and friends with Pasadena's premier orchestra! Among many venue amenities, concert goers can enjoy pre-ordered gourmet dining packages for on-site pickup just steps from their table from Julienne, Marston's and Claud & Co and venue also offers mouth-watering food trucks and the convenience of two full beverage centers serving fine wines, beer, coffee and soft drinks.

Audiences get the ultimate outdoor concert experience with large LED video screens to see Michael Feinstein and the orchestra up close, superior sound and the high-quality production value that is a signature of the Pasadena POPS. Patrons may also visit the Pasadena Humane Society's Mobile Adoption Unit, which will be on-site prior to the concert with deserving animals in need of a forever home as part of the Pups for POPS program. For those who want to make a night of it, exclusive hotel packages are available for POPS patrons at Pasadena's landmark Hotel Constance.

All Pasadena POPS concerts are held at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. Grounds open for picnicking and dining at 5:30pm and performances begin at 7:30pm. The Arboretum is located at 301 North Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, CA. Subscribers may pre-purchase parking on-site at the Arboretum, and all concertgoers enjoy free parking at the adjacent Westfield Santa Anita shopping center with complimentary non-stop shuttle service to the Arboretum's main entrance.

Single tickets start at $25 and are available by calling the box office at (626)-793-7172, online at PasadenaSymphony-Pops.org, or at the Arboretum on the day of the concert.

ABOUT Michael Feinstein
Principal Pops Conductor
Tom & Erika Girardi Chair
Michael Feinstein has built a dazzling career over the last three decades bringing the music of the Great American songbook to the world. From recordings that have earned him five Grammy Award nominations to his Emmy nominated PBS-TV specials, his acclaimed NPR series and concerts spanning the globe - in addition to his appearances at iconic venues such as The White House, Buckingham Palace, Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall and Sydney Opera House - his work as an educator and archivist define Feinstein as one of the most important musical forces of our time.

In 2007, he founded the Great American Songbook Foundation, dedicated to celebrating the art form and preserving it through educational programs, Master Classes, and the annual High School Songbook Academy. This summer intensive open to students from across the country has produced graduates who have gone on to record acclaimed albums and appear on television programs such as NBC's "America's Got Talent." Michael serves on the Library of Congress' National Recording Preservation Board, an organization dedicated to ensuring the survival, conservation and increased public availability of America's sound recording heritage.

The most recent album from his multi-platinum recording career is A Michael Feinstein Christmas from Concord Records. The CD features Grammy Award -winning jazz pianist Alan Broadbent (Paul McCartney, Diana Krall, Natalie Cole). Feinstein earned his fifth Grammy Award nomination in 2009 for The Sinatra Project, his CD celebrating the music of "Ol' Blue Eyes." The Sinatra Project, Volume II: The Good Life was released in 2011. He released the CDs The Power Of Two - collaborating with "Glee" and "30 Rock" star Cheyenne Jackson - and Cheek To Cheek, recorded with Broadway legend Barbara Cook. For Feinstein's CD We Dreamed These Days, he co-wrote the title song with Dr. Maya Angelou.

His Emmy Award-nominated TV special Michael Feinstein - The Sinatra Legacy, which was taped live at the Palladium in Carmel, IN, aired across the country in 2011. The PBS series "Michael Feinstein's American Songbook," the recipient of the ASCAP Deems-Taylor Television Broadcast Award, was broadcast for three seasons and is available on DVD. His most recent primetime PBS-TV Special, "New Year's Eve at The Rainbow Room" - written and directed by "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry - aired in 2014. For his nationally syndicated public radio program "Song Travels," Michael interviews and performs alongside of music luminaries such as Bette Midler, Neil Sedaka, Liza Minnelli, Rickie Lee Jones, David Hyde Pierce and more.

Feinstein was named Principal Pops Conductor for the Pasadena Symphony in 2012 and made his conducting debut in June 2013 to celebrated critical acclaim. Under Feinstein's leadership, the Pasadena Pops has quickly become a premier orchestral presenter of the Great American Songbook with definitive performances of rare orchestrations and classic arrangements. He launched an additional Pops series at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in Palm Beach, Florida in 2014.
Michael's book The Gershwins and Me - the Los Angeles Times best-seller from Simon & Schuster - features a new CD of Gershwin standards performed with Cyrus Chestnut at the piano.

Feinstein serves as Artistic Director of the Palladium Center for the Performing Arts, a $170 million, three-theatre venue in Carmel, Indiana, which opened in January 2011. The theater is home to diverse live programming and a museum for his rare memorabilia and manuscripts. Since 1999, he has served as Artistic Director for Carnegie Hall's "Standard Time with Michael Feinstein" in conjunction with ASCAP. In 2010 he became the director of the Jazz and Popular Song Series at New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Feinstein's at the Nikko, Michael's nightclub at San Francisco's Nikko Hotel, has presented the top talents of pop and jazz since 2013. He debuted at Feinstein's/54 Below, his new club in New York, late in 2015. His first venue in New York, Feinstein's at the Regency, featured major entertainers such as Rosemary Clooney, Glen Campbell, Barbara Cook, Diahann Carroll, Jane Krakowski, Lea Michele, Cyndi Lauper, Jason Mraz and Alan Cumming from 1999 to 2012.

He has designed a new piano for Steinway called "The First Ladies," inspired by the White House piano and signed by several former First Ladies. It was first played to commemorate the Ronald Regan centennial on February 6, 2011.

In 2013 Michael released Change Of Heart: The Songs of Andre Previn in collaboration with four time Oscar and eleven time Grammy Award-winning composer-conductor-pianist Andre Previn. The album celebrates Previn's pop songs and motion picture classics. Earlier album highlights include Hopeless Romantics, a songbook of classics by Michael's late friend Harry Warren, recording with legendary jazz pianist George Shearing. His album with songwriting icon Jimmy Webb, Only One Life - The Songs of Jimmy Webb, was named one of "10 Best CDs of the Year" by USA Today.

Feinstein received his fourth Grammy nomination for Michael Feinstein with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, his first recording with a symphony orchestra. The year before, Rhino/Elektra Music released The Michael Feinstein Anthology, a two-disc compilation spanning 1987 to 1996 and featuring old favorites and previously-unreleased tracks.

Michael was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, where he started playing piano by ear as a 5-year-old. After graduating from high school, he moved to Los Angeles when he was 20. The widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant introduced him to Ira Gershwin in July 1977. Feinstein became Gershwin's assistant for six years, which earned him access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, many of which he has since performed and recorded.

Gershwin's influence provided a solid base upon which Feinstein evolved into a captivating performer, composer and arranger of his own original music. He also has become an unparalleled interpreter of music legends such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington and Harry Warren. Feinstein has received three honorary doctorates.

Through his live performances, recordings, film and television appearances, and his songwriting (in collaboration with Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Lindy Robbins, Bob Merrill and Marshall Barer), Feinstein is an all-star force in American music.

For more information, please visit www.MichaelFeinstein.com.

Erich Bergen
Soloist

Erich Bergen currently stars as Blake Moran on the hit CBS television drama Madam Secretary, which begins its 5th season this fall. Erich is also known for his critically-acclaimed performance as Bob Gaudio in the Clint Eastwood-directed musical film Jersey Boys, reprising his performance from the stage production in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and the First National Tour.

This summer, Erich made his Broadway debut opposite Katharine McPhee in the hit musical Waitress, written by Sara Bareilles. Other credits include Gossip Girl, Desperate Housewives, Person of Interest and the 2018 film, Humor Me.

As a singer and musician, Erich can be seen performing in concert all over the world. His albums are available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and all other digital music/streaming outlets.

Christine Ebersole
Soloist

"Christine Ebersole contains multitudes..."
wrote the New York Times critic Stephen Holden.

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. Add to this her personal roles of wife, mother, daughter, and Spiritual Warrior, and you can fully understand what Mr. Holden means.

Christine was raised in Winnetka, Illinois, an upper-crust suburb on Chicago's North Shore, the youngest of four children. But Christine says she and her family were never quite in sync with the town's ideological exclusivity because they belonged not to the local country club but to the A.C.L.U. At New Trier High School, Christine played violin in the school orchestra and discovered her own voice in a summer drama class. After New Trier, she briefly attended MacMurray College in Jacksonville, IL, before graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York in 1975.

One of her first jobs was as an understudy in the Broadway musical On the Twentieth Century, followed by her turn as Ado Annie in Oklahoma. From there it was on to Ryan's Hope, One Life to Live, and Saturday Night Live before landing the high-profile role of Guinevere opposite Richard Burton in Camelot.

Christine then shifted her focus from stage to screen and soon headed to Hollywood, appearing in many hit movies, including Amadeus, Tootsie, and Richie Rich. She added an extensive list of television credits as well, including The Cavanaughs, Valerie, and the title role in Rachel Gunn, R.N.

But somewhere south of 40, she realized she was auditioning for roles she used to be offered. When her agent told her she was "over the hill," Christine packed up her family and four-legged friends and fled back to Broadway, finding her home in Maplewood, New Jersey. Reflecting on that time, Christine says, "I moved from Hollywood to Maplewood. What a difference a leaf makes!"

Everything changed. Her ensuing New York stage performances include her Tony Award-winning performance as Dorothy Brock in the smash hit revival, 42nd Street, Steel Magnolias, The Best Man, and Dinner at Eight for which she received both Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations.

And then came her role of a lifetime. Christine 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.

Accepting her Tony Award, Christine said, "I left Hollywood when they told me I was over the hill and now I'm standing here with this most distinguished award for what I consider to be the role of a lifetime. I'm over the hill in the role of a lifetime! I consider this to be very encouraging."

And encouraging it was, as Christine's career continued to arc with her starring role in Blithe Spirit on Broadway with Angela Lansbury, her many guest appearances on innumerable popular television series, including her recurring role as Ms. "New Parts" Newberg in the hit cable show Royal Pains and the TBS Sitcom Sullivan and Son. Christine continues to appear in numerous concert halls and Cabaret venues throughout the country, including performances in City Center Encores!, at 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. Christine lives in Maplewood, N.J. with her husband, musician and abstract artist William J. Moloney, their three teenage children, Elijah, Mae Mae, and Aron, two cats, two dogs, and a bird. It's a home that - like Christine - contains multitudes.

John Lloyd Young
Soloist

In 2013, John Lloyd Young was appointed by Barack Obama to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. He was sworn in at the Supreme Court of the United States by Justice Elena Kagan.

Tony Award winner John Lloyd Young originated the role of "Frankie Valli" in Broadway's Tony Award winning Best Musical and international hit, Jersey Boys. As Valli, Young garnered unprecedented accolades from New York and national media, including one of the most exciting New York Times reviews ever written for an actor making a Broadway debut. Mr. Young went on to win the Lead Actor Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards, becoming the only American actor in history to win all four leading actor awards for a Broadway debut. Mr. Young sings lead vocals on the Platinum, Grammy Award-winning Jersey Boys Original Cast Album. Young's other honors for Jersey Boys include a caricature at the world-famous Sardi's Restaurant, being named Person of the Week by ABC World News Tonight, and being chosen for prestigious "Best of " lists by Entertainment Weekly, Reader's Digest and The New York Times.

Young returned to Jersey Boys on Broadway for several months in 2012 and 2013, and in early 2014 he made his West End debut in London opening Jersey Boys at the historic Piccadilly Theatre. He recreated his award-winning Broadway turn onscreen for director Clint Eastwood in Warner Brothers' film adaptation of Jersey Boys, which premiered across the world in 2014.

A resident of Los Angeles, Young played to sold-out crowds of 17,000-plus as "Marius" in Les Miserables at the Hollywood Bowl, was the first-ever guest star invited to appear on Fox-TV's Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning hit, Glee; guest starred opposite Michael Chiklis on CBS' drama, Vegas; and played the title role in the family comedy film Oy Vey, My Son is Gay, opposite Lainie Kazan.

In February 2013, Young made his debut at New York's prestigious and famous Cafe Carlyle. Reviewing his performance, The New York Times wrote that Young "has a disciplined one-in-a-million high tenor shading into falsetto that he can direct through the stratosphere."

Before Jersey Boys, Young was a New York theatre actor in plays including the New York-area premiere of Michael Healey's The Drawer Boy, with Frasier's John Mahoney; and he was named one of the Best Featured Actors in a Play by the NJ Star-Ledger as "Danny Saunders" in Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok's dramatic adaptation of THE CHOSEN, opposite Theodore Bikel, directed by David Ellenstein. New York Theatre: "Charlie" in Julia Jordan's The Summer of the Swans for director Joe Calarco (Lucille Lortel Theatre), "Moritz" in the Douglas Langworthy translation of Wedekind's Spring Awakening; and nail-biting number theorist "Claudio" in Rinne Groff's The Five Hysterical Girls Theorem, for Obie-winning Target Margin Theatre, directed by David Herskovits.

Mr. Young has played Carnegie Hall, the White House, Lincoln Center, New Year's Eve in Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, the New York City Marathon, San Francisco's Feinstein's at the Nikko, Yankee Stadium, Dodgers Stadium, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, McCarter Theatre Center, New York's Town Hall, and the Hollywood Bowl. Young performed for our returning troops at Washington, D.C.'s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with country star Lorrie Morgan, The Beach Boys and the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marvin Hamlisch; and he frequently sings the "National Anthem" at L.A.'s Staples Center for the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup Hockey Champions, the L.A. Kings.

Television: CBS's Vegas, FOX's Glee, NBC's Law & Order, and appearances on CBS TV's Late Show with David Letterman, ABC's Live with Regis and Kelly and Live with Kelly and Michael, PBS's The Tavis Smiley Show, A&E's Breakfast with the Arts, Entertainment Tonight, Celebrity Jeopardy, Extra, Access Hollywood, and several times on NBC's Today Show (including Katie Couric's highly-rated farewell). On radio he has appeared on NPR's Here and Now and All Things Considered.

Young debuted his visual art in a show at Grammy-winning songwriter Allee Willis's home, Willis Wonderland, in May 2010. The show, Food for Thought, acted as a fundraiser for AIDS Project Los Angeles, was a popular success, and was covered by the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Young's art is represented by the Hamilton-Selway Fine Art Gallery in Hollywood, CA. His first art commission was for the famed Beverly Hills, CA restaurant, Spago.

Mr. Young's debut album, "My Turn..." is available for download on iTunes and for order on cdbaby.com and Amazon.com. The entirely-acoustic album seeks to re-create in the recording studio classic 60s R&B songs in much the same way they were originally recorded, before the advent of sampling and Autotune. The album is Executive Produced by Dona R. Miller and Mr. Young's Under the Skyway Productions, and produced by London producer Arthur Baker and by Tommy Faragher of Fox's hit show, Glee, whose cover of "Teenage Dream" was the first song from the hit show to reach #1 on the Billboard Charts.

Young enthusiastically supports charities including Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, amfAR, Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang, The United Service Organization (USO), The American Cancer Society, AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), The Actors Fund of America and is a proud, 20-year member of The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Young is a graduate of Brown University.

­ABOUT THE PASADENA SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
Recent Acclaim for the Pasadena Symphony and POPS
"The Pasadena Symphony signals a new direction...teeming with vitality...dripping with opulent, sexy emotion." Los Angeles Times.

"...full of pulsating energy from first note to last... the strings were lushly resonant, the wind principals were at the top of their games, and the brass rang out with gleaming vigor." -Pasadena Star News.
Formed in 1928, the Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an ensemble of Hollywood's most talented, sought after musicians. With extensive credits in the film, television, recording and orchestral industry, the artists of Pasadena Symphony and POPS are the most heard in the world.

The Pasadena Symphony and POPS performs in two of the most extraordinary venues in the United States: Ambassador Auditorium, known as the Carnegie Hall of the West, and the luxuriant Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Internationally recognized, Grammy-nominated conductor, David Lockington, serves as the Pasadena Symphony Association's Music Director, with performance-practice specialist Nicholas McGegan serving as Principal Guest Conductor. The multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated entertainer dubbed "The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook," Michael Feinstein, is the Principal Pops Conductor, who succeeded Marvin Hamlisch in the newly created Marvin Hamlisch Chair.

A hallmark of its robust education programs, the Pasadena Symphony Association has served the youth of the region for over five decades through the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestras (PYSO) comprised of five performing ensembles, with over 250 gifted 4th-12th grade students from more than 50 schools all over the Southern California region. The PYSO regularly performs throughout Southern CA including on the popular television show Glee, and has performed at some of the world's most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, the Mozartium in Salzburg, and most recently the Teatro de Nacional de Costa Rica.

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