4th Wall Theatre and More Headline May's MUSIC AT THE MANSION, Beg. Today

NiCori Studios and Productions in association with Oakeside Bloomfield Cultural Center announces a new installment of the monthly concert series, "Music at the Mansion", today, May 19, at 3pm. Performers include Jennie Litt & David Alpher, Ilene Angel and 4th Wall Theatre. The featured performer in the "Young Musician Moment" will be Kevin Bergen.

The husband-and-wife cabaret and songwriting team of David Alpher (pianist/composer) and Jennie Litt (singer/lyricist) has been performing together since 1999. They made their New York City cabaret debut in 2010/11 with their almost-all-original show, Composing Ourselves: Songs By Alpher & Litt, with two successful runs at Don't Tell Mama and The Metropolitan Room. Their original stand-alone cabaret songs draw inspiration from the great satirists of the 1960s, Tom Lehrer and Allan Sherman, as well as cabaret giants Flanders & Swann, Jacques Brel, and Dave Frishberg, while remaining securely rooted in the tradition of the Great American Songbook. They are two-time ASCAPlus Award winners.

Working in a variety of genres - children's music, comic novelty, jazz/blues, neo-Tin Pan Alley, pop, protest, and satire - Litt and Alpher have amassed an eclectic oeuvre of tightly-crafted, piano-driven, stand-alone cabaret songs that tickle the funnybone, tell truths, and touch the heart.

In addition to their work as songwriters, Jennie and David have appeared widely in the Northeast with their American Songbook shows The Elegant & The Immigrant, their tribute to the songs of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin; Rodgers With Hart & Hammerstein; 60s Cabaret; and The People's Cabaret, a revue of 150 years of songs of the political left. They were headliners at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, the Chamber Arts Festival of Marbletown, and the 2007 Dissident Arts Festival, and have been featured on WAMC Northeast Public Radio's popular "Performance Place" and "Dancing On The Air," where they collaborated with folks legends Jay Ungar and Molly Mason.

Ilene Angel is an award-winning hit songwriter and author. Her song "I Don't Think About It" was number one on Radio Disney, and currently "Costco Queen" entertains audiences every night in the hit show Motherhood the Musical. She studied music at Northwestern University and The Juilliard School and was the recipient of the Abe Olman Award from the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

4th Wall Theatre is the theatre company in residence at the Westminster Arts Center on the campus of Bloomfield College, in Bloomfield, NJ. 4th Wall's roots are in Essex County. It was started by eight friends, who all worked as performers or artistic staff members at the Montclair Operetta Club in Montclair, NJ. 4th Wall's mission focuses on presenting diverse, seldom-performed, lesser known, or original works, which celebrate a wide spectrum of visions and voices in theatre. Proud of its commitment to cutting-edge theatre, the group has presented such works as A New Brain,Violet, Assassins, Nine, and A Man of No Importance, to name just a few. 4th Wall opened its 16th season this past fall with the Pulitzer Prize winning musical, Next To Normal.

4th Wall will close out the season in June 7-22 with Lucky Stiff , the first musical written by the prolific team of Ahrens and Flaherty, best known for writing Ragtime and Once on this Island. The show is a well-oiled musical farce whhich tells the story of Harry, a mild-mannered English shoe salesman, who must take his recently murdered (and embalmed) uncle to Monte Carlo in order to inherit six million dollars. If Harry doesn't fulfill the task, all of the money will go to the Universal Dog Home in Brooklyn...and Harry hates dogs! Filled with zany characters and plenty of plot twists, this show is a delight from beginning to end! Visit www.4thwalltheatre.org for more information.

"Music at the Mansion" is a 2013 MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) award nominated series showcasing talented performers from NYC and NJ. The series is hosted by NYC Cabaret singer and Bloomfield resident Corinna Sowers-Adler and features Terri Gorgone on piano. This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and administered by the Essex County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs. Series hostess, Corinna Sowers-Adler, has been nominated as "Best Host of a Variety Show" and "Best Female Vocalist" for the 2012 Broadway World Cabaret Awards.

Tickets are $10 per person and are available at the door. Seating begins at 2:30pm. Light refreshments will be served. Oakeside Bloomfield Cultural Center is located at 240 Belleville Avenue, Bloomfield, NJ.

Pictured: Host Corinna Sowers Adler

To post a comment, you must register and login.