Monthly Series 'Music at the Mansion' Will Be Held at Oakeside

NiCori Studios and Productions in association with Oakeside Bloomfield Cultural Center announces a new installment of the monthly concert series, "Music at the Mansion", on Sunday, September 29, at 3pm. Performers include Stephen Hanks, Fran Leonardis, and Stearns Matthews. The featured performer in the "Young Musician Moment" will be Zoe Gelman.

A cabaret writer and reviewer for the past three years, Stephen Hanks recently launched his own debut solo cabaret show, Beyond American Pie: The Don McLean Songbook with three spring 2013 performances at the Metropolitan Room in New York. Stephen will be staging another performance at New York's Stage 72 (The Triad) on October 1 at 7pm.

Stephen is also the Board President of Musical Mondays Theatre Lab, which workshops new musicals in New York City, and he is the founder, producer and director of the Broadway Musical Fantasy Camp, which is a workshop for amateur performers that for the past 10 years has presented staged readings of classic Broadway Musicals (Stephen has had lead roles in Guys and Dolls and Damn Yankees.) In 2011, Stephen was an Associate Producer for the Off-Broadway musical The Fartiste.

Fran Leonardis leads a double life! By day, she is a housewife and mother of two pre-pubescent boys in Ringwood, NJ. By night, she dresses up in frilly dresses and high heels, makes wise cracks and belts out songs. It's like something out of an old movie starring Joan Crawford. Or Doris Day. Or both!

Fran started out doing musical theater and has played everything from a murderous 8yr old in Ruthless! The Musical, to a Rappin Granny in The Wedding Singer. Lately she can be found honing her skills as a cabaret singer after being named 2nd runner up in the Metropolitan Room's yearly competetition, The Metrostar Talent Challenge.

Stearns Matthews, a Jersey City resident, is a three-time MAC Award Nominee for his solo cabaret shows, The Importance of Being STEARNSest (2013, Best Musical Comedy Performer), this will be... (2011, Best Male Vocalist), and I Was Here (2009, Best Male Debut). Stearns studied Music Theater at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey under the tutelage of Dr. Christopher Arneson and Nova Thomas and has performed regionally in musicals throughout New Jersey and New York. He was the first-ever first runner-up in the Metropolitan Room's acclaimed MetroStar competition in 2008. He is honored and thrilled to be appearing in the Mabel Mercer Foundation's 24th Annual Cabaret Convention held at Lincoln Center this year, after appearing for the first time in 2010. Stearns will be releasing his debut album in 2014.

"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 will feature Deborah Martin 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. Sowers-Adler will make her Lincoln Center debut this fall in the 24th Annual Mabel Mercer Cabaret Convention on October 10 at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Tickets for "Music at the Mansion" 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. For more information, please contact info (at) corinnasings.com or call Oakeside at 973-429-0960. Making beautiful music in a beautiful place with beautiful people...

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