'THE AFTER PARTY' With Bean, Asher, and Saloff 11/28

The Laurie Beechman Theatre, located within The West Bank Café (407 West 42nd St.), is pleased to continue our Friday night soiree, THE AFTER PARTY. Now going strong in it's third year, THE AFTER PARTY is billed as "a weekly schmoozefest for the theatrically inclined." Every Friday from 10:30 pm until the wee hours, pros from Broadway and aspiring stars alike belt it out on the stage of The Laurie Beechman Theatre. Join hosts Brandon Cutrell (MAC & Bistro Award winner) and Alysha Umphress (XL Star) with Ray Fellman (Captain Louie) at the piano for this weekly party in the theatre district. There is no cover charge for this event. Come and si
ng yourself as the mic is always open, or sit back and enjoy a cocktail with friends. Located just blocks from the Great White Way, you never know who might drop in.

Friday, November 28th, we're pleased to to welcome recording artist and Broadway favorite Shoshana Bean, Nightlife Award winner Lisa Asher and five time MAC Award winner Spider Saloff. All will be on hand to greet fans and perform as only they can.

The Laurie Beechman Theatre is located downstairs, within The West Bank Café, 407 West 42nd St. at 9th Avenue . There is a full bar and bar menu available, and reservations are not necessary for this event. THE AFTER PARTY highly recommends audience members arrive early. Seating is first come, first serve. Priority seating may be given to those who wish to order from the menu and/or the bar.

Shoshana Bean, who starred as Elphaba in Broadway's Wicked, played Shelley in the original cast of the Tony-winning musical Hairspray. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Bean attended the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music before heading to NYC. She was first cast in the Off-Broadway production of Godspell and then in the national tour of Leader of the Pack. Bean was also part of the all-star Hair benefit concert. The singer-actress will be seen in December in the holiday engagement of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Shoshana=E
2s debut album, "Superhero," will be released nationally on Tuesday, December 2nd.

Lisa Asher's one-woman show, Stranded in the Moonlight, which enjoyed a successful run at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, garnered her a 2007 Nightlife Award. Lisa made her national television debut in a solo vocal performance on the "The Rosie O'Donnell Show." Ms. Asher is the recipient of a MAC (Manhattan Association of Clubs & Cabarets) Award for Outstanding Vocalist, as well as the Back Stage Bistro Award for her solo work in cabarets in New York. Recently, she appeared with Tony nominated songwriter/singer Craig Carnelia at a sold out concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Other theatrical credits include starring in the world premiere of two new musicals - I Married Wyatt Earp at The Bristol Riverside Theater and Almost Heaven... Songs and Stories of John Denver at the Denver Theatre Center Company. Lisa has toured nationally with The Who's Tommy and performed in the Off-Broadway hit, Woody Guthrie's American Song, which received a Drama Desk Nomination for Best Musical. Please visit www.LisaAsher.com.

Spider Saloff is a five-time MAC Award winner and also received a special citation for her musical contributions from NARAS (presenter of the Grammy Awards). Spider's six albums released on Kopaesthetics Records include "1938," "Sextet," "The Memory of All That," 20"A New Set of Standards," "Cool Yule" and her latest release, "Cole Porter Live at Maxim's Paris." Television and radio credits include regular appearances on "The Bonnie Hunt Show" and "The Steve Baskerville Show" (CBS). She is the co-star of the internationally syndicated weekly public radio series "Words and Music" on PBS. As one of the rare officially sanctioned acts of the Gershwin Centennial, her concert, Spider Saloff Sings Gershwin, has been touring the U.S. since 1996 and headlined the St. Petersburg Gershwin Festival in Russia (the birthplace of the Gershwin's ancestors). Ms. Saloff has played the Russian Tea Room, Town Hall, the Algonquin, Cafe Carlyle and Birdland, as well as Chicago's famed Gold Star Sardine Bar, the Fairmont Hotel, and the Green Mill. Please visit www.SpiderJazz.com.

Brandon Cutrell is a Bistro Award and two-time MAC Award winner. New York credits: Broadway By The Year at Town Hall, The 2nd Annual Broadway Unplugged at Town Hall, Pippin (with Ben Vereen and Rosie O'Donnell), La Gioconda at TheatreSource, David Friedman's King Island Christmas, and Liz Swados' Waiting For Lefty. National: Theatre of the Stars, Goodspeed Musicals, the Human Race Theatre and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. For nearly two years, Brandon was the original host of the MAC Award nominated show, Mostly Sondheim. In December of 2005, Brandon made hi
s debut in the world-famous Oak Room at The Algonquin Hotel. In June of 2006, Brandon made his solo debut at Feinstein's, New York's legendary nightclub on Park Avenue. Currently, Brandon can be seen every Friday night at The Laurie Beechman Theatre on 42nd Street as the host of The After Party, a weekly open-mic, musical theatre soiree. Brandon's self-titled debut cd was released on June 4th, 2007 at Feinstein's and is now available on iTunes and at www.BrandonCutrell.com.

Alysha Umphress, a graduate of The Boston Conservatory, made a splash at the Chelsea bar, XL, winning their American Idol-type competition, XL Star. She recently opened for Diana Krall at the Fujitsu Jazz Festival, soloed along side Carlos Santana at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium and performed with the Boston Pops. Regional roles include the Witch in Into the Woods, Trina in Falsettos and Winnifred in Once Upon a Mattress. Alysha is the recipient of two Bay Area Theatre Critics Awards for her work in Rags and FAB! She has belted out the National Anthem for The Oakland A's, San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings and San Jose Sharks.

Bistro Award winner Ray Fellman recently made his Off-Broadway debut when he was handpicked by Stephen Schwartz to musical direct his off-Broadway musical, Captain Louie. Other Musical Director credits include The Tutor by Wood/Gerle (59 E. 59th), Reluctant Pilgrim (The Barrow Grou
p), Blood Drive: A Musical Triptych by Sheinkin/Derfner (workshop at the O'Neill Theater Center) and Amahl and the Night Visitors (national tour directed by David Aiken). Ray has been seen behind the piano in The Storefront Theatre's New Mondays (with Bill Russell and Emily Skinner), No Reservations (starring Brandon Cutrell with special guests Karen Mason and Shoshana Bean), Broadway Downtown (with Kristy Cates) and We Miss Nancy: The Storefront Sings Lamott (with Liz McCartney). He has also served as accompanist for Utah Festival Opera Company, The Opera Company of Brooklyn , Mid America Productions at Carnegie Hall (with John Rutter) and A Yuletide Celebration with the Indianapolis Symphony starring Judy Kaye. As a singer, Ray has sung with some of the finest opera companies in the country, including Florida Grand, Glimmerglass and New Orleans operas. Ray holds degrees in piano and voice from the Indiana University School of Music.

 

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