HOLIDAY REGARDS: A REVUE TO CELEBRATE Set for Winter Rhythms 2024 Series at Urban Stages

Winter Rhythms will present Holiday Regards: A Revue to Celebrate! as part of its “2024 Winter Rhythms” series, the award-winning music festival at Urban Stages Theater (259 West 30th Street – between 7th & 8th Avenues), on Saturday, December 7 at 3:00pm and Sunday, December 8 at 7:00pm.

A celebration of all the holidays…Christmas, New Years, Hanukkah, Valentine's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Easter, The 4th of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving, Holiday Regards features lyrics by Michael Colby (Charlotte Sweet , Dangerous) in collaboration with a pantheon of top New York composers - Ed Alstrom, Shelton Becton, Michele Brourman, Giuliano Ciabatta, Andrea Colby, Mary Feinsinger, Ned Paul Ginsburg, Paul Katz, Nicholas Levin, Sheldon Levin, Jeffrey Lodin, Gerald Jay Markoe, Alex Rybeck, Steven Silverstein, Jack Urbont, Seth Weintstein, and Bill Zeffiro. The cast, subject to availability, includes Broadway and cabaret stars Celia Berk, Nikita Burshteyn, Eric Michael Gillett, Stephanie Pope Lofgren and Megan Styrna, with a very special guest in each show including Bethe Austin, Steven Brinberg, Robert Cuccioli and Linda Purl. Musical Director: Michael Lavine. Directed by: Sara Louise Lazarus. The Production Supervisor is Callista Jade.

As Irving Berlin created Holiday Inn to celebrate ALL favorite times of the year, it's my aspiration to create a revue with themes evoking the nostalgia, warmth, and fun of every season,” states Michael Colby. “Collaborating with some extraordinary composers and entertainers, I hope Holiday Regards will be a wonderland of words and festive song for everyone.”

Tickets are $35 and are available here. For more information, visit www.urbanstages.org.

This event is part of Urban Stages' Winter Rhythms 2024, running from December 4 -15.

BIOS

Michael Colby is the lyricist/librettist of such musicals as Charlotte Sweet(Drama Desk Award nomination), Tales of Tinseltown (Jay Records), North Atlantic (Show Business Award), Slay It With Music (Off-Broadway & London), Delphi Or Bus_t (Amas), and They Chose Me!, (originated at TADA!). Recent: Mrs. McThing (benefit for TADA! Youth Theater) and Ludlow Ladd In Concert (Winter Rhythms). Cosmic Connections: The Lyrics of Michael Colby, a MAC Award nominated show with Maureen Taylor, is now an album on Brainstorm Records. Among those for whom Mr. Colby has written: Angela Lansbury, Linda Lavin, Tony Yazbeck, Andrea McArdle, Robert Cuccioli, Savion Glover, Susan Stroman, Cicely Tyson, and Michael Feinstein. A member of BMI, NY songwriters Alliance, and The Dramatist Guild, and TRU, Colby wrote the popular book, The Algonquin Kid._

Sara Louise Lazarus has received MAC and several Bistro Awards as Outstanding Director. Carried Away: Jeff Harnar Sings Comden and Green, which Sara directed, was named “Best Show” of 2020 from BroadwayWorld. Sara has taught Lady Gaga, and in theatre she directed such luminaries as Carolee Carmello, Melissa Errico and Jimmy Smits. Sara has taught at PaperMill Playhouse and co-directed their New Voices Concerts. Sara is best known for her direction of singers Jeff Harnar and Karen Akers, and her collaborations with musical director Alex Rybeck on cabarets and master classes. Sara is on the faculty of Circle in the Square Theatre School, where she teaches and developed the Musical Theatre curriculum from its beginnings. Sara's students have played leading roles on Broadway in Funny Girl, Wicked, Book of Mormon, My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center, Our Town and the incoming Smash. Sara is delighted to be working again with Michael Colby and Michael Lavine, with whom she collaborated as Director on all productions of Ludlow Ladd, including a previous version featuring Kristin Chenoweth, and the successful Winter Rhythms run at Urban Stages. Holiday Regards is the 8th show in the past four years that Sara has directed for the series.

Michael Lavine has worked as a musical director, pianist, vocal coach and singer all over the world. He gives master classes on auditioning in New York, Los Angeles, Moscow, Bangkok, Australia, Singapore, Manila, Martha's Vineyard, and other locations. He has accompanied Broadway and television star Bryan Batt in New Orleans, San Francisco, Australia, Hollywood and at 54 Below, Feinstein's, and the Metropolitan Room in New York. Michael has conducted orchestras in a number of cities around the country. He musically directed the Comden and Green musical Billion Dollar Baby at the York Theatre in New York City starring Kristin Chenoweth, Marc Kudisch and Debbie Gravitte. He shared the stage with Mimi Hines and Peter Howard (his mentor) at the Kennedy Center in a Rodgers and Hart revue, This Funny World. A graduate of Columbia University, Michael owns one of the larger privately held sheet music collections in the world. More details can be found at Michael's website, www.michaellavine.net. He can be reached at Broadwaymhl@aol.com.

URBAN STAGES WINTER RHYTHMS 2024 marks the 16th year that Urban Stages welcomes noted musical artists to its stage during the holiday period. Our annual festival has received a Bistro Award for Outstanding Series and the Ruth Kurtzman Benefit Series MAC Award amongst other accolades. Turning Urban Stages theater into an intimate music venue, WINTER RHYTHMS brings the talents of well-known and up-and-coming singers, musicians, lyricists, and composers to the attention of the New York theater community. All proceeds go to Urban Stages' Outreach, a city-wide program that tours and makes available online free plays and art programming for all ages. Outreach is a key part of Urban Stages' mission to champion diverse artists and make art, theater, and education available for all.

 

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