Honorees Leslie Uggams & Tommy Tune To Perform At TADA! Youth Theater's Annual Gala Along With Broadway Inspirational Voices, Jason Robert Brown & Michael James Leslie

On March 5, 2018, TADA! Youth Theater will host its annual gala at Tribeca 360 in Manhattan with special performances by Leslie Uggams and Tommy Tune. The evening will feature a cocktail hour, dinner, live and silent auctions, entertainment from the TADA! Resident Youth Ensemble and Broadway stars, along with many more great surprises. In addition to performances by the honorees, Broadway Inspirational Voices, Jason Robert Brown and Michael James Leslie will also perform at the Gala.

Broadway Inspirational Voices (BIV) is a diverse choir of Broadway artists united to change lives through the power of music and service. BIV was founded by Tony nominated Michael McElroy in 1994. In 2010, BIV became a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide hope to inspire and transform youth in need through music and the arts. In addition to numerous solo concerts, the Grammy nominated choir has performed with award-winning artists including Elton John, Sting, Jason Mraz, Mariah Carey, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vanessa Williams, Heather Headley, and Billy Porter. Additionally, BIV has been featured on "This Week" with John Oliver, The Miss America Pageant, multiple Tony Awards Telecasts, "America's Got Talent," "Late Night with David Letterman," "SMASH" and "The Rosie O'Donnell Christmas Special." They have also played venues like Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, the Crystal Cathedral and Constitution Hall. Their second album, "Great Joy II: Around the World" was released in the fall of 2016, along with their new web series, "Broadway Our Way", on YouTube.

Jason Robert Brown is a composer, lyricist, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, director and performer, best known for his dazzling scores to several of the most renowned musicals of his generation, including the revived "The Last Five Years," his debut song cycle "Songs for a New World," and the seminal "Parade," for which he won the Tony Award for Best Score.

"The Bridges of Madison County," a musical adapted from the bestselling novel, was featured on Broadway, directed by Bartlett Sher and starred Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale. "Honeymoon In Vegas," based on Andrew Bergman's film, was also on Broadway. A film version of his Off-Broadway musical "The Last Five Years" starred Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, was directed by Richard LaGravenese, and was cited as one of Time Magazine's 10 Best of 2001 and won Drama Desk Awards. His major musicals as composer and lyricist include: "13;" Parade," which subsequently won both the Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best New Musical, as well as garnering Jason the Tony Award for Original Score; and "Songs for a New World," a theatrical song cycle which has been seen in hundreds of productions around the world. Other recent New York credits as conductor and arranger include Oliver Goldstick's play, "Dinah Was;" William Finn's "A New Brain;" Yoko Ono's musical, "New York Rock;" and he orchestrated Andrew Lippa's "john and jen."

His orchestral adaptation of E.B. White's novel "The Trumpet of the Swan" premiered at the Kennedy Center with John Lithgow and the National Symphony Orchestra. Other projects include a chamber musical created with Daisy Prince and Jonathan Marc Sherman called "The Connector", an untitled piece created with Claudia Shear and Casey Nicholaw, and a solo album released in 2015.

As a soloist or with his band The Caucasian Rhythm Kings, Jason has performed sold-out concerts around the world. His first solo album, "Wearing Someone Else's Clothes," was named one of Amazon.com's best of 2005. Jason teaches musical theater performance and composition at the USC School of Dramatic Arts. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York with Samuel Adler, Christopher Rouse, and Joseph Schwantner.

Michael James Leslie is a Cornell Law graduate who made his debut in the Broadway revival of Hair. Michael originated the role of The Voice of the Plant in Little Shop of Horrors in Los Angeles, London (Olivier Award for Best Musical), and the Broadway production and National Tour. Other productions in which Michael has appeared include, The Wiz, Senator Joe (Broadway), National Tour of Beauty and the Beast, Guys and Dolls, Boys from Syracuse, Ain't Misbehavin', Man of La Mancha, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Gypsy and Call Me Madam (both with Leslie Uggams), Once On this Island, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Show Boat, and My One and Only. Michael was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by the Denver Post Ovation Awards for Little Shop of Horrors and Best Featured Actor in a Musical or Revue in Chicago for Once on this Island. Michael is presently Judge Turpin in the Barrow Street Theatre production of Sweeney Todd.

TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets start at $250 for individual tickets and tables from $5,000. To purchase tickets, please visit www.tadatheater.com/gala. Ad space is also available. For more information, email aglickman@tadatheater.com.

Since 1984, TADA!'s mission is to provide young people from different backgrounds with musical theater programs that inspire them to be creative, learn, and think differently. A unique Drama Desk award-winning nonprofit youth theater, TADA! produces original musicals for children, teens, and family audiences. TADA! offers a free, year-round, pre-professional training and a positive youth development program for its Resident Youth Ensemble (ages 8-18); musical theater classes/camps for the public; as well as musical theater residencies in NYC schools and community centers. Through high-quality work, young people's self-confidence and creativity are enhanced. They also develop advanced skills in leadership, communication, responsibility, collaboration, and problem-solving - skills that help with growing up and are essential to their success both in school and in life.

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