Lilli Marlene, New Musical Featuring WWII Songs, Comes to Off-Bway

Lilli Marlene, a new musical featuring the hits of the WWII era starring Linn Maxwell will open Monday, September 22nd at the Abingdon Theatre (312 West 36 Street - between 8th and 9th Avenue), it was announced by producers John Osher and Bob Roskam.  Previews begin September 18th.   Directed by Erv Raible, with book by Kathryn Ryan, the show features such songs as "As Time Goes By," "A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square," "It Had to Be You," "The White Cliffs of Dover," " Mad About the Boy" and "Lilli Marlene," which was made famous by the legendary Marlene Dietrich.  Paul Trueblood is the musical director.
 
 Lilli Marlene is a musical about three women and their friendship told against the backdrop of WW II through the popular music of the time.  It is the story of three devoted friends - Lilli in Berlin, Rose in London and Daphne in Indiana.  Separated by oceans and continents, their lives are set spinning by the chaos of World War II that engulfs their countries and threatens to shatter their very lives.
 
 Linn Maxwell has performed with major orchestras and opera companies in recital halls across the United States and 25 foreign countries. She has been a soloist with the orchestras of Toronto, Cleveland, Chicago, Seattle, Oregon, Puerto Rico, San Antonio, Kansas City (where she appeared with Leonard Bernstein), Rochester, Denver, Brooklyn, Minnesota and the Orchestra of the U.N.A.M. of Mexico City. She has also performed cabaret and theatrical evenings in New York City, appearing Off Broadway in The Mother of Us All and The Fortune Teller.  Regionally, she has appeared in Chicago, Company, Inside Out, Tartuffe and Blithe Spirit.
 

Erv Raible has been one of New York's most respected directors and talent representatives for nearly five decades. He has presented over 4000 performers from the worlds of theater and cabaret at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, The Firebird Café and countless others.  He is the Executive Director of Cabaret & Concert Artists International and also serves as Executive/Artistic Director for the cabaret conference at Yale University, which is being developed in conjunction with the Yale School of Drama and the Yale Repertory Theater. He is co-founder of the Manhattan Association of Cabaret and clubs (MAC) and co-founded the internationally acclaimed Cincinnati School for Creative & Performing Arts.

The playing schedule is as follows:  Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM, with matinees on Sundays at 3PM.  Tickets are $25 and are available at Smart Tix at (212) 868-4444

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