The Town Hall 2014 Summer Season: Broadway Preludes will launch on Friday, June 27 at 8PM with the American premiere of a lost Cole Porter treasure, The Ambassador Revue. This one-night-only event will feature Grammy Award-winning 1920s and 30s musical interpreters Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks (HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," Woody Allen's Radio Days, and Martin Scorsese's The Aviator), as well as special guest stars including acclaimed soprano Amy Burton (The Metropolitan Opera, City Opera, Carnegie Hall), Tony Award nominee Anita Gillette (Chapter Two, They're Playing Our Song, Brighton Beach Memoirs), Jason Graae (Falsettos, A Grand Night for Singing), Ted Levy(Jelly's Last Jam, Black and Blue), Grammy-winning jazz and blues vocalistCatherine Russell (featured on soundtracks for HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" and the film Kill Your Darlings), and two-time Tony nominee Tom Wopat (Catch Me If You Can, Annie Get Your Gun, Sondheim on Sondheim). The Ambassador Revue features direction by author and musical theatre historian Ken Bloom (Broadway Musicals: The 101 Greatest Shows of All Time; The American Songbook: The Singers, Songwriters & The Songs).
The company met the press yesterday and you can check out photos from inside the event below!
When the Jazz Age crossed over to France in the 20s, Cole Porter was in the center of it all. In 1928, he created a revue for the Café des Ambassadeurs, Paris' hottest night club, which became quite the sensation. Later that year, Porter had his first hit on Broadway and The Ambassador Revue fell into oblivion until 2012 when the score was rediscovered by Ken Bloom and Christophe Mirambeau in an archive in Milan, Italy. Bloom and Mirambeau mounted a concert staging of The Ambassador Revue in Paris that relaunched the historic Maison de la Mutualite in 2012, nearly 85 years after its Parisian premiere. Bloom's Town Hall staging of the revue will mark the first time that Porter's score will be heard on an American stage and the first time that the original musical arrangements by Freddy Buck will be heard since the 1928 production in Paris.
TICKETS FOR THE AMBASSADOR REVUE: Tickets are on sale at The Town Hall Box Office, 123 West 43rd Street, (noon-6pm, Mon-Fri) and Ticketmaster.com, 800.982.2787. Tickets range from $30 - 65.
Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter Keddy
The Ambassador Revue
Vince Giordano and Ken Bloom
Ken Bloom (Director)
Vince Giordano, Peter Mintun and Ken Bloom
Peter Mintun and Jason Graae
Ken Bloom
Vince Giordano, Peter Mintun and Amy Burton
Ton Wopat
The Cast and Creative Team-Vince Giordano, Peter Mintun, Jason Graae, Tom Wopat, Ken Bloom, Amy Burton and Anita Gillette
Jason Graae and Tom Wopat
Videos