Juliana Hansen, Melody Hollis, Jeffrey Christopher Todd, Lainie Kazan, Kristopher McNeeley, Christy Crowl, Julie Garnye Photo

From: Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal Opens with Kritzerland Salute to Composer Bob Merrill

On Sunday April 1 Kritzerland presented its monthly show, this time Take Me Along saluting composer/lyricist Bob Merrill at the all new Sterling's Upstairs at The Federal in NoHo. This also marked the opening night for the new venue. Bruce Kimmel hosted a lovely evening with singers Melody Hollis, Juliana Hansen, Julie Garnye, Kristopher McNeeley, Jeffrey Christopher Todd and special guest Lainie Kazan. Christy Crowl served beautifully as musical director at the piano. Shelly Markham played for Miss Kazan. As always, Kimmel told some interesting stories about the composer. As for Merrill, he composed all of his tunes on a toy xylophone and had a series of pop tunes in the 50s long before he had a Broadway success. Songs performed in the 90-minute set included these tunes as well as Broadway fare from hits like Funny Girl, Carnival and Sugar, as well as from flops Pretty Belle, Henry, Sweet Henry, based on The World of Henry Orient and Holly Golightly otherwise referred to as Breakfast at Tiffany's.