Megan Mullally & Stephanie Hunt, Linda Eder, Well-Strung and More Set for Feinstein's at the Nikko, Now thru Dec 2013

Hotel Nikko San Francisco and Michael Feinstein have announced the upcoming lineup at the all-new Feinstein's at the Nikko for the months of October, November and December. Artists include Emmy Award winning actress Megan Mullally ("Will and Grace) and actress Stephanie Hunt ("Friday Night Lights," "Californication") and their band Nancy & Beth; actress, producer and singer Rita Wilson; Broadway star and recording artist Linda Eder; soul and jazz vocalist Oleta Adams; and more!

Located within Hotel Nikko (222 Mason Street, San Francisco), Feinstein's at the Nikko will present a wide range of entertainers all within an intimate 140-seat cabaret setting. Tickets for all performances are on-sale now and available by calling 866.663.1063 or visiting www.ticketweb.com.

There is a $20 food and beverage minimum per person inside the showroom which guests can use towards cocktails as well as a variety of small plates crafted exclusively for Feinstein's at the Nikko by Executive Chef Philippe Striffeler, through Restaurant Anzu. Cheese and dessert platters will also be available in the showroom. All seating at Feinstein's at the Nikko is cabaret style and available on a first-come, first-served basis within the section purchased. Guests who purchase the prix-fixe dinner at Restaurant Anzu will receive a complimentary section upgrade (subject to availability) and get to choose their exact seat locations within the upgraded section.

Guests of Feinstein's at the Nikko can enjoy a variety of food and beverage options before performances. Kanpai Lounge, located in Hotel Nikko's lobby, offers light cuisine, a full bar and specialty cocktails. Restaurant Anzu, Hotel Nikko's intimate restaurant located on the second floor, serves sustainable California cuisine enhanced with Asian flavors. Restaurant Anzu will also offer Feinstein's at the Nikko guests a special three-course prix-fixe dinner ($45 per person) prior to all performances. Reservations can be made by calling (415) 394-1100.

Oleta Adams · "Oleta Adams LIVE!"

Thursday, October 3 at 8 p.m.

Friday, October 4 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, October 5 at 7 p.m.

Tickets: $30-$70

Since the runaway success of her 1990 debut album Circle of One (which went Platinum), and the impassioned hit single "Get Here" (the Brenda Russell composition that became an unofficial anthem of the 1991 Gulf War) Oleta Adams has inspired a growing legion of fans in the U.S. and Europe with journeys of the heart via songs that draw deeply from her roots in gospel, while crossing effortlessly into the realms of soul, R&B, urban, and popular music. Her success, nurtured by worldwide tours with Tears for Fears, Phil Collins, Michael Bolton, and Luther Vandross, has been solidified by four Grammy nominations and a seemingly bottomless well of creative energy.

Oleta added to her musical legacy with the release of a new secular album, "Let's Stay Here", this year. Although Oleta has had the opportunity to work with many fantastic producers over her career, she decided to produce this album herself in addition to writing eight of the ten songs. "Let's Stay Here" is a creative and evocative project with a soulful jazz influence and songs that project many tantalizing thoughts. The songs weave through many a journey including a seductive love affair, vacation bliss, an abusive relationship, forgiveness, as well as a cover of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" which was featured on a recent Buick commercial television ad campaign.

A long-time resident of Kansas City, Kansas, where she has found sanctuary from the turmoil of the entertainment industry, Oleta Adams also remains anchored by her upbringing in the Pacific Northwest. The youngest of three girls and two boys, Oleta spent her formative years in Seattle before traveling over the mountains at age six to Yakima, Washington, an idyllic town of 60,000. She first demonstrated her budding vocal gifts in the Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church where her father served as minister.

By the time Oleta was eleven, she was directing and accompanying four choirs, having already established herself as a piano prodigy. She credits her further musical development in junior high school to Lee Farrell, "the brilliant Julliard-trained teacher and voice coach who changed my life." School provided another outlet for Oleta Adams: the theatrical stage. In her senior year she broke barriers and traditions as the star of Hello Dolly! admitting that "early on I realized the pleasures of being a big fish in a small pond."

Turning down the chance to pursue an operatic career as a lyric soprano, along with a scholarship to Pacific Lutheran University, Oleta instead spent a summer in Europe before heading to Los Angeles in the early 1970s. One demo tape and $5,000 later, she discovered that the disco movement had deafened music executives. Oleta's gospel-flavored voice was not "in." With the help of Coach Lee Farrell she wound up in Kansas City, where she launched her career playing piano bars, hotel lounges and showrooms.

Oleta quickly became a local institution, with her own billboard and a regular gig at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Celebrities from every musical genre caught her act, including Eartha Kitt, Cab Calloway, Air Supply, Gino Vanelli, Yes and Billy Joel. Finally serendipity came in the form of the British band Tears for Fears, whose frontmen Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith asked her to appear on their 1989 "The Seeds of Love' album, video and European tour. Proving that good things come to those who wait, upon her return to the U.S. Oleta signed a record deal for her first solo album in 1991.

With eight CDs - including secular, gospel, and a Christmas album - worldwide acclaim and over two-and a-half million albums sold, Oleta's musical odyssey continues - spiritually and creatively. For this consummate artist- composer-producer-musician, many goals remain on the horizon.

Linda Eder · "AN EVENING WITH Linda Eder"

Thursday, October 17 at 8 p.m.

Friday, October 18 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, October 19 at 7 p.m.

Tickets: $45-$80

Showcasing one of the greatest contemporary voices of our time, Linda Eder's diverse repertoire spans Broadway, standards, pop, country and jazz. As the tragic character "Lucy" in the Broadway musical Jekyll & Hyde, from composer Frank Wildhorn, Eder blew the roof off of New York's Plymouth Theatre each night as she belted out signature songs "Someone Like You" and "A New Life". Her Broadway debut, for which she was rewarded with a Drama Desk nomination, sent her already rapidly rising star blazing across the sky, securing her spot as one of America's most beloved singers and dynamic live performers. Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, "What do we mean when we use the word perfection? The question arises every time I watch the pop singer Linda Eder..."

Most recently, Linda crowned her two-decade recording career with a new album, "Now," which reunited Eder with Broadway and pop composer Frank Wildhorn. The new release marked the musical return of this legendary team after six years. Eder's transcendent voice is the perfect complement to Wildhorn's lush, imaginative music. "Now's" 12 dynamic new tracks elevate the spirit while capturing many moods.

Eder launched her recording career in 1991 with her self-titled debut album and soon established a vital niche as America's most popular and acclaimed new interpreter of pop standards and theatrical songs with 14 solo albums and 12 musical recordings. Those albums highlight Eder's abundant vocal gifts as well as her skill for delivering dramatic, emotionally resonant interpretations of familiar songs while making them her own. She followed up with The Other Side of Me, a country pop blend of contemporary music - including a song written by Linda.

In Fall 2010, Linda released Soundtrack. Produced by Peter Collins, Soundtrack finds Eder going to the movies and adding new dimensions to an eclectic mix of themes from the silver screen. The 12 tracks span the last 50 years in cinema, from Henry Mancini's "Charade," the title tune of the 1963 movie starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, to "Falling Slowly," the Best Original Song Academy Award winner from the movie Once.

In June 2010, Linda and Clay Aiken coverEd Roy Orbison's "Crying" as a duet on Clay's new album Tried & True. She was recently featured on two PBS television specials including Clay Aiken's Tried & True and Hallelujah Broadway.

The concert stage remains the mainstay of Eder's career. She has performed for sold-out crowds and venues across the country and throughout Europe. Her concerts have been televised on Bravo and PBS. Trail Mix, her primetime Animal Planet special, was a natural extension of her love of animals for this Minnesota native who remains a "farm girl" at heart.

Tony DeSare · "MY GENERATION (THE CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN SONGBOOK)"

Friday, October 25 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, October 26 at 7 p.m.

Tickets: $40-$50

This year, Tony has put together a brand new show for his opening at 54 Below in New York City beginning the first two weeks of October. The show is entitled: Tony DeSare; My Generation (The Contemporary American Songbook).

Everyone knows the brilliance of the Great American Songbook - which has been performed for many years, and in many different ways. But that songbook has been expanding beyond 1955- and now is the time to celebrate other writers who created iconic music in the past half century. Singer, pianist and songwriter Tony DeSare has labeled this the Contemporary American Songbook, and it is a way of inducting the many great songs and songwriters into the already defined Songbook list which includes Gershwin, Berlin, Porter and Kern. DeSare's new show will celebrate the genius of writers like Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Carole King, and Michael MacDonald, as well as 'adopted' American songwriters like Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Barry Gibb.

At the performances in New York and San Francisco, DeSare will be celebrating the release of his new CD project with Yamaha, entitled "A Lot To Say".

Tony was born and raised in Glens Falls, New York to a musical family and began singing and playing professionally at 17. By the time DeSare started college, he had opened for visiting headliners and built a large regional following playing to packed houses. The Tony DeSare trio was one of the most popular bands in central New York State while DeSare attended Ithaca College. DeSare and his band continually sold out shows in clubs and showcases throughout upstate New York. He took first place in the "IC Showcase," a college sponsored national battle of the bands and was a semi-finalist in the MasterCardActs, a national talent search for college performers.

Shortly after moving to New York City in 1999, DeSare was cast as the star of the long running Off-Broadway musical smash, Our Sinatra, in which he was praised by Variety for his "dapper charm." In the fall of 2002, he performed at the legendary Apollo Theater where he first met jazz guitar icon Bucky Pizzarelli. Since then, Bucky has continued to perform with DeSare's band around the country. He was also featured in New York TV personality Bill Boggs's Off Broadway show Talk Show Confidential at the John Houseman Theater.

DeSare - whose third CD Radio Show was released by Telarc Records earlier this year - was named a "Rising Star" Male Vocalist in the 2009 Downbeat Critics Poll. He has won critical and popular acclaim for his concert performances throughout the United States as well as in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. In January, launched an international tour with three weeks at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room in New York, two weeks in London, then continues on to cities such as Los Angeles, Boston, Washington DC, Seattle, St. Louis and Palm Beach.

DeSare composed and performed the title theme to My Date With Drew, an independent documentary feature film about a guy who has 30 days and $1100 to get a date with Drew Barrymore. It has been featured on "The Tonight Show," "The Today Show," Playboy Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and Premiere. The film - awarded top honors at the New York Gen Arts Festival, the HBO Comedy Arts Festival and the Vail Film Festival - was released in theatres nationwide in 2005. The movie's theme song, "If I Had Drew," is featured on his debut CD.

DeSare's noted versatility enables him to headline a variety of venues. He has performed at major jazz rooms like Birdland and the Blue Note with his quartet; posh nightclubs like the Café Carlyle and Feinstein's at the Regency; with his big band in concert halls like Jazz at Lincoln Center; or with a 60-piece orchestra.

Rita Wilson · "AN EVENING WITH Rita Wilson"

Thursday, October 31 at 8 p.m.

Friday, November 1 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, November 2 at 7 p.m.

Tickets: $40-$60

Actress, producer and singer Rita Wilson performs songs from her critically acclaimed debut album, "AM/FM". Described by the Huffington Post as "a songwriter's dream," Wilson will draw from the album's intimate and beautifully sung collection of classics from the '60s and '70s.

Although Rita Wilson is well-known as an actress (It's Complicated, Sleepless in Seattle, The Good Wife) and a film producer (discovered My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Mamma Mia!), few may be aware that her early show biz ambitions were actually musical. Born and raised in the Hollywood Hills (nearly above the Hollywood Bowl), Wilson harbored dreams of becoming a singer in the 60's and 70's after falling in love with The Beatles, The Mamas & the Papas, Janis Joplin, and The Supremes, among others. She even took a part-time job as a ticket-taker at what was then the Universal Amphitheatre as a way to see such popular acts of the day as Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, James Taylor, and The Eagles.

Wilson has finally achieved her dream with the Decca Records release of her debut album AM/FM - an intimate, elegant, and beautifully sung collection of classics from the '60s and '70s that, taken together, make up the soundtrack to her life. Carefully curated by Wilson, her producer, Fred Mollin, and Decca Records' Senior VP of A&R Jay Landers, AM/FM is filled with songs that resonate emotionally with Wilson. The album is essentially divided into two sections. The first half, "AM," features songs from the '60s that Wilson remembers singing along to on AM radio while riding in the back seat of her parents' car and that recall the "lovely innocence and hopefulness of the time": The songs include "All I Have To Do Is Dream," (written by Vanessa Joy Amorosi, Mark Ronald Holden & Irmgard Klarmann), "Never My Love," (written by Richard P. Addrisi & Donald J. Addrisi), "Cherish," (written by Terry Kirkman), "Come See About Me" (written by Edward Holland Jr, Brian Holland & Lamont Dozier), "Angel Of The Morning" (written by Chip Taylor), "Walking In The Rain" (co-written by Phil Spector and songwriting team Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil for the Ronettes), "Wichita Lineman" (written by Jimmy Webb), and "You Were On My Mind" (written by Sylvia Fricker).

By the time Wilson got her own car (a Datsun 2000 Roadster) at age 17, popular music lived on FM radio. She became enamored with the folk-rock singer-songwriters who dominated those airwaves in the early '70s and her favorite songs make up the "FM" half: "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues" (written by Danny O'Keefe), "Love Has No Pride (written by Eric Kaz & Libby Titus)," "Please Come To Boston" (written by Dave Loggins), "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King), "Faithless Love" (written by J.D. SOUTHER), and "River" (by Joni Mitchell).

Roslyn Kind · "AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH Roslyn Kind"

Friday, November 8 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, November 9 at 7 p.m.

Tickets: $30-$60

Roslyn Kind's unique artistry is equally at home on stage, screen and disc. Ms. Kind is a dynamic, multi-talented entertainer who has forged a successful career in all facets of entertainment from critically acclaimed recordings to sold-out performances on Broadway and in top concert venues and nightclubs the world over. A vibrant musical artist, Ms. Kind is familiar to both national and international audiences for her headlining appearances at some of the most prestigious venues including Lincoln Center, The Greek Theater and London's Café Royal. In 2006 she made her long awaited and rapturously received Carnegie Hall debut with her frequent musical collaborator and friend, Michael Feinstein.

Ms. Kind began her performing career while still in her teens with the release of her first album, "Give Me You," followed by her second album "This is Roslyn Kind." A whirlwind of performing activity followed including engagements at the nation's top nightclubs and three appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" prior to her New York debut at the Plaza Hotel's legendary Persian Room. Ms. Kind's latest CD re- release, "Come What May," which the New York Times described as "splendid and sizzling," further establishes her reputation as a virtuoso vocalist possessing impeccable phrasing, a richness and clarity of tone and an undeniable emotional connection to her always first-rate material.

On Broadway, she starred in the crowd-pleasing musical revue 3 From Brooklyn. Additional theatrical credits include the Off-Broadway production of Show Me Where the Good Times Are, Leader of the Pack, Ferguson the Tailor and the critically lauded Los Angeles production of William Finn's Elegies. Ms. Kind's extensive list of television credits include the film "Switched at Birth," multiple episodes of NBC's "Gimme a Break," "Throb" and a humorously memorable turn as herself on CBS's "The Nanny," showcasing her talent as a songwriter in a performance of her composition, "Light of Love." She also performed the title song for the made-for-TV movie "Not Just Another Affair."

Ms. Kind has appeared on virtually every major talk/variety show including "The Tonight Show," "Saturday Night Live," "Entertainment Tonight," "Access Hollywood" and "Good Morning America." In motion pictures, Ms. Kind has had starring roles in "The Underachievers" and "I'm Going to Be Famous," and recently the Hallmark movie "Ladies of the House" starring Donna Mills and Florence Henderson. Roz can be heard singing "Hold On While You Can" in the 2008 movie "Tru Loved." She has just toured the US and Europe with her sister Barbra Streisand where they sang a duet together.

Megan Mullally & Stephanie Hunt WITH THEIR BAND NANCY AND BETH

Thursday, November 14 at 8 p.m.
Friday, November 15 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, November 16 at 7 p.m.

Tickets: $45-$66

Emmy Award winning actress, Megan Mullally (Children's Hospital, Party Down and Will & Grace) met fellow actress Stephanie Hunt (Friday Night Lights, Californication and How To Live With Your Parents For the Rest of Your Life) while in Austin filming the independent movie - Somebody Up There Likes Me. The minute the two started singing together they realized they had something special and those that have come out to see their new band, Nancy and Beth, agree.

Within just three months of their inception, Nancy and Beth, has already played venues such as Royce Hall and been featured as a musical guest on Conan O'Brien.

Varla Jean Merman · "Varla Jean Merman"

Friday, November 22 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, November 23 at 7 p.m.

Tickets: $40-$50

Drag sensation Varla Jean Merman makes her Feinstein's at the Nikko debut with a new show featuring Tom Shaw at the piano and Roberta Drake on drums. Jeffery Roberson aka Varla Jean recently starred in the musical Lucky Guy opposite Leslie Jordan in New York at the Little Shubert prompting The New York Times to rave, "If Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman had stood in front of the right pair of funhouse mirrors, they might have resembled Ms. Merman and Mr. Jordan in stature as well as comedic talent". This past year Jeffery completed shooting the sequel to Girls Will Be Girls and Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads (now available on www.SethTV.com). He played the title role of Giancarlo Menotti's opera The Medium in New York at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre last fall Off-Broadway. Varla Jean Merman is the purported love child of Ethel Merman and Ernest Borgnine.

Well Strung · "THE SINGING STRING QUARTET"

Friday, December 27 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, December 28 at 7 p.m.

Tickets: $25-$40

Well-Strung: the Singing String Quartet. Called the "hottest thing with a bow since Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games" by the New York Daily News, Well-Strung will make their San Francisco debut off of two recent hit Off-Broadway productions and a new album release this spring on Twist Records. The group's show features music of Mozart, Vivaldi and Bach new arrangements of songs by Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Adele, Lady Gaga and among others. This September, the foursome will make their debut on London's West End at the Leister Square Theater with Varla Jean Merman. Conceived by Christopher Marchant and Mark Cortale, Well-Strung stars Edmund Bagnell, Christopher Marchant, Daniel Shevlin and Trevor Wadleigh. The show is directed by Broadway veteran Donna Drake (A Chorus Line). For more info visit www.well-strung.com.

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