Musical Theater Project to Present LOUD BUT HONEST: THE IMPACT OF ETHEL MERMAN, 4/13

The Musical Theater Project honors a legendary Broadway performer in "Loud but Honest: The Impact of Ethel Merman." This one-time-only performance will be held at Regina Hall on the campus of Notre Dame College at 3pm on Sunday, April 13, 2014.

Co-hosted by TMTP artistic director Bill Rudman and music director Nancy Maier, the concert will showcase some of Merman's signature songs including "You're The Top," "I Get A Kick Out Of You," "Everything's Coming Up Roses," and "There's No Business Like Show Business."

She's the singer Cole Porter once compared to "a band going by." But Ethel Merman's legacy goes beyond her singular vocal power. Merman was one of the most important and influential vocalists of the 20th century by presenting a new kind of woman on Broadway - a woman she christened the "brassy dame." Her trademark "belt" was revered by such masters of the musical theater as Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Jerry Herman.

The show features just two singers who tackle a slew of memorable tunes that Merman introduced over some 40 years. In act one, Cassie Goldbach is the "younger" Ethel who burst on the Broadway scene at 21 singing George and Ira Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" in "Girl Crazy" (1930). Goldbach will take the audience through Merman's triumph 16 years later in Irving Berlin's "Annie Get Your Gun." Then in act two, Adina Bloom evokes the "older" Merman in selections from musicals including "Call Me Madam," "Happy Hunting" and one of Broadway's masterworks: the Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim "Gypsy," which premiered when Merman was 51.

TMTP's multi-media concert will include dozens of still images and rare film clips of Merman in her 20s. "Above all it's a cavalcade of sparkling music and lyrics," says Rudman. "The fact is that second only to Fred Astaire, Ethel Merman inspired more pages of the Great American Songbook than any other Broadway or Hollywood star."

"Loud but Honest: The Impact of Ethel Merman" is presented as part of "The Song Is You!" concert and cabaret season produced each year by The Musical Theater Project at a variety of locations.

Regina Hall at Notre Dame College is located at 4545 College Road in South Euclid. Tickets are priced at $26 and $18 and can be ordered through the TMTP box office at 216-245-8687 or online at MusicalTheaterProject.org.

"The Song Is You!" receives additional support from Robert Conrad, Susan Kohn and Mike Kohn, the Cleveland Foundation, the Kulas Foundation, The Nathan L. and Regina Herman Charitable Fund, Cleveland Public Library, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and Ohio Arts Council. Media sponsors include Cleveland.Com, WKHR 91.5 FM and WCLV 104.9 FM.

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