Shoshana Bean Leads Thousand Oaks's HEART AND SOUL

THE THOUSAND OAKS CIVIC ARTS PLAZA & Chris Isaacson are thrilled to announce the performers for UPRIGHT CABARET's AMERICAN ICON SERIES' first show of their 3rd Season, beginning with, HEART AND SOUL, starring American Idol Finalist Syesha Mercado, Broadway sensation Shoshana Bean, and vocal powerhouse Sylvia MacCalla, celebrating the music of Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick & Whitney Houston!

Your favorite stars from American Idol to Broadway will blow you away with four unforgettable evenings of entertainment singing the #1 hits of our American Music Icons.

Under the musical direction of Gerald Sternbach, expect to hear your favorites like Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Stop In The Name of Love, Say A Little Prayer For You, I Wanna Dance with Somebody and I Will Always Love You, with dazzling video and images in this One Night Only multi-media concert event! HEART AND SOUL will perform on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 8:00PM at the new Cabaret Lounge at Civic Arts Plaza's Scheer Forum Theatre, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd. in Thousand Oaks.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Shoshana Bean made her New York city debut in the off-Broadway revival of Godspell, and her Broadway debut in the original cast of the Tony Award-winning production of Hairspray. She went on to be the first replacement for the green-skinned witch Elphaba in Broadway's Wicked later reprising her performance on the Wicked national tour. She performed in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Weber at the Kennedy Center, Joseph and the. . .Dreamcoat at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and headlined in the Las Vegas burlesque revue Peepshow opposite Holly Madison. Additionally she has performed solo concerts around the world from LA's Ford Amphitheater and New York City's Jazz at Lincoln Center, to Australia and Zurich and London's West End. Shoshana claims Dear John Mayer as her latest triumph, a musical she co-created, starred in and wrote the music and lyrics for, which recently made it's world premiere in Los Angeles at the Open Fist Theater.

Shoshana sang back-up for an endless list of superstars at Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration at Madison Square Garden and shared the stage with Grammy Award nominee Brian McKnight at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards to honor Aretha Franklin.

Her debut solo album Superhero reached #5 on the itunes R&B charts, making it the only independent album in the top 100. Shoshana has lent her voice to the film soundtracks for Hairspray, Enchanted, Dance Flick and Fox's GLEE. Her work as a singer/songwriter has been featured on The Hills, Mercy, The Big C, NBC and her debut single "Superhero"won an Independent Music Award for best R&B song. Superhero is availabl at itunes.com and amazon.com. www.shoshanabean.com.

Sylvia MacCalla is a native Californian. Her theater credits span over 15yrs most recently she reprised her role as Bette in the award-nominated Good Bad But Beautiful. Sylvia played Joanne in the original Broadway Tour of RENT, Lorraine/Motormouth in the Broadway tour of Hairspray, Aretha Franklin in the award-winning Beehive, Jewel in Susan Anton's The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, one of the Raelet's in the award winning Ray Charles Live, one of the 3L's in Princess and the Blackeyed Pea, Head Nurse in South Pacific at the Hollywood Bowl starring Reba McIntyre and Brian Stokes Mitchell, Sonia's voice in Jason Alexander's They're Playing Our Song to name a few. She has appeared on "The Wayne Brady Show," "Ellen Degeneres," "Jay Leno," "Scrubs" and "RENT the Movie." Sylvia has sang with such artists as Smokey Robinson, Debbie Gibson, Smashmouth and Kimberly Locke. She is the co-founder and member of the recording group LivinOutLoud.

Syesha Mercado was a finalist on the 7th season of the wildly popular Fox television reality show, "American Idol." She was the only female in the top three which left fellow contestants David Archuleta and David Cook a chance to compete in the finale. Following her third place finish, she toured with "American Idol Live" 2008 playing 53 performances in 49 cities across the United States and Canada. Among her performances in the tour, Syesha sang "Listen" from the recently released hit film "Dreamgirls." With that Syesha landed the much sought after role of Deena Jones in the newly conceived production of the stage musical which opened at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in November 2009 and has toured all over the US and Japan. Los Angeles audiences welcomed her as she recently opened at the Americana at Brand in Glendale, CA for Jake Simpson in "Arena: Born to Rock." Currently, Syesha is writing and recording her first solo album which will debut in the spring of 2012.

Gerald Sternbach (Musical Direction) recently spent six seasons as the musical director of Reprise! Broadway's Best at UCLA. He was recently presented the Joel Hirschhorn award for excellence in the musical theater by the LA Drama Critics Circle. In addition, he has won one Theater LA Ovation Award and two Garland Awards. He made his LA Philharmonic debut at the Hollywood Bowl the summer of '05 as on-stage pianist for Stephen Sondheim's 75th Birthday - The Concert, also assisting Paul Gemignani. Additional Credits: Associate Conductor for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Merlin and The Tap Dance Kid (all Broadway), Les Miserables (LA premiere company), conducted the national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance (starring Melissa Manchester). He has accompanied a wide variety of artists from Marilyn Horne, Florence Henderson, and Carol Burnett, to Nancy Wilson, Donna McKechnie, John Lithgow, Kelsey Grammar, Jason Graae and Jennifer Hudson. Just last winter, he was seen on stage playing piano for Carrie Fisher in her brilliant one woman show, Wishful Drinking, at the Geffen Playhouse. He has musically directed four S.T.A.G.E benefits, one Actors Fund Benefit; two Les Girls Benefits (for National Breast Cancer Coalition), and four of Sheryl Lee Ralph's Divas Simply Singing Benefits -- all star studded.). His song "Mary" (written in collaboration with Faye Greenberg) - a paean to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," was performed on the 2003 TV Land Awards show by Eric McCormack - in the presence of the original cast of the landmark sitcom. And now-- his rave-reviewed, world premiere musical in collaboration with Elin Hampton-- MOMMY, MOMMY - The Musical -- which ran successfully at the Hudson Backstage Theater this spring-- has been optioned for production Off-Broadway.

ABOUT Chris Isaacson AND THE "UPRIGHT CABARET" SERIES

Kicking off their 3rd Season, UPRIGHT CABARET, the pre-eminent Los Angeles hot spot for the next generation of world-class entertainers, brings its unique brand of cabaret entertainment to Thousand Oaks!

This "young impresario" has created, produced and promoted over 450 events since forming his company in 2004. From small clubs to major theatres, Isaacson has produced some of the most influential stars of his generation including Adam Lambert (American Idol), Lea Michele (Glee, Spring Awakening), Neil Patrick Harris (CBS's How I Met Your Mother & ABC's Doogie Howser, M.D.), Grammy Award-nominee Natasha Bedingfield, 3x Grammy Nominee Taylor Dayne, Grammy-winner Paula Cole and more.

Isaacson is also creator/founder of LA's renowned Upright Cabaret which has been redefining the cabaret milieu for a new generation of audiences in Los Angeles since 2005. Upright Cabaret seeks to celebrate old style cabaret while simultaneously turning it on its ear, bringing young Broadway and young Hollywood together in a live setting. Isaacson produces concerts and events under the "Upright Cabaret" banner including the successful "American Icon Series" which plays La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza and the Annenberg Theatre in Palm Springs, his critically acclaimed concerts "Shoshana Sings Streisand" starring Shoshana Bean, "Stephen Schwartz: Making Good" featuring Wicked creator/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, "Eden Espinosa: Me" starring Eden Espinosa and "New York's Finest: The Leading Men of Broadway" starring Tony Award-winner Levi Kreis, Tony Award-nominee Brandon Victor Dixon, American Idol's Ace Young and David Burnham with direction by Tony Award-nominee Sam Harris at the Ford Amphitheatre.

This past summer, Isaacson produced Broadway sensation Jennifer Leigh Warren in the new show entitled "Diamonds Are Forever: The Songs of Dame Shirley Bassey" at the Renberg Theatre directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, and presented the West Coast debut of Saturday Night Live star Ana Gasteyer in "Elegant Songs from a Handsome Woman" at Catalina Jazz Club.

Most recently, Isaacson produced the 9th annual Summer Concert Series at The Grove in Los Angeles and The Americana at Brand in Glendale, CA starring guitar phenomenon Orianthi, Grammy Award-winner Richard Marx, NBC's The Voice star Frenchie Davis and Blake Lewis, Country super-group Lonestar. Latin Music Icon Sergio Mendes and the debut of Isaacson's new show entitled "Arena: Born To Rock" starring 2x Star Search Grand Champion Jake Simpson with special guest American Idol finalist Syesha Mercado.

His concerts have been featured on Access Hollywood, EXTRA, ABC's On The Red Carpet, KTLA 5 Morning News, the L.A. Times and New York Post. Please visit www.ChrisIsaacsonPresents.com

THE THIRD SEASON'S SHOWS INCLUDE:

HEART AND SOUL • November 4, 2011 • 8:00PM
Music of Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick & Whitney Houston

THE TROUBADOURS • January 27, 2012 • 8:00PM
Music of Bob Dylan, Carole King & James Taylor

RHYTHM IN THE NIGHT • May 5, 2012 • 8:00PM (Cinco de Mayo)
Music of Gloria Estefan, Santana & Ricky Martin

VIVA LAS VEGAS! • June 8, 2012 • 8:00PM
Music of Elvis Presley, Elton John & Cher

ABOUT TICKETS
Ticket prices for Upright Cabaret's American Icon Series' 2011012 season are:
$29 - $49 with group discounts available.

Subscription prices for all four shows range from: $80 - $180

Tickets to these extraordinary shows are now available by calling the Box Office at 800-745-3000 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

THOUSAND OAKS CIVIC ARTS PLAZA is located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd. in Thousand Oaks.

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