Peggy Herman, Jerry Herman, Ethel Merman...and John Fricke's latest project!

Happy Sunday! When I first heard that Peggy Herman was doing a new show after A VERY LOONNNGGGG absence, I was thrilled! I saw Peggy many years ago at Eighty-Eight's and became an instant fan. Then she disappeared. She got married, left New York, lost a LOT of weight!

She looks fabulous! She returned last night to The Metropolitan Room and I get to see her tonight!
Throw in Jerry Herman, Ethel Merman, Alex Rybeck, and Tommy Tune...I smell cabaret magic!

Peggy Herman is making a splashy return to performing in New York City in a new club act conceived and directed by Peter Glebo and the nine-time Tony Award-winner Tommy Tune. She debuts "Herman on Herman... with a Touch of Merman," a tribute to the Broadway legend Jerry Herman, at the Metropolitan Room at The Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, tonight and tomorrow night(at 7pm), and Sunday June 5 at 4pm.
Music director Alex Rybeck accompanies on piano.
Hailed as "the Mt. St. Helen's of cabaret" by the NY Post, Herman has appeared at Town Hall, The Firebird Café, The King Kong Room, and Eighty Eights.
Peggy's career was launched at sea, where she performed on five-star cruise ships with Cunard, Royal Viking, Oceania, and Crystal Cruise Lines.


With her volcanic voice and personality Herman has been known to blow her audiences away.
Her solo CD debut, "Mercer and More..." (Original Cast Records), was hailed as "a lush album" by John Hoglund in Back Stage, where he added, "she's got a big voice that serves a big talent."
Speaking of the show's music, Herman says she's been working with her longtime music director and arranger Alex Rybeck on finding a balance between her favorite Jerry Herman standards, and some of his less-well-known material. Says Herman: "I wanted to explore the timelessness of these songs by taking them out of their original musical theatre context, outfitting them with new musical settings, and bringing a fresh contemporary sound to them."


For the record, Peggy Herman was married once before to Jerry Herman... the carpet salesman.Lake Success's Peggy Herman Klat is returning to performing in New York City after a brief hiatus with the enthusiasm of a kid executing a cannonball in the Lake Success Pool. After all, what could be splashier than a new club act conceived and directed by Peter Glebo and the nine-time Tony Award-winner Tommy Tune? The singer-actress, who makes her much-anticipated debut at Manhattan's popular Metropolitan Room, says that “Herman on Herman… with a Touch of Merman” has been in the works for close to a year.


“I’m like that plant that blooms once a year,” Herman muses, “except I get four nights instead of one!”



Throughout her interesting career, Herman had been told she was born to sing the songs of the incomparable Jerry Herman.
Then, interestingly enough, she met and married Jerry Herman. But not the three-time Tony Award-winning composer of "Hello Dolly!" "Mame," and "La Cage aux Folles."
The Jerry Herman of her dreams was a carpeting salesman who could barely hold a tune.

Now, many years after her split with the rug guy, Herman is making up for lost time with a vengeance.


"It's not a gimmick with the name," says Herman, who has been hailed by the NY Post as "the Mt. St. Helen's of cabaret."
"I was born to sing the songs of Jerry Herman. People have told me this all the time. I've always loved the drama and excitement of show stoppers, and 11 o'clock numbers, which are certainly his specialty." Adding that she also wanted to pay tribute to the legendary Ethel Merman, Herman calls this ménage a trois, "a happy marriage. Actually it's just a funny coincidence that Mr. Herman and I have the same name… and that it rhymes with Merman!"


Incidentally, Herman has been happily married to Dr. Alan Klat for the past 21 years.


Speaking of the show’s music, Herman says she’s been working with her longtime music director and arranger Alex Rybeck on finding a balance between her favorite Jerry Herman standards, and some of his less-well-known material.
Says Herman: “I wanted to explore the timelessness of these songs by taking them out of their original musical theatre context, outfitting them with new musical settings, and bringing a fresh contemporary sound to them.”
(Photo credit: JOE HENSON)

Helping her unshackle some of these songs from their sometimes predictable theatricality, in addition to Rybeck are the directors Peter Glebo and Tommy Tune. "But don't worry, we're not going to become analytical and conceptual all of a sudden. I didn't marry Sondheim!"


Herman, who was born in Philadelphia and raised in Miami Beach, has appeared at Town Hall, and such fabled Manhattan nightspots as The Firebird Café, The King Kong Room, and Eighty Eights. Her career was launched at sea, where she performed on five-star cruise ships with Cunard, Royal Viking, Oceania, and Crystal Cruise Lines.
This in turn led to a nightclub career, during which she opened for Phyllis Diller at Miami Beach’s Fontainebleau Hotel, and, later on, for Bob Hope, Alan King and Milton Berle.

Her solo CD debut, "Mercer and More..." (Original Cast Records), which is available on www.cdbaby.com, was hailed as “a lush album” by John Hoglund in Back Stage, where he added, “she’s got a big voice that serves a big talent.” And she does a mean cannonball!

I cannot wait to see her again tonight!

And to you, Mr. Tune:
Broadway Biography in Song & Dance featuring the Manhattan Rhythm Kings.

Nine-time Tony award-winner Tommy Tune God, do I love him!


Contact: Beck Lee (718) 403-0939 beckblitz@aol.com


Before "Milk and Honey" and "Hello, Dolly!" made him a Broadway household name, Jerry Herman was busy working the showbiz trenches. His gifts as a composer, lyricist and musician were already mature in PARADE,a 1960 revue, available with the original cast recording, which included my dear friend, Dody Goodman!

Jerry Herman (born July 10, 1931) is an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway musical theater. He composed the scores for the hit Broadway musicals Hello, Dolly!.
(Here I am as Dolly Levi in The Revision Theatre's production of "HELLO, DOLLY!" om Asbury Park, NJ

Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart (August 1, 1924 – September 20, 1987) an American playwright and librettist., based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955.
Hello, Dolly! was first produced on Broadway by David Merrick in 1964, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical and nine other Tonys. The show album Hello, Dolly! An Original Cast Recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.The show has become one of the most enduring musical theatre hits, enjoying three Broadway revivals and international success. It was also made into a 1969 film that was nominated for seven Academy Awards.

(John Barrowman performing 'I Won't Send Roses' from Mack and Mabel)

Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of Amos Parker Wilder, a US diplomat, and Isabella Niven Wilder.
(Thornton Wilder as a child, pictured with his two sisters and his father Amos at family cottage at Maple Bluff, Wisconsin, 1900)

All of the Wilder children spent part of their childhood in China because of their father's work.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey is Thornton Wilder's second novel, first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. It tells the story of several interrelated people who die in the collapse of an Inca rope-fiber suspension bridge in Peru, and the events that lead up to their being on the bridge.
A friar who has witnessed the tragic accident then goes about inquiring into the lives of the victims, seeking some sort of cosmic answer to the question of why each had to die. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928.
Thornton Wilder's older brother, Amos Niven Wilder, was Hollis Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School, a noted poet, and foundational to the development of the field theopoetics. Amos was also a nationally ranked tennis player who competed at the Wimbledon tennis championships in 1922.
His youngest sister, Isabel Wilder, was an accomplished writer. Both of his other sisters, Charlotte Wilder, a poet, and Janet Wilder Dakin, a zoologist, attended Mount Holyoke College and were excellent students.

Additionally, Wilder had a sister and a twin brother, who died at birth.

Wilder began writing plays while at The Thacher School in Ojai, California, where he did not fit in and was teased by classmates as overly intellectual.

According to a classmate, "We left him alone, just left him alone. And he would retire at the library, his hideaway, learning to distance himself from humiliation and indifference." His family lived for a time in China, where his sister Janet was born in 1910. He attended the English China Inland Mission Chefoo School at Yantai but returned with his mother and siblings to California in 1912 because of the unstable political conditions in China at the time. Thornton also attended Creekside Middle School in Berkeley, and graduated from Berkeley High School in 1915. Wilder also studied law for two years before dropping out of Purdue University.


Mame, and La Cage aux Folles (for Jerry Herman)would come along later.
He has been nominated for the Tony Award five times, and won twice, for Hello, Dolly! and La Cage aux Folles.
In 2009, Herman received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. He is a recipient of the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors.

Raised in Jersey City by musically inclined parents, Herman learned to play piano at an early age, and the three frequently attended Broadway musicals.
His father, Harry, was a gym teacher and in the summer worked in the Catskill Mountains hotels.


His mother, Ruth, also worked in the hotels as a singer, pianist, and children's teacher, and eventually became an English teacher.
After marrying, they lived in Jersey City, New Jersey and continued to work in the summers in various camps until they became head counselors and finally ran Stissing Lake Camp in the Berkshire Mountains. Herman spent all of his summers there, from age 6 to 23.
It was at camp that he first became involved in theatrical productions, as director of Oklahoma!, Finian's Rainbow and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. At the age of 17, Herman was introduced to Frank Loesser who, after hearing material he had written, urged him to continue composing. He left the Parsons School of Design to attend the University of Miami, which has one of the nation's most avant garde theater departments.
He was also a member of the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity.After graduation from the University of Miami, Herman moved to New York City, where he produced the Off-Broadway revue I Feel Wonderful, which was made up of material he had written at the University.

It opened at the Theatre de Lys in Greenwich Village on October 18, 1954 and ran for 48 performances. It was his only show his mother was able to see; shortly after it opened, she died of cancer at the age of forty-four, and Herman spent the next year in deep mourning.
In 1957, while playing piano at a New York City jazz club called the Showplace he was asked to write a show to replace one that had transferred (that show was Little Mary Sunshine). As well as supplying the music, Herman wrote the book and directed the one-hour revue, called Nightcap. He asked his friend, Phyllis Newman, to do movement and dance and it featured Charles Nelson Reilly (who later co-starred in Hello, Dolly!). The show opened in May 1958 and ran for two years.
Herman next collected enough original material to put together a revue called Parade in 1960. Herman directed with choreography by Richard Tone. The cast included Charles Nelson Reilly and Dody Goodman. It first opened at the Showplace and, expanded, moved to the Players Theatre in January 1960.During 1960, Herman also met playwright Tad Mosel and the two men collaborated on an Off-Broadway musical adaptation of Mosel's 1953 television play, Madame Aphrodite. The musical of the same name, which starred Nancy Andrews in the title role, opened at the Orpheum Theatre on December 29, 1961, but closed after only 13 performances. No cast album was recorded, and the show has never been performed since.In 1960,
Herman made his Broadway debut with the revue From A to Z, which featured contributions from newcomers Woody Allen and Fred Ebb as well.
That same year producer Gerard Oestreicher approached him after seeing a performance of Parade, and asked if he would be interested in composing the score for a show about the founding of the state of Israel. The result was his first full-fledged Broadway musical, Milk and Honey (starring Molly Picon), in 1961.
It received respectable reviews and ran for 543 performances.In 1964, producer David Merrick united Herman with Carol Channing for a project that was to become one of his more successful, Hello, Dolly!. The original production ran for 2,844 performances, the longest running musical for its time, and was later revived three times.
Although facing stiff competition from Funny Girl, Hello, Dolly! swept the Tony Awards that season, winning 10, a record that remained unbroken for 37 years, until The Producers won 12 Tonys in 2001. (Did you know Phyllis Diller was the 4th Dolly on Broadway in HELLO, DOLLY!)In 1966, Herman's next musical was the smash hit Mame starring Angela Lansbury, which introduced a string of Herman standards, most notably the ballad "If He Walked Into My Life", the holiday favorite "We Need a Little Christmas", and the title tune.(Martha Raye was the fifth Dolly on Broadway)
Although not commercial successes, Dear World (1969) starring Angela Lansbury, Mack & Mabel (1974) starring Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters, and The Grand Tour (1979) starring Joel Grey are noted for their interesting concepts and their melodic, memorable scores. Herman considers Mack & Mabel his personal favorite score, with later composition La Cage aux Folles in a close second. Both Dear World and Mack & Mabel have developed a cult following among Broadway aficionados.
(Pearl Bailey was the 6th Dolly on Broadway)
On Sunday night, August 23, 1983, La Cage aux Folles opened at the Palace Theatre in New York, crowning the career of Jerry Herman which had begun 23 years earlier (with a slight flop entitled From A to Z.)
Is La Cage Herman's best score? Or is it Hello, Dolly!? Mame? Mack and Mabel? Dear World? Who knows.... and frankly, my dear, who gives a damn. Thank God for them all. In this year of great canonization for Sondheim, let us now praise the other musical genius whose times we are lucky enough to share. La Cage has been revived, again, for its third go 'round on the Great White Way. Hailed as a slimming down of the opulent original with more of a synthesized (synthetic?) orchestra, drag icon Albin is back, putting just a little more mascara on, bless her. The heart, the spirit and the love in the show remain, if the grandeur is a bit more gauche. The sounds emanating from star Kelsey Grammer seem more like noise and less than pretty and co-star Douglas Hodge sometimes sounds much more like a ballad singer imitating Tony Newley, but what's important is that the score and the show is being seen and heard by a new audience.

Love has a special place in all of Herman's musicals, and never more than here. There may be people in the world who can listen to the reprise of "Look Over There" without tearing up, but I don't ever want to know them.
I posed on Facebook this morning: "What is your favorite Jerry Herman song, musical, and or appearance?"

Here are a few of the responses:


Ralph Pace wrote: "for song, The Best of times, and for a show, Mame-hard to beat Angela and Bea (especially in the Man in the Moon number)."


RON TUNNING: Boy, that's a tough question. Hello Dolly was the very first Broadway Musical I ever saw on my very first trip to New York as a young adolescent traveling with my grandparents. So it's always held a special place in my heart, as has your mentor Carol Channing who absolutely dazzled these still emerging gay eyes.


Ron Equality Tunning: However, I think La Cage Aux Folles is my favorite, dazzling my fully developed gayness as a relatively new resident of the Big Apple thoroughly submersed in sampling all of its forbidden fruits. I've never seen Mame on Broadway, its original production having opened at an inopportune time for me, and its revival at the Gershwin too short-lived for me to see.

Claudia Sussman wrote: "KISS HER NOW"!I SANG IN KAREN MORROW'S SHOW TONIGHT IN PALM SPRINGS & AFTERWARDS SHE JOEL & I WERE DISCUSSING THIS VERY SUBJECT SHE LOVES"ITS TODAY''MY FAVORITE MUSICAL "MACK & MABEL" WHICH JERRY SAID IS HIS FAVORITE.."
Sam Austin wrote: "I too vote for "Kiss Her Now" but so many worthy contenders on the list. "Time Heals Everything" is a close second, and "Song On the Sand," "Look Over There" and the aforementioned "Roses" all in the top ten.
For up tunes my favorite would be "Wherever He Ain't."

Bob Diamond wrote: "Time Heals Everything"


It only takes a moment to realize that Broadway's Golden Age is alive and well and thriving as long as Jerry Herman's around. "When they passed out talent," the legendary Carol Channing has said, "Jerry stood in line twice."Almost single-handedly, the creator of Milk and Honey, Hello, Dolly!, Mame, La Cage aux Folles and so much more has revitalized and nourished the all-American tradition of great and unstoppable show tunes. His music and lyrics have kept audiences tapping their feet, humming along, and wiping their eyes with tears of joy for generations. Even as often he's been underrated as being too easy to like in a world of dark and foreboding musicals, too entertaining, too tuneful and much too upbeat, the genius of Herman's deceptively simple songs cuts through any shortsighted criticism.


Karen MorrowKaren Morrow (born December 15, 1936) is an American singer – actress best known for her work in musical theater. Her honors include an Emmy Award and a Theatre World Award, and an Ovation Award and five Drama-Logue Award nominations.This is from JERRY HERMAN AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL.
This 1993 tribute to Jerry Herman collects numbers from the songwriter's Broadway shows, performed by a wide variety of stars, many with strong ties to Herman. You've got Carol Channing, of course (the original and forever Dolly), Leslie Uggams (Jerry's Girls), George Hearn (La Cage aux Folles), Bea Arthur (with her trademark "Man in the Moon" from Mame), Lee Roy Reams and Karen Morrow (An Evening with Jerry Herman), Florence Lacey (The Grand Tour), Lorna Luft (Judy Garland's daughter), Davis Gaines, Michael Feinstein, and Rita Moreno, all backed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Don Pippin (Herman's longtime musical director) before a live audience at the Hollywood Bowl. Pippin leads the orchestra in instrumental medleys of waltzes and marches, Liza Minnelli, Paul and Linda McCartney, and Angela Lansbury offered prerecorded greetings, and humorous moments are provided by Luft's grouchy "Put It Back On" response to the dance team's "Take It All Off" (the producers make it up to her later by giving her Mack & Mabel's great ballad "Time Heals Everything"). There's also Reams's impressions of Channing, Pearl Bailey, and Louis Armstrong performing "Hello, Dolly"; and Arthur, who explains that Mame was not named after her character simply because nothing would rhyme with "Vera"--though "Sondheim could have done it." The guest of honor laughs right along with the crowd, and then takes the stage himself for the finale--for Jerry Herman fans, this concert is the best of times indeed. --David Horiuchi


(Ethel Merman was the 7th and final Dolly in the original run of "Dolly" making in the longest running show at that time.)

Mary Martin took it to London, Vietnam, and around the world.

It was made into a major motion picture starring Barbra Streisand.Barbara Streisand as Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly (1969)
Ms. Streisand was in her late 20s at the time portraying a character who was in her early to mid 40s looking for another chance at love and life. And due to the casting even the lyric for the title song (“Look at the old girl now”) doesn’t make much sense. Or for that matter neither does the entire song “Before the Parade Passes By”. Barbara Streisand in the right role was a gifted singer/actor but I can't help imagining Carol Channing having that role perserved on film.See yesterday's blog for more on Streisand.
Her first film was a reprise of her Broadway hit, Funny Girl (1968), an artistic and commercial success directed by Hollywood veteran William Wyler, for which she won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress, sharing it with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter), the only time there has been a tie in this Oscar category.
Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly!, directed by Gene Kelly (1969), and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, directed by Vincente Minnelli (1970), while her fourth film was based on the Broadway play The Owl and the Pussycat (1970).


And a touch of Merman!Ethel Merman (January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) is known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage."Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's Coming Up Roses", "I Get a Kick Out of You", "It's De-Lovely", "Friendship", "You're the Top", "Anything Goes", and "There's No Business Like Show Business", which later became her theme song.


JUDY GARLAND IS MAKING ANOTHER COMEBACK!


Onstage, she was renowned as "the world's greatest entertainer." On records, they defined her as "Miss Show Business." On television, she was nicknamed "The Legend." And on radio, her most frequent performance partner christened her "the perfect illustration of the one hundred per cent professional."



But it was as a motion picture star that the incomparable Judy Garland first rose to international fame. (Judy Garland's first appearence before an MGM camera with Deanna Durbin in EVERY SUNDAY)
From her feature film debut in 1936 through the omnisciently titled I Could Go On Singing in 1963, she lit up the screen with a magic uniquely hers -- and dazzled world-wide audiences of all ages. In fact, one of the hallmarks of a Garland movie performance was her ability to inspire cinema patrons to applaud as if they were watching a live show.


Judy Garland starred in two dozen of the all-time classic motion picture musicals, among them A Star is Born, Meet Me in St. Louis, Easter Parade, Babes in Arms, For Me and My Gal, The Pirate, and The Harvey Girls. Dramatic turns in Judgment at Nuremberg, The Clock, and A Child is Waiting won for her a new level of accolade. And perhaps most unforgettably, she played the role that is now regarded as the single most recognizable actor/character combination in film history (in the best loved movie of all time): Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz.




Garland's film stardom bridged decades and crossed generations.
Today, she is one of the few stars of Hollywood's Golden Age whose luminosity and fame have never dimmed. Judy: A Legendary Film Career tells the story of her movie work in unprecedented detail: over five hundred illustrations (many of them never-before-published); newly-assembled contemporary review quotes and comments from her costars and coworkers; cast, staff, and musical number listings; synopses, and production histories. The book is highlighted as well by a concise, definitive biography; an examination of Judy's appearances in short subjects; details of the movies she began and was unable to complete; and an enthralling compendium of the film projects for which she was supposedly considered or rumored.



Judy: A Legendary Film Career is the work of author/historian John Fricke, whose past Garland productions and journalism have won him two Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award nomination. This is John Fricke's sixth book, and it celebrates as never before the heart, humor, and incandescent motion picture achievement of the one-and-only Judy Garland.

Judy: A Legendary Film Careerwill be available in stores on August 23rd but you can pre-order it now on Amazon!


Check out THE JUDY GARLAND EXPERIENCE at http://thejudygarlandexperience.blogspot.com.
And learn tidbits such as this:
On this date, May 15, 1940 ... in the portrait gallery at M-G-M, Judy was posing for Eric Carpenter. This new set of publicity portraits was done while Judy was in production on STRIKE UP THE BAND."




All you have to do today is bask in the LOVE and talent that surrounds you!
Join me tonight for Peggy Herman at The Metropolitan Room!
(Thanks to Wikipedia as my main source for information)

Tomorrow's blog will be YOU TELL ME...the first three suggestions I receive!

Please contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING & HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS: http://www.carolchanning.org/foundation.htm
TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED WEEK!
Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com
In honor of Mary Tyler Moore, Get well soon! We're rooting for you!

Zanie's Furry Friends, Lee Roy Reams, and Hayley Mills

I am thrilled that Sarah Rice has asked me to be part of the Zani's Furry Friends benefit at Birdland on Saturday, May 7th. I also am appearing with two of my favorite entertainers, Lee Roy Reams and Hayley Mills. I have been a fan of both all of my life.
Zani's Furry Friends is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization committed to rescuing companion animals from New York City's shelters where, unfortunately, they are at significant risk for euthanasia due to overcrowding. As well as directly helping the animals we save, their rescue creates space at the shelter thus giving another shelter animal an opportunity to await a chance for adoption or rescue, thereby potentially saving yet another life. Zani's is a member of the Mayor's Alliance and a New Hope Partner with the Animal Care & Control of New York City (ACC of NYC). They are entirely funded by donations and depend on our great network of volunteers to continue our work.




Lee Roy has also been a major supporter of mine over the years and for that, I am truly grateful!
Lee Roy Reams is an American musical theatre actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, and director.

Born in Covington, Kentucky, Reams earned a Master of Arts degree and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He made his Broadway debut in Sweet Charity in 1966.

Reams was nominated for both the Tony and Drama Desk Awards as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance in the original production of 42nd Street in 1980.

He played the role of Frank Schultz in the 1989 Paper Mill Playhouse production of Show Boat, which was televised on Great Performances by PBS .

Reams has appeared on concert stages and in cabarets throughout the country. At present he is serving as the resident director of the Theatre at Sea program sponsored by the Theatre Guild.
* 1966: Sweet Charity (Young Spanish Man)
* 1969: Oklahoma! (Will Parker)
* 1970: Applause (Duane Fox)
* 1974: Lorelei (Henry Spofford)
* 1978: Hello, Dolly! (Cornelius Hackl)
* 1983: La Cage aux Folles (Albin/Zaza)
* 1994: Beauty and the Beast (Lumiere)
* 1995: Hello, Dolly! (Choreographer)
* 1998: An Evening with Jerry Herman (Co-star & Director)
* 2006: The Producers (Roger DeBris)
Lee Roy will be a busy man tonight! Prior to The Bistro Awards, he is announcing The Astaire Awards!
(Source: Brian Scott Lipton)


The nominations for the 2011 Fred and Adele Astaire Awards, honoring the best in dance and choreography on stage and in film, will be announced on Tuesday, April 26 by actor Lee Roy Reams.

The ceremony be held on Sunday, May 15 at NYU's Skriball Center for the Arts. Joe Lanteri will direct the event. Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bebe Neuwirth, and Len Cariou are among the stars expected to be presenters.

The awards are presented by Ava Astaire in tribute to her father and aunt and Patricia Watt in tribute to her father Douglas Watt, who was the renowned drama, dance and music critic and a founder of the awards in 1982.

This year's Nominating Committee Chair is Sylviane Gold. Committee members include Reams, as well as Anna Kisselgoff, Damian Woetzel, Wendy Perron, Manny and Lani Azenberg, Donna McKechnie, Wendy Federman, Barbara and Buddy Freitag, Michael Riedel, Marge Champion, Margaret Selby, Melinda Atwood, Bryan Bantry, Adam Zotovich, Andy Sandberg, and Bruce Michael.

As previously reported, legendary dancer and choreographer Jacques D'Amboise will be honored with the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award.

For more information, visit theastaireawards.org.
Lee Roy Reams sings "La Cage Aux Folles" from Jerry Herman's 1983 musical of the same name.

This clip is an excerpt from the highly recommended DVD of the 1993 concert "Jerry Herman's Broadway at Holiday Bowl." Additional clips are available at http://www.thebestarts.com/JerryHerman/

Come say hello to Lee Roy this eve at the 26th annual Bistro Awards!


I appeared with Hayley Mills (pictured here along with myself, John Wallowitch, and, Donna McKechnie
"FROM PICCADILLY TO TIMES SQUARE" on November 19th, 2001. This was a benefit performance put together by Margot Astrachan for The St. George Society for the British families & victims affected by the tragedy of 9/11. As sad as we were, it was a thrilling night for me to share the stage with such brilliant artists. John Wallowitch and I had been friends for years and remained friends until his death. We also share a birthday. Donna and I have remained friends. I cannot describe the feeling of being on stage and seeing the gorgeous Hayley Mills beaming in the wings. She was incredibly nice to me and it is hard for me to believe that that was 10 years ago! Of course, I have been a fan of Hayley's since The Parent Trap and Pollyanna. Hayley Mills is an English actress. The daughter of John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and sister of actress Juliet Mills, Mills began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Tiger Bay (1959), the Academy Juvenile Award for Pollyanna (1960) and Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1961. During her early career, she appeared in several films for Walt Disney. Hayley Mills, daughter of the late Sir John Mills, was one of the world's most famous child stars with films such as Tiger Bay and Whistle Down The Wind. Now a grandmother, she lives in New York and south-west London with her actor partner, Firdous Bamji.

I love you, Hayley, and I am SO looking forward to this!
Hayley Mills and Lee Roy Reams are set to co-host Love Makes the World Go 'Round. The benefit concert will be held on May 7 at 4:30pm at Birdland, and will feature direction by JoAnn Yeoman. Once again,proceeds from the event will go towards animal rescue organization, Zani's Furry Friends.

Performers confirmed for the evening include: Elena Bennett, Carole Demas, Natalie Douglas, Rich Flanders, Janice Hall, Jon & Lynn, Sue Matsuki, Tanya Moberly, Sarah Rice, Steve Ross, Steve Schalchlin, ME, Julie Wilson, and David Vernon.


For more information, visit: http://www.zanisfurryfriends.org



FIRST PARK PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS THE NEIL SIMON PULITIZER PRIZE WINNING PLAY "LOST IN YONKERS"


First Park Productions (Committed To Promoting Diversity Through Theater), presents LOST IN YONKERS! Praised by Clive Barnes
in the New York Post "Neil Simon has done it again with a craftsmanship and skill probably unmatched in the contemperary English-speaking theater", Lost In Yonkers also won four Tony Awards, including Best Play. Set in New York in 1942, this play is filled with laughter, tears, and insight. With masterful Director Dick Volker, and talented cast members Liam Bobersky (Jay); Alex LaBrie (Arty; Jason Czernick (Eddie); Margaret Streeter (Bella); Kevin Moroney (Louie); Jen Wall (Gertrude) and Vickie Phillips (Grandma Kurnitz), this "play is being produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc."
Show dates are May 13 - 14 - 15 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 27 - 28 - 29. Friday and Saturday Showtimes at 8 p.m.. and Sunday Matinees at 2 p.m Presented in Franklin Hall of the First Park Memorial Baptist Church, located at the corner of Forest Park Avenue and Garfield Street, (in the Forest Park section of Springfield..
For Ticket Information/Reservations, call 413.654.9111. Advance Sale Discount Ticket Prices offered as follows: General Admission $15.00; Seniors/Students $12.00; At The Door $18.00 and $15.00. Discount for Groups of 12 or more also offered (All General Seating Admission).
Checks should be made payable to First Park Productions and mailed to FPP at 4 Garfield St., Springfield, MA 01108,

For the perfect way to end a Spring Day in May......Get LOST IN YONKERS!




Press Contact:
Vickie Phillips
413.885.2434
Vmpc18@aol.com



Don't forget The 26th annual Bistro Awards TONIGHT at The Gotham Comedy Club in NYC! (www.BistroAwards.com)
Please click on the banner ads on our Bistro Award site and support our advertisers.

Tomorrow's blog will be a recap of The Bistro Awards, Phoebe Snow, and Elena Bennett.

Please contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING & HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS: http://www.carolchanning.org/foundation.htm

TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED WEEK!


Richard Skipper, Associate producer of the 26th annual Bistro Awards , Richard@RichardSkipper.com

HAPPY END OF AUGUST!

Can you believe it!?!?! Where is this year going to? It is flying way too fast for me!
I have so much to write about today. This will be a long blog. I leave on Tuesday for Malibu and this will be my last blog till the 10th!

Have a great Labor Day weekend! Here goes...

Liza Minnelli's still got the razzle dazzle
Hollywood Bowl concert shows singer's magic endures.
By PAUL HODGINS
The Orange County Register



What becomes a legend most?

An adoring audience.
If you've got them on your side, nothing else matters.
Liza Minnelli had us worshipping at her altar Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl.

Her two-hour concert was an amazing display of showbiz savvy transforming weaknesses into strengths and flaws into poignant moments.

Minnelli is 63 now, and her wayward life is legend. Fellow diva Barbra Streisand has treated her voice like a pampered poodle and managed her career like a sergeant major.

Minnelli marches to her own drumbeat, sometimes eerily reminiscent of her mother's . Over the years the gossip press has followed Liza's travails like hounds after a hare, feasting on her drug abuse problems, uneven performances, wavering voice and trail of broken romances.

Recently, though, Minnelli has blazed a comeback trail. She won a Tony earlier this year for "Liza's at the Palace," the crowning achievement of a 75-city tour. Her appearance at the Hollywood Bowl is a prelude to an engagement next month at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
How did she do it? By embracing and even celebrating her shortcomings, not trying to gloss over them.
Minnelli's instrument is well past its prime. It was never a perfect voice, but at the height of her powers (most famously, her iconic performance as Sally Bowles in Bob Fosse's 1972 film version of "Cabaret") there was a thrilling lustiness and bravura to her delivery – think of the way she slayed "Mein Herr."

More than three tumultuous decades older, Minnelli's voice sounds fragile and its shortcomings are more apparent.
The chief culprit is breath support. She struggles to finish long phrases and seems winded after upbeat songs. That epic vibrato has widened to Grand Canyon proportions.


Minnelli can still sell a song like nobody else alive. Performing Broadway tunes is as much about acting and persona power as vocal technique, and in those departments Minnelli is better than ever.

Backed by a 12-piece orchestra playing lush arrangements, Minnelli didn't give us a string of chestnuts. "Cabaret" was lightly represented by its title song and "Maybe This Time." Kander and Ebb's earlier hit, "Flora the Red Menace" – the musical that gave 19-year-old Minnelli her breakout role and first Tony – was ignored on Friday. (We were hoping, at least, for the beautiful "A Quiet Thing"; its lyrics would have been a great opener.)

Nevertheless, the material was well chosen. For longtime Minnelli fans the lyrics in songs such as "I Would Never Leave You," "Cabaret," "My Own Best Friend" and "Maybe This Time" were pregnant with allusions to her life.

Friday evening was hot and nearby fires made the air treacherous for anyone singing or even breathing. Minnelli carefully marshaled her energy, bringing out a chair midway through the first act. She joked that in the old days it remained on the sidelines until after intermission.

Only a celebrity with this public a life and this rabid a following could possibly get away with it.


"We're all in this together," she said at the top of the evening, referring to the heat and the challenges it presented. Enlisting the audience's sympathy is an old showbiz trick that Minnelli has learned as well as anyone, and it worked like Merlin magic.
The crowd's affection bubbled over. "We love you, Liza," someone screamed more than once.


Another sign of Minnelli's confidence: she dared to evoke thoughts of another diva during her Palace Medley, a grab-bag of song snippets sculpted around the thrill of playing at New York's famous venue.
The audience loved it.


Every diva knows how to finish an act, and Minnelli is an old pro.

Minnelli delivered it with a touch of world-weariness, characterized by less-than-pinpoint accuracy in the phrasing and intonation. The song contained one of those art-imitating-life lines: "Well, that's what comes from too much pills and liquor." She milked the moment perfectly without saying a word; a knowing look was all it took.
Minnelli also offered a bit of touching revisionism at the song's end, which brought a supportive cheer from the huge house: "When I go, I'm NOT going like Elsie!"


The evening ended with another Kander and Ebb standard, "New York, New York." Minnelli gave it the old razzle dazzle. She even found an opportune moment or two for a display of jazz hands (Minnelli must be the only performer alive who can use that gesture without irony). Predictably, it brought a standing O.
Fragile as she seemed, Minnelli had the energy for a quiet encore with her beloved accompanist, Billy Stritch: Cole Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye." It was a melancholy valentine to the audience.
Perched like a bird on the edge of Stritch's piano stool, wearing a black T shirt, Minnelli looked eerily like her mother. (The illusion is reinforced by her persona: the tumbled-out words and vulnerability are spookily Judy-like.)

Judy Garland, of course, was dead by 47. Liza is still very much with us – and the way her career is humming along now, I'd say all the odds are in her favor.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7979 or phodgins@ocregister.com


An opening date has been set for the previously announced Broadway transfer of the Olivier Award-winning revival of La Cage aux Folles.
The production’s Olivier Award-winning star, Douglas Hodge, will make his Broadway debut as Albin. The revival will open on April 18, 2010 at a Shubert theater to be announced, directed by Terry Johnson.

The London revival of La Cage aux Folles played at the Menier Chocolate Factory from November 23, 2007, to March 8, 2008, and moved to the West End’s Playhouse Theatre on October 30, 2008, where it is still running.
No other casting for the Broadway production has been announced.
Featuring music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein (based on the play by Jean Poiret), La Cage aux Folles centers on Georges, who owns a Saint-Tropez nightclub, his partner Albin (who headlines under the name Zaza), and Georges’ son, Jean-Michel, who’s engaged to the daughter of a right-wing politico.

The original 1983 Broadway production won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book for Fierstein and Best Score for Herman and ran for more than four years. A 2004 Broadway revival met with mixed reviews and lasted fewer than eight months.

Hodge’s London theater credits include Guys and Dolls, Titus Andronicus and Dumb Show (Olivier nomination). His film work includes Vanity Fair, Scenes of a Sexual Nature and the upcoming The Descent 2. His television work has included roles in Mansfield Park, Middlemarch, Men of The Month, True Love, Red Cap, It Could Be You, The Way We Live Now and Spooks.

La Cage aux Folles features choreography by Lynne Page, set design by Tim Shortall, costume design by Matthew Wright, lighting design by Nick Richings, wig and makeup design by Richard Mawbey and orchestrations by Jason Carr.

The 2010 Broadway revival will be produced by Sonia Friedman, David Babani for the Menier Chocolate Factory, Fran and Barry Weissler and Robert Bartner/Norman Tulchin











The following is a letter from Barack Obama regarding Ted Kennedy's death:
Michelle and I were heartbroken to learn this morning of the death of our dear friend, Senator Ted Kennedy.

For nearly five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts.


His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of lives -- in seniors who know new dignity; in families that know new opportunity; in children who know education's promise; and in all who can pursue their dream in an America that is more equal and more just, including me.

In the United States Senate, I can think of no one who engendered greater respect or affection from members of both sides of the aisle. His seriousness of purpose was perpetually matched by humility, warmth and good cheer. He battled passionately on the Senate floor for the causes that he held dear, and yet still maintained warm friendships across party lines. And that's one reason he became not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy.

I personally valued his wise counsel in the Senate, where, regardless of the swirl of events, he always had time for a new colleague. I cherished his confidence and momentous support in my race for the Presidency. And even as he waged a valiant struggle with a mortal illness, I've benefited as President from his encouragement and wisdom.

His fight gave us the opportunity we were denied when his brothers John and Robert were taken from us: the blessing of time to say thank you and goodbye.
The outpouring of love, gratitude and fond memories to which we've all borne witness is a testament to the way this singular figure in American history touched so many lives.

For America, he was a defender of a dream. For his family, he was a guardian. Our hearts and prayers go out to them today -- to his wonderful wife, Vicki, his children Ted Jr., Patrick and Kara, his grandchildren and his extended family.

Today, our country mourns. We say goodbye to a friend and a true leader who challenged us all to live out our noblest values. And we give thanks for his memory, which inspires us still.

Sincerely,

President Barack Obama


Imagine a hotel where, in a single weekend, Brad and Angelina, Jennifer Aniston, John Mayer, and Jessica Simpson all stay under the same roof—without a single catfight or a single tabloid reporter there to document the drama. Sound impossible?

It’s not if the “celebrities” are look-alikes, and the hotel is hosting the annual Celebrity Impersonators Conference.
Here, not only do all of today’s A-list stars get along—even long-gone VIPs come to join the party.
This might be the only place in the world (apart from a wax museum) where you can get a photo op alongside Elvis and Marilyn Monroe.

This gathering for faux celebrities—and those who appreciate them—is just one of the wacky conventions that happen around the world every year. And given the thousands of people who congregate at these fetes to celebrate their shared passion for horror movies, cake decorating, and TV sitcoms, the fun of uniting around a common interest seems abundantly clear.


“The community of celebrity impersonators and tribute artists is one huge family,” says Janna Joos, director of the conference. “These kids are amazing to see networking with each other—Cher sharing with other Chers, Tina tapping out dance steps with other Tinas, Tim McGraw comparing cowboy hats with other Tims, or Oprah dishing the gossip with Whoopi.”

No matter the common ground, it’s fair to say conventions bring people together—both literally and figuratively.


Perhaps the best-known example of this phenomenon is Comic Con, the annual comics convention in San Diego that draws a motley crowd of geeks, celebrities, artists, writers, and gamers. The event has such broad appeal and is so heavily promoted and anticipated that even non-comics enthusiasts around the world know about it. (As such, it’s become enough of a cultural norm that it didn’t even make our “World’s Strangest” list.)
Want some guaranteed celeb sightings, without having to battle the paparazzi? Head to the Celebrity Impersonators Convention in Las Vegas (March 1–3, 2010), where you can mingle with Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, and Elvis Presley; wink at Sarah Palin while discussing healthcare reform with Barack Obama; croon alongside Frank Sinatra before voguing with Madonna ... you get the idea.

The annual World Toilet Summit & Expo, however, is another story.
It may seem bizarre that a quotidian fixture like a toilet could inspire an entire weekend convention—one that brings together droves of toilet-industry professionals, innovators, buyers, and, ahem, everyday end-users. But such gatherings aren’t unusual at all. Witness the LEGO World conference, for example, where lovers of the brightly colored childhood building blocks amass each year. Or the Sunshine State Eggfest, a Florida convention for devotees of a particular brand of barbecue grill.


It seems, in fact, that for every human activity or passion or fad, there’s a conference somewhere where people can commemorate it. And if some of these mass gatherings seem odd, well, it’s also kind of nice—heartwarming, even—that they exist. No matter how eccentric or unusual your secret hobby is, these conventions will make you realize: you’re not alone.



Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center, makes the point in a column for the Huffington Post, that there are nine different federal agencies that support art projects: the NEA, the NEH, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, plus the Departments of Commerce, Education, State, Agriculture, Defense, and Transportation.


And none of these coordinate with the others. To a degree, Kaiser echoes what Baylor prof David Smith argues in his book, Money for Art: It’d help — in deciding what art gets funded and by how much — if we first decided what federal arts funding is for. That way, we could all get behind the program (or not) and see the money more effectively targeted:

The problem is not that federal funding for the arts is unwarranted; the problem is that we need to be assured, as citizens, that we are getting the most value for our money.
What is needed is a coordinated approach to arts grants to ensure that the arts programming supported by federal funds truly serves our national interest.


But how can we accomplish this? How can we coordinate the efforts of so many federal agencies? There has been discussion of the need for a Ministry of Culture in the United States. I am concerned that the formation of such an entity would cost too much and put too little money in the hands of the grassroots arts organizations which truly do the most important arts work in this nation and rarely get the spotlight.
(Why do we always use arts celebrities to lobby for government support? Doesn’t anyone realize that the American people do not believe their tax dollars should support the work of the most famous and richest performers?)


[Not to dismiss Kaiser's point but to explain what seems to me the thinking behind the tactic: Arts supporters trot out the stars because, although they may not win over the average American, they wake up Congressional committee members who like to hobnob with the celebrated and beautiful. It's one of the few perks that arts lobbyists can offer politicians -- instead of barrels of raw cash. The stars also draw attention to arts issues from Washington's political journalists who otherwise couldn't care unless some art work is causing a scandal.]
Instead, we need someone in the administration, perhaps the new Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts [that would be Rocco Landesman], to provide leadership and coordination to ensure that all grants-making agencies are working in a common direction and that the money expended creates an arts ecology that benefits all Americans. We need policies in at least three key areas: sustaining American arts organizations (both large and small), arts education, and cultural diplomacy.



Jessica Molaskey and John Pizzarelli Talk 'Radio Deluxe' And Tanglewood 2009


by Randy Rice

John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey are the epitome of the sophisticated urbane couple; a modern day, musical, William Powell and Myna Loy.

Pizzarelli has had a multi-faceted career as a jazz guitarist, vocalist and bandleader. He has recorded nearly an album a year for the past twenty years. He frequently appears with his trio or quartet and often with his father, legendary jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.

He recently released ‘With a Song in My Heart', a tribute to Richard Rodgers.

Molaskey began her Broadway career nearly 30 years ago in a revival of Oklahoma! and most recently appeared in the 2008 Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George. In between she appeared in another 10 or so Broadway productions along with numerous U.S. tours.
In September 2008, Molaskey released her 5th solo album, ‘A Kiss to Build a Dream On'.

For the past three years the couple has hosted a weekly radio show from their "Deluxe living room high atop Lexington Avenue" in New York City. The show has a focus on "The Great American Songbook". Guests from across the musical spectrum are invited into their "Deluxe Living Room" for a relaxed, freewheeling chat.
Recent guests include David Hyde Pierce, Curtis Stigers, Bebe Neuwirth and Liza Minnelli.

The un-scripted feel of their show is no accident. A conversation with the couple can take twists and turns as every story reminds the other of another story they want to share. They each possess an encyclopedic knowledge of music. John can call up arcane trivia about nearly any 20th century performer or composer. Jessica is a walking Broadway database. The couple has been married for 11 years and frequently performs together. On their show and in life, they frequently finish each other's thoughts and sentences.
BroadwayWorld.com was recently invited to sit in on a taping of "Radio Deluxe".
Lounge singer Richard Cheese and his accompanist Bobby Ricotta were the guests. (John and Jessica's daughter Madeline also sat in and declared it one of her favorite shows, yet.)

After the show John and Jessica sat down to talk about their careers, radio program and their plans to record an episode of Radio Deluxe during the 2009 Tanglewood Jazz Festival, which takes place in Lenox, MA over Labor Day weekend.
Randy Rice: I know that the two of you were in a Broadway production together.
Is that where you met?

John Pizzarelli: It is. We met during the production of Dream.

Jessica Molaskey: It was a tribute to Johnny Mercer, and a rather chaotic production.
John and his trio were in it and seemed to know what they were doing. I thought "I should hitch myself to them".

John: In the show, Jessica was singing this beautiful arrangement of "Skylark". I told the director that she should be singing with us. She did.

Jessica: And the rest, as they say, is history.

Randy: Jessica, you are, pretty much, a Broadway gypsy, right?

Jessica: I am not sure I would call myself a "gypsy". I am a performer who has been lucky enough to perform in a lot of Broadway shows. I was in Cats. Perhaps, if being in Cats makes you a "gypsy", I am one. I have been working as a solo artist for the past few years, often with John, as well as getting back to Broadway when possible; most recently in last year's production of Sunday in the Park with George.

When I first came to Broadway, there was a way things worked. You worked in the chorus, worked your way up and eventually you got a lead. That changed somewhere along the line. Performers who had never stepped on a Broadway stage where being given the leads roles.
I distinctly remember telling a colleague that I was going to have to go somewhere else, become famous, and then return.

Randy: Was it hard to make the transition from acting in a book musical to performing without a character?

Jessica: Oh my God! It was absolutely terrifying at first. Then I became comfortable performing each song as a story. I worked to find the character that is singing, and that made it easier. Working with John also makes it easier, because I know he has my back.

Randy: Jessica, after singing as a character for the first couple of decades, you have been singing in your own "voice" for the past 10 years. Who are your musical influences?

Jessica: My mom was in radio while I was growing up and we had all of these records around the house. I remember listening to Blossom Dearie and Peggy Lee records over and over again.

Randy: Both of you are prolific recording artists. Jessica, you have released
5 solo jazz standards albums in the past 7 years. John, you seem to release a disc a year. How do you do it?

John: We are very lucky. Most of my "singing" is done on the Telarc label and they are great to work with. I also have the freedom to appear as a guest on other artists' records, including Jessica's. We also write music, together and separately.
For years, I wrote really bad pop songs. I had them all in a binder and I remember asking Jessica to look at them. She looked at a song told me to move this word over here, switch that phase around, and then the song would work. I told her I wasn't sure, but as soon as she left the room, I made the changes.

Randy: Where did the idea for "Radio Deluxe" come from?

Jessica: John and I had been appearing together for a while.

John: I was working, I think at the Algonquin, and they wanted a "girl singer". We drew up a list of possible singers.
All of them would have been great, but Jessica was, obviously, familiar and comfortable on and off stage. Sometimes those lines blur. We, [the trio] can be just about to go on, and my Dad [Bucky Pizzarelli] will say something like "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I accidentally locked your mother out of the house", or something equally as crazy. I thought that there were not a lot of singers that would be comfortable stepping into that family dynamic.

Jessica: On stage, John and I have a comfortable, sometimes funny, report. It isn't necessarily intentional. We were approached by some folks who thought it would translate well into a radio show and it has. We love doing "Radio Deluxe". Radio is such an intimate medium. We get letters and Facebook postings from listeners all over the world. Folks can listen to the show online and there will soon be a podcast that you will be able to download. As a bonus, every week we get to play our friends' records.


John: The focus of our show is "The Great American Songbook". Some folks think that the "Songbook" is in a little box and anything that doesn't fit in that box doesn't belong. I knew that there are a lot of performers who wouldn't necessarily fit in that box, but should be played.

When we started, I certainly didn't think about the show as recording history. But now, when I think that we recorded a show with the great Kenny Rankin, who just died, I think "Wow!" We got Margaret Whiting to sing a bit of "Skylark" when she was on. Everyone was moved to tears. When Liza Minnelli came on, she was so open about her relationship with the legendary Kay Thompson. We don't like to do a lot of prep with our guests on the show, because we want the spontaneity to be real.

Randy: I know that John just got back from a short tour in Japan. How do you deal with each other's tour schedules?

Jessica: Living in New York City certainly helps. There are lots of places for us to work here. There is the Oak Room, Birdland, Feinstein's and the Carlyle. Obviously, our priority is [our daughter] Madeline. If John goes to Japan during the school year, I stay home.


John: For the past few years we have been lucky enough to do a West Coast tour during the summer. That way, we all get to go together.

Randy: Over Labor Day weekend, you will be taping a show at the 2009 Tanglewood
Jazz Festival. Have you recorded a show outside of the "Deluxe Living Room" before?

Jessica: We have. But not like this.

John: We are really excited about the Tanglewood gig.
We are planning some really exciting things. We will have guest performers. It is going to be a lot of fun. We aren't going to tell you the details, because we want the spontaneity to be real for the audience as well.

John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey (in her Tanglewood debut) will tape their radio program, "Radio Deluxe," at the 2009 Tanglewood Jazz Festival in Lenox MA on Saturday September 5th.

The “Radio Deluxe” from Tangelwood program will feature special guests Bucky Pizzarelli, Aaron Weinstein, Harry Allen, and Kurt Elling. For more information about the 2009 Tanglewood Jazz Festival visit www.tanglewoodjazzfestival.org.
Radio Deluxe is syndicated can be heard on each week on radio stations across North America and online. For more information, visit www.johnpizzarelli.com or www.jessicamolaskey.com.

Don't forget to contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING & HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS: http://www.carolchanning.org/Foundation.htm

With grateful XOXOXs for your support!

Richard Skipper

Follow me on Twitter @RichardSkipper






HERE IS WHAT AUDIENCES ARE SAYING ABOUT WEDNESDAY NIGHT OF THE IGUANA:



What a ball it was to be among the wonderful entertainers last night (8/12/09).I had a ball singing with Barry Levitt on piano.
Richard, I think you and Dana are doing a grrreat job at the Iguana. Keep up the loving atmosphere of supporting the artists and providing entertainment to the consistent audiences. Congratulations dear friend. Love, Leslie Orofino


You are the best!! Passionate about everything that you do & always thinking of others.
You are an amazing entertainer - but, more importantly a sincerely generous person.

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS!
September 2nd: Dana Lorge hosts. Guests Scott Albertson (with Daryl Kojak on keyboard), Steve DePasse, Laura Hull, Anthony Santelmo, Jr.



Had a great time last nite at the Iguana. That was a wonderful show with marvelous talent.
The most fun I have had in a long time. Thanks for your generosity and your great spirit.
I will come again soon! It was a great crowd.



PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN OPEN MIC!




FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NYC
Now a night out in NY to see a show at a VERY AFFORDABLE price! Joan Crowe
started this Wednesday night series. Dana Lorge and I have
now put their OWN spin on it and are now hosting this weekly variety show in
NYC at The Iguana VIP Lounge (http://www.iguananyc.com) in the heart of
NYC (240 West 54th Street 8-11PM/with an intermission). WEDNESDAY NIGHT OF
THE IGUANA!
Each week
will showcase 5 entertainers.
Barry Levitt returns on keyboard and Saadi Zain on bass!
on
bass. Each week will be different. Time: 8 - 11:00 p.m.
Cover: $10 - no food or drink minimums – but remember – the food is great!

CASH ONLY PAID AT THE DOOR! This is a nice night
out with the family! A
"throw back" to the variety shows we grew up with.
For more info, please call 845-365-0720 or visit _www.RichardSkipper.com_

RESERVATIONS A MUST!!!!!!!!
212-765-5454. No one admitted before
7:30.






SEPTEMBER 9th: Richard returns from Malibu! Special guest stars: John Demarco, Jackie Draper, Robin James, Sue Matsuki!

September 16th: Ann Dawson, Lou Iacovino, Sara Rice, Val Ryder, & Bill Zeffero


September 23rd: Risa Benson, Stewart Brodian, Jenna Esposito, The Kim Schultz Improv Group, Frank Torren,

September 30th: Wendy Lane Bailey, Bobby Belfry, Ben Rauch, Rick Younger, Josh Zuckerman

October 7th: Edd Clark, Marianne Meringolo, Wendy Russell, Marcus Simeone, Maureen Taylor

October 14th: Kelly Esposito- Broelmann, Barbara Gurskey, Jonathan Long, Andrea Mezvinsky-Kolb , Martin Vidnovic

October 21st: Esther Beckman & Stearns Matthews, Leslie Orofino, Susan Winter



October 28th: Hector Coris returns!, Laurie Krauz & Wicked’s very own Walter ONeil, Angela Schultz, Mauricio Villa-Lobos!

November 4th: Arianna & Moira Danis, Elaine St. George


December 30th: Ritt Henn, Annie Hughes

Keep checking http://www.richardskipper.com/schedule.html for updates