New York City producers Daniel Nardicio and Andy Brattain bring Broadway, London's West End, Cabaret and Rock-N-Roll divas together for one night to celebrate what would be the 100th birthday of the legend, Edith Piaf.
This concert, backed by the American Pops Orchestra and conducted by Luke Frazier, is a one of a kind celebration bringing in one room the eclectic styles of 9 incredible women to interpret Piaf all their own.
Elaine Paige, an Olivier Award winner, and Broadway’s own sweetheart, two-time Tony winner Christine Ebersole, share the bill, as well as the woman Ella Fitzgerald anointed "the greatest white female singer in the world," Marilyn Maye.
Plus the formidable talents of worldly cabaret star Meow Meow, Little Annie (most notably from the punk band Coil), Tony nominee and vocal powerhouse, the electric Vivian Reed, nationally known Piaf interpreter Gay Marshall, and local downtown ingénue Molly Pope.
Award winning actress, singer, producer, radio presenter, Elaine Paige has made a unique and major contribution to the development and production of the stage musical. She has starred in more smash hit West End & Broadway musicals than anyone else of her generation - Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Billy, Evita, Cats, Chess, Anything Goes, Piaf, Sunset Boulevard, The King & I, Sweeny Todd, The Drowsy Chaperone and Follies. She has defined them, set standards, and in 1995 was awarded an OBE for services to Musical Theater by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
In addition to Christine Ebersole’s two Tony Award winning Performances in 42nd Street and Grey Gardens, she is also credited for her roles in Steel Magnolias, On the Twentieth Century, Camelot, Oklahoma, Dinner at Eight (Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations), The Best Man, and the recent revival of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit. She has starred in five City Center Encores! productions, most recently receiving unanimous praise for her starring role as Margo Channing in Applause. Her film credits include Amadeus, Tootsie, Richie Rich, Black Sheep, Dead Again, Folks!, Ghost Dad, True Crime, My Girl 2, Mac and Me, Confessions of a Shopaholic, and she has also appeared on several TV shows including Retired at 35, Royal Pains, Ugly Betty, Law and Order SVU, Boston Legal, Samantha Who, and Will and Grace. Watch for Ms. Ebersole in the upcoming film The Big Wedding andon TBS’s new sitcom Sullivan and Son.
A highly praised singer, actress, director, arranger, educator, and Grammy nominated recording artist, Marilyn Maye appeared 76 times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson – the record for a singer. Her place in American music history was assured when the Arts Council of the Smithsonian Institution selected one of her recordings, “Too Late Now” for the Smithsonian-produced album of the 110 Best American Compositions of the Twentieth Century.
Vivian Reed is a two-time Tony Award Nominee (Bubbling Brown Sugar & The High Rollers Social & Pleasure Club), Drama Desk Award Winner, Outer Critics Circle Award Winner & has received an NAACP Award as well. She studied at the Juilliard School of Music and has sustained a dynamic career as an actress, singer and dancer on the stage and screen. In addition to several appearances on The Tonight Show, The Today Show and the ABC-TV daytime drama, One Life to Live, Ms. Reed took on the role of Josephine Baker in the film Le Rumba. Selected by People Magazine as one of the ‘25 Most Intriguing People of the Year, Vivian Reed has captured the hearts of audiences all over the world and continues to share her wealth of knowledge and experience as a ‘celebrity vocal teacher’ on the staff of Marymount College, in New York City.
Multi-award winning Meow Meow has been called “Sensational” (the Times UK), “diva of the highest order” (New York Post), “The Queen of Chanson” by the Berliner Zeitung, and “a phenomenon” by the Australian press. David Bowie, Pina Bausch and Mikhail Baryshnikov are amongst her curators and she was named One of the Top Performers of the Year by the New Yorker. As a Philharmonic heavyweight she has had the pleasure of touring all over the world with dozens of orchestras and the spectacular crowd-surfing queen of songhad her New York Pops debut in 2015 at Forest Hills Stadium with Pink Martini. She sold out her Lincoln Center American Songbook Series and Sydney Opera House concerts. Meow starred on London’s West End in Kneehigh Theatre and Michel Legrand’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and in her own solo concerts at the legendary Apollo Theatre. Upcoming: Brecht/Weill's Die Sieben Todsünden for Orchestra Victoria, and further collaborations with the Australian Chamber Orchestra from Slovenia to Sydney Opera House, further performances with Oregon Symphony, with Pink Martini and the London Philharmonic. Meow’s albums Vamp and Songs from a Little Match Girl can be purchased on iTunes.
Heralded as today’s pre-eminent interpreter of Piaf, Gay Marshall made singing Piaf her mission after her introduction to the songstress’ work over four decades ago. Marshall went so far as to leave her spot on Broadway playing Diana in the original run of A Chorus Line to move to France and learn French. While abroad she played the role of Grizabella in the original French production of Cats. In 2006 Gay received great acclaim for her work in the off-Broadway revival of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well at the Zipper Theatre. Ms. Marshall’s 19-track record Gay Marshall Sings Piaf can be purchased at cdbaby.com.
Also known as Annie Anxiety or Little Annie Anxiety Bandez, Little Annie is a New York born singer, songwriter, painter, poet, writer, performing/ recording artist, pastor and stage actor. She is probably best known for her collaboration with the punk group Coil, but her discography spans over 3 decades now. She spent much of her early career in the UK working with the likes of Penny Rimbaud and The Wolfgang Press, but came back to the US to expand her talents as a painter, writer and actress. Since her full-time return to music in 2002, Little Annie has shown just how dynamic she is with recordings that incorporate varying styles and genres, most recently collaborating and touring with Baby Dee for their album State of Grace.
Molly Pope is a critically acclaimed cabarettist and actress whose shows have played Joe’s Pub, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, Ars Nova, The Laurie Beechman Theater and the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in Australia. She has been named a Time Out New York Top Ten Cabaret Act of 2008 and 2012 and a Village Voice Best of NYC 2011 for “Best Singer To Turn Life Into A Cabaret”. Branded the “kicky, neoretro cabaret chanteuse” and hailed for her “shredding alto” (Time Out New York), she was a regular cast member in the hit downtown variety show Our Hit Parade at Joe’s Pub and is a frequent guest at the award-winning The Meeting* with Justin Sayre. She has also performed as part of the Afterglow Festival in Provincetown, The Cabaret Convention at Jazz At Lincoln Center and 15:54 at 54 Below.
Aaron Weinstein was called “the Groucho of the violin” by Tony Bennett and “a perfect musician” by jazz guitar legend Bucky Pizzarelli. Aaron Weinstein “is rapidly establishing himself as one of his instrument’s rare jazz masters,” according to Don Heckman in the International Review of Music. As a featured soloist, Aaron has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Blue Note, and abroad at jazz festivals in England, France, Switzerland, Iceland, and Israel. Aaron has performed and recorded with an array of jazz icons including: Les Paul, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, Dick Hyman, Dave Frishberg, Jon Hendricks, and Annie Ross, as well as musicians as varied as New York Pops conductor, Skitch Henderson and rock guitarist, Jay Geils. He has written arrangements for vocalists including Christine Ebersole, Linda Lavin, and the Manhattan Transfer’s Janis Siegel. Additionally, Aaron is a respected mandolinist, widely regarded as one of the instrument’s leading exponents in the jazz idiom.
Amber Martin is an acclaimed New York City vocalist and comedic performance artist in the tradition of Lily Tomlin, Carol Burnett and Dolly Parton. Her recent projects include her ongoing residency at Joe’s Pub in The Public Theater, NYC, where Amber performs her solo shows every other month. Other projects include headlining alongside Kylie Minogue and Jake Shears at Chandelier Creative’s Holiday Gala to benefit Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, appearing as solo guest opener for Joan Rivers’ live solo shows, singing backing vocals with Sandra Bernhard at Town Hall, being a featured vocalist on the Scissor Sisters’ single “Inevitable” and appearing as guest artist and a co-sound designer for Rachel Comey’s 2014 Fashion Week show. Amber has twice appeared on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice.” A performer with many faces and voices, and energy to burn, she was named one of the top performers of 2010 by The New Yorker's Hilton Als.
Robert Osbourne has been the primetime host and anchor of the Peabody Award-winning Turner Classic Movies television network since TCM made its on-air debut in April 1994. He is also known as the official biographer of “Oscar” because of a series of books he’s written on the subject of the motion picture industry’s annual Academy Awards, his latest being 80 Years of the Oscar, an updated version of an earlier edition and written at the request of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is also the host of the annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood held at the legendary Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and other festival venues, a gathering of world-wide film enthusiasts which launched in April 2010. In 2005, Osborne was given an Honorary Doctorate from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. In 2006, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; in 2008, he was presented the National Board of Review’s William K. Everson Award. In 2009 had the “pleasure” of having a Bobblehead made in his image. In 2010, he was honored in the Grand Ballroom of New York’s Plaza Hotel for his contributions to preserving film history by Lighthouse International. He has also been satirized five times on “Saturday Night Live”: by Daryl Hammond as RO on Apr. 14, 2006, and by Jason Sudeikis as RO on Nov. 20, 2010, Jan. 29, 2011, Mar. 5, 2011 and again later in 2011.
The American Pops Orchestra, in its inaugural season, presents innovative orchestral programming featuring groundbreaking concepts and artistic partnerships to develop and inspire a new audience for the 21st century. Engagements include performances at the National Portrait Gallery, the Hispanic Heritage Awards (broadcast nationally on PBS), a Gershwin Spectacular with Tony-Award Winner, Christine Ebersole, Nick Ziobro and Broadway’s Paige Faure; an 80s Prom with orchestra and DJ, and more. The 44-member orchestra is comprised of musicians from Washington, DC and New York City, NY.
Marvin Hamlisch put it best when referring to Luke Frazier as “So talented, and sensitive to every nuance.” Mr. Frazier’s commitment to re-envisioning pops programming has quickly established him as a dynamic force across the music community where he has proven himself among musical heavyweights as both an innate musical conductor and a sensitive pianist. He has worked with artists Renée Fleming, Kevin Spacey, Denyce Graves, Darren Criss, Lea Solanga, Laura Osnes, Eric Owens, Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Rita Moreno, Norm Lewis, Christine Ebersole, and Michael Feinstein, among others. As a testament to his mission to reimagine pops programming, Mr. Frazier has founded the American Pops Orchestra and the National Broadway Chorus in Washington, DC. The chorus continues to tour and will appear this season in Washington DC, Indianapolis, and Chicago, and will be featured at the Great American Songbook Foundation Gala, where Mr. Frazier serves on the Board.visit lukefraziermusic.com.
Daniel Nardicio is thrilled to be bringing this illustrious cast to The Town Hall after having brought 2 successful shows (Liza Minnelli and Alan Cumming in 2013 and Carol Channing and Justin Vivian Bond in 2014) to this venerable venue.
After 11 years in nightlife, four years ago Daniel segued into concerts in 2012 and has had the incredible fortune of working with John Waters, Chita Rivera, Margaret Cho, Liza Minnelli, Alan Cumming, Lynda Carter, Peaches, Bridgett Everett, Carol Channing, Lady Gaga, Vivian Reed, Christine Ebersole, Billy Stritch and hopefully, if there is a God, Shirley Bassey in 2016. He’s beyond thrilled to announce his upcoming show Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs at Carnegie Hall February 8th 2016
Andy Brattain has been the ears behind multiple Grammy Award-nominated albums, Emmy Award-nominated television specials for Michael Feinstein and live concerts around the globe with musical icons, Broadway and TV stars such as Lynda Carter, Elaine Stritch and Cheyenne Jackson along with multiple other genres including rock, symphonies and jazz. His work in production design, audio engineering, and event management have taken him from venues like The Library of Congress and the London Palladium, to The Sydney Opera House, the Rainbow Room in New York and Blue Note Jazz Clubs of Japan. Andy has been collaborating with Daniel Nardicio since they brought Liza Minnelli to Fire Island in 2012 and is thrilled with all the great theatre they’ve been able to create together.