TWO BOSTON SONG DUOS JOIN TO SALUTE NOEL COWARD AND COLE PORTER AT DON'T TELL MAMA

Two of Boston's favorite song duos, Valerie Anastasio & Tim Harbold and Benjamin Sears & Bradford Conner, joined together as part of the 1999 Noel Coward centenary in a unique partnership to celebrate Coward and his American counterpart, Cole Porter, in an evening of music and theatre called "Noel and Cole “ Together With Music." Touring throughout Massachusetts, Noel and Cole“ Together With Music played to sell-out crowds in Maine, Connecticut, on Cape Cod, and at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston.

Continuing their touring, the "duo of duos" brings "Noel and Cole “ Together with Music" to New York City, for a special one-night-only performance on Wednesday, May 23rd at 9:00 pm at DON'T TELL MAMA (343 West 46th Street, NYC - 212-757-0788 - http://www.donttellmama.com/).

"Noel and Cole “ Together With Music" has also been recorded by Oakton Recordings (and is an Amazon.com Top 100 in the Cabaret category). The show and the recording have both received critical praise.

Noel Coward, known as "The Master," was a playwright, songwriter, actor, director, and producer throughout a long career that began as child actor and continued into the 1970s. Featured Coward songs are "Together With Music" (from his TV special of the same name with Mary Martin), "A Room With a View" (This Year of Grace), "I've Been to a Marvelous Party" (Set to Music), "Nina" (Sigh No More), "We Were Dancing" (Tonight at 8:30), "If Love Were All" (Bitter Sweet), and "Mrs. Worthington."

Cole Porter, in many ways, was Coward's counterpart on this side of the Atlantic. While Porter did not write scripts, he did write both Iyrics and music, with his Iyrics having the same wit and brilliance in the American idiom as Coward's did in the British style. Porter songs include "Red, Hot and Blue" (Red, Hot and Blue), "Let's Do It" (Paris), "I'm Throwing a Ball Tonight" (Panama Hattie), "Well, Did You Evah?" (DuBarry Was a Lady), "Begin the Beguine" (Jubilee), "Can Can" (Can Can), "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" (Kiss Me Kate), and "Anything Goes" (Anything Goes).

Valerie Anastasio & Tim Harbold have performed cabaret music throughout New England since 1990, blending jazz standards, show tunes, and comic cabaret with their own distinctive musicianship and humor. Valerie Anastasio also has a special interest in new music, and is featured on "Saving Daylight Time: New American Songs," (Albany Records, Troy 343). She has studied with Helen Boatwright, Terrence Dwyer, D'Anna Fortunato, and Robert Honeysucker. Tim Harbold directs choral activities at Wheaton College and at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. His choral arrangements have been premiered by the New England Conservatory Chorus and Chamber Singers.

Benjamin Sears & Bradford Conner celebrated 10 years as a song duo in 1999, with performances throughout New England and in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Florida, and New York (the 10th Mabel Mercer Foundation Cabaret Convention). Sears and Conner are noted recording artists with a significant discography which features many previously unrecorded songs by Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, and E.Y. Harburg. "Come On And Hear! - Early Songs by Irving Berlin," was hailed by the Cabaret Hotline as a "little gem [which] will add much to anyone's collection" and "Keep On Smiling" (covering the period 1915-1918) was cited by Sheridan Morley in BBC Music Magazine. "Delishious - Lyrics by Ira Gershwin" (the only Ira Gershwin release for his 1996 centenary) was listed by The Boston Globe as one of the "Best CDs of 1995", and is cited in The Gershwin Years (Jablonski and Stewart, 1996 edition) saying, "Sears and Conner feature the words in true, Ira Gershwin-approved style: clear, musical, and no tricks." Paired with "Delishious" for the Gershwin centenaries is "Sweet and Low-Down - Songs by George Gershwin." "Beyond the Rainbow - Lyrics by E. Y. Harburg" ("a must for any collection" - David Lewis, BBC) is the most comprehensive collection of his songs on record.

In 2000 they released their first "live" recording, "Rest You Merry - A Holiday Cabaret" (called "this engaging collection" by Max Preeo of Show Music). Future recordings include a continuation of their survey of Berlin's output with an album of songs written for shows produced by Florenz Ziegfeld.

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