BENJAMIN SEARS & BRADFORD CONNER IN L.A. WITH NEW SHOW FOR THE RICHARD RODGERS CENTENNIAL

Benjamin Sears & Bradford Conner have created a special cabaret show for the Richard Rodgers 2002 Centennial, "Music in You." They will present this show on Friday, September 20th at 9:00 pm (dinner at 7:00 pm) at TOM ROLLA'S THE GARDENIA (7066 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA - 323-467-7444). There is a $12 cover charge.

In the well-known Sears & Conner tradition this is an unusual collection of Rodgers songs, covering his career from the 1920s through to his last shows in the 1970s. "Music in You" has played to sold-out houses in Boston and throughout New England. In May Sears & Conner gave a special performance at the Dramatists Guild in New York using Rodgers's own piano, with Lorenz Hart 2nd, nephew of lyricist Lorenz Hart, in the audience.

Sears & Conner have worked closely with the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization in putting this show together, insuring that they will be able to do their trademark blend of beloved songs mixed with rarities. From the years with Lorenz Hart come "I'd Like to Poison Ivy" (The Melody Man, 1924), "Mountain Greenery" (Garrick Gaieties of 1926, including some rarely-heard extra lyrics), "Isn't It Romantic?" (Love Me Tonight, 1932, and using the film's lyrics), "What Do You Want With Money?" (Hallelujah, I'm a Bum, 1933) "Johnny One Note" (Babes in Arms, 1937), "I Like to Recognize the Tune" (Too Many Girls, 1939), and a medley from "Betsy" (1926) of "Sing," "This Funny World," and "The Stonewall Moscowitz March." Oscar Hammerstein II songs include "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top "(Oklahoma!, 1943), "Hello Young Lovers" (The King and I, 1951), "There's Music in You" (Main Street to Broadway, 1953), "Stepsisters” Lament" (Cinderella, 1957)" The Lonely Goatherd" (The Sound of Music, 1959), and a medley of lesser-know songs written for South Pacific (1949), with two songs that were dropped during try-outs, "Loneliness of Evening," "Suddenly Lovely" (given its Boston premiere by Sears & Conner in April), and one that stayed in the show, "This Nearly Was Mine." From the "third period" come the songs "The Sweetest Sounds" (No Strings, 1962, with lyrics by Rodgers himself), "Do I Hear a Waltz?" (Do I Hear a Waltz?, 1965, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim), "Away From You" (Rex, 1976, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick), and from Rodgers's last Broadway show, "Time" (I Remember Mama, 1979, lyrics by Martin Charnin).

Sears & Conner are naturals for a Rodgers Centennial salute, having been in the forefront of cabaret, concert, and recording centennial tributes to George & Ira Gershwin, E.Y. Harburg, Sir NoÔl Coward, Kay Swift, and Fred Astaire. Sears and Conner are noted recording artists with a significant discography which features many previously unrecorded songs by Irving Berlin, George & Ira Gershwin, and E.Y. Harburg.

Sears and Conner have been guest commentators for a special cabaret program of the AEI In-Flight entertainment, Overture, heard on US Airways, and are the first cabaret act to be featured at Boston's Emerson Majestic Theatre. This past April they gave the pre-concert lecture for Barbara Cook's "Mostly Sondheim" at Symphony Hall for the Fleet Boston Celebrity Series. Other appearances include Boston's Wang Centre for the Performing Arts, the Mabel Mercer Foundation Cabaret Convention (Town Hall, New York City), Don't Tell Mama (New York), The Gardenia (Los Angeles), the International Fringe Festival (Orlando, Florida), Cabaret at Windows (Washington, DC), Scullers Jazz Club (Boston), the Upstairs at the Pudding Cabaret Series, CabaretFest! (Provincetown and Newburyport, Massachusetts), Mechanics Hall (Worcester, MA), and at colleges, concert series, and other venues throughout the Northeast.

On radio they have appeared as performers on MusicAmerica (WGBH-FM, Boston), The Jazz Songbook (WGBH-FM), Standing Room Only (WERS-FM, Boston), Second Stage (WMBR, Cambridge), Curtain Up (WDVR, New Jersey), and on the nationally syndicated The Connection (WBUR-FM, Boston) as commentators on the Gershwins, Sir NoÔl Coward, and Fred Astaire.

Sears and Conner are the Artistic Directors of American Classics and are founding members of the Boston Association of Cabaret Artists (BACA), an organization promoting awareness and performance of cabaret in the Boston area. In 1996 they were among the founders of a new concert series devoted to music of the United States, and in 1999 they joined forces with voice and piano duo Valerie Anastasio & Tim Harbold to create and tour a NoÔl Coward centenary program, NoÔl and Cole - Together With Music, followed by a second show, Fred & Ethel - Great Songs of Astaire and Merman (which was nominated for a 2001 IRNE Award in the Cabaret category).

For more information visit http://www.benandbrad.com/.

 

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