BOSTON CABARET FESTIVAL 2003 SET FOR MARCH 28th, 29th & 30th

The spotlight is on Boston's cabaret community as it gathers for Boston Cabaret Festival 2003, scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, March 28th, 29th, and 30th, as the grand finale to March as national Cabaret Month. The Festival, chosen last year as one of the Top Ten Cabaret Events of 2002 by Bay Windows after its sold-out, one-night debut at Scullers, has grown this year into a three-night celebration, taking place from Cambridge to Lexington. This years festival will take place at 2 locations - CAMBRIDGE CENTER FOR ADULT EDUCATION (56 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA - 617-547-6789 - Ext. 1 - http://www.ccae.org/) and the Maxwell Auditorium at THE NATIONAL HERITAGE MUSEUM (33 Marrett Road, Lexington, MA - 508-652-9834).

Festival producer and cabaret vocalist Sophia Bilides is excited about the expansion of the Festival, which she says will highlight the songs and songwriters of cabaret, offer performances by some of Boston's brightest cabaret singers, and welcome acclaimed singer/songwriter Amanda McBroom in her first Boston area appearance.

Opening night, Friday, March 28th, will focus on established Boston traditions in cabaret, this year represented by "Will & Company," an ongoing series of concerts hosted by vocalist Will McMillan and designed to showcase Boston songwriters. The works of Iris Tanner will be featured, along with songs by Barbara Baig, Ernie LiJoi, Dennis Livingston, Krisanthi Pappas, Barry Rosenberg, Celia Slattery, and David Stern, with Doug Hammer on piano. The popular series takes place in the intimate Blacksmith House at the CAMBRIDGE CENTER FOR ADULT EDUCATION (56 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA - 617-547-6789 - Ext. 1) at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $12.00.

On Saturday, March 29th, the Festival will move to the larger Maxwell Auditorium at THE NATIONAL HERITAGE MUSEUM (33 Marrett Road, Lexington, MA - 508-652-9834) for its centerpiece event, a gala concert titled "Great American Lyricists." Ten of Boston's finest cabaret singers will present master lyricists of the Great American Songbook, in a 3-hour extravaganza starting at 7:00 pm hosted by Sophia Bilides. Joining Bilides in performance will be Mary Callanan, Brian De Lorenzo, Kerry Dowling, Kent French, Belle Linda Halpern, Manny Lim, Carol O'Shaughnessy, Jan Peters, and Michael Ricca. Each vocalist will present a set of songs by a specific lyricist, including Johnny Burke, Sammy Cahn, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Dorothy Fields, Ira Gershwin, Yip Harburg, Lorenz Hart, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, and Stephen Sondheim. Piano accompaniment will be provided by Doug Hammer, Tom LaMark, Brian Patton and Ron Roy. Tickets are $30/advance, $50/advance - $35/door.

Bilides, De Lorenzo, French, O'Shaughnessy, and Peters are 2003 IRNE Award nominees for Best Performance in Cabaret , while Callanan, Dowling, and Halpern have compiled impressive musical theater reviews, and Lim and Ricca are emerging as popular soloists. All are well suited for delving into the treasure trove of songs by America's most beloved songwriters, with an emphasis on the words that tell the songs' stories, which is the essence of cabaret.

The Festival's closing night, Sunday, March 30th will bring a special guest artist, the internationally acclaimed cabaret performer Amanda McBroom also at the Maxwell Auditorium at THE NATIONAL HERITAGE MUSEUM (33 Marrett Road, Lexington, MA - 508-652-9834) This singer, songwriter, and actress has recorded nine albums, written a musical, published a songbook, and performed to sell-out crowds at clubs and concert halls in New York, London, the Far East, and Australia. Her Festival appearance will mark her long overdue Boston area debut, in a solo concert of classic and contemporary cabaret, with her equally esteemed musical director Joel Silberman on piano. Showtime is 8:00 pm. Tickets are $30/advance, $50/advance - $35/door.

The core of her shows are her own superbly written songs, among them Bette Midler's number one hit "The Rose," "Errol Flynn" (a favorite of Barbara Cook), "Make Me A Kite," "The Portrait," "Ship In A Bottle," and other songs popular among today's cabaret performers.

For more information, visit http://www.BostonCabaretFestival.com/.

 

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