CRAIG CARNELIA PERFORMS AT NJPAC'S CABARET AT THE CHASE

As part of its successful "Cabaret at the Chase" series, The Chase Room at the NEW JERSEY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (One Center Street, Newark, NJ - 888-466-5722 - http://www.njpac.org/) presents Broadway songwriter and singer, Craig Carnelia, with special guest Lisa Asher, in an intimate evening of his work on Saturday, January 10th at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $46, and may be purchased by telephone, at the NJPAC Box Office, or by visiting the NJPAC website.

NJPAC's Cabaret at the Chase series recreates the intimate setting of a cabaret with bistro-style table seating as well as a cash bar and other refreshments available for purchase. Cabaret at the Chase is made possible through the generosity of the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.

New Jersey resident, composer, lyricist and singer, Craig Carnelia, is one of the newer generation of Broadway composers, an acclaimed songwriter who has helped establish a new standard for the American musical. Working with composer Marvin Hamlisch, he most recently wrote the lyrics for two Broadway shows: Imaginary Friends, written with playwright Nora Ephron, starring Swoosie Kurtz and Cherry Jones, a drama with songs about literary icons Lillian Hellman and Mary McCarthy; and the Tony Award-winning Sweet Smell of Success, written with John Guare, starring John Lithgow and Brian D'Arcy James, based on the gritty 1957 film about the underside of celebrity in New York City. Hamlisch and Carnelia received Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations for their score for Sweet Smell of Success, and Carnelia received a Drama Desk nomination for his lyrics in Imaginary Friends. At the moment, Carnelia and Hamlisch are at work on another new musical, an adaptation of Woody Allen's 1994 film, Bullets Over Broadway, to be produced by Marty Richards and Harvey Weinstein (both producers of last year's Oscar-winning film, Chicago).

Carnelia's career began during the late 1970s and early 1980s, when he contributed four songs to Studs Terkel's Working, for which he received his first Tony nomination, and wrote the score for the Broadway musical Is There Life After High School? Along the way, Carnelia continued to hone his skills by working off-Broadway, most notably writing both music and lyrics for the award-winning Three Postcards, written with playwright Craig Lucas; with a collection of songs titled Notes (presented at the Manhattan Theatre Club), and with contributions to The No-Frills Revue, Diamonds and A ... My Name is Still Alice.

Along with the cast albums of his theater scores, there are two critically acclaimed compilation recordings of his songs: Pictures In The Hall (performed by the composer along with actress/singer Maureen Silliman) and Cast of Thousands (performed by Broadway and cabaret star Eric Michael Gillett), as well as a published collection of his work, "The Songs of Craig Carnelia."

From the very beginning of his career, Carnelia's sophisticated, deeply evocative material has attracted the talents of many of today's top musical performers who have performed and/or recorded his work, including: Barbara Cook, Barry Manilow, Andrea Marcovicci, Betty Buckley, Karen Mason, Amanda McBroom, Karen Akers, Bernadette Peters and Julie Wilson.

Lisa Asher has appeared as a featured vocalist and actress in numerous concert and theatrical venues around the country. She recently starred in the world premiere of the new musical, Almost Heaven ... Songs and Stories of John Denver. She performed in the off-Broadway hit, Woody Guthrie's American Song and later toured with the production.

New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in the heart of an emerging downtown Newark, New Jersey, is the sixth largest performing arts center in the United States. Home of the Grammy Award-winning New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, NJPAC has been widely cited as a catalyst in the revitalization of New Jersey's largest city, attracting over 3.2 million visitors (including more than 6500,000 children) in its first five years of operation.

Programming has been made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

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