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PRESS CONTACT:
COHN DUTCHER ASSOCIATES
Dan Dutcher / 917-339-7157 / ddutcher@cohndutcher.com
Whitney Holden / 917-339-7188 / wholden@cohndutcher.com
THE NEW YORK POPS PRESENTS
Anthony Rapp Stephanie D’Abruzzo John Tartaglia
Liz Callaway
 
Karen Mason Steven Reineke Composer Doug
Katsaros Lyricist William Schermerhorn
A Concert to Benefit The New York Pops’
Music Education Programs
Featuring Anthony Rapp, Stephanie D’Abruzzo,
John Tartaglia, Liz Callaway, Karen Mason and the Camp Broadway Kids
Hosted by New York Pops Music Director
Steven Reineke
MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 7:00PM & 9:30PM
AT JOE’S PUB
NEW YORK, NY – On August 2, 2010,
at 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM, take a musical road trip across the
country in Free to Dream, an evening devoted to the
songs of Katsaros and Schermerhorn at Joe’s Pub. Featuring
an all-star Broadway cast including Rent star Anthony Rapp,
Avenue Q’s John Tartaglia and Stephanie D’Abruzzo,
Broadway veteran Liz Callaway and award-winning vocalist Karen
Mason, Free to Dream showcases the people and places that make
up the fabric of America; from country, rock and pop, to swing and the
blues. Proceeds from Free to Dream benefit The New York Pops’ education
programs, which bring music to thousands of public schoolchildren across
the five boroughs of New York City. The evening will be hosted by The New
York Pops Music Director Steven Reineke, and will feature the Camp
Broadway Kids, as well as the voice of Willard Scott as ‘DJ
Sam’.
For nearly a decade, Grammy-winning composer
Doug Katsaros and Emmy-nominated lyricist William Schermerhorn
have been writing songs for national audiences as part of the Macy’s Thanksgiving
Day Parade®, Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks®
and other notable events. In addition to the title song “Free to Dream”,
highlights of the August 2 concert program include the original songs
“It’s All About Tonight”, “Beneath a Summer Sky”, “Gift of Light”
and “Sing Another Day”.
This night is made for sharing – so bring your friends and help fulfill
childrens’ dreams through music education!
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Doug Katsaros
Composer, arranger, keyboardist and vocalist
Doug Katsaros has worked on recordings with a variety of performers such
as Elton John, Bon Jovi, Frank Sinatra, Kiss, and Cher. In musical theater,
Katsaros has composed for numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway productions,
including Rockabye Hamlet, The Life, Hair, The
Rocky Horror Picture Show, Footloose, Laughing Room Only,
Altar Boyz, A...My Name Is Alice, Hal Prince's Diamonds,
Abie's Island Rose, Just So, and The Toxic Avenger among
others. He is currently in pre-production for his opera Moby Dick,
and his musical about the Orphan Train will soon tour under the direction
of Patricia Birch.
Katsaros has provided original music for
the feature films If Lucy Fell (Sarah Jessica Parker, Elle McPherson)
Me And The Mob (Sandra Bullock, Steve Buscemi), and the science
fiction classic Star Crystal, as well as TV programs “The Jim Henson
Hour”, “Mancuso FBI”, and the animated series “The Tick”. He’s conducted
“Great Performances” on PBS, and written special material for the Tony
Awards. His latest score for HBO is entitled “The Collector”.
Katsaros’ many projects have garnered Emmy
and Drama Desk nominations, and a Grammy Award. He has been commissioned
to write music for Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks®
and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade® on NBC, Universal Studios
Orlando, the Ringling Brothers Circus, the Seville Worlds Fair, and much
more. Among his jingles for numerous advertising campaigns, Katsaros wrote
“By Mennen!” (http://www.themusicofyourdreams.com
)
William Schermerhorn
As VP/Creative Director of Macy’s Parade & Entertainment Group, William
Schermerhorn is the leader of the creative team responsible for Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade®, Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks®
and other extravaganzas for “America’s Department Store.” He received
an “Outstanding Original Song” Daytime Emmy nomination in 2009 for the
Christmas song “I Believe,” and in the same year celebrated the Carnegie
Hall debut of his American River Suite, a five-piece musical tone
poem written with composer Stephen Flaherty. Schermerhorn has also written
original material for performers as diverse as Julie Andrews, Harvey Fierstein,
Walter Cronkite, Deborah Voigt and the Clique Girlz. He was born on the
4th of July.
Anthony Rapp
Within an extensive list of achievements,
Broadway star Anthony Rapp is best known for originating the role of ‘Mark
Cohen’ in the Tony Award-winning rock opera Rent. He reprised the
role both in the 2005 film version opposite other members of the original
cast, and in the recent Rent Tour with original cast member Adam
Pascal. Rapp will next be seen in Don Roos’ Love and Other Impossible
Pursuits opposite Natalie Portman and Lisa Kudrow.
Rapp has an extensive theatre background;
his most recent Broadway show was Second Stage Theatre’s Some Americans
Abroad. Other Broadway credits include the revival of You’re a
Good Man, Charlie Brown and John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation.
His Broadway debut was in Precious Sons with Judith Ivey and Ed
Harris, for which he received an Outer Critics Circle award and a Drama
Desk nomination. Film credits include Adventures in Babysitting,
School Ties, Dazed and Confused, Six Degrees of Separation, Man of the
Century, David Searching, Road Trip, A Beautiful Mind, and Winter
Passing (a film written and directed by his brother Adam Rapp). Television
credits include The Lazarus Man, The X-Files, The Beach
Boys: An American Family, Kidnapped and Law & Order.
Rapp adapted his book Without You: A Memoir
of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent into a one-man show entitled “Without
You” which he has performed throughout the country. In 2000, he released
his debut album, Look Around.
Stephanie D'Abruzzo is best known
for her Tony-nominated debut performance as Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut
in the award-winning Broadway musical Avenue Q, a role which earned
her Tony and Drama Desk nominations, a Theatre World Award, and a special
Outstanding Ensemble & Puppet Artistry Award from the Outer Critics
Circle. Additional New York stage credits include Don’t Say Another
Word, Plaisir D’Amour, Austentatious, Kiss and Makeup,
I Love You Because, Carnival (Encores!), Encores! 10th
Anniversary Bash, and the Theatreworks/USA limited NYC run of If
You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Other Story Books. Outside of NYC, her
credits include [title of show] at St. Louis Rep and the world-premiere
of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical at the Kennedy Center.
D’Abruzzo made her Carnegie Hall debut with
The New York Pops in Skitch Henderson’s New Faces of 2004, and
in 2005 performed two star-studded concerts honoring Stephen Sondheim’s
75th birthday at New Amsterdam Theatre and the Hollywood Bowl. D’Abruzzo
made her solo cabaret debut at the famed Birdland club in 2005, and has
appeared at Caroline’s, Town Hall, and a number of Broadway theaters for
many benefit performances such as the Atrainplays XXI and XXII,
More Unauthorized Musicology of Ben Folds, and the Actor’s Fund concert
Chess.
Stephanie has spent 17 seasons as a Muppet
Performer on the Emmy-winning Sesame Street, where she currently
lends her talents to Curly Bear, as well as a myriad of walk-on characters
on the street, and also brings life to countless inanimate objects on Elmo's
World.
John Tartaglia earned a Tony Award®
nomination for his performance in the Tony-winning Broadway musical Avenue
Q, for which he originated the roles of Princeton and Rod. Tartaglia is
currently in the Broadway cast of Shrek The Musical, and was Lumiere in
Disney's Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. A 10-year veteran of "Sesame
Street," Tartaglia was one of the youngest puppeteers ever to perform
on the show, starting at the age of 16. In addition to his work on "Sesame
Street," he also starred in Sesame Workshop's innovative English as
a Foreign Language project, "Sesame English”. Tartaglia is also executive
producer and star of Disney Channel's "Johnny and the Sprites",
and has appeared on Discovery Channel's "Animal Jam" and Disney
Channel's "Bear in the Big Blue House" and "JoJo's Circus".
Tartaglia is a past host of the New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts.
Steven Reineke’s boundless enthusiasm
and exceptional artistry have made him one of the nation’s most sought-after
pops conductors, composers and arrangers. Reineke begins his second season
as Music Director of The New York Pops. In addition to conducting the orchestra’s
annual Carnegie Hall concert series, Reineke leads concert tours, recordings,
and nationwide telecasts, including the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks on
NBC Television. Mr. Reineke also serves as Principal Pops Conductor of
the Long Beach and Modesto Symphony Orchestras and he retains the title
of Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, where for fifteen
years he served as a composer, arranger, and conducting protégé of the
late celebrated pops conductor Erich Kunzel. Steven Reineke’s notable
guest conducting appearances include the National Symphony Orchestra, Boston
Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra and his debut at the Hollywood Bowl in 2007.
Mr. Reineke is also an established symphonic composer, with the most recent
performances of his works by the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles
Philharmonic.
Liz Callaway made her Broadway debut
in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. She received
a Tony nomination for her performance in Baby, and for five years
starred as Grizabella in Cats. She was also a member of the original
casts of Miss Saigon, The Three Musketeers, and
The Look of Love. Off-Broadway, she received a Drama Desk nomination
for her performance in The Spitfire Grill, and also appeared in
No Way to Treat a Lady, Marry Me a Little, Godspell, and Brownstone.
Other New York credits include Hair in Concert, the legendary
Follies in Concert at Lincoln Center, A Stephen Sondheim Evening,
and Fiorello! at Encores! She also starred as Venus in the Chicago
Ovations! production of One Touch of Venus, and in Elegies
at Reprise! in Los Angeles.
Callaway’s extensive concert appearances
include The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, and on tour
with the Boston Pops. Liz sang the Academy Award-nominated song “Journey
to the Past” in the animated feature film Anastasia, and is also
the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin and the King
of Thieves and The Return of Jafar. Other film work includes the singing
voice of the title character in The Swan Princess, Lion King 2: Simba’s
Pride, Beauty and the Beast, and The Brave Little Toaster
Goes to Mars. She received an Emmy Award for hosting Ready to Go,
a daily live children’s program on CBS in Boston, and has released 3 solo
albums.
Karen Mason, winner of the MAC Award
for Female Vocalist of the Year for six consecutive years, originated the
role of Tanya on Broadway in Mamma Mia!, and received a 2002 Drama
Desk nomination for Best Actress. Other leading roles include Norma Desmond
in Sunset Boulevard, which she performed to critical acclaim on
Broadway and in Los Angeles; Mazeppa in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway;
Rosalie in Carnival (Drama Desk nomination); and featured roles
in Broadway's Torch Song Trilogy and Play Me a Country Song.
Mason won the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in And
The World Goes ‘Round, and starred Off-Broadway in her own show Karen
Mason Sings Broadway, Beatles and Brian. TV appearances include the
hit dramas Ed and Law & Order: SVU, and film credits
include Sleeping Dogs Lie and A Chorus Line. Mason has headlined
at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Feinstein's at The
Regency, and Rainbow & Stars, among others. Her starring symphonic
performances include The New York Pops, The Oklahoma Philharmonic with
Joel Levine, The Chicagoland Pops, The Indianapolis Philharmonic, and the
St. Louis Symphony.
The New York Pops’ Music Education Programs
All proceeds from the concert benefit The New York Pops’ music education
programs. The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in
the United States, and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New
York City specializing in popular music. The New York Pops’ extensive
education programs allow thousands of public schoolchildren to participate
in concert and music-making experiences at Carnegie Hall and in schools
throughout the five boroughs of New York City.
Concert and Ticket Information
Monday, August 2, 2010, 7:00PM and 9:30PM, Joe’s Pub
FREE TO DREAM
The Songs of Katsaros & Schermerhorn
Music by Doug Katsaros
Lyrics by William Schermerhorn
VIP Seating: $125
General Admission: $45
Proceeds to benefit The New York Pops’ Music Education Programs
Purchase tickets online at http://www.joespub.com
, by phone at 212-967-7555 or in person
at The
Public Theater Box Office (1 PM
to 6 PM) or Joe's Pub Box Office (6 PM to 10 PM), both located at 425 Lafayette
Street, NYC.
For general admission tickets, seating is
available on a first-come, first-served basis for all shows.
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