MUSIC

BAYOU CITY CONCERT MUSICALS introduces another chapter in its exciting series celebrating The Great American Songbook with I’LL TAKE MANHATTAN - The Songs of Rodgers and Hart. The cabaret will be presented on three consecutive Mondays in May: May 2, May 9 and May 16, 2011, at 7:30 p.m. at The Ensemble Theatre, 3535 Main Street, in the Performance Centre, which is directly behind their main stage. The entrance to the Performance Center is at the corner of Fannin and Berry.

Director and Master of Ceremonies, PAUL HOPE, has gathered many of the best singers in Houston to present some of Rodgers and Hart’s most popular songs of the time; such songs as “My Heart Stood Still,” “Here In My Arms,” “With A Song In My Heart,” “Thou Swell, Thou Witty,” and “10 Cents A Dance.” The audience, as it often does, will be humming along with the singers! Interspersed throughout the show, Hope treats the audience to little known facts and amusing stories about the songwriting team.

BCCM’s choreographer, Krissy Richmond, will be making a special appearance in the cabaret. Also featured are Susan Shofner, Susan Draper, Danica Johnston, Bethany Shapiro, Sarah Welch and Grace Givens. Ross Chitwood, Joel Sandel, Jonathan Colunga, Johnny Nichols, Jr. and Chad McAllen round out the cast. Musical Director for the cabaret is Lucy Hargis.

The songwriting team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart was among the most popular in American musical history. Their partnership began when they were both students at Columbia University, where they collaborated on many of the school’s Varsity shows, with Hart writing the lyrics and Rodgers writing the music. Though their first professional hit was a song called “Any Old Place With You,” their breakthrough to fame came with the score for The Garrick Gaities in 1925 that introduced their first major hit, “Manhattan.” From 1925 to 1931, they wrote a phenomenal fifteen scores that were featured on Broadway. Their songs were always considered superior to the run of the mill revue style that was prevalent in that era. A Connecticut Yankee written in 1927 was based on Mark Twain’s novel of the same name, and The Boys From Syracuse in 1938 on William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors.