CY
COLEMAN TO BE HONORED AT MERCER FOUNDATION GALA
The
Johnny Mercer Foundation will honor Broadway Composer Cy Coleman when
it holds its second annual gala on Monday, November 15th at the RAINBOW
ROOM (30 Rockefeller Plaza - 65th Floor, NYC - 212-632-5100 - http://www.rainbowroom.com/
). For over five decades composer extraordinaire Cy Coleman has brought
musical magic to the worlds of theater, television and film. In recognition
of his amazing achievements as composer, lyricist, writer, arranger,
musical director, producer and director, The Johnny Mercer Foundation
will honor him with a special award. Cocktails at 6:30 pm, dinner
and awards tribute at 8:00 pm. Entertainment and fashion show begin
at 9:15 pm with dancing to follow. Priority VIP tables are $10,000,
$12,000 and $25,000. Individual tickets are $750 per person. For priority
table consideration and ticket purchase, please call 212-835-2299.
The recipient of two Grammy awards, two Tony awards, three Emmy
awards and multiple Tony and Oscar nominations, Cy Coleman began his
career performing with the Cy Coleman Trio in Dear Barbarians. The
following year, he provided music and lyrics for John Murray Anderson's
Almanac, an original musical review that featured Harry Belafonte
and Celia Lipton Farris in their Broadway debuts. America's favorite
redhead Lucille Ball made her Broadway debut in Wildcat with music
by Coleman. In 1966, Sweet Charity debuted to stunning success and
led to lifelong relationships between Cy and his leading ladies, Gwen
Verdon (1966) and Shirley MacLaine. Hit show after hit followed -
I Love My Wife, On the Twentieth Century, Barnum, Little Me, Welcome
to the Club, City of Angels, The Will Roger's Follies, The Life, Fosse
and Barbara Cook's Broadway.
Coleman's association with Shirley MacLaine resulted in several
critically acclaimed television specials. In 1974, he conceived and
wrote (with Robert Wells) her TV special, If My Friends Could See
Me Now which brought Coleman a pair of Emmy awards; and in 1976, the
musical Gypsy in my Soul, producing Emmys for both Coleman and Ms.
MacLaine. Coleman has also garnered critical acclaim scoring the music
for such films as Father Goose, Power, Garbo Talks, Family Business
and Sweet Charity, for which he won an Oscar nomination. In 1992,
he won two Grammy awards for his score and for producing the original
cast album for The Will Rogers Follies, a long term chart topper.
Like this year's honoree Cy Coleman, Johnny Mercer's career spanned
over five decades, creating great American songs with our country's
greatest composers including Richard Whiting, Harry Warren, Hoagi
Carmichael, Harold Arlen, Arthur Schwartz, Jerome Kern, Duke Ellington,
David Raskin, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mandel, John Williams, Marvin
Hamlisch and Andre Previn.
Mercer wrote songs for 90 motion pictures, winning four Academy
Awards and 18 nominations. He wrote six Broadway shows including St.
Louis Woman and Li'l Abner. As the founder and president of Capitol
Records he discovered and nurtured the talents of such artists as
Margaret Whiting, Joe Stafford, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra and Nat King
Cole. Little wonder that it is almost impossible to get through an
entire day without hearing one Johnny Mercer song on records, tapes
or CDs, on the radio or television, in movie houses, theaters, or
cabarets worldwide.
The legendary Margaret Whiting, President of the foundation, and
her husband, Jack Wrangler, Creative Director of the foundation, are
organizing a star-studded salute. The evening will feature special
performances by the incomparable Tony Bennett, Broadway veterans Chita
Rivera, Jerry Orbach, Glenn Close and other stars of stage and screen.
For the gala, Wrangler will turn the already gleaming Rainbow Room
in to a dazzling gold and white fantasyland to serve as the perfect
backdrop for Broadway's and Hollywood's most glittering stars. The
highlights of the evening include: a Spring fashion show by couture
designer Donald Deal, whose elegant creations are worn by stars and
socialites alike. Deal will set the show to a Johnny Mercer score;
sneak peeks at upcoming Broadway musicals performed by their composers
including Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza) and Charles Strouse
performing a selection from Marty.
The Johnny Mercer Foundation was created by his widow Ginger Mercer
to reflect Johnny's generosity throughout his remarkable career. The
foundation's most passionate mission is to preserve and celebrate
Our Great American Songbook. To that end, the foundation supports
a variety of activities "Accentuating the Positive" and recently initiated
a series of dynamic new educational programs designed to introduce
the songs of Porter, Berlin, Gershwin, Ellington and our great songwriters
to elementary school children in New York public schools.
In conjunction with The Sundance Institute, the foundation sponsors
an intensive weeklong series of master classes for young musicians
and actors. This year Charles Strouse, Melissa Manchester, Jimmy Web,
Don Rebic, Whiting and Wrangler shared their expertise through one-on-one
seminars, master classes, panels and performance, focusing on the
interpretation and personalization of Our Great American Songbook.
In addition to helping to train young musicians and encouraging
promising songwriters, The Johnny Mercer Foundation has a special
program in conjunction with The Braille Institute to teach the blind
to read music. In an effort to keep Broadway healthy and humming,
each year the foundation sponsors a free flu shot program for all
in the theater community - stagehands to stars, designers to directors.
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