Other Voices XI - SOLO

Join OAR at Carolines on Broadway Monday, June 2,

for Other Voices - Solo!

For the last 11 years, Other Voices, an annual comedy/cabaret evening, has entertained hundreds of parents of children with autism and their friends in the spirit of a fun evening in the city and to raise money for autism research.  With another outstanding show produced by Shotgun Productions, a partner in Other Voices from the very first show, the tradition continues in 2008!  Join us at Carolines on Broadway for “Other Voices - Solo”.

Tickets $175.00 ¨ Cocktails  6:00 PM ¨ Dinner 7:00 PM ¨ 1-hour Show 8:00 PM

Carolines on Broadway, 1626 Broadway@49th Street

The night will feature great food, comedy and song performed by some of Broadway’s brightest stars and a special appearance by Audrey Flack and the Art Officials! 

Host - Todd Alan Crain and Performers:

Liz Callaway - Tony nominee and Emmy Award winner.  One of the top singer-actresses appearing on Broadway today. Audiences have seen her on Broadway in Merrily We Roll Along, Baby, Miss Saigon, The Three Musketeers, The Look of Love, and Cats, where she played the role of Grizabella (singing Memory) for five years.

Angela LaGreca - Award winning comedian, singer, actress –  (The View, Law & Order, Girls Nite Out, A Woman Named Jackie, Good Day New York)

Audrey Flack and the Art Officials – A blue grass group featuring the nationally recognized painter and sculptor and some of her art colleagues

Musical performances by Tony DeSare, Jazz musician and crooner, and

Broadway stars and ‘Brother Team’ Jim & Bob Walton – (42nd STREET, THE ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1936, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, SHOW BOAT, CITY OF ANGELS, I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE, FORBIDDEN BROADWAY STRIKES BACK, THE MUSIC MAN, SWEENEY TODD, 42ND STREET and MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, AND THE WORLD GOES ROUND, CRAZY FOR YOU, FOLLIES: IN CONCERT)

Alex Rybeck - Musical Director
Stewart M. Schulman - Director

The tax-deductible portion is $100.00 per ticket.  Tables (8) begin at $1,750.00.  For reservations and sponsorship information, please contact OAR staff toll-free at (866) 366-9710, ext. 229.

BIOS

Liz Callaway (Performer) Tony nominee and Emmy winner, Liz Callaway began her Broadway career in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along.   She has gone on to star in The Look of Love, Miss Saigon, The Three Musketeers, Baby, and for five years appeared as Grizabella in Cats. She has recorded three solo albums, and can be heard on the soundtracks of numerous animated feature films including Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. She is the singing voice of the title characters in both The Swan Princess and the Oscar-nominated Anastasia. Her concert career has taken her to London, Barcelona, Beijing, Shanghai, Iceland, and just about every major city in the United States.

Todd Alan Crain (Host) is thrilled to be hosting the OAR benefit for the fourth year in a row.  Todd’s newest (and most daunting) adventure is creating a television show, to host himself, for a specialty cable network.  Thanks to Stewart Schulman, Patricia Klausner and, of course, Eric and Luther. www.ToddAlanCrain.com

TONY DESARE (Performer), the critically acclaimed pop/jazz singer, songwriter and pianist, will release his third CD from Telarc Records in 2009. His first two CDs, which topped the Billboard charts, were featured in the New York Times, USA Today, NPR’s Weekend Edition, CBS Saturday Morning and in newspapers and radio stations around the country. Tony has headlined at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Café Carlyle and clubs and concert halls across the United States, as well as in Japan, Australia and Russia. He also composed and performed the title theme to My Date With Drew, the hit independent documentary film.

Angela LaGreca (Performer) is an award-winning comedian, singer, writer, and currently a producer at NBC’s “Today” show—the country’s top rated morning news program.  Before going over to NBC with Meredith Vieira, Angela worked at ABC-TV’s “The View”.  Angela is the winner of six MAC Awards (New York's ‘Oscar’) for outstanding live performance; she has performed everywhere from Carolines to Carnegie Hall.  TV credits include “The View”, “Law & Order”, “Good Day NY”, and Lifetime’s “Girls’ Night Out”.  www.AngelaLaGreca.com

BOB WALTON & JIM WALTON  (Performers)  Bob Walton and his brother, Jim, co-wrote and performed in My Brother’s Keeper, which received the 1997 Bistro Award for best musical, as well as Double Trouble (A Musical Tour de Farce). Their most recent collaboration is Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical, which had its 2006 world premiere at The Chanhassen Dinner Theatres in Minnesota. Bob was co-author of the critically acclaimed Off Broadway play, Game Show, and has directed the play in Atlantic City and Toronto. As an actor in New York, Bob has appeared as Bert Barry in the revival of 42nd Street, The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, Once Upon a Mattress, Show Boat, City of Angels, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Forbidden Broadway Strike Back and Preppies. Married to Laurie Walton, they have two children: Emily and Alexander. Jim’s Broadway credits include: The Music Man (2000 revival), Sweeney Todd (1989 revival), 42nd Street and Merrily We Roll Along, among others. Off-Broadway credits include And the World Goes Round and Closer than Ever. Jim also starred as Bobby Child in Crazy for You, and as Young Buddy in Follies: In Concert, both taped by PBS.

Audrey Flack and the Art Officials  (Performers) On New Years eve 2008 Audrey ran into Johnny Jackpotand Diane Stockwell at an all night Jam in Greenwich Village. She asked them if they were interested in playing some of her music. Johnny brought Roger Grossman and Diane brought Dave Mignano. Charles Duncan joined the band when he came to Audrey’s studio for an Archives of American Art visit. He noticed her new banjo she told him about her art world songs. Suddenly and surreptitiously it all came together. “Audrey Flack and the Art Officials” was formed.  Tonight is their debut performance.

John Patrick Coughlan  “Johnny Jackpot” (Banjo, Audrey Flack and the Art Officials).  After being rescued from a foster home in Brooklyn, John was raised by a group of Irish immigrants who exposed him to Celtic music.  When the Marine Corps sent him to Okinawa for a year, Johnny made the mistake of leaving his banjo in the states. That was his longest stretch of time away from the banjo since he began playing. Johnny’s banjo playing has been used in national television commercials for companies such as Volkswagen and Wal-Mart.  He has also played banjo for regional radio spots.  For Johnny, playing music is like talking with God. He also works as a visual artist. His clients include Ralph Lauren, Macy’s, The New York Post, Metro, Newsday, Bloomberg and the Daily News.  He graduated from Parsons School of Design.Charles Duncan (Guitar, Audrey Flack and the Art Officials).  Although he can't paint, draw or sculpt, Charles Duncan has pursued his livelihood in the New York art world for many years.   He has also played guitar with avant-garde and punk bands, usually without letting on to his co-workers.   This may, of course, change after tonight.  During the day he is in charge of acquiring significant papers for the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art.

AUDREY FLACK (Banjo, lead vocals, Audrey Flack and the Art Officials) is a renowned painter and sculptor. Her works are in museum collections nationally and internationally including the Metropolitan Museum ofArt, The Whitney Museum of Art and The Guggenheim. Along with Mary Cassat, she was the first woman included in "The History of Art" text.  She is represented by the Louis K. Meisel Gallery in Soho.

David Roger Grossmann  (Guitar, Audrey Flack and the Art Officials).  David Roger Grossmann aka "Rawdge", hails from the hills of Northern Virginia.  His love for old tyme country music was apparent in his early childhood listening to Tennessee Ernie Ford records with his parents.  Later, he fell in love with the Dobro lap style slide guitar as well as the up-right bass.  You can see Rawdge playing bass in a “All Night Cookin'” his bluegrass band, or playing his national square-neck steel guitar with “Melting Point” his Nu-jazz/Psychobilly band, as well as playing bass with the ever so square-danceable project, the “Andy Mullen Outfit”. When Rawdge is not performing, he resides with his two cats and wife in Long Island City.

David Mignano (String bass, Audrey Flack and the Art Officials).  A native New Yorker, born in Brooklyn, Davidworks asa performing musician, and violinmaker/restorer serving the classical music communityin greater New York.

Diane Stockwell (Fiddle, Audrey Flack and the Art Officials).  Diane Stockwell has played with many groups of varied styles around the city over the past fifteen years, including “Huevo” (pop samba), “Flat Old World” (post-punk Americana), the “Alphabet City Opry” with Greg Garing, Grammy award-winning children’s musician Dan Zanes, and is currently a member of “Fresh Baked Bluegrass” and the “Y’All Stars” (old-school honky-tonk and bluegrass). In her “other life” she is the founder of Globo Libros Literary Management, a literary agency specializing in Spanish-language authors.

ALEX RYBECK (Musical Director) is a composer, arranger, and pianist; well-known for his work in theater, cabaret, and on recordings. Broadway credits include Merrily We Roll Along, Damn Yankees, and Tommy Tune's Grand Hotel. Recordings: Michael Feinstein, Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway, Faith Prince, Jeff Harnar, Nancy LaMott, and the legendary Kitty Carlisle Hart, to mention a few. Winner of 2005 MAC Award, he has appeared in most major cabaret and concert venues in New York and nationwide. Recent international appearances include London and Barcelona.

Shotgun Productions, founded in 1989, is a New York nonprofit theatrical production company dedicated to expanding the roles and serving the needs of emerging artists through the production of new works for the stage. Since incorporating in 1995, Shotgun has presented new works in various stages of development in the fields of theater, dance, opera and mixed media. Main Stage productions include Marc Deaton in Vienna, The Lost Boy, Tristan und Isolde in Sofia, 24 Hour Drama-Thons, Big Kids, Seduction, Undivulged Crimes, The Tides of Intolerance, Don’t Hug Me, Mia Michaels’ R.A.W., The Choice, Joined at the Head, and The Chaos Theories.