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Why Lee?: A Musical Scrapbook About Lee Wiley - The Metropolitan Room

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LOIS WALDEN, BARRY KLEINBORT, PAUL GREENWOOD
CAPTURE THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF AN ELUSIVE SONGBIRD
THE METROPOLITAN ROOM
NOVEMBER 1-5, 2007



Award-winning performers Lois Walden, Barry Kleinbort, and Paul Greenwood will tell the largely untold story of acclaimed and notoriously enigmatic American singer Lee Wiley while celebrating her enduring musical legacy in WHY LEE?: A MUSICAL SCRAPBOOK ABOUT LEE WILEY during a five-night engagement at The Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd St. between 5th & 6th Aves.) from November 1-5, 2007. This musical tribute features songs from Wiley's repertoire, anecdotes and dramatic scenarios about her life - both onstage and off - and personal reminiscences from Walden, Kleinbort, and Greenwood. The show is directed by Jay Rogers with Mr. Greenwood serving as musical director/pianist and William Ellison on bass. The performance schedule is: Thursday - Saturday at 7:30pm; Sunday at 7pm and Monday at 7:30pm. There is a $20 cover charge for all shows, as well as a required 2 drink minimum. Tickets can be reserved by calling (212) 206-0440.



A favorite singer of George Gershwin, Cole Porter and other legendary American composers, Lee Wiley's sophisticated singing style influenced the most iconic recording artists of the 20th century - from Peggy Lee to Barbra Streisand. She performed with the hottest jazz musicians of the '30s, '40s, and '50s, including Bunny Berigan, Eddie Condon, and Fats Waller, and pioneered the concept of the “songbook" album in the late 1930's with albums devoted to the music of the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, and Harold Arlen. With her remarkable talent and astounding beauty, Lee Wiley seemed destined for stardom -- yet she virtually disappeared in the 1950's at the height of her popularity.



WHY LEE? showcases many of Wiley's best-known and best-loved hits, including the Gershwins' “I've Got a Crush on You," Harold Arlen's “Down With Love," Johnny Mercer's “Moon River," as well as her signature songs -- Victor Young's “A Woman's Intuition" and “Street of Dreams," and the Victor Young/Bing Crosby/Ned Washington favorite “A Ghost of a Chance." This enchanting musical journey also features a medley of songs from Wiley's songbook albums.



While Rosemary Clooney, Dinah Shore, Peggy Lee, and other “girl singers" of the era enjoyed soaring careers as the entertainment industry transitioned from radio to film and television, Wiley's career experienced a number of roadblocks - many of them self-imposed. Fiercely independent and principled, she frequently turned down opportunities that could further her career, most notably in 1935 when she departed from a featured role in the top-rated Kraft radio show because its producers refused to give billing to composer Victor Young, her musical partner and lover. Her strong-willed behavior, sensual singing style, enigmatic personality, severe alcohol addiction, and legendary beauty and sophistication, coupled with her premature retirement at age 50 and relatively small discography, have all contributed to her mythic status.



Walden says of her decision to devote an entire show to Wiley, “When I first discovered the work of Lee Wiley, I felt an immediate connection with this singer whose artistry was so powerful and whose public persona was so enigmatic and alluring. As a result, working on Why Lee? has been a deeply personal journey for me. Every song in this show has influenced my life, informed the way I listen to music, and profoundly affected the way I sing music."



Kleinbort adds, “The creative process behind Why Lee? has been a unique collaboration because the show is both a tribute to Lee's body of work and an exploration of her life and career. On one level, Lois, Paul, and I are artists united by our admiration for Lee's work, and at the same time we're detectives trying to deconstruct her many contradictions and personas. Our goal is to celebrate Lee's amazing artistry, honor her contributions to American popular song, and peel away some of the many myths surrounding the Wiley mystique."



Biographies



Lois Walden has written title songs, musicals, television specials, radio shows, videos, and special material for such celebrated jazz instrumentalists and performing artists as Shari Lewis, Kathleen Battle, Dionne Warwick, Jane Fonda, and Michel Colombier. Her immensely successful show Gospel Music from the Church to the Charts inspired the formation of The Sisters of Glory, a singing group featuring Walden, Thelma Houston, Albertina Walker, CeCe Peniston, Phoebe Snow, and Mavis Staples. In addition to these accomplishments, Walden produced her own solo album, Traveler. She has toured extensively in her one-woman show. Walden holds the position of Teaching Artist with The Acting Company, conducting in-depth workshops with students and teachers across the country. Ms. Walden's life and work has been featured on “CBS Sunday Morning" and “Good Morning America."



Barry Kleinbort has worked as a composer, lyricist, librettist, and director for more than 25 years, and is the recipient of the prestigious Edward Kleban Foundation Award for Lyric Writing, two Gilman-Gonzalez Musical Theatre Commendation Awards, a Second Stage Music Theater Award, two Back Stage Bistro Awards, ten Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) Awards, and two Telly Awards. He wrote the book and lyrics for the new musical, Was, which was recently mounted in Chicago under the direction of Tina Landau. For PBS, he provided the written continuity for A Washington Opera Celebration and the 2003 presentation of Die Fledermaus, and performed similar writing duties for six PBS broadcasts of Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops and Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops. Kleinbort has directed and written special musical materials for Kaye Ballard, Regis Philbin, Marcia Lewis, Mary Cleere Haran, John Epperson (aka: Lypsinka), Donna Murphy, the late Jerry Orbach, Karen Mason, Brent Barrett, Harolyn Blackwell, Heather MacRae, and many others.



Paul Greenwood has appeared as pianist and singer in New York's premiere cabarets, including The Oak Room at the Algonquin, The Improvisation, and Eighty-Eights. He starred in the original New York production of Our Sinatra and has accompanied some of the industry's most honored performers, including George Burns, Elly Stone, Art Garfunkel, Mary Cleere Haran, Ann Hampton Callaway, Nancy Lamott, and Sylvia McNair. Greenwood is the recipient of Back Stage Magazine's Bistro Award, the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) Award, and the Leonardo DaVinci Award, given by the Beaux Arts Society for outstanding male vocalist.

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