Floating City, a conglomerate of Broadway performers who are also, in their spare time, singer-songwriters, will reunite Oct. 25 at Wilson's for a concert of original music. Members Matthew Bennett, Brian d'Arcy James, Dan Lipton, Sean McCourt and Clarke Thorell will be joined by David Lutken ( Stars in Your Eyes, The Civil War) and Susan McMonagle (Les Miserables) for the evening of song.
All five singer-songwriters, Bennett, d'Arcy James, Lipton, McCourt and Thorell, met on Titanic in 1997. Since then, Bennett originated the role of Friar Laurence in Terrence Mann-Jerome Korman's Romeo and Juliet and performed with McCourt in the two man piece, Ten Years Apart at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. d'Arcy James most recently played Anatoly in the Alliance Theatre's production of Chess. Lipton is one half of the 20-something writing team that created the musical Joe! , read by the likes of Anthony Rapp (You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Rent) and Jeremy Kushnier (Footloose) at Lamb's Theatre in March of 1999. He just debuted his first CD, "Travelogue." McCourt, a new addition to the cast of Broadway's It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues, also recently performed his solo show Last Romeo at NY's Melting Pot. Thorell, who performed on Broadway in Tommy, traveled as Homer Collins in the recent regional tour of Guettel-Landau's Floyd Collins and will appear in Sondheim's Wise Guys.
In fact, the only absent Floating City member is Drew McVety, currently appearing as Ernst in the national touring company of Cabaret. McVety was nominated for a 1999 Drama Desk Award for his original music in Terrence McNally's Corpus Christi.
Lutken, also a songwriter, will present some of his original tunes as well. One third of Woody Gutherie in 1998's Melting Pot production (a role he shared with McCourt) and all of Henry Stewart, the guitar-strumming balladeer who would "never pass this way again" in Civil War, he currently portrays Reginald Barclay in Off-Broadway's Stars in Your Eyes.
McMonagle will sing backup and front some of McCourt's tunes. Serving as the band are percussionist Shannon Ford and bassist Mark Wade. There is no cover charge with restaurant and bar seating available. For a table, reservations can be made by calling (212) 769-0100. Wilson's is located at 201 W. 79th Street at Amsterdam.
