The new club is the brainchild of Tony Award-winning producers Tom Viertel, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel and Steven Baruch.
LuPone's program, which is entitled Faraway Places, features "a little bit of Gypsy in My Soul, which has never been done in New York, and one song from Patti LuPone on Broadway, 'Come to the Supermarket in Old Peking,' and the rest is brand-new," the award-winning actress recently told Playbill.com. Among the new songs are "Pirate Jenny," "Traveling Light," "Black Market" and the title tune.
LuPone's act was created with Tony winner Scott Wittman and musical director Joseph Thalken. "I can't move without [them]," LuPone explained. "Joe [has found] musicians who can double. So the violinist plays reeds, and the accordionist will play keyboards, and the guitarist will play a banjo, and the drummer will play percussion, which is fabulous."
Those musicians include Thalken on piano, Andy Stein on violin and saxophone, Larry Saltzman on guitar and banjo, Antony Geralis on accordion and keyboards and Paul Pizzuti on drums. Read the recent Playbill interview with Tony winner LuPone and producer Frankel.
54 Below was designed by Tony Award winner John Lee Beatty and architect Richard Lewis, lit by Tony Award winner Ken Billington with sound by Tony Award nominee Peter Hylenski. Tony Award winner Wittman serves as creative consultant, and MAC Award winner Phil Geoffrey Bond is director of programming.
The venue features up to three shows nightly with a capacity of 160. The cover charges range from $30-$70.
Other talent scheduled for the month of June includes Jackie Hoffman (now through July 29), Justin Vivian Bond (now through July 9), Andrea Martin (June 20-23) and Brian d'Arcy James (June 26-30).
54 Below is located at 254 W. 54th Street. Tickets and information are available at 54Below.com.
