Dozens of Theatre Stars Salute Cy Coleman at Annual S.T.A.G.E. Concert

By Andrew Gans
November 6, 2004

The annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event (S.T.A.G.E.) concert in Los Angeles pays tribute to composer Cy Coleman Nov. 6 at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex on the Campus of Cal State University Los Angeles.

Benefiting the Actors' Fund of America, The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman is scheduled to include performances by Debbie Allen, Christine Andreas, Lucie Arnaz, Liz Callaway, Keith Carradine,  Joy Claussen, Carole Cook, Tyne Daly, Nancy Dussault, Ilene Graff, Cliffton Hall, Ken Howard, Bill Hutton, Jane A. Johnston, Paula Kelly, Jane Lanier, Michele Lee, Marin Mazzie, Rod McKuen, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lisa Mordente, Jack Noseworthy, Valarie Pettiford, Charlotte Rae, Alice Ripley, Chita Rivera, John Schneider, Christopher Showerman, Mark Smith, Sally Struthers, Lillias White, Jo Anne Worley and Gretchen Wyler. Larry Gelbart, Marilyn and Alan Bergman and Brian Stokes Mitchell will present Coleman with the Nedda Harrigan Logan Award.

David Galligan directs the 8 PM concert, which features musical direction by Ben Lanzarone. The creative team also includes Michael Zinman (lighting designer), Thomas G. Marquez (costume designer) and Rick Boot (sound design).

Cy Coleman won Tony Awards for his scores to The Will Rogers Follies, City of Angels and On the Twentieth Century. He was also Tony nominated for his scores for The Life, Barnum, I Love My Wife, Seesaw and Little Me. Some of Coleman's other Broadway musicals include Wildcat and Welcome to the Club.

The most recent S.T.A.G.E. benefit concert was presented Jan. 30, 2004, at Cal State University Los Angeles' Luckman Fine Arts Complex. That evening was devoted to the work of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Simply titled The Perfect Year, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the concert included performances by Ellen Greene and Marissa Jaret Winokur and such songs as "I Don't Know How to Love Him," "Another Suitcase in Another Hall," "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," "Memory," "Starlight Express," "Only You," "Tell Me on a Sunday," "Unexpected Song: With One Look," "As if We Never Said Goodbye," "Anything But Lonely," "Love Changes Everything," "Any Dream Will Do," "The Coat of Many Colors," "All I Ask of You," "The Music of the Night" and "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again."

The first S.T.A.G.E. benefit took place in October 1984, honoring the music of Leonard Bernstein. Subsequent presentations have paid tribute to Stephen Sondheim (1985, 1987, 1996), Jule Styne (1988), Jerry Herman (1989), John Kander and Fred Ebb (1990), Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein (1991), Irving Berlin (1992), George and Ira Gershwin (1993), Harold Arlen (1995), Cole Porter (1997), Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe and Burton Lane (1998), Richard Adler, Jerry Bock and Cy Coleman (1999), Charles Strouse, Arthur Schwartz and Stephen Schwartz (2000), Jerome Kern (2001), Johnny Mercer (2002), Frank Loesser (2003) and Andrew Lloyd Webber (2004).

Ten of the benefits have been recorded and are available on CD through the stagela.com website. They include Stephen Sondheim: A Musical Celebration; Jerry Herman: Tap Your Troubles Away; George Gershwin: A Musical Celebration; Harold Arlen: Over the Rainbow; Cole Porter: A Musical Toast; (Alan Jay) Lerner (Frederick) Loewe, (Burton) Lane & Friends; ABC (Richard Adler, Jerry Bock, Cy Coleman); Jerome Kern: Life on the Wicked S.T.A.G.E.; Kurt Weill: The Centennial; and Johnny Mercer: Dream.

The Actors' Fund of America, a nonprofit organization founded in 1882, provides for the social welfare of all entertainment professionals. Its headquarters and The Aurora Residence are located in New York City, and its nursing home and assisted living care facility are in Englewood, New Jersey.

For ticket information, visit www.actorsfund.org.