Judy Kuhn and Emily Skinner Set for Other People's Lyrics Concerts; Harnick Hosts

By Andrew Gans
March 26, 2006

Sheldon Harnick: Collector's Items (Other People's Lyrics) is the title of the upcoming "Lyrics & Lyricists" concert at the 92nd Street Y.

Award-winning lyricist Harnick — of She Loves Me and Fiddler on the Roof fame — will host the April 8-10 concerts, which will feature musical direction by Rob Fisher. Performers for the weekend of five concerts are set to include Judy Kuhn, Emily Skinner, Lewis Cleale and John Ellison Conlee.

Other People's Lyrics, according to press notes, will explore "some of the lyrics—and lyricists—that influenced Harnick and won his admiration." Concertgoers can expect to hear songs by Gilbert and Sullivan, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Stephen Sondheim and Kander and Ebb as well as tunes from City of Angels and Rent.

Performance times are April 8 at 8 PM, April 9 at 3 and 8 PM and April 10 at 2 and 8 PM. Tickets are priced $45 and $55.

Emily Skinner received a joint Tony Award nomination — with co-star Alice Ripley — for her performance in Side Show. Skinner's other Broadway credits include Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty and Dinner at Eight. She was also part of the cast of the Disney musical On the Record, and she made her New York directorial debut last season with the Town Hall concert The Broadway Musicals of 1955. Skinner recently appeared Off-Broadway in Fanny Hill, and she will be part of the Kennedy Center's upcoming production of Mame.

A three-time Tony Award nominee for her work in She Loves Me, Les Misérables and Chess, Judy Kuhn also starred in the concert mounting of Alan Menken and Tim Rice's King David and the Los Angeles premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard. Kuhn received an Obie Award for her work in the Off-Broadway Laura Nyro tribute, Eli's Comin', and played Fosca in the Kennedy Center mounting of Stephen Sondheim's Passion.

Lewis Cleale has been seen on Broadway in Amour, Once Upon a Mattress and Swinging on a Star, earning a Drama Desk nomination for his work in the latter. His other stage credits include A New Brain, Time and Again and the City Center Encores! mounting of Call Me Madam.

John Ellison Conlee earned Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for his performance as Dave Bukatinsky in The Full Monty. He also appeared on Broadway in The Constant Wife and 1776. His other theatrical credits include A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Encores!), The Bald Soprano, The Butter and Egg Man and Once in a Lifetime.

The 92nd Street Y is located at 1395 Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street. For tickets, call (212) 415-5500. Visit www.92Y.org/lyrics for more information.