Michael Ogborn, the Philadelphia-bred musical theatre composer whose Baby Case will be produced by the Arden Theatre in Philly come fall, will musical direct and play piano for a live cabaret concert of his work, April 2 at the Arden.

At 8 PM on the dark night of the Arden's staging of Picasso at the Lapin Agile, on the F. Otto Haas Stage, Ogborn and local cabaret and theatre performers will sing the composer-lyricist's show tunes and cabaret songs. Dubbed Michael Ogborn at the Lapin Agile, the evening marks the first recording at the Arden and the first recording of Ogborn's work. John Loehrke is on bass. Elliott Einhorn is producing the evening and the recording. George Pierson is sound engineer.

Now a New Yorker, Ogborn is gearing up for a second Arden workshop of his musical about the hoopla surrounding Charles Lindbergh Jr.'s murder, Baby Case, in spring. A full production is planned for fall. Four songs from the show are expected in the Lapin Agile evening.

Ogborn's produced shows include Box Office of the Damned, Fishwives, Earbeds, The Vagabond Age, Oh, Antigone!, Pinocchio: A Real Boy, C'est La Guerre (for which he won a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award for the song, "Soldier in the Sky"), Ozone-a-Thon and Regalia. His early musical, Fishwives, about the lives of women in a Philly neighborhood circa 1971, recently had a private New York reading toward a possible future revival.

Box Office of the Damned, seen Off-Broadway in 1994, was revived by 1812 Productions in Philadelphia in 1999. Ogborn wrote music for the Arden's fall 2000 staging of The Jungle Book. Ogborn is using some of his favorite singers for the showcase: Jeffrey Coon, Jilline Ringle, Ann Pinto McCarney, Todd Waddington, Denise Whelan, Richard Paul and David Topel.

Tickets are $20. Arden Theatre is at 40 N. 2nd Street, in Philadelphia. For information or reservations, call (215) 922 1122.

— By Kenneth Jones