On Oct. 19 North Jersey's SummerStage! will present There's Nothin' Like a Dame: A Richard Rodgers Birthday Bash, a one-night-only fundraiser for the company's teen and college scholarship programs.

Featuring musical direction by Tony Award nominee Larry (A Class Act) Hochman, the 8:30 PM concert will boast performances from singer Julie Budd (with conductor Herb Bernstein); jazz legend Carrie Smith, who starred on Broadway in Black and Blue; and Theatre World Award winner Juliette (Piaf) Koka. Others who will take part in the Rodgers celebration include Marc Moritz (Merrily We Roll Along), Julie Waldman Stiel (Fiddler on the Roof, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber), Bess Morrison, Valerie Holland Hughes, Jennifer Montague, Mark Montague, Patrick Hache, Michael Giorgio, Christopher A. Budinich and SummerStage! co-artistic director Jodi Chekofsky.

Directed by Stephen Kantrowitz, the evening will include Budd's medley of tunes from Rodgers and Hart's Babes in Arms, including such classics as "The Lady Is a Tramp," "Johnny One Note," "Where or When" and "My Funny Valentine." Koka will offer the standards "Ten Cents a Dance" and "Little Girl Blue."

During his lifetime, Richard Rodgers penned over 900 songs. His partnerships with Lorenz Hart and later with Oscar Hammerstein II produced some of the most successful musicals in Broadway history. His works with Hart included On Your Toes, Babes in Arms, I Married an Angel, The Boys from Syracuse, Pal Joey and By Jupiter, and the Rodgers-Hammerstein collaboration spawned Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, Flower Drum Song and The Sound of Music. The hit revival of Oklahoma! currently plays Broadway's Gershwin Theatre, and Flower Drum Song is now in previews at the Virginia Theatre.

Tickets for the concert are priced at $36, which includes a year's membership to SummerStage!, or $18 (show only). Call (973) 595-0100, ext. 234 for reservations. SummerStage! is the Professional Theatre-in Residence at the YM-YWHA of North Jersey. —By Andrew Gans