The new format will feature three musical theatre songwriters performing three songs each, as opposed to several songwriters playing one song each. According to a release, the new format "will enable the audience of industry tastemakers to experience a more in-depth feel" for each songwriter's style.
Holmes won multiple Tony Awards for his musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood and is also known for writing the hit pop song "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)." His current projects include the musicals Marty, Curtains and Secondhand Lions.
Blumenkrantz received a 2003 Tony Award nomination for the songs he contributed to Urban Cowboy, The Musical. He contributed a song to Audra McDonald's "Seven Deadly Sins" concert at Carnegie Hall as well as a tune to the Transport Group's production of The Audience. His songs have been performed by McDonald, Megan Mullally and Judy Kuhn. As an actor, Blumenkrantz appeared in the Broadway productions of Into the Woods, 3 Penny Opera, Damn Yankees, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and A Class Act.
Abramson's composing credits include Songs of Innocence and Experience (with William Finn), Marco Polo (with Mills) and Seasick (with Judson Pearce Morgan). Her musical director/associate musical director credits include Spring Awakening, Bernarda Alba, Dessa Rose, James Joyce's The Dead and My Life with Albertine.
Mills received 2005 Drama Desk Award nominations for Best Music and Best Orchestrations, the 2003 Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award from the ASCAP Foundation and a 2002 grant from the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation. His projects include Iron Curtain (with Stephen Weiner, music, and Susan DiLallo, book), Illyria, The Pursuit of Persephone, Lonely Rhymes (a comic song cycle), The Alchemists and The Taxi Cabaret. ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) is a leading performing rights organization, and MAC (The Manhattan Association of Clubs and Cabarets) is a cabaret and club industry trade organization.
The Iridium Jazz Club is located in Manhattan at 1650 Broadway at 51st Street. Tickets are free for MAC, ASCAP and BMI members and $15 for the public. For more information, call (212) 220-1460 or visit www.macnyc.com.
