FAMILIES ARE INVITED TO SING ALONG WITH BROADWAY STARS IN A
CARNEGIE HALL FAMILY CONCERT ON SATURDAY, APRIL 18
Lineup Headlined by Tony Award Winner Jessie Mueller
from Beautiful: The Carol King Musical
Musical Director Leslie Stifelman and Choreographer Melissa Rae Mahon
Lead Families in Electrifying Broadway Hits from
Grease, The Sound of Music, Rent, Les Misérables, and Hairspray
| On Saturday, April 18 at 3:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) joins musical director and co-host Leslie Stifelman and director and choreographer Melissa Rae Mahon from Chicago: The Musical, co-host Thomas Cabaniss, and The Broadway All-Star Chorus—comprising top performers from the Great White Way—for a fun, interactive Carnegie Hall Family Concert that gives parents and their children the opportunity to sing and dance along with their favorite Broadway numbers.
Audience members will learn the music and moves from some of the great musicals of all time including Grease, The Sound of Music, Rent, Les Misérables, and Hairspray. A lucky few may even make their Carnegie Hall debut if they are selected to join the cast onstage. This Family Concert is presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute and recommended for children ages 7-12. Broadway All-Star Chorus members include Jonathan Blalock (Opera Orchestra of New York, LA Opera, The Dallas Opera), Matt Boehler (The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago), Haven Burton (Kinky Boots, Violet, Shrek), Lauren Elder (Side Show, Hair), Lisa Gajda (Catch Me If You Can, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Fosse, Spamalot, Movin’ Out), James Harkness (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Chicago: The Musical, The Color Purple, Aida), Carly Hughes (Chicago: The Musical, Pippin, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Ragtime, The Book of Mormon), Robyn Hurder (Nice Work if You Can Get It, Grease, Chicago: The Musical, The Wedding Singer), Joshua Jeremiah (New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera), Amy Justman (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Company, White Christmas), James T. Lane (Scottsboro Boys, Chicago: The Musical, A Chorus Line), Tamika Lawrence (If/Then, Matilda, The Book of Mormon), Kate Loprest (First Date, Wonderland, Xanadu, The Drowsy Chaperone, Hairspray), Michael Lowney (La Cage aux Folles), Abby Mueller (Kinky Boots), Denny Paschall (Chicago: The Musical, Shrek, Beauty and the Beast), George Salazar (Godspell, Here Lies Love, Spring Awakening), Kiira Schmidt (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Follies, Anything Goes, White Christmas), Dennis Stowe (Aladdin, Annie, Leap of Faith, Shrek, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Wonderful Town) and Ryan Worsing (Chicago: The Musical, Shrek, White Christmas). Take the Stage with Broadway Stars also features Scott Cady (band leader and piano), Dave Riekenberg (woodwinds), Glenn Drewes (trumpet), Bruce Bonvissuto (trombone), Richard Sarpola (bass), Clint de Ganon (drums and percussion), and Carnegie Hall Student Ambassadors. About the Artists Leslie Stifelman is the music director and conductor for the Tony and Grammy Award-winning Broadway show Chicago: The Musical, now the second longest running show in Broadway history. Over her illustrious 18-year run, Leslie has brought many stars to the stage, including Usher, Jennifer Nettles, Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, Ann Reinking, James Naughton, Billy Ray Cyrus, Melanie Griffith, Brooke Shields, Patti Labelle, Huey Lewis, Patrick Swayze, George Hamilton, John O’Hurley, Rita Wilson, and Wayne Brady. She is also the Artistic Editor of the score from Chicago published by the Hal Leonard Corporation. A distinguished performer and entertainment executive, Ms. Stifelman has a diverse career as an executive producer for television (Peabody Award-winner The Music In Me for HBO), master teacher (Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall), conductor (The Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, among others), music director (Here Lies Jenny with Bebe Neuwirth, Roger Rees and Ann Reinking), pianist (favorite collaborations with Marin Alsop, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Dawn Upshaw, the London Symphony Orchestra), recording artist (Ms. Stifelman can be heard on major labels including Angel, Nonesuch, BMG, and EMI), and music supervisor and producer for films (directors Martin Scorsese, Rita Wilson, and Bebe Neuwirth). Her projects have been awarded the highest honors in the arts and media including the Peabody and Grammy Awards. Closest to her heart are the award-winning music education initiatives and community partnerships that she has developed for HBO, Carnegie Hall, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the All Stars Project, the Concordia Orchestra, and many other non-profit organizations. Favorite projects: Music Supervisor for Carnegie Hall’s mass choir performances of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS, Carmina Burana, and Too Hot To Handel: The Gospel Messiah with conductors Marin Alsop and David Robertson, the Baltimore Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and over 600 New York City high school students. Her latest endeavor finds her teaching musical theater around the world online through Carnegie Hall’s Musical Exchange. Thomas Cabaniss was born in Charleston, SC in 1962. He writes for opera, theater, dance, film, and the concert stage. When not composing, he helps others compose their own music, especially those who may have no musical training at all. Recent works include One Silken Thread for Bay Chamber Concerts, four new orchestral commissions for Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Carnegie Hall’s Link Up program (Come To Play, Drumlines, To Make Words Sing, Away I Fly; 2010-2012), My Song Is A Fire, a cantata for orchestra, chorus, and soloists (Fairfield Chorale, 2011), Searching for Kristallnacht (a chamber oratorio commissioned by The Blue Card Fund, 2009), Three Sabbaths for chorus and chamber orchestra with text by Wendell Berry (2006). Mr. Cabaniss has served as Composer-in-Residence and conductor for the American Dance Festival’s Young Choreographers & Composers Program, and his dance works have been performed at the American Dance Festival, the Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, and Central Park Summerstage. In 1990 he created the score for The Lunch Date (winner of the Academy Award and Palme d’Or for Best Short Film). Other awards include a 1998 Obie Award and Drama Desk nomination for his score and musical direction for Mamba’s Daughters. He is active in arts education, having served as Director of Education for the New York Chamber Symphony under Gerard Schwarz and the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel. He served as Music Animateur of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Christoph Eschenbach from 2004-2008. He’s a faculty member at The Juilliard School, a member of ASCAP and Target Margin Theater, David Herskovits, Artistic Director. Melissa Rae Mahon has a Broadway, film, and television career spanning over a decade, collaborating with some of the world’s most esteemed performers, directors, choreographers, orchestras, and producers. A multi-talented performer with a diverse career, she has held title to every leadership position in the entertainment arena including director, choreographer, costume designer, lighting designer, stage manager, video editor, and website designer. Ms. Mahon started her career as a Radio City Rockette and has since been part of five Tony and Grammy Award-winning productions including Chicago: The Musical, The Producers, 42nd Street, Cats, and The Sound of Music. She has received critical acclaim for her own performances as well as her creative endeavors as a director and choreographer. As an educator, she has taught at every level of mastery, from amateur to conservatory and professional. Her curriculum always includes a special emphasis on practical application for students in the pursuit of their chosen field. She credits her diverse career to her insatiable curiosity for art forms as a means of communication. Because of her vast experience in production and management of complex artistic projects Ms. Mahon has now been able to translate her expertise across several platforms into live brand-experience production for media and consumer-facing events, live performances, livestream events, media training and digital content creation. She is currently a senior show producer for several of the top consumer corporations in the world including Google, YouTube, eBay, Pepsi Co. and Unilever, to name a few. Program Information Carnegie Hall Family Concerts are made possible, in part, by endowment gifts from The Irene Diamond Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Lester S. Morse Jr., and the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund. Thanks to New York City Department of Homeless Services for supporting young fathers and their families at this concert.
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