New York, NY
— On Wednesday, April 29, at
the historic
Hudson Theatre
in the Millennium Hotel,
Tony Award-winner
Roger Rees
will host
Sing Happy!,
The Collegiate Chorale’s
spring benefit celebrating
“The Great White Way”.
The evening features special
musical guest and Tony
Award-winning actress
Victoria Clark,
who recently starred in the
The Chorale’s highly praised
concert revival of Kurt
Weill & Ira Gershwin’s
Firebrand of Florence
on March 12.
Sing Happy! celebrates
The Collegiate Chorale’s
critically acclaimed
2008-2009 season and will
hint at great things to come
in 2009-2010. The
festivities will begin at
7:00 p.m. with cocktails and
a light buffet supper,
followed by a champagne
toast and exclusive
performance featuring
Mr. Rees and
Ms. Clark, who
will lighten hearts and lift
spirits with only the
happiest of songs and
soliloquies from Broadway
and The American Songbook.
The program will be capped
by a live auction of items
generously donated by The
Chorale’s many friends from
the stage, screen, and
literary worlds. Guests will
be invited to a coffee and
dessert reception after the
performance.
The Benefit for The
Collegiate Chorale supports
its New
York Season and
education programs for
New York City
schools.
Victoria Clark
made her Broadway debut in
1985 in
Sunday in the Park With
George, and
received Tony, Drama Desk,
and Outer Critics Circle
Awards for her portrayal of
Margaret Johnson in the
critically-acclaimed Craig
Lucas-Adam Guettel musical
The Light in the Piazza
at Lincoln Center. She created the role of Alice
Beane in
Titanic, appeared
as Smitty in the revival of
How to Succeed in Business
Without Really Trying
with Matthew Broderick and
Megan Mullally, and starred
in Jerry Zaks’ Tony
Award-winning revival of
Guys and Dolls
with Faith Prince and
Nathan Lane.
Other Broadway credits
include:
Urinetown,
Sam Mendes’ revival of
Cabaret,
and the Rodgers &
Hammerstein revue
A Grand Night
for Singing.
Film credits include
Cradle Will Rock
directed by Tim Robbins, M.
Night Shyamalan’s
The Happening,
and her voice can be heard
in many animated feature
films including
Aladdin, The Hunchback of
Notre Dame, Anastasia,
and
Beauty and the Beast.
In addition to being a much
sought-after vocalist and
actress, she has also
enjoyed an illustrious
career as a director,
receiving numerous honors
and fellowships for her
work.
Roger Rees
gained international
attention for his portrayal
of the title role in the
Royal Shakespeare Company’s London, Broadway, and TV productions of
The Life and Adventures of
Nicholas Nickleby,
which earned him Tony and
Olivier awards, and an Emmy
nomination. In
London’s
West End, Rees
has starred in many RSC
productions, and created the
lead roles in Tom Stoppard’s
The Real Thing
and
Hapgood and in
his own thriller,
Double-Double.
Rees also has many memorable
New York theater
credits, and recently toured America in his one-man show about
Shakespeare,
What You Will.
Rees has appeared in more
than 50 films including
The Prestige,
The Invasion, Mel
Brooks’
Robin Hood: Men in Tights,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
and Julie Taymor’s
Frida. On
television, Mr. Rees has had
recurring roles on
Cheers,
The West Wing,and
Grey’s Anatomy,
and starred in a number of
TV movies.
Roger Rees
was Artistic Director for
the
Bristol Old Vic
Theatre in the UK, and
last year he completed a
third year as Artistic
Director of the Williamstown
Theatre Festival.
Other directing highlights
include
Mud, River, Stone
(Playwrights Horizons);
The Merry Wives of Windsor;
Love’s Labours Lost
(Old Globe Theatre,
San Diego);
Arms and the Man
(Roundabout Theatre
Company);
Here Lies Jenny
(Zipper Theater); and
Teemonisha,
Juniper Tree,
White House Cantata,
American Operetta,
An Evening of
Kurt Weill
(Collegiate Chorale).
The Collegiate Chorale,
among
New York’s
foremost vocal ensembles,
has added to the richness of
the City’s cultural fabric
for more than 65 years.
Founded in 1941 by the
legendary conductor
Robert Shaw, The Chorale achieved
national and international
prominence under the
leadership of late Music
Director Robert Bass. The Chorale has
established a preeminent
reputation for its
interpretations of the
traditional choral
repertoire, vocal works by
American composers, and
rarely heard
operas-in-concert, as well
as commissions and premieres
of new works by today’s most
exciting creative artists.
In the summer of 2007, The
Chorale performed for the
third consecutive season at Switzerland’s Verbier Music Festival,
where Mr. Bass conducted the
ensemble in Orff’s
Carmina Burana.
In July 2008, The Chorale
toured with the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra under
Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv,
Haifa, and Jerusalem. This summer, The Collegiate Chorale
returns to the Verbier
Festival for performances of
Faure’s
Requiem and
Mozart’s
Don Giovanni.
Tickets:
Ticket prices for the
benefit range from $300 to
$1,000. All tickets are tax
deductible. To purchase,
please contact
Patrick Goss at
The Collegiate Chorale
(646) 435-9052.
Early commitments received
before
Monday, March 23rd
will be honored with a
Benefit Committee listing in
the event invitation and a
preferred listing in the
evening’s program.
SPRING BENEFIT
Hosted by Roger Rees
Special Musical Guest
Victoria Clark
♫
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
▪ 7:00 P.M.
at Hudson Theatre in the
Millennium Hotel, 145 West 44th Street
RSVP to Patrick Goss at The
Collegiate Chorale (646)
435-9052