Stars to Perform Under the Stars in Bryant Park

Norbert Leo Butz, Linda Eder, James Gandolfini, Savion Glover, Jane Krakowski, La Chanze, Donna Murphy, John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey, Lillias White, and Karen Ziemba are among those who will perform in the first annual Broadway Under the Stars concert to be held in beautiful Bryant Park on Monday, June 10, beginning at 8pm.

Co-produced by NYC & Company (the city’s official tourism marketing organization) and the League of American Theatres and Producers, the concert was announced today at a press conference in the park. The event is billed as “a 90-minute celebration featuring live performances of the Great White Way’s romantic musical and dance numbers performed by Broadway luminaries and backed by a 30 piece orchestra, interlaced with film montages shot in the Big Apple.” Among the musical selections scheduled to be programmed are Kander & Ebb’s “New York, New York” and “City Lights,” Cole Porter’s “I Happen to Like New York” and “Take Me Back to Manhattan,” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Another Hundred People” (from Company), as well as the overtures to On the Town, Gypsy, and Crazy for You. It is promised that the concert will be hosted by “a surprise master of ceremonies from the top tier of New York City’s entertainment community.”

According to Jed Bernstein, president of the producers’ league, the concert is “an opportunity for the Broadway community to say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to the American theater’s spiritual home, New York City.” Cristyne L. Nicholas, president and CEO of NYC & Company, said that Broadway Under the Stars will serve as “a natural annual kickoff” to summers filled with free outdoor events throughout the five boroughs. For more information, go to the website www.nycvisit.com.