Cy Coleman to be Honored at Johnny Mercer Foundation Awards Gala

The Johnny Mercer Foundation will hold its second annual awards gala on Monday, November 15, 2004 at The Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center. The event will feature an awards ceremony, dinner, and a spring fashion show by designer Donald Deal; it will include a musical tribute to Broadway composer Cy Coleman with such special guests as Tony Bennett, Chita Rivera, Jerry Orbach, Margaret Whiting, and Glenn Close. Cocktails will be served at 6:30pm, the dinner and awards ceremony will begin at 8pm, and the entertainment will start at 9:15pm.

Cy Coleman is the composer of such musicals as Sweet Charity, Fosse, The Will Rogers Follies, Barnum, On the Twentieth Century, Seesaw, and The Life. The Johnny Mercer Foundation is dedicated to the preservation of the Great American Songbook and sponsors “Accentuating the Positive,” a program that instructs NYC public school teachers on how to include show tunes in their curricula and supports the work of young actors and musicians across the country.

VIP tables for the November 15 event are priced at $12,000 and $10,000; individual tickets are $750. Phone 212-835-2299 for information.