Karen Akers: Simply Styne

The iconic Karen Akers, one of America’s most arresting and acclaimed concert and cabaret stars, returns to New York for her highly anticipated eighth consecutive spring engagement at the legendary Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel. Ms. Akers debuts her brand new show, Simply Styne, an entertainment that promises to be the singer’s most personal and theatrical evening of song yet.

While indeed treating the audiences of the Oak Room to the trademark warmth and style that one savors in an Akers evening, Simply Styne also bathes the statuesque singer in a decidedly different, glittery, light. The show highlights the music of legendary composer Jule Styne to reveal intimate truths about life lived as a performer against the brash glare of show business itself.

One of the world’s most popular Broadway and Hollywood songwriters, Mr. Styne has collaborated with a “who’s who” of wordsmiths (including Comden & Green, CarolynLeigh, Sammy Cahn, and Stephen Sondheim to name only a few), yielding such cherished standards as “Just in Time,” “Make Someone Happy,” “Time After Time,” and “I Fall In Love Too Easily.” Styne is also responsible for the Broadway scores of Funny Girl, Gypsy and Bells Are Ringing, which have put songs like “People,” “Let Me Entertain You,” and “The Party’s Over,” into the Great American Songbook.

The production features arrangements and musical direction by Ms. Akers’ longtime collaborator, Don Rebic, and is directed by Eric Michael Gillett. Ms. Akers is accompanied on piano by Mr. Rebic and on bass by Dick Sarpola.