York Theater.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
VALENTINE BENEFIT EVENT!
THE YORK THEATRE COMPANY
PRESENTS
MARRIAGE, THE UPS AND DOWNS… IN SONG
A CABARET VALENTINE
FEATURING DIANE LOVE AND JAY NICKERSON
WITH GERRY DIEFFENBACH ON PIANO
STREAMING ON DEMAND
BEGINNING FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 AT 7PM (ET)
CONCLUDING MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2021 AT 7PM (ET)
ALL PROCEEDS GO TO BENEFIT THE FLOOR RECOVERY FUND
New York, NY (February 5, 2021) — Special Valentine Benefit Event! The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director; Evans Haile, Executive Director) presents *MARRIAGE, The Ups and Downs…in Song, a cabaret valentine featuring Diane Love and Jay Nickerson with music direction and accompaniment by Gerry Dieffenbach.*
The streaming on-demand benefit performance for The York begins Friday, February 12, 2021 at 7:00PM (ET) and will conclude on Monday, February 15, 2021 at 7:00PM (ET). Following the premiere the show will be available to view through February 15. Suggested minimum donation is $10, or pay what you can. Make a difference by donating at a higher level: $30 pays for one storage unit for one day; $50 pays for hour of moving expenses; $100 pays for restoring one damaged musical script for the York’s archive; $250 helps pay for new lobby furniture. We plan to survive, but need your help! All proceeds go to benefit the Flood Recovery Fund.
Reservations may be made by visiting OvationTix at web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1038664, or by visiting the website at www.yorktheatre.org.
We’ve heard about marriage since Adam and Eve, but there’s a connubial conundrum: sometimes it’s bliss and sometimes it’s an abyss. *MARRIAGE, The Ups and Downs…in Song, featuring Diane Love and Jay Nickerson, examines the vagaries of wedlock through songs from Broadway to Pop. The pair trade barbs, flirtations, and vows of love, weaving their marital journey into a sophisticated tapestry of song and conversation worthy of Nick and Nora Charles. Who would have thought the story of a couple of a certain age could be so delicious and insightful? Music Direction is by Gerry Dieffenbach. _MARRIAGE, The Ups and Downs…in Song*_ was originally produced at The Duplex.
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UP NEXT — IN THE WORKS @YORK: Writers Discuss Their New Musicals. Join James Morgan, writer Granville Wyche Burgess and director Mark Graham as they take a look at this down-home twist on the Charles Dickens classic, which has been presented at theaters in Philadelphia and Connecticut.
A Country Carol transforms the Dickens classic into a full-blown musical love story with a uniquely American plot. Ebben, a songwriting “hick from the holla,” seeks fortune and fame on the Great White Way at the turn of the last century, but his infidelity almost costs him the woman he loves and the daughter he never knew.
ONE NIGHT ONLY: Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 7:00PM. FREE and available via The York’s YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/user/yorktheatre.
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Together we can create. Together we can cheer. Together we can bring musicals to life. Help The York continue through this “intermission.” Please donate by visiting www.yorktheatre.org/support/donate.
For additional information, please visit www.yorktheatre.org.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Diane Love (Performer) has been performing cabaret since 2014, appearing at the Cornelia Street Cafe, the Café Sabarsky, and the Duplex. She says her work as a playwright has been good preparation for writing librettos, patter and choosing songs for her cabaret performances. Marriage, The Ups and Downs…in Song was an idea she came up with when she observed how many couples enjoy cabaret. Of her work, she says, “I am an actor who sings”. She feels her stage work performing plays by Pinter, Chekhov, Shakespeare, and Tennessee Williams gives her a better understanding of song lyrics and their layered meaning. Diane is also accomplished artist with an extensive body of work in painting, photography and collage. www.dianelove.com
Jay Nickerson (Performer) is an actor, writer, and singer, known for the films Living and Dining (2003) and The Guest at Central Park West (2009). He has appeared Off-Broadway as Henry Higgins in Pygmalion and Inspector Ascher in Perfect Crime, the longest-running straight play in New York City history. Nickerson has toured nationally as Sinclair Lewis and Ebenezer Scrooge. Regional roles include Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald in Scott and Zelda: The Beautiful Fools, and Clarence Darrow in Never the Sinner. He has two grown children, a loving partner, and a ridiculous dog.
Gerry Dieffenbach (Music Director) is a singer, songwriter, pianist, and musical director. He has received the Songwriters Guild of America President’s Award (twice), the Backstage Bistro Award for Outstanding Musical Director, and the Critics’ Choice Award for Outstanding Album of the Year for his CD of original songs, Well Informed. He performs his original music and pop standards in his inimitable style in the New York clubs weekly as well as musical directing theatre,and has accompanied singers from Margaret Whiting to Martha Reeves to Taylor Swift.
Granville Wyche Burgess is a playwright, lyricist, novelist, director, actor, producer, and teacher. His plays, musicals, and teleplays have been produced nationwide and on network and cable TV. An Emmy nominee, he has received numerous grants, including from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is the author of two screenplays, a novel about Shoeless Joe Jackson, and a children’s book. He has written, produced, directed, and/or acted in over fifty musicals and plays.
The York Theatre Company is the only theatre in New York City — and one of very few in the world — dedicated to developing and fully producing new musicals and preserving neglected, notable shows from the past. For over four decades, York’s intimate, imaginative style of producing both original and classic musicals has resulted in critical acclaim and recognition from artists and audiences alike. Under the guidance of Producing Artistic Director James Morgan since 1997, The York has focused on new musicals in its Mainstage Series — most of them world, American, or New York premieres — by some of the field’s most esteemed creators and has also helped launch the careers of many talented new writers. Well over 40 cast recordings from The York Theatre Company productions are now available on CD, including its acclaimed revival of Closer Than Ever (2013 Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Revival); commercial transfers of such York premieres as The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!), Souvenir (Tony Award Nomination for actress Judy Kaye), and Jolson & Company, and revivals of Pacific Overtures and Sweeney Todd (four Tony Nominations including Best Revival) have all showcased the importance of The York and its programs. Recent New York premieres have included Marry Harry, A Taste of Things to Come, and Rothschild & Sons. The critically acclaimed musical Yank! received its Off-Broadway debut at The York in 2010, and subsequently to rave reviews in London — as did York’s Rothschild & Sons. The hit musical Cagney received its York premiere in 2015, transferring to the Westside Theatre for over 15 months. In 2017, Desperate Measures received a total of 15 award nominations (and three wins) that included “Best Musical” from the Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Off-Broadway Alliance and subsequently transferred across town to New World Stages. Unexpected Joy premiered Off-Broadway at The York, and later had a run at London’s Southwark Playhouse. The acclaimed new musical Midnight at The Never Get (Fall 2018) received a collective total of 7 nominations from the Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Off-Broadway Alliance Awards. The 2019 Winter Musicals in Mufti series celebrated the centennial of lyricist/librettist Alan Jay Lerner, with the 1979 musical Carmelina, followed by the musical The Day Before Spring (1945), closing with the New York premiere of Lolita, My Love (1971). Launching the York’s 50th Anniversary year last spring was the acclaimed revival of the hit musical Enter Laughing. The Fall 2019 Musicals in Mufti series celebrated the legendary Cole Porter with Fifty Million Frenchmen (1929), followed by The Decline and Fall of the Entire World as Seen Through the Eyes of Cole Porter (1965), and concluding with Panama Hattie (1940). Most recently, The York presented the world premiere of the new musical revue Anything Can Happen in the Theater: The Musical World of Maury Yeston and a transfer of Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation, the newest installment of Gerard Alessandrini’s beloved satirical revue. During the pandemic, The York has hosted a selection of streaming programming including the Songwriters in Mufti series, A Taste of York, the biweekly Show (+Tell!) series of panel discussion revisiting past York productions, the Musical Theater Training Program Showcase series, and the seven-week cabaret series Broadway’s Great American Songbook featuring George Abud, Klea Blackhurst, Robert Creighton, Karen Mason, Lee Roy Reams, Ben Vereen, Alton Fitzgerald White, and Lillias White. The York is the recipient of a special Drama Desk Award for “Developing and Producing New Musicals” and, more recently, a special Outer Critics Circle Award for “50 Years of Producing New and Classic Musicals.”
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