The Broadway at Birdland concert series will present “Here Goes Nothing,” an evening of songs by Drama Desk-nominated lyricist Jack Lechner, on Monday, June 25 at 7 pm.  Guest performers will include Nancy Anderson, Chris Critelli, Desmond Dutcher, Jeannine Frumess, Andy Monroe, Jeremy Schonfeld, Lucas Steele, and Karen Ziemba.  The music director is Boko Suzuki.

 

Lyricist Jack Lechner wrote the 2010 off-Broadway musical The Kid with composer Andy Monroe and librettist Michael Zam.  The show won the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Jerry Bock Award, a Jonathan Larson Grant, a GLAAD Media nomination, a Lucille Lortel Award nomination, and five Drama Desk nominations, including one for Lechner’s lyrics.  “Here Goes Nothing” will feature songs from The Kid, as well as from a number of unproduced and yet-to-be-produced shows with lyrics by Lechner.

 

Lechner is also a film and TV producer, with credits including Blue Valentine, The Fog Of War, the Sundance Channel series Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, the Trio series Parking Lot, the HBO documentary Left Of The Dial, the Showtime documentaries Very Young Girls and Naked On The Inside, and the pilot for Mad Men.  As an executive at Miramax and Film Four, he developed and/or supervised such movies as The Crying Game, Good Will Hunting, Four Weddings And A Funeral, Little Voice, Shallow Grave, Backbeat, Velvet Goldmine, and The Full Monty.  His books include Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You: One Man, Seven Days, Twelve Televisions and thepicture book Mary Had A Little Lamp.  He teaches at both NYU and Columbia, and is on the steering committee of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.

He will be joined on the Birdland stage by an array of exciting musical theater performers.  Nancy Anderson made her Broadway debut as Mona in A Class Act, and also appeared in the Broadway revival of Wonderful Town.  She received a 2000 Drama Desk Award Nomination for her portrayal of all the women in Jolson and Company at the York Theater, and a 2005 Drama Desk Nomination as the title role in Fanny Hill.  Other notable credits include the title role in Peter Pan at Paper Mill, City of Angels at the Goodspeed Opera House, and No, No, Nanette and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn at Encores!  Singer-songwriter Chris Critelli is a founding member of the Hive Theatre Company, appearing in their acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as many others.  His New York performances include The Hypochondriac, The New Hopeville Comics, Kidnapping Laura Linney, and frequent appearances at the Songbook Series at Lincoln Center.  Desmond Dutcher recently wrote and starred in the one-man show Qui C’est Trenet? at the Emerging Artists New Works Series; his other off-Broadway credits include Is That A Gun In Your Pocket? and The Gay Naked Play.  Jeannine Frumess made her off-Broadway debut in The Kid, and also appeared in Burn at the Fringe Festival.  Andy Monroe wrote the music for The Kid, and is currently writing book, music, and lyrics for an original musical called Drive.  He also wrote music and lyrics for The Tragic And Horrible Life Of The Singing Nun, which was presented in the 2006 New York Musical Theater Festival, and was a 2007-8 Dramatists Guild Fellow.  Andy has recorded three solo albums; The Village Voice called him one of “the most talented openly gay singer-songwriters in the country.”  Singer-songwriter Jeremy Schonfeld’s albums include Drift, 37 Notebooks, and the recent Iron & Coal.  He also acted in the independent film Clear Blue Tuesday, for which he wrote two songs.  Jeremy has performed at Madison Square Garden, Birdland, Joe’s Pub, B.B. King’s, the Public Theatre, Symphony Space, and Lincoln Center, and is doing a three-concert residency at the Duplex this summer.  Lucas Steele co-starred in The Kid as Terry, and was recently featured in Myths And Hymns at Prospect Theater Company; Broadway credits include The Threepenny Opera.  Karen Ziemba received the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in Contact.  She was Tony-nominated for her work in Curtains, Never Gonna Dance, and Steel Pier; other notable roles include And The World Goes ‘Round (Drama Desk Award), I Do! I Do! (Drama Desk nomination), Crazy For You, and leading roles at the New York City Opera in 110 In The Shade and The Most Happy Fella.  For Encores! at City Center, she starred in Bye Bye Birdie, The Pajama Game, Ziegfeld Follies Of 1936, and Allegro.