Opera singer and recitalist, Stephanie Blythe, will premiere her new cabaret act, The Tender Trap, as a special benefit for The Mabel Mercer Foundation on Thursday evening, June 14 at Feinstein’s / 54 Below. Ms. Blythe, acclaimed by The New York Times as “a force of nature,” will celebrate “love, obsession and the stuff in between,” in a repertoire selected from the Great Popular Songbook of the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s—a golden age for the melodies and lyrics of Tin Pan Alley, Broadway and (eventually) Hollywood. Long the singing champion of both classic and contemporary material, Ms. Blythe will be musically directed for The Tender Trap by Craig Terry.
Ms. Blythe candidly acknowledges that, “I grew up in a jazz household, not a classical household;” she credits her grandfather’s taste in popular vocal music as a cornerstone of her own passion. “There’s such a wide range of emotions and topics in the 1910-1950s catalog; all of those songs operate on so many levels —and they reflect so many personal moments. As a result, this material has so often taken on a life of its own. In the process of selecting and learning a song I want to perform, I study what it originally meant to (or in the lives of) its composer and lyricist. Then I determine what it now means to me—and I try to share all of that with the audience.”
Ms. Blythe’s perceptions of the Great Popular Songbook are much in keeping with those of the namesake of the Foundation. Mabel Mercer (1900-1984) enjoyed a seven-decade career, during which she introduced, revived and/or re-popularized countless masterworks from the men and women whose words and music defined both world-wide entertainment and lives throughout the twentieth-century.
Reservations for the one-night event are available only through The Mabel Mercer Foundation at 212-980-3026; general seating is priced at $250 and VIP reserved seating—including a 7:45 PM post-concert meeting with Ms. Blythe—is priced at $500. (A portion of these prices is tax-deductible.) All reservations include cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at 5:30 PM, with Ms. Blythe’s performance to follow at 6:30 PM.
Feinstein’s / 54 Below is located between Broadway and Eighth Avenue at 254 West 54th Street, NYC
Thanks to the generosity of Sanford and Isanne Fisher, all proceeds from this event will benefit The Mabel Mercer Foundation.
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