<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="MS Exchange Server version 6.5.7036.0">
<TITLE>Stages Restaurant at The Cleveland Play House presents Broadway Melodies of 1939</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<!-- Converted from text/rtf format -->
<P ALIGN=CENTER><B><FONT SIZE=5 FACE="Arial">Stages Restaurant at The Cleveland Play House presents<I> Broadway Melodies of 1939</I></FONT></B></P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">CLEVELAND (January 17, 2008)</FONT></B><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow"> – The new public restaurant at The Cleveland Play House, Stages, announces the first offering in the “Live at Stages” cabaret series: </FONT><B></B><B><I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">BROADWAY MELODIES OF 1939</FONT></I></B><I></I><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">. Performances will take place on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:30 from January 25-February 2. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">Presented by Mark Flanders and Joan Ellison, with pianist Jennifer Heemstra,</FONT><I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">Broadway Melodies of 1939</FONT></I><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow"> will bring back the hit tunes from radio and talking pictures – as Bing and Judy sang ‘em. Jump aboard the streetcar headed to Cleveland and swing to such tunes as “Good Morning,” “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” “Singin’ in the Rain, “Over the Rainbow,” and many other showstoppers from such songwriters as Rodgers & Hart, Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Freed & Edens and many more.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">Tickets are $15. For reservations, call Stages at 216-795-1111.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">Stages will be serving a full menu during the cabaret performances. Cash and major credit cards are accepted.</FONT>
</P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">ABOUT THE PERFORMERS</FONT></B>
<BR><B><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">Joan Ellison</FONT></B><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow"> grew up singing along with Judy Garland on “Over the Rainbow.” By age 16, she was performing in professional opera, and went on to earn Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Oberlin Conservatory. Since then, she’s happily returned to her first love: the American musical theatre songbook. Recent critically acclaimed theatrical roles include Julie Jordan in</FONT><I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">Carousel</FONT></I><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow"> (Kalliope Stage)</FONT><I><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">,</FONT></I><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow"> Lizzie Curry in</FONT><I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">110 in the Shade</FONT></I><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow"> (Kalliope), Nellie Forbush in</FONT><I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">South Pacific</FONT></I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">(JCC Theatre), Claudia in</FONT><I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">Nine</FONT></I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">(Cain Park Theatre), and</FONT><I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">The Music of Jacques Brel</FONT></I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">(Kalliope). In February 2005, she made her Severance Hall debut with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, opposite Broadway baritone William Michals, in “To Broadway with Love,” and made an encore appearance with the orchestra as their headliner on New Year’s Eve. An adjunct professor of voice at the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music, specializing in musical-theatre belt technique, she is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><B><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">Mark Flanders</FONT></B> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">has specialized in two Golden Ages: the Golden Age of Theatre in Elizabethan England, and the Golden Age of American Popular Song. With a degree in theatre from Miami University, he studied voice with Wylie Longmore in London, Howard Ross in NYC, and the master, Leon Thurman in Minneapolis. Taking time out from a Master’s program in dance at George Washington University, he played Feste and Biron with Shakespeare & Company in Washington, D.C. He returned to Cleveland to concentrate on transcribing the dances of Fred Astaire and studying the vocal recordings of the 1930’s, then played Prince Escalus in Great Lakes Theatre Festival’s</FONT><I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">Romeo and</FONT></I><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow"></FONT><I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">Juliet</FONT></I> <FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">and worked as the warm-up act for Garrison Keillor. He has tap-danced and sung in most of Cleveland’s remaining performance venues from the ‘30s: the Palace Theatre, the Ohio Theatre, the Terrace Room at the Statler Hotel, the Amphitheatre at Cain Park, the Alcazar Hotel, the Silver Grille, and Gray’s Armory.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><B><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow">Jennifer Heemstra,</FONT></B><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow"> pianist, has performed as soloist and chamber musician, as well as theatrical accompanist, throughout the United States. Along with Cleveland Orchestra clarinetist Daniel Gilbert, she has concertized in Illinois and Ohio, and participated in festivals in New York, California, and Michigan. She has been a featured soloist in broadcasts over the fine arts radio station, WCLV. Currently the staff accompanist for Case Western Reserve University, Ms. Heemstra has also performed with Cleveland Opera, Cleveland Opera On Tour, Lyric Opera Cleveland, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Mercury Summer Stock, John Carroll University, and Kalliope Stage. She received her BM in Performance from Michigan State University, and her MM in Performance from The Cleveland Institute of Music, winning scholarships to both institutions.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT FACE="Arial Narrow"># # #</FONT></P>
</BODY>
</HTML>