Mark Cortale Productions

Broadway Concert Series Hosted by Sirius XM Radio Star Seth Rudetsky Makes San Francisco Debut with Megan Hilty and Cheyenne Jackson

Megan Hilty of NBC’s Smash and Broadway’s Wicked and Cheyenne Jackson of TV’s 30 Rock, Glee and Broadway’s Xanadu kick-off Broadway @ The Nourse series

 

New York,, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/28/2014 --Hosted by Sirius XM Radio Star Seth Rudetsky whom the New York Times dubbed "The Mayor of Broadway," this unique series arrives this winter at The Nourse Theater with two concerts scheduled for Megan Hilty on February 7th and Cheyenne Jackson on March 14th. What differentiates this concert series from any other is the seamless mix of intimate behind-the-scenes stories from Broadway’s biggest stars – prompted by the encyclopedic-minded Rudetsky’s probing, funny, revealing questions – and their stellar singing of musical theatre repertoire. Producer Mark Cortale and his creative partner Rudetsky have quickly made their Broadway @ series the single most sought-after ticket to see Broadway’s musical mega-stars like Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald and Megan Mullally in concert. Since launching the series in 2011 at Provincetown’s Art House, its success has most recently led to runs in London, Sydney, Melbourne, New Orleans, Santa Monica, Fort Lauderdale, Detroit, San Antonio, and now San Francisco. The Broadway @ The Nourse concert series will benefit The San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Project Open Hand, and the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. Drag superstar Varla Jean Merman will be a special guest on the Cheyenne Jackson concert on March 14th. Tickets are now on-sale - further information can be found at www.cityboxoffice.com/broadway or by calling (415) 392-4400.

Megan Hilty, was a breakout star of NBC’s "Smash" and starred on Broadway in "Wicked" and "9 to 5: The Musical." She most recently starred as Liz on NBC’s "Sean Saves The World" with Sean Hayes of "Will & Grace" fame. A native of Seattle, Megan made her Broadway debut as Glinda in "Wicked" shortly after graduating from prestigious Carnegie Mellon University, and went on to perform the role in both the national tour and in Los Angeles. She has also appeared on New York stages as Lorelei Lee in the Encores! production of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," for which she earned rave reviews. For her critically acclaimed portrayal of Doralee Rhodes in Broadway’s "9 to 5: The Musical" she received nominations for the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League Awards, as well as the L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Award. She has previously performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center and with the Cincinnati Symphony. Megan’s voice was featured as Rosetta in Disney's "Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings" and also in Disney's "The Secret Life of Magic Gourd," "Phineas & Ferb," "Glenn Martin DDS," "American Dad," "Tinker Bell and the Pixie Hollow Games," "Robot & Monster" as well as singing as Snow White in the film "Shrek the Third." Megan is featured in Summertime Entertainment's animated film "Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return" with Kelsey Grammer, Hugh Dancy and Lea Michele. She can also be heard alongside Placido Domingo on the opera star’s duet album. Megan was recently signed to Sony Music in a partnership between Sony Masterworks and Columbia Records. Her most recent album, "It Happens All The Time," includes fresh interpretations of compositions by contemporary songwriters and producers.

Cheyenne Jackson has starred on both "30 Rock" opposite Tina Fey and "Glee" where he played the voice coach for the group Vocal Adrenaline, and can currently be seen in the Ira Sachs film "Love is Strange" opposite Marissa Tomei, John Lithgow and Alfred Molina. On Broadway, Cheyenne most recently starred in Encore’s production of "The Most Happy Fella" at City Center, "Finian’s Rainbow," "Damn Yankees," "Xanadu," "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and," "All Shook Up." Off-Broadway he was seen in the original cast of "Altar Boyz". He also recently appeared in "Behind the Candelabra," directed by Steven Soderberg and starring Michael Douglass and Matt Damon. Cheyenne has appeared in a number of films, including his portrayal of Mark Bingham in the 2006 Academy Award nominated "United 93?, "The Green" opposite Julia Ormond and Ileana Douglas, "Price Check" with Parker Posey, and "Lola Versus". Upcoming films include; "Mutual Friends," and "Lucky Stiff." Other television credits include; "Family Practice," "Life on Mars," "Ugly Betty," "It Takes a Village," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Local Talent," "Mockingbird Lane," and "The Onion News Empire." In concert, he has sold-out Carnegie Hall twice. "The Power of Two" in 2010 with Michael Feinstein followed by his solo debut concert with the NY Pops "Music of the Mad Men Era" in 2011. "The Power of Two" was hailed by the New York Times as "passionate," "impeccably harmonized," and "groundbreaking." "Music of the Mad Men Era" was lauded by the NY Daily News which said "Cheyenne Jackson has got it all and he showed it all: the voice, the moves, the quirky self-effacing humor. He gleamed like Don Draper’s Brylcreemed hair." This past year also saw the release of his new album "I’m Blue Skies".

Jeffery Roberson aka Varla Jean Merman starred Off-Broadway in the musical "Lucky Guy" opposite Leslie Jordan at the Little Shubert, prompting The New York Times to say "If Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman had stood in front of the right pair of funhouse mirrors, they might have resembled Ms. Merman and Mr. Jordan in stature as well as comedic talent." He played the role of Mary Sunshine in the revival of "Chicago" on Broadway and won Boston’s Elliot Norton Award for Best Musical Performance in "The Phantom of the OPRAH." He starred as Mother Superior in SpeakEasy Stage's "The Divine Sister" by Charles Busch in Boston. Jeffery as Varla Jean has filled concert halls and cabarets across the world including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, the Public Theater, London’s Soho Theatre, LA’s Renberg Theatre, and San Francisco’s Victoria Theatre, Plush Room and most recently Feinstein's. Jeffery recently completed shooting the feature films "Hush Up Sweet Charlotte" directed by Billy Clift and the sequel to "Girls Will Be Girls" directed by Richard Day. His last film "Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads" played the 2012 festival circuit and is currently available exclusively via SethTV.com. He made his network television debut on "All My Children," guest starred as Varla Jean in "Ugly Betty’s" final season and on Bravo's "Project Runway" Season 5 as the winning model for the show's drag challenge.

Seth Rudetsky is the afternoon host on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio’s On Broadway as well as the host of Seth Speaks on Sirius/XM Stars. As a pianist, Seth has played for more than a dozen Broadway shows including "Ragtime," "Les Miz" and "Phantom." He was the Artistic Producer/Music Director for the first five annual Actors Fund Fall Concerts including "Dreamgirls" with Audra McDonald (recorded on Nonesuch Records) and "HAIR" with Jennifer Hudson (recorded on Ghostlight Records, Grammy Nomination). In 2007 he made his Broadway acting debut playing Sheldon (singing "Magic to Do" in a devastating unitard) in "The Ritz" directed by Joe Mantello for The Roundabout Theater. Off-Broadway he wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed "Rhapsody in Seth" (directed by Peter Flynn) at the Actors Playhouse and has also appeared on TV on "Law & Order: CI" and had a recurring role on "All My Children." As an author, he penned the non-fiction Q Guide To Broadway, the novel Broadway Nights and the recently published My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan (Random House). Broadway Nights is available on Audible.com starring Kristin Chenoweth, Andrea Martin and Jonathan Groff and My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ana Gasteyer and Megan Hilty. Seth played himself on "Kathy Griffin; My Life on the D-List," was the vocal coach on MTV’s "Legally Blonde" reality show and starred opposite Sutton Foster in "They’re Playing Our Song" for the Actors Fund. Recently, he co-wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed "Disaster!," a 1970's disaster movie musical which is now slated to transfer to Broadway in 2015. Right now, he tours the country performing with Broadway stars like Patti LuPone, Sutton Foster and Audra McDonald. His newest book, Seth's Broadway Diary, was ranked as a number one bestseller on Amazon.com For more info: www.SethTV.com.

About Mark Cortale Productions:
Mark Cortale (Artist Manager & Producer) is the Producing Artistic Director at The Art House in Provincetown, Massachusetts. In his inaugural season in 2011, he founded the Broadway @ The Art House series featuring Seth Rudetsky as host and pianist. The artists he has presented on the series to-date have included Broadway superstars Patti LuPone, Chita Rivera, Sutton Foster, Audra McDonald, Megan Mullally, Megan Hilty, Jane Krakowski, Cheyenne Jackson, Christine Ebersole, among others. He also co-founded Well-Strung, The Singing String Quartet and has produced their hit shows, each directed by Donna Drake, throughout the US, and in the U.K. and Australia. In 2012 Mark produced the feature film Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads and launched Seth Rudetsky’s new Broadway-themed web network at www.SethTV.com. Over the past three seasons he has produced the Broadway @ series in Provincetown, New Orleans, Australia (with Megan Mullally), London’s West End (with Patti LuPone), Los Angeles, the Poconos, Fort Lauderdale, San Antonio, Hartford, Detroit and just announced in San Francisco.

Listing Information:
Mark Cortale Presents:
Broadway @ The Nourse
A Concert Series Benefiting San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Project Open Hand &
San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus

Megan Hilty featuring Seth Rudetsky as pianist & host
February 7th 2015 at 8:00 PM

Cheyenne Jackson with special guest Varla Jean Merman featuring Seth Rudetsky as pianist and host
March 14th 2015 at 8:00 PM

For tickets and info, please visit www.cityboxoffice.com/broadway or call (415) 392-4400.