New York City - Beatnik Cafe, a musical revue of the Jazz Beat Generation, will make its New York City premiere on April 11, 2010 at 7 p.m. The show, which will take viewers on a trip back in time to the Beatnik scene of cool jazz music, Jack Kerouac, and poetry of the 40s to the 60s, can be seen live at the Richmond Shepard Theater in New York City.
Beatnik Café will star living legends of the Beat Generation, including jazz legend Sheila Jordan, Lillie Bryant-Howard of the 1950’s million seller duo Billy & Lillie, and Richmond Shepard as Lord Buckley.
Beatnik Cafe is a high-energy musical revue which features the music of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Cannonball Adderley, and other prominent musicians from the mid l940s through the early 1960s. It is a journey through the Bebop and Beatnik eras, and features many classic songs including "Twisted", "Yip Rock", and the scathing social commentary of Nina Simone’s "Mississippi Goddamn."
Sheila Jordan will be on hand to share her stories of the era and sing her tribute to the Bird. Lillie Bryant-Howard, who had numerous hits such as "La Dee Dah" and "Lucky Ladybug", will also be featured. The revue is interwoven with stories and writings from Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Allen Ginsberg, Ferlenghetti, and the humor of Lord Buckley. Richmond Shepard, who performed with Lord Buckley in the l950’s, will perform Jonah and the Whale. Musical Director Chris Bakriges will be playing the piano, with Chris Sullivan on bass, Michael T.A. Thompson on percussion, Alan Won on Saxophone, and Maggie Kus and Kat Gang on background jazz vocals. Jake Lewis will be performing as Jack Kerouac. Namaya acts as the Beat poet who guides the audience through the cultural, history, politics, music and word of the beat times. Naomi Bennett will handle duties as the director of the production.
Beatnik Cafe has received favorable reviews from critics. Annie Guyon of The Rutland Herald said "The Beatnik Cafe is an artistic simpatico that’s tough to cultivate in a multimedia ensemble piece of such complexity." Beatnik Café "Is one hip, high-caliber theatrical event." This unconventional cabaret is part homage, part history lesson, part pop-culture happening, weaving renowned gems such as Brubeck’s "Take Five," Monk’s "Round Midnight" into the sociopolitical fabric of Ginsberg’s "Howl, "Coney Island of the Mind" and more mainstream iconography such as James Dean and Dobie Gillis. Taking the audience from the Beat era’s big band beginnings in the 1940s through quirky 1950s TV hits and into smokey New York City clubs, Moroccan opium dens and the teeming North Beach poetry scene of the ’60s, Beatnik Café is an engaging timeline of the musical, literary, and trend-setting luminaries."
The audience is invited to come to the show dressed in their beatnik & hipster threads and finger pop themselves back in time.
Tickets are still available for Beatnik Cafe and can be ordered online at booking@thejazzpoet.com
