This is a case of one-plus-one adding up to three.
Broadway star Brian Lane Green, and Lee Lessack, a top cabaret artist, regularly used pianist John Boswell as their musical arranger and director. Brian suggested the three get together for a show. What came next was Three Men and A Baby…Grand.
“There was just a really great connection vocally.” Lee Lessack told me during our phone conversation this week. “We quickly became known for really intricate vocal arrangements and tight harmonies.”
The new show ran for a month at LA’s Gardenia Jazz Club, then moved for a month to the Plush Room in San Francisco, a month in New York, and then around the country.
In 2005, they refreshed the show with a Rat Pack Salute and went back on the road.
Saturday night, this talented trio plays the Palladium with a concert that represents the best of their Broadway and the Rat Pack shows. Songwriters include Richard Rodgers, Johnny Mercer, Henry Mancini, the Bernstein-Sondheim songs from West Side Story and hits from Man of La Mancha and Wicked. Their Rat Pack tunes are not imitations, but hits by Sinatra, Martin and Davis done in tight harmonies.
“We embraced the songs they made famous, but approached them as a vocal trio,” Lessack told me.
All three men are at the top of their musical game. Brian Lane Green is a Tony nominee who made his Broadway debut as Huck Finn in Big River. John Boswell has worked as musical director for Judy Collins, Andy Williams and Bob Newhart. Lessack tours as the star of his own cabaret shows including a tribute to Johnny Mercer. Billboard Magazine calls his singing, “Cabaret romanticism of a high order.”
Don’t miss the show this Saturday night, April 21st, at the Palladium. For tickets and more info call the box office at 727 822-3590 or visit www.mypalladium.org
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