Karen Akers Sings Sondheim at San Francisco's The RRazz Room, Now thru 9/16

The RRazz Room, San Francisco's premier nightclub, presents cabaret singer and actress, Karen Akers in her critically acclaimed show "Live, Laugh, Love: Akers Sings Sondheim." Featuring songs from Company, Follies, Sunday in the Park With George and more, the evening was called "ravishing, brilliant and sophisticated" by Rex Reed in The New York Observer when it debuted last year at the Oak Room in New York. The show, which is directed by Eric Michael Gillett and features Musical Director Don Rebic on piano, runs for three nights only tonight, September 14 and 15 at 7:30 PM and September 16 at 4:00 PM.

Karen Akers, one of America's most arresting and successful concert and cabaret stars, has performed throughout the United States, Europe and the former Soviet Union. She has appeared in many prestigious venues worldwide from Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, New York's Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, and London's Pizza on the Park. Her career also includes three performances at the White House. As audiences cheer, critics are overwhelmed; The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner says of her sound: "It's a great voice, an instrument with the power of Streisand's, the dark passion of Piaf's and the lean irony of Dietrich's, but a voice uniquely her own, because it's coupled with an intelligence that creates moments of riveting theatricality.

She appeared at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway as one of the original stars of the Tony Award-winning musical Grand Hotel, directed by Tommy Tune. She made her debut on the Great White Way in 1982 in Nine (also directed by Mr. Tune) for which she won a Theatre World Award as well as a Tony Award nomination. Ms. Akers has had two of her own PBS television specials: "Presenting Karen Akers" and "Karen Akers: On Stage at Wolf Trap." The latter is available on home video. In addition to her own PBS specials, she has performed in PBS musical tributes to Ira Gershwin and Duke Ellington.

Karen's film roles include the femme fatale in Mike Nichols's Heartburn opposite Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo and Vibes.

The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko is located at 222 Mason Street, San Francisco, Calif. Karen's show will play tonight, September 14 at 7:30 PM, Saturday, September 15 at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, September 16 at 4:00 PM. Tickets are $45. Call 800-380-3095 // 415-394-1189 or visit www.therrazzroom.com.

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