Lyricist Jack Lechner Brings 'HERE GOES NOTHING' to Birdland, 6/25

The Broadway at Birdland concert series presents "Here Goes Nothing," an evening of songs by Drama Desk-nominated lyricist Jack Lechner, on Monday, June 25 at 7pm. Guest performers will include Jill Abramovitz, Desmond Dutcher, Jeannine Frumess, Jose Llana, Lucas Steele, and Karen Ziemba. The music director will be Boko Suzuki.

Lyricist Jack Lechner wrote the 2010 off-Broadway musical The Kid with composer Andy Monroe and librettist Michael Zam. The show won the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Jerry Bock Award, a Jonathan Larson Grant, a GLAAD Media nomination, a Lucille Lortel Award nomination, and five Drama Desk nominations, including one for Lechner's lyrics. "Here Goes Nothing" will feature songs from The Kid, as well as from a number of unproduced and yet-to-be-produced shows with lyrics by Lechner.

Lechner is also a film and TV producer, with credits including Blue Valentine, The Fog Of War, the Sundance Channel series Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, the Trio series Parking Lot, the HBO documentary Left Of The Dial, the Showtime documentaries Very Young Girls and Naked On The Inside, and the pilot for Mad Men. As an executive at Miramax and Film Four, he developed and/or supervised such movies as The Crying Game, Good Will Hunting, Four Weddings And A Funeral, Little Voice, Shallow Grave, Backbeat, Velvet Goldmine, and The Full Monty. His books include Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You: One Man, Seven Days, Twelve Televisions and thepicture book Mary Had A Little Lamp. He teaches at both NYU and Columbia, and is on the steering committee of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.

He will be joined on the Birdland stage by an array of exciting musical theater performers. Jill Abramovitz recently appeared in Damn Yankees at Paper Mill Playhouse; her credits include 9 to 5 and Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me on Broadway, Junie B. Jones off-Broadway, and Funny Girl at Westchester Broadway Theatre. Desmond Dutcher recently wrote and starred in the one-man show Qui C'est Trenet? at the Emerging Artists New Works Series; his other off-Broadway credits include Is That A Gun In Your Pocket? and The Gay Naked Play. Jeannine Frumess made her off-Broadway debut in The Kid, and also appeared in Burn at the Fringe Festival. Jose Llana created the role of Chip in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, playing it off-Broadway, on Broadway, and on tour; his other Broadway credits include Rent, The King And I, and Flower Drum Song. Lucas Steele co-starred in The Kid as Terry, and was recently featured in Myths And Hymns at Prospect Theater Company; Broadway credits include The Threepenny Opera. Karen Ziembareceived the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in Contact. She was Tony-nominated for her work in Curtains, Never Gonna Dance, and Steel Pier; other notable roles include And The World Goes 'Round(Drama Desk Award),I Do! I Do!(Drama Desk nomination), Crazy For You, and leading roles at the New York City Opera in 110 In The Shadeand The Most Happy Fella.For Encores! at City Center she starred in Bye Bye Birdie, The Pajama Game, Ziegfeld Follies Of 1936, and Allegro.

Music director Boko Suzuki is another veteran of The Kid, having conducted and co-arranged the show. He was music director for the recent world premiere of A Room With A View at The Old Globe in San Diego, featuring Karen Ziemba; other credits include extensive stints with Wicked, Rent, Mamma Mia!, and Swing!, as well as conducting for The Who's Tommy, Sunset Boulevard, Miss Saigon, and Phantom of the Opera.

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