Tonya Pinkins' BRING ON MEN Series Kicks Off with Brad Simmons at Joe's Pub Tonight

Joe's Pub will welcome Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins in her return to their stage for an ongoing series BRING ON THE MEN. Best known for her celebrated roles in Caroline, or Change and Jelly's Last Jam, Tonya made her Broadway debut in the original cast of Merrily We Roll Along. Broadway audiences have also delighted in her performances in Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Play On!, The Wild Party and Radio Golf, while television audiences know her from As The World Turns, All My Children, Army Wives and 24.

BRING ON THE MEN will kick off with Brad Simmons tonight, February 18, 2013 at 9:30 PM, and March 24 at 9:30pm.

This post Valentine's day evening of music will feature Tonya and Brad singing signature original arrangements and medleys of rock, pop, broadway and R & B tunes. Tonya and Brad will be celebrating the search for love and men and the friends who support us on the rocky road to love.

This is Tonya's second concert performance since her celebrated Jazz at Lincoln Center appearance in 2005 when she performed her acclaimed Harold Arlen Concert and her Sold Out performance of the music of Ethel Waters at 54 Below in August 2012. This is Tonya and Brad's first performance together.

Tonya is delighted to be singing again. It has been eight years since she has done a Broadway musical. Tonya's love of singing is itching to express and cabaret is the perfect venue for her unique gifts

JOE'S PUB at The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street (between East 4th and Astor Place) NYC, adjacent to The Public Theater. For tickets, call 212-967-7555, go to joespub.com, or visit in person at The Public Theater Box Office from 1pm to 6pm Joe's Pub from 6pm to 10pm (Both located at 425 Lafayette St. TABLE RESERVATIONS: 212-539-8778.

In the past twelve months alone, Tonya Pinkins has given five critically acclaimed performances in roles as diverse as an aging Countess, a syphilitic Bawd, a bitter ghetto mom, a diabetic great grandmother and a faithful Latina from the Bronx. A visual artist with Huntington's disease and Lena in A Raisin In The Sun. Her performance in MILK LIKE SUGAR won the 2012 Lucille Lortel Award.

Tonya appears opposite Woody Allen in the upcoming film FADING GIGOLO by John Turturro and in the 2013 Sundance Film Festival selection NEWLYWEEDS by Shaka King and in HOME by Jono Oliver

Tonya's performances have been nominated for the Olivier, Jefferson, Helen Hayes, NAACP, Dramaleague, What's On Stage, Audience Choice, Soap Opera Digest, Noel and Ovation awards. She is the winner of the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critic's Circle, Clarence Derwent, Monarch, Black theater Alliance , Garland, L.A. Drama Critics, Audelco and Obie Awards.

She is the author of GET OVER YOURSELF: How to drop the drama and claim the life you deserve. (Hyperion Books). She is the creator of The Actorpreneur Attitude. And has given workshops lectures and life coaching to businesses and individuals across the globe.

A single mother of four. Tonya is an activist for women and children's rights. She has won legal battles in several states on the trial and appellate level as a self-represented litigant.

Tonya is an accomplished painter and art teacher. she has also been an teacher at every level of education from pre-K through graduate school.

OPRAH named her "One of the Ten women in America who will take your breath away" and TIME OUT New York included Tonya as One of Broadways 25 all Time Greatest Divas. Visit her at www.tonyapinkins.com

Brad Simmons - NPR Radio named him "The Man". New York Daily News said "At the Steinway, Brad manages all the songs, all the different styles as if he has been rehearsing them forever." Most recognized from the cult film Camp, Brad music directed Lysistrata Jones on and off Broadway last season. Other theatre credits include Mr & Mrs Fitch (2econd Stage), Like Love (NYMF, Studio Tisch), Clear (Millenium Park, Chicago, NYC), Sunday in the Park with George (Actors Studio/New School), and he reworked Starting Here, Starting Now with Richard Maltby & David Shire. Brad toured The Next Best Thing to Love with Paul Oakley Stovall (Chicago, DC, NYC). He is the Head of the Junior Program at The O'Neill Theater Center and serves as a resident Musical Director for 54 Below's weekly show "Backstage at 54 Below" with Susie Mosher. As a composer, Brad has penned A Kiss from Alexander, A Dickens of a Carol and A Woman Onstage with librettist/lyricist Stephan DeGhelder and Dreamworld with Cory Krueckeberg.