Clifford Bell, Hillary Rollins and Lampkin Music Group present:

“Love Don’t Need a Reason: A Benefit for Marsha Malamet” on Tuesday, May 29th at Catalina’s Jazz Club.

Hosted by Award winning writer/actor/personality, Bruce Vilanch

VIP Tickets are $75.00. General Admission: $50.00. Ticket Link: Click Here

At press time, Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter, Melissa Manchester; Golden Globe/MAC Award winner, Amanda McBroom; Award Award singer/songwriter, Michele Brourman; Actress/ singer, Mary Jo Mundy; Singer, Ken Stacy, Singer, Kimaya Seward; Award winning singer/musical director/pianist, Todd Schroeder, Former Harlette and Hairspray Star, Charlo Crossley; Pop Producer Greg Wells; Actress/singer, Patricia Whiteman; Songwriter, Alan Roy Scott; Songwriter, Matthew Levine and Award winning producer/songwriter and Marsha’s producer, Stephan Oberhoff have all signed on to perform. More to be announced.

Directed by Clifford Bell.

This special show will showcase an array of performances, video and written testimonials and comments on the Life and Music of Marsha Malamet.

Explanation: This benefit is to help pay for all medical needs and some living expenses, due to the fact that what Marsha suffers from (we still don’t know exactly) is not covered by insurance. Whether it is an autoimmune disorder, or a metabolic disease, treatments are expensive. In 2015 she was diagnosed with early stage Parkinson’s, then a year later, Lyme Disease. She has spent a lot of money to see different doctors, who’s treatments have not been successful.

Now she is under the care of a new doctor who treated Kris Kristofferson successfully who was challenged by something similar. Right now, she has a 24/7 caregiver, and is mostly disable, using a wheelchair and walker.

The unfortunate thing is that she lost the muscle strength and coordination, and can’t play the piano, sing, or write. The performers honoring Marsha with their appearance are all friends of her’s, having known her or written with her.

Malamet Biography: At the age of 21, Marsha made her solo recording debut, “Coney Island Winter,” on Decca Records. It was engineered by Brooks Arthur. She performed at top venues in New York supporting the CD, including Lincoln Center, and her songs have been featured on Broadway: first, in Peter Allen’s “Up in One,” and then “The Boy from Oz,” based on Peter’s life.

Marsha’s songs have been recorded by the best in the business, artists include Barbra Streisand, Faith Hill, Luther Vandross, Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, Meatloaf, the late Barbara Cook, Judy Collins and Sheena Easton. Marsha’s top ten international hit single, “I Am Blessed,” sung by the UK’s pop group, Eternal, moved the Pope to invite them to perform the song at the Vatican.

Her song “Love Don’t Need A Reason,” co-written with the late Peter Allen and Michael Callen, has become an iconic theme for the Aids/HIV epidemic, recorded by over 35 performers and gay choruses worldwide.

Marsha was Grammy nominated for her songwriting involvement on the original Broadway cast CD “The Boy from Oz,” starring Hugh Jackman.

Marsha’s music takes root in people’s hearts and minds.

VIP Tickets are $75.00. General Admission is $50.00. Two Drink Minimum.

Tickets can be purchased by online @: Click Here

Catalina Jazz Club. 6725 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, California. 90028.

To hear Marsha’s music or to purchase, please visit:  Click Here

www.MarshaMalamet.com

For interviews and other information, please email Ralph at: Lampkinmusic@gmail.com

The post Bruce Vilanch Hosted “Love Don’t Need a Reason: A Benefit for Marsha Malamet” on Tuesday, May 29th at Catalina’s Jazz Club first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Join Boulder Jewish Family Service (JFS) for the fifth annual Reel Hope Boulder featuring award-winning writer, comedian, songwriter, and actor Bruce Vilanch on Saturday, October 14 at 7:00 pm at the Boulder JCC, 6007 Oreg Avenue. This fundraising event will include a wine and beer reception with substantial hors d’oeuvres and a first-hand account of Bruce’s storied decades-long career. Sponsors will enjoy an exclusive reception with Bruce at 6:30 pm.

All proceeds support the life-transforming work of Boulder JFS, which provides older adults, adults with disabilities, their families, and individuals in crisis with services to enhance their quality of life.

About Bruce Vilanch

With his unmistakable presence—characterized by a big-girl figure, oversized red glasses, a shaggy blonde mane, and usually a hilarious T-shirt—Bruce Vilanch has been one of Hollywood’s most colorful characters for decades. His campy presence and outrageous apparel only heighten his broad appeal.

He’s known to many as an onscreen character actor and comedian, but Vilanch achieved his biggest successes as a writer for stand-up comics such as Bette Midler, Billy Crystal, Lily Tomlin, and Rosanne Barr. For many years, he was the go-to comic for stand-up sets and a first-choice writer for events, including the Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, and Tony telecasts.

For more information about sponsorship opportunities and tickets, please contact Bonni Raderman, Boulder JFS development associate, at 720.749.3404 or braderman@jewishfamilyservice.org. Tickets will go on sale in September.

The post Save the Date for Reel Hope Boulder Featuring Bruce Vilanch first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Bruce Vilanch went from a bathhouse bestie to a six time Emmy Award winner. Beginning as a Chicago Tribune writer he met a struggling singer named Bette Midler and began writing for her. This led to more writing gigs including the Academy Awards and many concerts.

He performed in an Off-Broadway one man show and on Broadway in the musical Hairspray. On TV he’s judged RuPaul’s Drag Race and starred in the third season of Celebrity Fit Club. In the movies he was the subject of a documentary Get Bruce! and the gay body image documentary The Adonis Factor.

Recently, he visited Chicago for a dedication ceremony in Lake View’s Legacy Walk for activist Vito Russo.

JN: (Jerry Nunn) Hi, Bruce. Do you have a favorite new t-shirt?

BV: (Bruce Vilanch) I always like the ones that are current.

JN: Like a Trump one?

BV: Yes, it would say, “Like his hand is big enough to grab a pussy!”

JN: Are you glad to be back in Chicago?

BV: I love it here. When I lived here in the ‘70s there was no River North. The old Chicago that I loved is here.

This Legacy Walk is unique and something for people to do while they are here. It is important for all people to include it in their itinerary whether gay or straight. People come here for Market Days and IML from all over the world. It would be nice if they could sprinkle a little community awareness into the mix. It is in the middle of the party zone so they can’t avoid it. It will never be the Hollywood Walk of Fame but no one has anything like this.

JN: Talk about Vito Russo. I know he was good friends with Lily Tomlin.

BV: He stayed with Lily when he visited California. I met him through Bette Midler. He was an early fan and saw her at the baths. He got her to do early gay liberation things with him. This was all in the documentary that was about him.

He was a weird combination of activist and film critic. He wanted to recognize the role of gay people in the film business and how they were depicted. He was a pioneer. He was also a big party boy. He was a renaissance man!

JN: I remember when the trailer for Making Love came out and it was the first big gay movie.

BV: It was the first mainstream movie. There were lots of foreign and indie movies before that. At the time it was treated the only way it could have been treated, as a social issue. Hopefully we have come out of that.

When you watch Modern Family where it is one couple of a multiple couple family you realize that it is getting there.

JN: What is your opinion about gay movies these days?

BV: Now everyone can watch a movie on their telephone. We put them out there in the mainstream with film festivals but they are mostly lousy movies. I remember when La Cage aux Folles came out. It was shortly after Making Love. There was a big debate on how we want to be depicted, sensitive muscle men or old queens in drag? That is the community. We run the spectrum. No one is being dishonest. You have to learn to accept that is who we are. Not every Black woman is Diahann Carroll or every Black man is Sidney Poitier. There is a full range of humanity out there. We have to embrace it and own it. If we own it then they can’t mess with it.

JN: What do you think of the show Grace and Frankie?

BV: I love them. It is fun to watch. They are all friends of mine.

JN: Are you planning on watching Hairspray Live?

BV: Of course. I want to see what they do with it. Harvey has rewritten it and shortened it. It looks well cast. I think they are doing it more along the Grease model than The Sound of Music model, which is a good thing.

The stage show of Grease started here at Kingston Mines in Lincoln Park. I was the first one to write about it in 1970. I am very proud of that. I knew it would be bigger than Hair. The creators looked at me like I was out of my mind. It is the biggest thing ever and I said it would be.

The Grease that you see now has had a lot of the sting taken out of it, including the homophobia.

Here it was done in a high school space and we all sat on the floor of the gym on mats. During intermission they threw Twinkies into the crowd, candy not young boys! It was early interactive theater.

JN: Like Rocky Horror?

BV: Yes, kind of like what it became after the movie. It has evolved.

JN: What are you working on now?

BV: I wrote a musical, which we did in the summer in Connecticut. It with all of Petula Clark’s music from the ‘60s. It has an original book, so think Mamma Mia! We want that to happen again.

JN: I was just listening to Petula and thinking why hasn’t someone done a musical about her?

BV: It is not about her. I told her at a benefit about it and she said, “I hope it’s not about me because I am very boring.”

She is not Carole King or Frankie Valli. Her story is not that story. It is not dramatic. So we are using the music to tell another story like Mamma Mia!

The post Bruce Vilanch Visits Lake View For Legacy Walk first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Manhattan’s robust cabaret community turned out to honor its own Thursday evening as the annual MAC Awards were presented at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill on 42nd Street.

For 19 years, MAC — the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs — has honored nightclub performers who make the city a little funnier and a whole lot more musical. Presenters, all of whom continue to work in cabaret, included Julie Budd, Barb Jungr, Billy Stritch, Broadway star Lina Koutrakos, Village People founding member Randy Jones and comic actor Bruce Vilanch, who is perhaps best known these days for co-writing the Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy awards shows.

The 54 Sings Series, created by Phil Geoffrey Bond and produced at 54 Below, took top honors for show of the year.

Top vocalist awards went to Gabrielle Stravelli for her performance at the Metropolitan Room and Stearns Matthews for his shows “Sneak Peak” and “Spark” at The Duplex.

Stacy Sullivan, creator of “On the Air: Songs of Marian McPartland” took the award for best major artist. “Revolution,” which ran at The Duplex, took the best revue trophy. And the award for impersonation went to drag artist Rev Roger Anthony Yolanda Mapes.

Singer/pianist Steve Ross, who reopened the Oak Room at the Hotel Algonquin in 1981 and has performed around the world since then, received one of the evening’s two lifetime achievement awards.

Belter Baby Jane Dexter received the other, and performed two songs after being introduced by Vilanch, who often opened for Dexter when she appeared at the nightclub Reno Sweeney in the 1970s.

The MAC Board of Directors award went to David Kenney, producer and host of the radio show “Everything Old Is New Again” on WBAI-FM.

Email: ervolino@northjersey.com

The post Cabaret group honors the year’s best at B.B. King’s first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Kritzerland at Sterling’s Upstairs at The Federal presents “THE BIRTHDAY BOYS: THE SONGS OF STEPHEN SONDHEIM & ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER” on Sunday, March 8, 2015 at 7:00 PM.

Sue Raney was signed to Capitol Records at age 17 and, with Nelson Riddle, recorded her first album,”When Your Lover Is Gone.” Since then, she’s recorded more than 20 other albums singing Johnny Mandel, Henry Mancini, and dozens of other Great American Songbook songs. She’s been raved about by such NY critics as Rex Reed, who says he’d travel to LA just to hear her sing, by Nat “King” Cole, and by Julie Andrews, who calls her “a marvel.”http://sueraneysro.com

Bruce Vilanch (Primarily known as writer for a variety of celebrities, including Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin, Billy Crystal, and many more, he went to write for the Academy Awards, and scored acting roles in the film Mahogany, Bosom Buddies, Law & Order, his own one-man show, and starred on Broadway as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray after playing the role for two years in the show’s first national stage tour.)

Music Director: Lloyd Cooper

For our 55th Kritzerland show we’ve taken two wildly different musical theatre songwriters and paired them up, since no one in their right mind except Kritzerland would do such a thing. Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber just happen to share a birthday in March – March 22nd to be exact – and we’re here to celebrate that occasion with a wild, wacky and wonderful show. As always, you’ll hear the known and the unknown, the common and the uncommon, from shows such as Follies, Phantom of the Opera, Company, Cats, Anyone Can Whistle, Sunset Blvd. and many more. We’ve assembled an amazing cast and back with us is one of our favorite guest stars, the inimitable Bruce Vilanch. We’ll have some surprises, too, so don’t wait too long to make your reservation. Speaking of reservations, be sure to read the new reservation information below. We’ve switched to a ticketing service for the cover charge – we fought against doing this as long as we could, but all the shows at Sterling’s now use it, and frankly we were simply having way too many people reserve and then not show up, without even cancelling, which means we turned people away. Anyway, it’s easy/breezy. For March only we’re the second Sunday, due to a wedding reception at The Federal on the first Sunday. Kritzerland is produced and hosted by Bruce Kimmel, and co-produced by Adryan Russ.

The only way to reserve now is via Brown Paper Tickets! It’s easy! Go to:http://sterlingsupstairskritz.brownpapertickets.com. This takes you directly to the BPT page for Kritzerland. If you prefer to reserve by phone, call (800) 832 3006. Live operators are available to assist you 24/7! $15 entertainment cover + $5 venue/security fee = $20/ticket. Email confirmations will be sent to you by BPT following your transaction. For anyone wanting to reserve tickets from your SmartPhone, go directly towww.brownpapertickets.com.

*Please note: Once you’ve reserved your seats, the BPT cancellation policy kicks in. You have a 12-hour window to make any adjustment in your reservation, or to cancel your reservation for a refund. After that window has passed, all sales are final. No exchanges or refunds.

Early reservations are highly recommended. Dinner reservations: DOORS OPEN 5:30pm. SHOW STARTS 7:00pm! Reservations have already started coming in, and are highly recommended.

Sterling’s at The Federal is located at 5303 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601. The Federal Bar is adjacent to the El Portal Theatre. The North Hollywood Stations for the Metrolink Red Line and Orange Line are directly across the street, north of Chandler on Lankershim. Parking is available – entrance for Federal lot is on Weddington Street (directly behind the building) at $3.50. There is also available street parking.

For information (only) about Sterling’s Upstairs at The Federal, visit www.msapr.net/Sterling-s-at-The-Federal.html or call 818 754 8700.

The post Kritzerland to Bring ‘THE BIRTHDAY BOYS’ to Sterling’s Upstairs at The Federal, 3/8 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.