Following the success of last year’s inaugural program, The American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University, in association with the Johnny Mercer Foundation will host the 2nd annual “The Power of the American Popular Song.”
Held on Northwestern’s Evanston campus from August 12 through 18, the weeklong program will feature some of America’s most prominent songwriters working in the tradition of the legendary Johnny Mercer. These guest artists will serve as faculty for a weeklong educational program of master classes and workshops for a jury-selected group of young composers. The master teachers will also give musical performances of their own material and discuss their work as songwriters during evening cabaret presentations throughout the week. The program will culminate in a gala concert celebrating the legacy of Johnny Mercer.
This year the program is pleased to welcome back Grammy-award nominated singer/songwriter Amanda McBroom (“The Rose”) as a master teacher. With a career that has spanned Hollywood, Broadway and cabaret, audiences and program participants alike were thrilled with McBroom as both teacher and performer during the first annual program.
Amanda Mc Broom
This year McBroom will be joined by two time Tony-nominated songwriter Craig Carnelia (“Working”, “Sweet Smell of Success”) and Outer-Critics Circle Award Winner Andrew Lippa (“The Wild Party", “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown”).
While this is Carnelia’s first time as a master teacher with the Johnny Mercer Program he is well known to local audiences as the artistic director of the ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop in Chicago, and as a collaborator on Studs Terkel’s “The Good War” at Northlight Theatre with Northwestern Professor David H. Bell.
Craig Carnelia
Andrew Lippa wrote the book music and lyrics for "The Wild Party which won the Outer Critics Circle Award for best Off-Broadway musical of 2000. In 1999 he contributed three new songs to the Broadway version of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" This past fall his musical "Asphalt Beach" premiered as the 3rd production o f the American Music Theatre Project.
Andrew Lippa
In addition to McBroom, Carnelia and Lippa additional master teachers and guest artists will be announced at a later date.
One of America’s most influential and prolific songwriters, Johnny Mercer (1909-1976) wrote some of the most enduring standards of the 20th century including “Accentuate the Positive,” “You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby,” “I Remember You,” “Come Rain Or Come Shine,” “One For My Baby,” “Hooray for Hollywood” and “Moon River.” He wrote songs for 90 motion pictures, won four Academy Awards and wrote six Broadway shows, including “St. Louis Woman” and “Li’l Abner.” Mercer discovered and nurtured artists including Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole.
Johnny Mercer
The American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University is dedicated to the development of new musicals and the creation of exciting educational opportunities in the field of musical theatre.
The Johnny Mercer Foundation is dedicated to the preservation of the American Popular Song and the continuation of the tradition of Johnny Mercer’s artistry and generosity. For more information on the foundation, visit www.johnnymercerfoundation.com.
