"Larry’s Rites of Spring" was a fantastic celebration of the music and lyrics of Laurence O’Keefe! Monday night’s crowd was treated to some of the wittiest new material on the musical comedy scene, to say nothing of host Larry, his amazing band, and a dazzling cast, which included Jill Abramovitz, Kerry Butler (right, photo by Craig Brockman), Joe Cassidy, Julie Garnye, Deven May, Mo Rocca, Sara Chase and Emma Williams. Not only did we get to hear favorites from Bat Boy and Sarah: Plain and Tall, but the sneak previews from Legally Blonde killed! We're thrilled that Larry and his fabulous co-writer and wife, Nell Benjamin are Drama Desk Award nominees for their Cam Jansen!

The following Cast Party was exceedingly fun, too. Newlyweds Linda Lavin and Steve Bakunas (below, photo by Walter McBride) made a surprise visit. Linda absolutely slayed the crowd with her brilliant performance of "The Boy From…," which was written just for her by Mary Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim for The Mad Show in 1966. Trent and Trudy Lee showed us why A Touch Of Vegas is still packing ‘em in at The Dominion Theater, Richard Glazier served up some Gershwin, and composer Lance Horn sang a vegetable medley. There were guests from across the pond, too, as Fascinating Aida taught us what was "Taboo" and Emma Williams, who was the original Truly Scrumcious in the West End’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, won our hearts. You can click here to see photos from Larry’s show, and here to see Cast Party, with many thanks to Craig Brockman and Walter McBride! Thanks to pianist Tedd Firth and bass-guy Wayne Batchelor for taking such good care of all the performers!

This Monday’s Cast Party will be so cool, so hip, and so musically exciting, I can’t imagine that you would want to miss it! I’m thrilled that the Johnny Rodgers Band will be our house band! They’ve headlined at Birdland, Joe’s Pub, and the Cinegrill, and Johnny has recently been in the studio working on his new cd, "Box of Photographs" (ps classics), produced by Richard Barone and featuring Grammy winner Randy Brecker. The Songwriters Hall of Fame just selected one of his songs (click "Is It The Way?" to hear a snippet) as the opening track on the New Songwriters Showcase CD, too, so you’ll get to hear some great new music. I heard rumour that Windham Hill recording artist Sean Harkness, a brilliant guitarist and composer, will be joining us, and can’t wait to hear The Idea Of North, an a cappella quartet from Australia! This just might be one of the better Cast Parties…and that’s saying a lot. You can call Birdland now to make a reservation! 212.581.3080.

Once again, this week's Cast Party Radio Show celebrates The New Season at Birdland, with songs from all of our upcoming guest performers. Maureen McGovern, Jeff Daniels, Larry O'Keefe, Victoria Shaw (right), Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Toxic Audio, Christine Andreas, Malcolm Gets, Max von Essen and Christine Ebersole will all be representin' their Birdland concerts. Victoria, who’s responsible for over 65 million cd sales, will be at Birdland on Monday, May 16th at 7pm in Under The Covers with Victoria Shaw, co-starring her multi-million-selling composer pals, Mark Hudson, Gary Burr and Billy Mann!

Tune into BroadwayWorld.com radio on Tuesday and Friday nights at 8pm. Or, you can make life even easier by clicking on the site for an "on demand" experience you'll love! In the words of Liza Minnelli, "Cast Party IS New York!"

Cast Party Radio Show is produced by Brian Wilson at SoHa Media.

Newsletter by Love Bomb Productions for Jim Caruso's Cast Party, All Rights Reserved 2005