Irving Berlin Tribute, Berkeley, CA, 19 May, 2013
DOIN’ WHAT COMES NATUR’LLY: A TRIBUTE TO COMPOSER/LYRICIST IRVING BERLIN
With Musical Theater Historian Bonnie Weiss
Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 2:00 PM
JCC East Bay,
1414 Walnut St.,
Berkeley, CA
$15 General Admission / $12 JCC East Bay Members, Seniors, Students
For tickets, click here or visit the 28th Jewish Music Festival Office
Irving Berlin arrived from Russia at age five. A native Yiddish speaker, he quickly mastered English and taught himself to play piano. With these basic skills and remarkable raw talent, he composed some of the most cherished songs of the Great American Songbook, including “Alexander’s Rag Time Band,” “Always,” “God Bless America,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” “Cheek to Cheek” and the best-selling pop song ever, “White Christmas." He also wrote the music and lyrics to such wonderful hit shows as Annie Get Your Gun and Call Me Madam and films such as Top Hat, Blue Skies and Easter Parade.
In this multimedia presentation, you’ll learn about Irving Berlin’s personal and professional life and see scenes from his Broadway and Hollywood musicals featuring superstars such as Ethel Merman, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Donald O'Connor, Betty Hutton, and Michael Feinstein. Plus you’ll see video of Berlin himself performing his melodies and lyrics.
This is an encore presentation by Bonnie Weiss, whose multimedia talk on lyricist Yip Harburg in February for the 28th Jewish Music Festival delighted a sold-out audience. She teaches musical theater appreciation at San Francisco State and Dominican Universities.