FREE OUTDOOR CONCERT AT TUDOR CITY GREENS!

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The new season of the Tudor City Greens FREE outdoor concert series continues on Tuesday, September 7^th at 6pm. (Rain date: Wednesday, September 8^th). This event will feature performers from Broadway and the New York City cabaret scene. The concert will be hosted by Tudor City resident, Broadway and cabaret performer Raissa Katona Bennett (Phantom of the Opera, Chess).

Performers scheduled to appear in the concert – entitled Love Grows Here: Contemporary Pop, Rock and Theatre Songs – are MAC, Nightlife & Bistro Award winner Scott Coulter, Tonja Walker Davidson (“One Life to Live”), musical director/ singer Kenneth Gartman, MAC Award winner Lina Koutrakos and the Low Country, Bistro and MAC Award winning songwriter Brett Kristofferson, Rosemary Loar (Sunset Boulevard, Cats), LGBT Hall of Fame performer Roger Anthony, Yolanda Mapes, MAC Hanson Award winner Angela Shultz, Steven Ray Watkins (MAC & Bistro Award) and MAC, Nightlife and Bistro Award winner Lennie Watts. Additional accompaniment by Mark Janas.

The event will take place in the South Park of Tudor City Greens Park – enter at Tudor City Place between East 41st and 42nd Streets, between 1st and 2nd avenues.

Due to scheduling conflicts, this concert will be the final outdoor concert at Tudor City Greens.

Fred French called it a “city within a city,” the Tudor City apartment complex he built in the late 20's between 40th and 43rd Streets on a bluff just west of 1st Avenue. As a centerpiece, he created two small parks, a sparkling pair of green patches in crowded midtown. In the late 1970's, when Harry Helmsley owned the complex, he was determined to construct two high rise buildings on the land where the North and South parks are. However, the residents of Tudor City were equally as determined that he would not! One long holiday weekend Sunday, bulldozers suddenly appeared and began hauling down the then wooden fencing. John McCain, (of The Manor), ran out into the street with a bullhorn shouting; "Come out. Come out. Residents of Tudor City, come out and save our parks!" Sure enough, as the story goes, little old ladies rushed out and threw themselves in front of the bulldozers, stopping all activity. This gave the Tudor City Association time to organize legal measures which effectively stopped any further movement on Helmsley’s part and saved the parks. Now, the parks have been renovated by Tudor City Greens, the non-profit tenants’ group that owns and maintains the gardens that are open to the public. www.TudorCityGreens.org.

The Concerts at Tudor City Greens Series were organized by Raissa Katona Bennett in 2008 to present the art and vitality of cabaret to an untapped audience while also promoting the concerts to increase donations for the Tudor City Greens parks. A great by-product of the concerts is the added visibility of local businesses that choose to sponsor post-show gatherings. These partnerships will only strengthen the impact of the TCG concerts.

The concerts are being produced in association with the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) – an organization dedicated to the support and promotion of the art of live entertainment in NYC (www.MACNYC.com)  This year, Tom Stajmiger, a producer of theatre, concerts and cabaret around the country, joins the series, as Associate Producer.