Brian Childers returns May 6 with one night Evening with Danny Kaye

On May 6th, Brian Childers will perform a special “Evening with Danny Kaye” to benefit the theatre company which handed him the role of a lifetime.

In 2000, Jack Marshall, so the story goes, had a two person musical about Danny Kaye on his desk at The American Century Theater and a show in rehearsal. Unable to think of any actor capable of playing Danny Kaye, he probably would have passed on the script, but watching a young Brian Childers working his character in Hollywood Pinafore, Marshall thought he saw a flash of something.  “…this one second convinced me: he could play him.” he told us in 2009.

Childers was perfect for the role. Danny and Sylvia: A Musical Love Story was produced at TACT in 2001 to great acclaim. Carolyn Griffin, Artistic Director of MetroStage declared Childers “was born to play Danny Kaye.”  She opened the musical in 2002. The Helen Hayes judges agreed with her and Childers won the 2002 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Resident Musical. From there, Childers moved to New York, and, after several attempts at finding commercial backers, Danny and Sylvia opened at the St. Luke’s Theatre in New York May 13, 2009 where it ran for nearly 3 years.

Brian Childers will perform “An Evening with Danny Kaye,” at The American Century Theater Annual Benefit Monday, May 6, 2013 at Artisphere. Stephen Nachamie directs Childers performance and Jeff Biering is Music Director, with Franca Vercelloni on the piano.

The benefit will start at 7 p.m. with a reception in Artisphere’s Upper Town Hall. The 8 p.m. performance moves to the Lower Town Hall, followed by coffee and dessert. Individual tickets are $85. Details and tickets.

More?

Our interview with Brian Childers, Danny and Sylvia producers Jack Marshall and Carolyn Griffin and Kimberly Faye Greenberg who played Sylvia Fine in New York.