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photo courtesy of Christopher Turner

"From the beginning, I resolved to create a tapestry large enough to encompass all of humanity."

Though Armistead Maupin was one of the first of a new breed of openly gay authors, his appeal has always resided in his inclusiveness as a storyteller. For over thirty years his beloved characters from 28 Barbary Lane in the Tales of the City series have cut an unprecedented path through popular culture - from a groundbreaking newspaper serial to six internationally bestselling novels to a Peabody Award-winning miniseries starring Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney. In 2006, an online poll of British readers named Tales of the City the UK's all-time favorite gay or lesbian novel. In 2007, in a long-awaited return to that lore, Maupin revisited one of his most beloved Tales characters in Michael Tolliver Lives.

Armistead Maupin's New York Times bestseller The Night Listener created a sensation in the publishing world when its real-life origins were revealed in an article by The New Yorker and a follow-up investigation by ABC's 20/20. The psychological suspense novel was inspired by Maupin's longtime telephone friendship with Anthony Godby Johnson, a 14-year-old memoirist whose very existence Maupin began to question. "It was like living in the middle of a mystery novel," Maupin said. "Once it started happening I knew I had to write about it." He wrote the screen adaptation of The Night Listener, starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by Miramax pictures.

Armistead Maupin is also the author of the bestselling novel Maybe the Moon, which chronicles the misadventures of a dwarf actress working in Hollywood. He wrote the narration for the award-winning documentary "The Celluloid Closet," and was himself the subject of an hour-long BBC documentary; "Armistead Maupin Is a Man I Dreamt Up." As a librettist, he collaborated in 1999 with composer Jake Heggie on "Anna Madrigal Remembers" for mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and Chanticleer, the classical choral ensemble.

Maupin lives in San Francisco with his husband, Christopher Turner.

"An alchemical confluence of ideal elements - writer, city, and cultural moment-created Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, perhaps the most sublime piece of popular literature America has ever produced...As with the Beatles, everyone seems to like Maupin's Tales- and, really, why would you want to find someone who didn't?"
- Laura Miller, Salon

Throughout her illustrious career, Tony Award-winning actress Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage, on television, in concert, and in the recording industry. In 2003, she received her seventh Tony Award nomination for her electrifying portrayal of Momma Rose in Sam Mendes' record- breaking Broadway revival of Gypsy. Her brilliant performance was captured on the Grammy award- winning Gypsy cast recording, released by Angel Records in August 2003. Peters' latest CD, Sondheim, Etc., Etc.: Bernadette Peters Live at Carnegie Hall (The Rest of It),also on Angel Records (August 2005), features never-before-released highlights from her historic 1996 solo debut at Carnegie Hall.

In June 1999, Peters earned her second Tony Award, her third Drama Desk Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award for her show-stopping portrayal of Annie Oakley in one of Broadway's most popular musicals, the smash Tony Award-winning hit Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun. In 1996, she made her highly-anticipated solo debut at Carnegie Hall in an exclusive concert benefiting Gay Men's Health Crisis - a performance she repeated in Bernadette Peters in Concert, her London solo debut at Royal Festival Hall, which later was telecast on PBS and is now available on DVD.

A native of Ozone Park, New York, Peters began her performing career at the age of 3 with appearances on Juvenile Jury, the classic TV game show Name That Tune, and The Horn & Hardart Children's Hour. She made her theatrical debut in This is Goggle, starring James Daly and Kim Hunter, directed by the legendary Otto Preminger. Still in her teens, she appeared in The Most Happy Fella and The Penny Friend and performed in the national touring company of Gypsy.

Peters made her Broadway debut in 1967 in Johnny No-Trump, and in 1968 starred with Joel Grey in the musical George M!, earning a Theatre World Award for her memorable portrayal of Josie Cohan. That same year, she received a Drama Desk Award for her show-stopping performance in the smash hit off-Broadway musical Dames at Sea, and quickly became one of the most sought- after stars in musical theatre.

One of Broadway's brightest stars, Peters received both the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for her critically-acclaimed performance in Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical Song and Dance. She garnered Tony nominations for her memorable performance as Momma Rose in Sam Mendes' critically-acclaimed revival of Gypsy. "Bernadette Peters is a revelation!" Ben Brantley of The New York Times declared of her star turn in the show. Peters also received Tony nominations for her work in the 1992 musical The Goodbye Girl; Stephen Sondheim's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday in the Park With George; the Jerry Herman/Gower Champion ode to the movies, Mack and Mabel; and the Leonard Bernstein/Comden and Green musical On The Town. In addition to these honors, Peters earned a Drama Desk nomination for her memorable portrayal of the Witch in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods.

While Peters is best known for her work in the theatre, her career doesn't end at the footlights. She boasts an impressive list of television credits ranging from performing arts specials such as PBS' Evening at Pops and The Kennedy Center Honors to appearances in variety shows such as The Carol Burnett Show and an Emmy-nominated performance on The Muppet Show. She appeared in the star-studded Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall and also played an opera diva-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown in Terrence McNally's The Last Mile, both for PBS' highly acclaimed Great Performances series. Other television credits include PBS's Hey Mr. Producer!: The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh and the ABC-TV special Quincy Jones: The First 50 Years.

Peters received an Emmy nomination for her performance in FOX's hit TV series Ally McBeal. She portrayed the wicked stepmother in Cinderella with Brandy and Whitney Houston, and also starred in What The Deaf Man Heard; The Odyssey starring Armand Assante, David, Fall From Grace with Kevin Spacey, and The Last Best Year with Mary Tyler Moore. She also appeared in the Showtime movie Bobbie's Girl (Daytime Emmy nomination) and Prince Charming, a TNT movie co-starring Martin Short and Christina Applegate.

Peters recorded the original title song for the 1998 feature film Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie, written by famed Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Jerry Herman (Hello, Dolly!, Mame). She can also be heard as the voice of "Sophie" in the feature film Anastasia, as "Angelique" in the special home video Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas, as Sue in The Land Before Time: The Great Longneck Migration, and the voice of Rita the Cat in the popular Steven Spielberg animated program Animaniacs.

A performer of amazing versatility, Peters has lit up the silver screen in 17 films throughout her distinguished career. She received a Golden Globe Award for her memorable performance in Pennies From Heaven. Film credits include The Jerk with Steve Martin, The Longest Yard with Burt Reynolds, Silent Movie with Mel Brooks, Annie with Carol Burnett, Pink Cadillac with Clint Eastwood, Slaves of New York with Mercedes Ruehl, Woody Allen's Alice with Mia Farrow, Impromptu with Hugh Grant and Mandy Patinkin, and most recently, It Runs in the Family, starring opposite Kirk and Michael Douglas.

In addition to numerous Grammy Award-winning Broadway cast albums including Gypsy and Annie Get Your Gun, Peters has recorded six solo albums: Sondheim, Etc., Etc.: Bernadette Peters Live at Carnegie Hall (The Rest of It); Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers & Hammerstein (Grammy Nomination); the live recording Sondheim Etc.: Bernadette Peters Live At Carnegie Hall (Grammy Nomination); I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (Grammy Nomination); Bernadette Peters; and Now Playing.

Peters has received numerous accolades throughout her distinctive career, ranging from the Tony Award to a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Police Athletic League (PAL), an organization which runs 84 youth centers and 150 summer camps for New York City's neediest children, named her as Woman of the Year for 1999. A few weeks earlier, the Actors Fund of America bestowed Peters with their Artistic Achievement Award. She has received the Special Advocate Award from the City of New York for her contributions to the gay and lesbian community, and is the youngest person to be inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. Peters also received the 2000 New York Heroes Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. In 2004, she was the Arts and Entertainment recipient of the Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications, Inc. Other honors include the Sarah Siddons Actress of the Year Award and Harvard's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year for her "lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment."

Bernadette Peters devotes her time and talents to numerous events that benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Gay Men's Health Crisis, for whom she also performed in a benefit concert version of Anyone Can Whistle. Peters' "pet project" is Broadway Barks, an annual, star-studded dog adoption event, she founded with friend Mary Tyler Moore, benefiting animal shelters throughout New York. She resides in New York City and Los Angeles.

Photo by Chris Nelson

Swingle Bells Sings and Swings

The North Coast Men's Chorus gave its annual holiday present to Northeast Ohio this weekend with a pair of jazzy, thumpin’, bumpin’ concerts at Lakewood Civic Auditorium. The Auditorium, NCMC’s first venue when the Chorus was formed 20 years ago, played host to a Saturday night and a Sunday matinee performance that delighted enthusiastic audiences with up-tempo twists, holiday carols, touching musical moments and NCMC's signature silliness.

The ninety men of the Chorus were ably backed by members of the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra who added a full-tilt boogie blast to the concerts. “From Coney Island to the Sunset Strip,” the cool cats of the Chorus breezed through “Christmas Waltz” with a smoothly crooned intro by Greg Morley. Soloist Brandon Bowman’s soft-as-butter baritone voice led the Chorus in “Cradle in Bethlehem.” And bass Stephen Adams introduced the hauntingly beautiful, "Believe" from The Polar Express as a gossamer ribbon that tied up the evening's array of gifts.

NCMC premiered a newly commissioned piece, "Jumble Bells" which took a silly turn on the classic "Jingle Bells" including a Spike Jones inspired band of bells, whistles, and noisemakers. The Chorus and the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra performed jazzed up renditions of the carols "O Come, All ye Faithful," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and a hoppin' "Hot Hannukah" and the Jazz Orchestra peppered the show with several instrumental performances of their own.

Photo by Chris Nelson

Swingle Bells was just the beginning of the tower of treats for NCMC's 20th Anniversary Season. On Friday, March 28th, the Chorus presented the incomparable Bernadette Peters at the Allen Theatre in Playhouse Square. Then, to close out the season in June, NCMC will bring Armistead Maupin, author of Tales of the City, to Waetjen Auditorium at CSU for “Tunes from Tales.”

The North Coast Men's Chorus is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The Chorus presents its 20th Season performances with the generous support of the Ohio Arts Council, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, Ameriprise Financial Services, and media sponsors Cleveland Magazine, the Cleveland Free Times, WCLV 104.9 FM, WCPN 90.3 FM ideastream, WEWS NewsChannel 5, WKSU 89.7 FM, and WNWV 107.3 FM.

FACT: The cost of a ticket pays for less than 50% of the cost of putting on a concert. Your donations enable us to perform in the finest halls, work with the most talented artists, and maintain a leadership role in the North Coast arts community. Click above to learn more.