An Enchanted Evening
The Romantic Music of Broadway
The extraordinarily talented LEE LESSACK and JOANNE O’BRIEN cover six decades of show-stopping favorites in a cavalcade of stirring, memorable classics from the Great White Way!
Joanne O'Brien
Audiences have long enjoyed a wide range of musical stylings from Joanne O'Brien. With a degree in opera from The University of The Arts in Philadelphia she appears regularly in concert singing pop and classical from Los Angeles to New York City in "An Enchanted Evening: The Music Of Broadway" with Lee Lessack and also with Mac Frampton and The Hollywood Hills Orchestra in "And The Winner Is.....", an evening of Academy Award(r) Winning songs. Joanne has been the opening musical inspiration for best-selling authors Marianne Williamson, James Van Praague and Dan Millman. Her debut solo recording, ISN'T IT ALWAYS LOVE received rave reviews in BILLBOARD magazine and can be found on the LML Music label. Other recent theatrical credits include MY FAIR LADY at The Hollywood Bowl , ASSASSINS & On The Twentieth Century with REPRISE! and Sweeney Todd. At Christmas you can find her on stage as JOAN CRAWFORD in the Cult Musical "Judy's Scary Little Christmas" in Hollywood. Her limitless vocal artistry extends to the commercial radio industry as well, where Joanne promotes most everything from telephone service, to fresh vegetables and cat litter!
Lee Lessack
LEE LESSACK’s graceful lyric baritone vocals and sophisticated yet endearing persona have made him a shining star of the international concert scene. Billboard Magazine calls his singing, “Cabaret romanticism of a high order.” Touring extensively in the United States and Europe to sold-out performances and releasing five albums, Lessack has proven himself both as performer and recording artist.
Lee’s newest concert is titled CHANTEUR and is an homage to the Great French Songbook, celebrating music by Michel Legrand, Jacques Brel, Gilbert Bécaud and Charles Aznavour to name just a few. “Chanteur” also marks Lessack’s seventh recording and fourth solo album. In addition to his solo concert appearances, Lessack also tours with critically acclaimed vocal trio, 3 MEN AND A BABY…GRAND!, and appears in concert with television favorite, Linda Purl (“The Office,” “Matlock,” “Happy Days”.)
His fifth and most ambitious recording to date, In Good Company, was released to great acclaim. Intimate and impeccably produced, the album beams with outstanding performances. Featuring duets with music notables like Michael Feinstein, Maureen McGovern, Amanda McBroom, Ann Hampton Callaway and Stephen Schwartz, it has earned a MAC and Bistro Award for Best Recording of the Year.
Mr. Lessack, who attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, has also released four other critically acclaimed albums, including a live recording of a 2001 concert tour Too Marvelous For Words: The Songs of Johnny Mercer. “Too Marvelous,” recorded at the famed Cinegrill in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, was chosen for the preliminary ballot for 2002 Grammy Awards®.
Other recordings include Mr. Lessack’s self-titled debut solo album, his GLAMA Award®-winning, I Know You By Heart, the cast recording of An Enchanted Evening: The Music of Broadway, and a LIVE recording of his critically acclaimed vocal trio, 3 Men and a Baby…Grand Salute The Rat Pack.
A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Lessack makes his home in Los Angeles, where in 1996 he founded LML Music (www.LMLmusic.com), whose catalog of CDs includes over 100 of the country’s top live recording artists and performers.
Mac Frampton
The Van Cliburn Competition...The Boston Pops...22 albums... 10 original revues...reams of critical raves... unprecedented return engagements. Accolades abound; but the most revealing accomplishment of Mac Frampton's career is the bond he has created and continues to sustain with thousands of audiences the world over.
Born in South Carolina, the son of a Presbyterian minister and a mother who sang her way through college during the Depression, Mac started playing the piano at the age of three. His formal training began at five and he was eight years old when he made his professional debut. After his musical studies at Erskine College, he did graduate work at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where he received the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts. While a student, Mac gained national prominence as a medal-winning semifinalists in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
It was at the Cliburn Competition that Mac began to seriously consider an alternative to a classical career. "I was at a farewell reception and some of the contestants who knew I improvised pop and jazz asked me to play a few tunes. I had just started when Van Cliburn himself walked in. He told me he was impressed with my arrangements and that I should consider doing them professionally. With that kind of endorsement, I had to think seriously about going into the pop arena. I went home and started booking myself with a backup group and found I really loved it."
The unique style Mac evolved during that period has proved extremely durable. Based on classical technique, drawing liberally from jazz and rock idioms, the "rock-alternative" sound of Mac Frampton continues to build a wider audience with every concert. Over the past twenty-four years, Mac and his group have played over 3000 concerts in the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe, and the Mideast. He holds the record for return engagements at many locations, having appeared as many as twelve times on a single stage. He has teamed with Bill Cosby, Roberta Flack, Victor Borge, Louis Nye, The Fifth Dimension, and Metropolitan Opera star Roberta Peters, among others.
Mac is also a successful producer of revues. Over the years he has mounted productions on the music of Cole Porter and George Gershwin, as well as several Broadway shows. In 1995 he found The Hollywood Hills Orchestra, a 16-piece ensemble dedicated to the performance of great cinematic music.
People are saying...
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“Rare...youthful...romantic...highly attractive...”
— Billboard -
“Wonderful!”
— Playbill Magazine -
“Impeccable selection of songs... It guarantees a smile on every listener's face. Superb!”
— Rex Reed -
“Superb!”
— Back Stage -
“Lee Lessack... The best male singer to come along since Michael Feinstein!”
— Chicago Tribune -
“Joanne O'Brien... One of New York's ten most promising vocalists!”
— New York Naive -
“...a memorable concert... people are already clamoring to get them back in the near future.”
— A. Hodges, Sandersville, GA -
“Dynamic musically and personally... I recommend them highly to anyone seeking to be entertained and uplifted.”
— K. Trethewey, Marysville, CA
