Steppin’ Out With My Baby
The Songs of Irving Berlin
Join Lee Lessack and Linda Purl as they take you back to a time when Irving Berlin entertained and enthralled the huddled masses. Relive the standards as they were meant to be heard, by one of Spot-On Entertainment’s most dynamic pairings.
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.
Linda Purl
Actress, singer, dancer, Linda is a main stay of television. She has starred in over 40 television Movies of the Week, and will soon be seen as Helene Beasley, Pam’s Mother in The Office. She is probably best known as Charlene Matlock from the series Matlock and as Ashley Pfister, Fonzie’s fiancée, from Happy Days. Highlights of her Movies of the Week have been Born Free, The Last Days of Pompeii (with Sir Laurence Olivier), The Manions of America (with Pierce Brosnan), Like Normal People the award winning docu-drama about a mentally retarded couple co-starring Shaun Cassidy.
Linda’s feature film credits include Disney’s Mighty Joe Young, The Walking Major (with Toshiro Mifune), Crazy Mama (directed by Jonathan Demme) and Leo and Loree (produced by Ron Howard).
Linda began her career in the theatre in Japan, where she was raised and became the only foreigner to have trained at the Toho Geino Academy. Her studies continued at LAMDA and later at both the Neighborhood Playhouse and Lee Strasberg Institute.
Stage credits include Broadway’s Tony nominated The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Getting and Spending; Off Broadway: The Baby Dance; Hallelujah, Hallelujah!. Regional work: the original production of the Pulitzer Prize winning play Dinner With Friends Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville; Getting and Spending, Old Globe Theatre; The Road To Mecca (with Miss Julie Harris), The Baby Dance, Long Wharf; John Brown’s Body, Lobero Theatre; Nora (with Michael York), All the Way Home (with Miss Kim Hunter), The Three Penny Opera (with Miss Betty Buckley), The Baby Dance (also at the Pasadena Playhouse), Williamstown Theatre Festival; The Real Thing, Hedda Gabler, Mark Taper Forum Rep; Beyond Therapy, Romeo and Juliet, L.A. Public Theatre; A Doll’s House, Allied International Productions; The Man Who Could See Through Time, South Coast Repertory; The Merchant of Venice, Globe Theatre; Grease, Sacramento Music Theatre; On a Clear Day , San Bernardino Civic Light Opera; Fallen Angels, Olney Theatre; Oliver, The King and I, Toho Imperial Theatre, Tokyo; Love Letters with both Stacey Keach and Desi Arnaz, Jr.; Tusitala (with Miss Julie Harris), Berkshire Theatre Festival; Little Foxes, Footfalls, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Streetcar Named Desire, Rubicon Theatre Company; The Guys, Berkeley Rep; Mariana Pineda, Santa Fe Opera; Seven Deadly Sins, Princess Grace Theatre, Monaco; Phaedra in the inaugural performance of the Getty Classical Arena; The Glass Menagerie, Cleveland Playhouse.
Linda has received six Dramalogue Best Actress Awards and two Dramalogue Awards as Best Producer. She has received two Robby Awards for Best Actress and is a three time nominee of the Los Angeles Drama Critic’s Award for Best Actress. She is the recipient of the Connecticut Critics’ Award for Outstanding Performance in a Play for her work in The Baby Dance.
Linda has recorded broadcasts of Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass, The Odd Couple with Nathan Lane and Nora with the late David Dukes for National Public Radio, also Milford Haven (created by her sister Mara Purl) for the BBC II.
Of Linda’s recent appearance at the 92 Street Y The NY Times says she “…melt(s) into “It’s a New World,” as softly as Judy Garland, who made it famous in “A Star Is Born.” Linda tours with her solo concert Come Rain or Come Shine nationally and internationally. Additionally she is currently touring in a centenary salute to Great American songwriter Johnny Mercer with Lee Lessack and Rhapsody for Two a dancing tribute to romance from the 40’s with Kevin Spirtas. Linda’s recordings include solo cuts on George and Ira Gershwin: A Musical Celebration, Cole Porter: A Musical Toast, Adler, Boch, Coleman, A Hollywood Christmas“. Her solo albums are Alone Together and Out of this World – Live with Special Guest Artist Desi Arnaz, Jr. She is co-founder and serves Festival Director of the California International Theatre Festival, www.citfestival.org.
People are saying...
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“It was indeed TOO MARVELOUS FOR WORDS. The audience kept wanting more and more! I like to keep my audiences happy... so it's a no brainer to bring Lee and Linda back next season with their Irving Berling show.”
— Stephen Martin, Executive Director - Historic Elsinore Theatre (Salem, OR)
