Tony Award-Winning Vocalist Betty Buckley to Perform

Media Contact:

Kristen Gleason
Director of Marketing
The Paramount Theater
215 East Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.979.1922 ext. 103
kristen@theparamount.net

For Immediate Release

September 25, 2007

It’s been said that Betty Buckley has “the best pipes in the musical theater” (Variety). Recognized with a Tony Award for her performance as Grizabella (singing the song “Memory”) in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, she received a second Tony nomination for her performance in Triumph of Love, and an Olivier Award nomination for her interpretation of Norma Desmond in the London production of Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard (which she repeated to more rave reviews on Broadway).

Accompanied in concert by renowned jazz pianist Kenny Werner, Buckley will perform a program of vocal “renditions that are definitive, moving, and letter-perfect” (Entertainment Weekly) at The Paramount Theater on Sunday, October 7 at 4 pm (which replaces the previously-published performance time of 7 pm).

Special Media Sponsor for this event is Keswick Life.

Betty Buckley’s critically-acclaimed work has included some of Broadway’s greatest roles -- Mama Rose in Gypsy, Lloyd Webber’s Song and Dance, and Margaret White in the cult musical Carrie. She made her Broadway debut creating the role of Martha Jefferson in the musical 1776, was Catherine in Bob Fosse’s Pippin, and created role of Edwin Drood for the New York Shakespeare Festival in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Her film appearances include Carrie, Tender Mercies, Frantic, Another Woman, and Wyatt Earp. On television, she was seen on the final three seasons of the HBO series Oz and starred for four seasons as Abby Bradford in the hit series Eight Is Enough. She has been featured on Without a Trace, Law & Order: SVU, The Jury, and Monk. Bravo has aired a documentary about her life and work called Betty Buckley in Concert and in Person.

Both her Paramount concert and forthcoming CD Quintessence feature her long-time collaborator and musical director Kenny Werner. Focusing on jazz interpretations of standards and songs from the Broadway songbook, their partnership also shines through on the albums Stars and The Moon, Betty Buckley Live at The Donmar (which received a 2002 Grammy nomination) and Heart To Heart, a collection of contemporary, traditional, and popular love songs.

Kenny Werner is a jazz pianist of seemingly infinite capacity. Werner takes audiences on lyrical but never predictable journeys through the vast seas of improvised music. With effortless playing, he redefines the innovation and intensity at the heart of jazz music's spontaneity.

A performer and composer on the national and international scene for over 25 years, he has performed and/or recorded with such jazz giants as Charles Mingus, Ron Carter, Joe Lovano, Sonny Fortune, Lee Konitz, Bobby McFerrin, Joe Henderson, Gunther Schuller, Dave Holland, Charlie Haden, and Toots Thielmans.

Werner has led his own trio for over 20 years; received commissions from numerous ensembles including the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra, Cologne Radio Jazz Orchestra, and the Brussels Jazz Orchestra; and currently serves as artist-in-residence at New York University. His book Effortless Mastery has helped thousands of performers with its priceless information about the physical, technical, psychological and spiritual aspects of being an artist.

Tickets for Betty Buckley’s October 7 concert with pianist Kenny Werner are $54.50, $57.50, $60.50, and $65.50. Half-price student rush tickets and group discounts are available.

Tickets are available online or through The Paramount’s Box Office at 434.979.1333.

For more information about Betty Buckley and Kenny Werner, please visit www.bettybuckley.com and  www.kennywerner.com.