Hal Willner's Vintage Disney Film Music @ St Ann's (benefit)

ST. ANN¹S WAREHOUSE GALA BENEFIT CONCERT:
THE AMERICAN PREMIERE OF HAL WILLNER¹S STAY AWAKE, APRIL 2, 2008

Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films

Concert Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Willner¹s Renowned Album
To Feature Original Cast Members
Terry Adams of NRBQ, Marshall Allen of Sun Ra Arkestra, Maud and Garth Hudson, Natalie Merchant, Suzanne Vega and the Voice of Ken Nordine

Plus Steve Buscemi, David Byrne, Gavin Friday, Beth Orton, Richard Strange and Martha Wainwright

St. Ann¹s Warehouse celebrates another banner year (its 28th) on April 2, 2008, when Hal Willner returns for the American live premiere of one of his most beloved projects: Stay Awake, which mines the enchanting and at times sardonic Vintage Disney Songbook. An amalgam of the bizarre and the familiar, Stay Awake will be performed, in signature Willner fashion, by a broad spectrum of artists spanning pop, rock, jazz and the avant-garde: performers on the original album Terry Adams of NRBQ, Marshall Allen of Sun Ra Arkestra, Maud and Garth Hudson, Natalie Merchant, Suzanne Vega and the
voice of Ken Nordine. The concert at St. Ann¹s Warehouse will also feature
Steve Buscemi, David Byrne, Gavin Friday, Beth Orton, Richard Strange and Martha Wainwright.

Cocktails and hors d¹oeuvres begin at 6:30 P.M., followed by the concert at 8:00 P.M. and a dinner after. For Gala ticket information, visit www.stannswarehouse.org and/or call Inga Glodowski at St. Ann¹s Warehouse: 718.834.8794 x 11 or [email protected].

Stay Awake is a landmark Willner album released 20 years ago. In it, he and a vast diversity of musical interpreters found darkness as well as beauty in the songs that accompanied the often-creepy stories and haunting animations of The Jungle Book, Snow White, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio and the like. Last June, at the behest of Jarvis Cocker, curator of London¹s Meltdown Festival 2007, Willner revived the project and presented it live for the first time at London¹s Royal Festival Hall under the name The Forest of No Return. Cocker, among many who adored the live show, said of it,
³Love Œem or hate Œem, if you leave the theater without having shed a tear, you¹re something less than human.²

Hal Willner is one of the most eclectic and original producers in contemporary music, helming a series of wildly ambitious concept albums and live shows that tap the talents of artists who run the gamut of genres and styles. He is often credited as the inventor of the ³modern² tribute album. Given its own history of multi-artist concerts that bring together vastly disparate artists with extraordinary material, St. Ann¹s Warehouse is the
perfect place for the live American Premieres of Willner¹s projects.

Willner has collaborated with St. Ann¹s many times over the years, most recently in Rogue¹s Gallery Live, last year¹s benefit concert of sea chanteys and pirate songs. The evening featured numerous longtime friends of St. Ann¹s, including Lou Reed, Antony and Laurie Anderson, as well as Baby Gramps, Gavin Friday and Bryan Ferry. After attending Rogue¹s Gallery Live as a guest, David Byrne blogged: the benefit was ³how it should be done.²

Willner also served as music director in the World Premiere of Lou Reed¹s Berlin, produced by St. Ann¹s Warehouse and the Sydney Festival in December 2006 and January 2007