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AMAS 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
 DIONNE WARWICK AND WOODIE KING, JR.
RECEIVE "ROSIE" AWARDS AT AMAS GALA
It was an evening to remember…at a spectacular Gala Benefit Concert on March 30 at the Lighthouse International on West 59th Street. Legendary recording star Dionne Warwick and noted producer/director Woodie King, Jr. were both on hand to receive the "Rosie" Award, named for Amas founder Rosetta LeNoire, for their lifelong humanitarian and theatrical achievements.
The evening featured a star-studded cast including many alumni reprising the songs they originated at Amas. Proceeds from the event are being used to support Amas theatre and education programming.
 Television star Reginald VelJohnson (and Rosie's former co-star on "Family Matters"), presented the Award to his longtime friend, Woodie King. He spoke of Woodie's history of mentoring several generations of theatre artists, and quoted Ossie Davis's admiring remarks: "What we need more than anything is someone willing to forego stardom and celebrity and step behind the scenes and take care of business. Woodie King Jr. is a role model in that regard for a lot of us."
 Lauding Warwick's leadership in the fights against global hunger and AIDS, stage and screen star Leslie Uggams paid glowing tribute to her life-long friend and the godmother of her children, calling her "one of the most important, influential and beloved recording artists in history". The great songwriter Hal David made a special video tribute to Warwick, warmly congratulating her for "one of the greatest careers ever."
In the final ceremony Dionne declared her "great pleasure at passing the baton to the next generation", presented the Rosetta LeNoire Scholarship Award of $1,000 to Academy member Amanda Ruth Moreau who is attending City College in the fall.
This year's "Blast From The Past" Concert featured a retrospective of numbers out of the Amas songbook of 40 years of hit shows. Directed and  choreographed by Amas artist-in-residence Maria Torres, and music directed by Doug Oberhamer, the songs were like polished gems mined from a treasure trove of great material. Shows included Bubbling Brown Sugar, It's So Nice to Be Civilized, Opening Night, Barrio Babies, Zanna Don't!, SHOUT! The Mod Musical, 4 Guys Named Jose, Bobos, Starmites, Langston Hughes's Little Ham, Latin Heat, From My Hometown, Lone Star Love, and Wanda's World.
The extraordinary cast of Amas veterans included Adrian Bailey, Anton Briones, Erin Crosby, Janet Dacal, Ramon Del Barrio, Mark Stuart Eckstein, James Royce Edwards, Lauren Fijol, Harriet D. Foy, Kevin R. Free, Henry Gainza, Andre Garner, Georgia Hair, Beth Leavel, Adealani Malia, Michelle Marmolejo, Olga Merediz, Trisha Rapier, Sandra Reaves-Phillips, Vivian Reed, Nicolle Rochelle, Eliseo Roman, Sandie Rosa, Erica Shroeder, Corliss Taylor Dunn, Clarke Thorell, and Kirk Torigoe. Academy students performed a preview number from No No Nanette!
Master of Ceremonies Michael Bush did a great job hosting the evening. Other speakers included writer Micki Grant, Amas producing artistic Director Donna Trinkoff and, on video, director Billie Allen, writer/director Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, and director/choreographer Maria Torres. Bush also read a Proclamation by Mayor Bloomberg naming the day "Amas Musical Theatre Day".
After the show and presentations the capacity crowd enjoyed an Italian feast catered by San Domenico's, Soprano's Wines and Bocaj Vodka, and served by students of the Institute for Culinary Education. As a special treat, two cast members of the hit Soprano's TV show, Aida Turturro and Dan Grimaldi, attended the event. A Silent Auction featured a wide assortment of valuable items and services, ranging from coveted Broadway tickets, to dinners at Café des Artistes and B. Smith's, to a Telluride Ski Vacation.
Sponsors for the evening included PricewaterhouseCoopers, Continental Airlines, Ampacet Corporation, Joel and Rhela Aragona, Bob Boyett and Tom Miller, Sharleen Cooper Cohen, and Kathy and Jim Gurfein.
KEEP ON WALKIN'
 In January, Amas Musical Theatre teamed up with the Actors Harbor Theatre of Staten Island to develop and workshop in the Lab a new musical designed for young audiences. Keep on Walkin' takes place in 1955 and tells the story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott through the eyes of two pen pals, May from Staten Island, and June from Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott is led by a young and charismatic minister, Martin Luther King, Jr. Against this backdrop, the girls forge an unlikely friendship as they discover the realities of racism.
KEEP ON WALKIN' is written by James Armstrong, with lyrics by Joshua H. Cohen, and music by Lavell Blackwell. The show featured Sinai Rose Davy, Christopher Semidey, Megan Caccavale, Alan Pagano, Robin Skye and Chris Vettel. The musical director was Jason Sirois and it was directed by Christopher Catt.
After three sold-out performances at the Actors Playhouse on Seventh Avenue South, KEEP ON WALKIN' was performed at P.S. 80 - the Michael J. Petrides School - and P.S. 45 - the John Tyler School both on Staten Island.
A school tour is in the planning stages for this coming Fall.
FOR LOVERS ONLY
 Also in January, Amas teamed up with Eric Krebs to present a workshop in the Lab series of For Lovers Only, a musical revue featuring love songs and romance. For Lovers Only was created by Christopher Scott and Ken Lundie from a concept by Nancy Friday. The show featured Kevin Earley, Deb Lyons, Monica Patton, Dominique Plaisant and Nicholas Rodriguez. The show played for four performances at the New York Stages on West 50th Street to great popular acclaim.
In May, Eric Krebs remounted the show and premiered it Off Broadway at New World Stages for an open-ended run with cast members Glenn Seven Allen, Monica Patton, Dominique Plaisant, Trisha Rapier, and Kenneth Vortmann.
IMMIGRANT
On April 22, as part of New York City's Immigrant Heritage Week, Amas presented in the Lab a performance of the show Immigrant: The Story of Joe Hill, starring six-time Grammy Award-nominee John McCutcheon. Immigrant, written by Sy Kahn and directed by David Glenn Armstrong, tells the story of legendary Swedish-American union agitator and songwriter Joe Hill, a champion of American immigrant rights in the early 20th Century. He traveled the front lines of labor battles in the U.S. and Canada, writing songs to encourage the workers and to promote the burgeoning labor movement…until his arrest on a trumped-up murder charge in Salt Lake City in 1915. We performed in the beautiful meeting room of Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square.
 In April, we held a workshop in the Lab, in association with Snap-Two Productions, of the new show Signs of Life: A Tale of Terezin, book by Peter Ullian, lyrics by Len Schiff and music by Joel Derfner. The show featured Sarah Davis, Leo Ash Evens, David Hibbard, William Parry, Noah Ruff, Nancy Ringham, Jason Michael Snow, Douglas Ullman, Jr. and Carl N. Wallnau, with musical direction by Matt Castle and direction by Jeremy Dobrish.
During World War II, the Jewish people inhabiting the Czech ghetto Terezín were among the intellectual and artistic elite of Europe. Hitler's "City for the Jews" was a propaganda scheme created to fool an unsuspecting world. Signs of Life is the story of the courageous artists whose bravery, love, and defiance reveal the moral truth that lies in the power of art.
The show played four sold-out performances and gave the creators the opportunity to work on the piece and to further develop it and we plan for a full production in our next season with a generous production grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Special thanks must be given to LimanAde Productions and Stacey Mindich Productions for helping to underwrite our presentation.
NO, NO NANETTE
 Traditionally, May has been the time for the end-of-year production for The Rosetta LeNoire Musical Theatre Academy and this year was no different. The Academy presented No, No Nanette, a musical comedy with book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, music by Vincent Youmans, lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, adapted and directed by Burt Shevelove. No, No Nanette is a light-hearted, knee slappin', toe tappin' romp back to the Roaring Twenties. Jimmy Smith is in and out of a whole mess of trouble on a summer weekend at Chickadee Cottage. Included in the score are two of the most famous show tunes ever written: Tea for Two and I Want to Be Happy.
No, No Nanette featured the members of our Teen Academy: Joseph Calinda, Adriana Callier, Daryl Carpenter, Lillian Crystal Collazo, Dylan Corbett, Jake Gilford, Silvan Carlson Goodman, Shikeera Guilliaume, Dane Brandt-Lubart, Kele Matheson, Grace Mills, Amanda Ruth Moreau, Daniel Palladino, Victoria Rivery, and Khadija "Kat" Sallet. Our creative staff included set designer Adam Koch, costume designer Cheryl McCarron, lighting designer Seth Resier, and sound designer Tom West. Audra Bass was our music direction and pianist. She brought in Debralee Daco on keyboards and flute and Paul Stivetts on percussion.
The show was a big hit with our audiences and it capped a great year with the Academy. No No Nanette ran for eight performances at the Hudson Guild Theatre on West 26th Street that were extremely well attended. The teens did a great job under the guidance of choreographer Monica Johnson and director Christopher Scott.
NEWS FROM THE RIALTO
Congratulations to Beth Falcone, composer and lyricist of last year's hit musical, Wanda's World on winning the prestigious Edward Kleban Award. The other great news is the show has been optioned for a commercial run!
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