The celebration of the musical legacy left behind by singers Steve Lawrence and his wife, Eydie Gormé, “A Toast To Steve & Eydie,” will go on tomorrow night, as scheduled, at Carnegie Hall, despite the death of Lawrence on March 7.
CIRCA 1975: Pop vocal husband and wife duo Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme who perform as "Steve & ... [+]
Steve and Eydie's son, Emmy-nominated composer David Lawrence, and Tony Award winner Debbie Gravitte will be backed by a 30-piece orchestra, performing some of the duo's most famous songs, with the original orchestrations, including “This Could Be the Start of Something Big,” “I Gotta Be Me,” “If He Walked Into My Life,” “Together, Wherever We Go,” and “Cheek To Cheek.”
"This event was always meant to be a heartfelt tribute to my parents, honoring the timeless music that they made together. My father's recent passing makes this celebration even more timely and poignant," said David Lawrence.
"Debbie and I can't wait to sing before an audience of devoted Steve and Eydie fans, sharing my parents' personal history and celebrating their extraordinary musical legacy that continues to live on. It's going to be a joyful, musical night that, I think, would make mom and dad kvell."
The concert will be directed by Lonny Price (Sunset Boulevard, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill) and Matt Cowart (associate director for Sunset Boulevard, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill); with musical direction by Tedd Firth (music director for Bernadette Peters, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Barbara Cook, Michael Feinstein and Marilyn Maye). It will be written by Tony Award winner Robert L. Freedman (A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder) and Faye Greenberg (Disney’s High School Musical).
The concert’s venue is most meaningful: With their run of concerts at Carnegie Hall in 1981 and 1983, Steve and Eydie are second only to Liza Minnelli in the number of back-to-back, consecutive evenings performed at Carnegie Hall.
At a private reception last month, the Lawrence Family Foundation made a “generous endowment contribution” to the Carnegie Hall Education Endowment Fund to support NYO Jazz, one of Carnegie Hall’s three national youth ensembles.
Accepting the contribution, Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s executive and artistic director, said, “Fans absolutely loved (Steve and Eydie’s) Carnegie Hall performances, now considered a cherished part of the hall’s history. We’re very grateful to the Lawrence family for honoring their legacy in this meaningful way, providing generous support that will help young musicians as they prepare to take to Carnegie Hall’s stage and beyond.”
“It is my hope that this gift will help to support the next generation of musicians and artists so that they can continue their creative journeys and we can be dazzled by the gift of their music for many years to come,” Lawrence said.
Steve and Eydie met when they were hired as regulars on Steve Allen’s “The Tonight Show,” marrying in 1957. They performed together for over 50 years, winning multiple Emmy and Grammy awards, a Tony nomination and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
David Lawrence was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, graduated from the Mannes Conservatory of Music, and is Emmy-nominated for his work on Disney’s Descendants and a two-time recipient of the ASCAP Award for most performed film score. Most recently he completed his first solo album, “Nosotros”—a tribute to his mother, who died in 2013, and her recordings—with the Trio Los Panchos. The album contains his version of ten Spanish-language songs recorded by Eydie, a New York-born descendant of Sephardic Jews who spoke Spanish and Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish, at home.
“When Mom died, I wanted to do a tribute to her, I didn’t want to do a regurgitation of the the Great American Songbook,” Lawrence said.
Gravitte received the Tony Award for her performance in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, along with the New York Showstopper Award, Steve & Eydie Sizzle Grammy Award and a Drama Desk Award nomination. She made her Broadway debut in the original cast of They’re Playing Our Song.
She called the music she and Lawrence will perform at Carnegie Hall “forever music. My kids grew up on it, David’s daughter grew up on it. Whatever happens with contemporary music, it’s the great songbook of our lives—it will never go out of fashion.”
