Jazz Singer Marcus Goldhaber Stars in Off-Broadway Musical Salute to Harold Arlen, Beginning Tonight

In between, Goldhaber will be hosting his sixth annual New Year's Eve concert at Fabio's ,230 E. 44^th St., in New York City. Tickets and reservations at212.922.0581 or www.fabiopiccolofiore.com

THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF SONG moves from The Cotton Club through Arlen's Hollywood years to Broadway, sharing inside stories of how some of the world's most beloved songs were created with rare behind-the-scenes footage from The Wizard of Oz taken by Harold Arlen himself.

Goldhaber is featured as one of The Three Crooners as the Arlen revue makes its New York debut after a national tour to 18 cities and a month-long run at the Debbie Reynolds Theatre in Las Vegas. Produced by Yellow Brick Productions in association with Shea Arender, Steven Colucci and Jerry Rosenberg, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF SONG has direction & musical staging by Broadway veteran Gene Castle. The original concept is by Nigel Wright, Sam Arlen and George Bugatti with special thanks to Harold Arlen's son Sam Arlen for all archival and historical content. Goldhaber has appeared in NYC at Birdland, The Kitano, The Metropolitan Room, Iridium, The Laurie Beechman, The Cutting Room, The Makor/Steinhardt Center, The Carnegie Club and The Lenox Lounge as well as in Boston, Chicago, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. His theatrical credits include: The Pajama Game, Kiss Me Kate, Singing In The Rain, My Way (Sinatra tribute) and I Left My Heart (Tony Bennett tribute).

"It's a real thrill to be a part of this special tribute to Harold Arlen's incredible songs," says Goldhaber. "The cast and band are phenomenal and I'm really excited to be singing these songs just steps away from where many of them were first introduced in the 1930s."

Growing up Jewish in Buffalo, like Arlen, while also sharing the same draw toward to the blues holds special meaning to Goldhaber.

"I've always felt a small connection to him and an added sense of inspiration as a songwriter," he says. "Though he was at his prime in the Tin Pan Alley days, when the majority of hit songs followed a 32 bar form, his style was completely unique and often unexpected. When I'm writing, I always try and let the song do as much of the writing as possible. If the result is an untraditional form, so be it, as long as it's justifiEd Strongly by melody or lyric. After all, if Harold could do it, 'Why oh why can't I?'"

Goldhaber is gaining a fast reputation among critics and radio programmers for his accessible songwriting and intimate approach to straight-ahead jazz with Chet Baker's cool sensibility, Harry Connick Jr.'s confidence, Art Garfunkel's gentleness, and John Pizzarelli's genial hipness with ALMOST LOVE, his first album of original compositions.

ALMOST LOVE, a recent CD Pick Of The Week on New York's WBAI, is getting wonderful radio support across the nation, recently debuting in the Jazz Top 50 of The Roots Music Report. Jazz Weekly, All About Jazz, the JNS News Service, O's Place Jazz and Sirius XM Host Brett Winterble are among the growing list of media giving the album accolades. Click here to read Goldhaber's recent Q&A in The Advocate.

In soundtrack news, "As Long As I Am Falling in Love," from ALMOST LOVE, and "A Walk," from Goldhaber's acclaimed 2009 album, Take Me Anywhere,were recently featured in the award-winning full-length feature film Going Down in La La Land (Embrem) by Casper Andreas. And "I Fall Apart," also from Take Me Anywhere," will be featured next year in Jon Lindstrom's full length motion picture, How We Got Away With It (La Vie Productions).