“SS Nirvana” will premiere at Birdland Jazz Club 315 West 44th Street on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012 5:30 p.m. This jamin’ Jazz review features TC III, Joy Ryder, Charles Bartlett, JaRon Eames, Nikita White, B.J. Jansen and Dhonna Goodale, under the musical direction of Marcus Persiani, with Paul Beaudry on bass, and Will Terrill on drums.
As the show musically sojourns through the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s the cast performs the music of our lives. “SS Nirvana” also boasts a collection of high-spirited up-tempo tunes as well as memorable heart wrenching ballads. The audience instantly connects as they sing along for the entire show and become reminiscent of a sweeter time.
Audiences rave for “SS Nirvana,” “We close our eyes and it’s like going back in time.”
The stage is set as “Madame Royale’s” supper club, a magical room that spotlights legendary artists past and present. This fabulous fantasy musical takes place aboard an imaginary cruise ship called “SS Nirvana,” where the passenger list is international and very prestigious. Nightly performances in costume, song and verse include the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Eckstine, Johnny Hartman, Anita O’Day, and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.
The show stars Ghanniyya Green, a Harlem, New York native who is known as a singer’s singer, a musician’s songstress and a listener’s delight. She is an award winning recording artist who swings hard with a big band and stylizes in a mellow tone with her trio. Ghanniyya (Ga-Nee Yha) brings it on home as Sarah Vaughan in “SS Nirvana,” Green sounds and looks like the great jazz legend who immortalized songs such as “Misty,” “Tenderly” and “Send In the Clowns.”
