Other songs on this debut CD are “My Grateful Spirit Sings” with music and lyrics by Sally DeFord and an incredible new musical version of the 23rd Psalm with music composed by Nitya Thomas herself.

All three songs are produced and orchestrated by Peter Link, a Broadway composer and owner of New York’s Link studio.

“I am discovering that a large purpose in our journey in this lifetime seems to be awakening to the truth of who we really are as opposed to what the world would tell us what we are,” Miss Thomas writes in the album’s liner notes.

Fortunately, Miss Thomas, who was a successful financial analyst with Goldman Sachs in London, awakened to the glorious truth of her gifts as a singer/composer. Originally from Bangalore, India, Miss Thomas decided to “explore her artistic self,” as Peter Link put it, and study voice. “Gratefully, Miss Thomas comes with a real ‘instrument,’ ” Mr. Link added. “As a producer, my favorite thing about Miss Thomas is to take the information that I give her, ingest it, and quickly turn it around in a strong process.”

But Miss Thomas is much more than a singer with a technically gifted voice.  Because if she were any better, music fans would be dissatisfied with most of the Broadway, cabaret and even opera performers in America today.  For Miss Thomas, like the greatest concert pianists or Broadway or opera divas, for that matter, exudes an indescribable warmth and joy no amount of technical proficiency can even approach. In her unique rendition of the 23rd Psalm Miss Thomas’ irresistible warmth is as evident as her vocal range. There are very few, if any, singers who have equal portions of both.

On the inspiration for writing the music for her version of the 23rd Psalm, Miss Thomas explains, “A dear friend and I were both going through a tough time and searching for inspiration together one evening.  And we ended up discussing and reading it back to each other many times – and finding comfort in its beautiful and reassuring message. That evening I returned home and went straight to the piano, and from that place of comfort came this piece.”

Earlier this year, Miss Thomas won the prestigious job of soloist of First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York City, on Central Park West and 68th Street, and one of the most historically beautiful and unique churches on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

So here is a performer with unerring precision and engaging warmth.  And this critic’s grateful spirit sings, to quote a repeated line among Sally DeFord lyrics for “My Grateful Spirit Sings.”

First published in the BlackTie Magazine: – See more at: http://blacktiemagazine.com/arts_theater/Nitya_Thomas.htm#sthash.js5SdriT.dpuf

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But to call Clark Warren a throwback to the heydays of Sinatra, Mel Torme and Fred Astaire is an understatement. Warren is in a class by himself, a singer and entertainer who will leave you wishing you never have to leave the Metropolitan Room. You’ll want to hear and see him again and again! His other songs include the Gershwins’ “Summertime” (from the George and Ira Gershwin musical “Porgy and Bess,”) and “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart.”

His upbeat and flavorful rendition “On the Sunny Side of the Street” was especially fun for me to hear since I used to know the late, great Dorothy Fields, who wrote the lyrics. Miss Fields and I used to visit hospitalized war veterans and loved her sunny and
loving disposition.

First published in BlackTie Magazine.

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“We did very well [financially] — and we brought back a lot of the prestige of The Ball by bringing it back to The Breakers!” Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Chairman of the American Red Cross and former U.S. Ambassador to Finland, told me during the magical dancing in the Venetian Ballroom of The Breakers.

“Everyone here is engaged in giving and everyone should,”  Jean Shafiroff, who attended the ball with husband Martin Shafiroff, told me.

At the pre-Ball reception in the hotel’s flower-festooned Mediterranean Ballroom, Mary M. Ourisman, Ball chairwoman former U.S. Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, greeted six visiting ambassadors from Singapore, Iceland, Indonesia, Morocco, Portugal and the Netherlands along with many of the Who’s Who of American society, business and the arts. Mary was accompanied by husband Mandell “Mandy” Ourisman, chairman of Ourisman Automotive with auto dealerships in metropolitan Washington, D.C.

And former film star Dina Merrill — whose mother, Marjorie Merriweather Post, was the founding chairwoman of the Red Ball back in 1956 — looked regal and radiant in a black gown and black pearls, especially when she received a hug and kiss from her jazz singer grandson Cole Rumbough. She was accompanied by husband Ted Hartley, CEO of RKO Pictures and co-producer with Stewart F. Lane of the Irving Berlin musical Top Hat in London.

And from start to finish this year’s 56th edition of the International Red Cross Ball had a most engaging air of freshness. And there’s just no getting around it: The Red Ball at the glittery Breakers was as opulent and joyous occasion as any event in the time-honored tradition of one of the greatest and most beautiful hotels in the world.

Among the more than 400 guests were Francis Hayward, Jean and Martin Shafiroff,  Jon L. Heinemann and his beautiful wife, artist Michelle Marie Heinemann  Trish Donnelley, Paula Butler, Amanda Schumacher, Audrey and Marty Gruss, Kathryn Vecellio and Rhonda Wilkins (co-chairwomen for the Red Ball), Mary Mochary, and Beverly White-Yeager, Wilbur and Hilary Ross, Tom Quick, Chris and Grace Meigher, Wally and Betsy Turner, Anita McBride, former chief of staff for Barbara Bush; California Congressman Ed Royce and his wife Maria; former U.S. Senators Mel Martinez, Norm Coleman and Fred Thompson.

One of the highlights of the Red Ball was Peter Duchin and his orchestra serenading Dina Merrill with If I Could Live Again, a song written for her half a century ago about the time she was co-starring in the movie Desk Set with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. If I Could Live Again was sung by grandson Cole Rumbough.

Special Thanks to Mary and Mandell Ourisman who were among the biggest supporters of The Red Cross Ball.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.pbtcredcross.org or join our blog at www.pbtcredcross.org/blog.

- See more at: http://blacktiemagazine.com/Palm_Beach_Society/The_56th_International_Red_Cross_Ball.htm#sthash.v1etXD6X.dpuf

First published in BlackTie Magazine on February 8, 2013

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The Plaza: Where one can gaze at the stars over Central Park, or those in the lobby

Whether for vacation, delectation or arm chair fantasizing, “Inside the Plaza”: An Intimate  Portrait of the Ultimate Hotel is an irresistible bon-bon, a must-read.

Note for the uninitiated: The Plaza Hotel, described as “the largest French chateau in the world,” occupies the southwest corner of 59th Street and Fifth Ave., directly across the street from Central Park. A playground for the privileged, it’s the fairytale-like castle where Eloise lives, the rich romp, the royals relax, and the arrivistes/wannabes disport themselves.

It’s where Truman Capote held the fabled “Black and White Ball” for Katharine Graham, where Neil Simon set “Plaza Suite,” and who can forget Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford in the final scene of “The Way We Were”?

This chronicle of a unique Gotham institution is by the estimable Ward Morehouse III. It’s rich in history – to be relished even by those who think they aren’t interested—and awash in familiar names and unfamiliar anecdotes: J. Edgar Hoover, as few have seen him; JFK and Jackie; JFK and Judith Exner; Onassis and Jackie; Onassis and Maria Callas (as only Jackie Susann knew and told, albeit thinly veiled, in her posthumous novel, “Dolores” and now is revealed openly in this tome) and the lavish lifestyles – even by Plaza standards – of visiting Middle Eastern potentates.

In this engagingly written and carefully researched delicacy, Ward has created a mélange of morsels to be savored. It’s an ideal vacation or travel book because no matter where it’s opened, there will be a fascinating vignette that can be understood without having to refer back to anything else. Lost your place? No matter. Open anywhere and enjoy.

While this is first and foremost a fun read, there’s also much that illuminates. The hotel is part of the history of New York — really, in many senses, of the world—and the anecdotes provide a glimpse into the private lives of the literary (F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, playwright Ferenc “The Play’s the Thing” and “Liliom” Molnar, Neil Simon, Gilbert Seldes, among others), the legendary (including Gertrude Lawrence, Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Cary Grant, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward and The Beatles), Powerful pols ( Jimmy Walker and John Lindsay among them) and the notorious (Sam Giancana). Almost a footnote: “Fosse and Niles” in 1950. The “Fosse” is dancer and later to be acclaimed choreographer and director Bob Fosse. “Niles”? Mary Ann Niles, the first Mrs. Fosse! (It was my pleasure to work with “Spooki” Niles in “The Pajama Game” years later, and Bob Fosse attended a performance.)

There are pages of fascinating photos including particularly lovely shots of JFK and Jackie, Marilyn Monroe and Angie Dickinson. Also, of a very young Mia Farrow with her mother, Maureen O’ Sullivan.

One can make a game of trying to identify those in various shots who are not named. In a photograph of the author’s parents, distinguished drama critic Ward Morehouse, Jr., and actress Joan Marlowe, there in profile   is someone apparently animatedly speaking to them, and I wager that someone is movie star Jane Wyman (the first Mrs. Ronald Reagan). The upturned nose is the clue.

There’s no one better qualified to write a biography of a hotel than Ward Morehouse III. He grew up in posh hostelries all over the globe, as his myriad books on the subject attest. He lived at the Plaza first with his parents, then with his father and stepmother.

As a child he got to know the nooks and crannies and revisits them as he guides the reader on a virtual tour. This volume is an updating of his 2001 effort, so there are all manner of new facets to be observed. He got the know the staff of old, and remained in the loop as the newcomers arrived. He apprises us of their functions and how the hotel actually works. The kitchens are particularly interesting, given the five restaurants on the premises.

The author takes us through the changes in ownership and what each wrought. But throughout, it’s the clientele that captivates.

- See more at: http://blacktiemagazine.com/recommended_reading/Inside_thw_Plaza.htm

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