Last Session Benefit Concert, with Schalchlin, Coleman, Brochu, Rhoads, Presented June 23
By Andrew Gans
23 Jun 2010


Steve Schalchlin
Steve Schalchlin


A concert presentation of the 1997 semi-autobiographical Off-Broadway musical The Last Session, featuring the creators and original cast members, will be presented June 23 at 8 PM at the Theatre at St. Clement's in Manhattan.


The evening benefits St. Clement's food pantry and free veterinary clinic. Tickets are $20 or whatever one can afford; no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Steve Schalchlin, composer and lyricist, leads veteran cast members from the New York and L.A. companies, including Amy Coleman as the hard-charging tough Janis Joplin-like blues singer Vicki; and Michele Mais (currently starring in Rock of Ages), whose performance as Tryshia, the self-described diva, garnered her the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress. Also in the cast are newcomer Tom Rhoads in the role of Buddy, a young musical evangelist, and 2010 Drama Desk Award winner for his performance in Zero Hour, Jim Brochu, who also wrote the book.



The Last Session, which debuted in New York in 1997, played at the 47th Street Theatre for six months and received Best Musical nominations from the Drama League and the Outer Critics Circle.
The Last Session was created when composer/lyricist Schalchlin, dying from late stage AIDS in 1995, began writing songs as musical therapy. Soon, life partner and playwright Brochu took the songs and created The Last Session based on characters from Schalchlin's life. Luckily, the new protease inhibitor drugs came along just as the first workshop was beginning, and by the end of the three-week run, Schalchlin had begun to come back to life.
For tickets and more information, call (212) 246-7277