NJ PBS resumes ‘American Songbook’ series with Debbie Gravitte, Jim Dale, more

by JAY LUSTIG
american songbook nj pbs

Debbie Gravitte, performing on the “American Songbook” series.

NJ PBS’s “American Songbook” series returned this week, with a special starring Debbie Gravitte,” and will continue with a show featuring Jim Dale, Sept. 13 at 9:30 p.m.

The performances were taped at NJPAC in Newark in April, with Ted Chapin, the former president of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, hosting and interviewing the singers as part of the shows.

The next two episodes in the NJ PBS series will compile moments from past “American Songbook” shows, with “Showstoppers,” featuring Michael Feinstein, Maureen McGovern, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter and Tom Wopat, being shown Sept. 20 at 9:34 p.m.; and “Inspirational Women,” featuring Andrea McArdle, Christine Ebersole, Marilyn Maye, Maureen McGovern, Jessie Mueller and Valerie Simpson, airing Sept. 27 at 9:34 p.m.

After airing, the shows will be archived at MyNJPBS.org.

In a press release, NJ PBS general manager Joe Lee said of the network’s partnership with NJPAC, “Our two mission-driven organizations are dedicated to the celebration and preservation of great American music and the vibrancy of art and culture in New Jersey. We take pride in making these wonderful performances accessible to all New Jerseyans through the power of public media.”

Here is an episode, also taped in April but aired in June, that featured James Monroe Iglehart:

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