Tony Bennett

Saturday, April 30, 8pm
Legends Theater

Ticket Prices: $126.00 / $93.00 / $69.00 / $49.00

Tony Bennett turned 80 on August 3, 2006, an event which has generated a wide range of tributes and celebrations. In addition to the release of Duets: An American Classic, RPM Records/Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings launched a monumental and definitive reissue project, The Tony Bennett Master Series. Executive produced by Tony Bennett and Danny Bennett, the first five releases in The Tony Bennett Master Series included expanded editions of three Grammy winning titles — I Left My Heart In San Francisco (1962), Perfectly Frank(1992), and MTV Unplugged (1994) — as well as two brand-new 16-song collections: Tony Bennett’s Greatest Hits of the ’50s and Tony Bennett’s Greatest Hits of the ’60s.

Tony has been the subject of both a filmed biography produced by Clint Eastwood and a major television special, Tony Bennett: An American Classic, which aired on NBC in autumn 2006 and won 7 Emmy Awards making it the most honored television program at the 2007 Emmy Awards ceremony. It garnered Bennett his second Emmy Award to his credit.

Conceived and directed by Rob Marshall, executive produced by Danny Bennett, John DeLuca and Rob Marshall and produced by Jodi Hurwitz, Tony Bennett: An American Classic featured musical guests Elton John, Michael Bublé, John Legend, k.d. lang, Diana Krall, Christina Aguilera, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand and Chris Botti. Segment hosts for the program included Robert DeNiro, Bruce Willis, Billy Crystal and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Notables from the worlds of music, stage, screen and politics were on-hand to help Tony celebrated his 80th birthday at a star-studded party at the Museum of Natural History in New York. The evening included heartfelt tributes from Harry Belafonte, Bruce Willis, Katie Couric and former President Bill Clinton.

“As you know, I’ve always admired your singing and your ability to bring millions of people together across the generations through your music,” said Clinton, who sent along taped greetings when he was unable to personally attend Bennett’s birthday festivity due to a prior commitment. “But you haven’t stopped at your musical success. You’ve spent so much time working to bring people together through public service. I’ll never forget your special performance at my First Inaugural, and I can’t thank you enough for the support of the Clinton Global Initiative, even auctioning off one of your beautiful paintings for an enormous amount of money that will help to keep children around the world alive. I’ve valued our friendship so much over the years. You’re still young, your ear is still pitch-perfect, you’ve got a light in your eye, and I hope this special day is just the beginning of many, many more happy birthdays to a very good man.”

“Everything’s all happening at once,” said Bennett. “It’s the biggest amount of recognition I’ve ever received--almost like a payoff for all the years of traveling on the road.”

As the world’s most boyish octogenarian, a vital musical artist at the peak of his powers, Tony Bennett is living proof that, to steal a line from Sinatra, fairy tales can come true if you’re young at heart.