Award-Winning Actress, Singer Molly Ringwald Coming to Tri-Valley

Although best known for her starring role in films such as “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink,” Molly Ringwald has been singing since the age of three. She brings her enchanting vocal style to Livermore in February for an evening of music from the American Songbook, putting her own unique stamp on the jazz standards and sharing with audiences her affection for songs that have been part of her life for decades. “An Evening with Molly Ringwald” will be offered at the Bankhead Theater for one performance only on Thursday evening, February 12, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for adults are $42 or $60 and are just $16 for students.

Molly Ringwald has loved singing throughout her life, but never before found the right time to pursue it. Raised in Northern California, Ringwald has jazz music in her blood. Her father, pianist Bob Ringwald, is the band leader for the Fulton Street Jazz Band. He has also led the Great Pacific Jazz Band in Los Angeles and is one of the founders of the renowned Sacramento Jazz Festival. Molly Ringwald started singing as a young child and enjoyed the special times she spent with her father playing and singing jazz music. Influenced by such legends as Ella Fitzgerald, Bessie Smith and Blossom Dearie, she fell in love with the traditional jazz standards at an early age.
When Ringwald was just 13 however, she was cast by Paul Mazursky in “Tempest” and for the next few decades, her focus was on acting. She appeared in numerous films, most notably the John Hughes hits beginning with “Sixteen Candles” in 1984, as well as “Fresh Horses,” “King Lear” and “The Pick Up Artist.” According to Ringwald, during those years not only was her film career all consuming, she never saw much of an opening for the big-band songbook style she prefers, although she continued to sing for her own pleasure.

Acting did eventually lead her back to singing in 2005. At the wrap party celebrating the end of the run of a Broadway play in which she had been performing, fellow actor and accomplished musician Peter Smith began playing the piano and the two discovered a mutual love for jazz. A few years later, Ringwald and Smith reunited in Los Angeles and the two began performing in small Southern California clubs. They eventually decided to put together an album and “Except Sometimes,” which features Smith on the piano, was released in 2013. All ten cuts are songs Ringwald felt a strong connection to, putting a new spin on such jazz and musical standards as “The Very Thought of You,” “I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes),” “I’ll Take Romance,” “Sooner or Later,” and “Where Is Love.” In an affectionate musical nod to her acting career, the album features Ringwald’s rendition of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” the iconic Simple Minds hit which was featured in The Breakfast Club. Since the album’s release, Ringwald and her band have performed over 150 concerts in four countries.

“An Evening with Molly Ringwald” is part of the LVPAC Presents series, which welcomes a wide range of acclaimed musicians, dancers, actors, comics, and other artists to the Bankhead Theater each year. Coming next in February will be an opportunity to enjoy the music of the original “Teen Idol” in “Ricky Nelson Remembered” an evening of music, memories and laughter featuring his twin sons Matthew and Gunnar Nelson. The only artist to have a #1 song, #1 movie and #1 television show in the same week, Ricky Nelson is credited as a pioneer of the country rock sound. His hits such as “Hello Mary Lou,” “Poor Little Fool,” “Travelin’ Man,” “I’m Walkin’,” and “Garden Party” put him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Tickets for “Ricky Nelson Remembered” at the Bankhead on Friday, February 13, 2015, as well as for “An Evening with Molly Ringwald,” and all remaining LVPAC Presents performances are available now through the Bankhead Theater box office.
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The Bankhead Theater, located at 2400 First Street in Downtown Livermore, is home to the LVPAC Presents series as well as performances by resident companies and touring performing arts groups. Rotating art exhibitions are also presented in the lobby and Founder’s Room throughout the year. The ticket office is open Tuesday through Friday from 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. On performance days the ticket office is open from two hours before to 30 minutes after the scheduled start of each show. To purchase tickets call 925-373-6800 or visitwww.bankheadtheater.org.

Information, photo submitted by the Bankhead Theater