On their first date, Billy Joel took Kate Lee out to dinner, but on that November 2002 evening she got much more than a "Scene From An Italian Restaurant." "Afterward he took me to see "Movin' Out" [the hit musical based on Joel's tunes], got onstage and sang the last two songs," recalls Lee, 23, who was visiting New York from Ohio and first met Joel, 55, in the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel, where both were staying. "I knew he was trying to impress me." It must have worked; six months after that meeting she moved to Long Island, New York, to live with him, and in January 2004 he proposed on a trip to St. Barts. "He got down on his knee, and it was a complete surprise," Lee recalls. "That made me feel really special." When they made it official on October 2nd, 2004, Joel was determined to wow Lee once again. At the reception he sang "Try A Little Tenderness," which he dedicated to his bride.

"And So It Goes"

The nondenomenational ceremony, performed by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, was scheduled to take place outdoors. But the sky was overcast and it started to drizzle just as Joel's daughter, Alexa Ray, 19, the maid of honor, began walking down the aisle. At the moment of truth, though, "when we opened up the doors to send Kate out, the sun came out, recalls planner Marcy Blum.

"The Entertainer"

The 220 guests - including Alexa Ray's mom, Christie Brinkley - partied inside three tents in the ballroom of the couple's estate. "We wanted to give the reception a [bountiful] country feel," says Blum, who, with the help of Stonekelly Events & Florals, turned the home into a setting fit for an Italian harvest feast. The reception tents were designed "to resemble a dinner at a Tuscan villa, outside under the pergola," says Jen Stone of Stonekelly. To create the country house effect, 23 wooden farm tables were set with rustic floral arrangements of miniature calla lillies, sunflowers and herbs. "We used a lot of Vietri pottery, antique pitchers, and antique side boards [for the buffet]," says Stone. "It looked like a kitchen you would have at home." And that's just what the newlyweds ordered. We really did not want a stuffy wedding," says Lee. "We wanted a lively atmosphere."

It's Still Rock and Roll

Because Joel is a musician and Lee has a cooking show in the works, Blum says, "I knew this event was going to be all about food and music." Dinner began with an appetizer "à la Katie": sausage with grapes and onions, based on the bride's recipe. A buffet of fish, meat, vegetables, cheese and salami followed, finishing with desserts at a sweets table. "We both were concerned with having good food. Like me, Billy is a foodie," says Lee. The Persuasions, the renowned a capella group, started off the music; a chamber orchestra followed. Later, as guests sampled Katie's berry cobbler, Billy's mother and aunt sang duets. The newlyweds' first dance was to "Moon River." Lee confesses: "Billy's not a great slow dancer, so before the wedding, we took dance lessons. Billy learned how to waltz for me."

Do Go Changin'

For the ceremony the bride wore a custom Oscar de la Renta lace gown and Jimmy Choo shoes adorned with Swarovski crystals. After dinner she slipped into a black Dolce & Gabbana dress and Plumb aquamarine jewels. Joel wore a Ralph Lauren suit throughout.

"New York State of Mind"

Guests who traveled to the wedding found a Big Apple-theme gift basket in their hotel room, packed with champagne, bagel chips, fortune cookies, "taxi" cookies, and a book, "Where To Find It, Buy It, Eat It In New York." Upon leaving the celebration, everyone received a tin of Katie's rosemary pecan biscotti, with the recipe and a note enclosed: Rosemary is for remembrance and friendship."

As "Movin' Out" moves into the Wharton Center today, it seems like a revolutionary coup by dancers.

Banished are all the usual distractions - actors and dialogue and choruses and such. Instead, this is all dance, all the time.

That idea isn't new; ballet started doing it 524 years ago.

Billy Joel may be getting the next-best thing to Yankee pinstripes. The "Piano Man" is due to receive the 2005 Joe DiMaggio Award from Xaverian and Loyola High Schools at a summer benefit for scholarship students. Previous winners include Luciano Pavarotti, Paul Simon, Rudy Giuliani, and Henry Kissinger...

Broadway star musician Michael Cavanaugh says he was a lousy piano student growing up in Middleburg Heights.

When Billy Joel hits the road next month for a couple of shows out West, his longtime drummer Liberty DeVitto won't be going with him. There's no word yet on whether Joel's shows at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas March 26th, 2005 and the America West Arena in Phoenix March 31st, 2005 will blossom into a full tour - which would be his first in years as the sole headliner.

Regardless of the tour length, there will be a change behind the drum kit. "Billy wanted a change this time around, and I wish him the best of luck and much happiness," DeVitto said in a statement. "It's been great working with him for the past 30-plus years, and I am excited about the projects I've already started on, too."

DeVitto said he will continue working with his new band, NYC Hit Squad, and a book that goes behind the scenes of the music business.

This week's "Life & Style" features tours of celebrity homes - including Beth Ostrosky's tour today of the Long Island estate of Billy Joel and his new bride, Katie Lee Joel. Billy Joel wasn't scheduled to participate in the tour, but he showed up while the "Life & Style" cameras were rolling - giving the crew a private tour of his estate and playing a few classical tunes on the piano.

Is the "Piano Man" getting tuned up?

A source says that Billy Joel is getting tests in the North Shore Hospital on Long Island. "He's been having some problems and they're doing tests on his stomach," says the insider. "Hopefully, there’s nothing there."

The "Piano Man"'s in a Pepto state of mind.

Billy Joel has checked himself into an undisclosed New York hospital after suffering severe stomach pains.

Joel had been complaining about the cramps for the longest time and, according to the singer-songwriter's publicist, Claire Mercuri, is now undergoing a battery of tests at a medical center on Long Island.

Billy Joel has been hospitalized for the past week. The "Piano Man" was admitted to Long Island's North Shore Hospital after suffering "severe gastric pains," his rep said. "There is no specific diagnosis, but he is expected to be released [today] or [tomorrow]." Some said Joel was suffering from pancreatitis, but a friend said, "Billy has gastro-intestinal tract distress with possible kidney stones." Either way, Joel is going to have to cut down on his beloved vino intake - both kidney stones and pancreatitis are caused and inflamed by alcohol.

Billy Joel's New York offices were recently razed by a fire that started in the adjoining antique hardware store. Now, according to a story at MSNBC.com , Joel has been admitted to a New York hospital for stomach pains. A rep told the news site that he's expected to be released later this week. As for Joel's musical endeavors, Elton John told Larry King on Monday night that he wouldn't be surprised if we saw a new rock album out of Billy Joel in the next year or so. Elton says a new creative burst from the "Piano Man" could be inspired by Joel's newlywed bliss.

Sir Elton John is trying to prompt pal Billy Joel to record new material because he thinks the rocker still has a lot of songs to sing.

The British rock star has teamed up with the New Yorker on tour several times in the past decade and constantly teases him about his reluctance to record a new album.

John says, "I say, 'It's about time you wrote a new song.' He hasn't written for about 10 or 11 years now, and now he's got married again he seems really in a happy space.

Billy Joel is expected to be released from a Long Island hospital "within the next day or two," his publicist said yesterday.

The singer, 55, checked into the hospital late last week to undergo treatment for severe stomach pains, according to his publicist.

The publicist would not disclose where he was staying, but MSNBC.com reports that Joel is at a Long Island facility and quoted an unnamed source as saying, "He's been having some problems, and they're doing tests on his stomach."

Joel's hospital stay comes as the singer is preparing to play two concerts next month: One at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada March 26th, 2005, and another at the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona March 31st, 2005. Whether Joel's medical situation will affect his performances is unclear. No diagnosis has been made.

Steve Burgh, a record producer and musician who worked with Billy Joel, the Ramones, Phoebe Snow, and others, has died, his lawyer said. He was 54.

Burgh died of a heart attack Monday at his home in Kingston, NY, said his lawyer, Leslie Berman.

Burgh was a talented sideman and producer who played with a number of artists in the 1970s and 1980s, including Willie Nelson, Judy Collins, and Steve Goodman.

He was a guitarist on Joel's 1976 album "The Stranger," including the Grammy-winning song "Just The Way You Are." He was also the musical director for Gladys Knight, Richie Havens, and others.

In 1982, Burgh opened a Manhattan recording studio, Baby Monster, that prospered for a decade and recorded Emmylou Harris, John Cage, and Cypress Hill, among many others.

Burgh moved to Accord, NY a decade ago and recently moved again to Kingston, where he opened 33, a nightclub and recording studio.

Burgh is survived by his mother, Zeldine Schwartzman Golden; twin children, Juliet and Louis; two half-sisters, Elizabeth Golden and Jennifer Devos; four half brothers, Harry, Robert and Mark Burgh, and Todd Golden; and his former wife, Jamie Burgh.

Although it's only February, the musical "Movin' Out" just may be the hottest ticket in town this year.

The sexy, sophisticated dance musical, based on the music of Billy Joel, is enthralling at Playhouse Square's Palace Theatre. This "dancical" has the most aggressively athletic dancing I've seen in a musical.

Choreographer and director Twyla Tharp has ingeniously mined the stories within decades' worth of Joel's music and lyrics, creating a stirring coming-of-age tale told completely through movement and the vocals of Middleburg Heights native Michael Cavanaugh, who's making a special visit from the Broadway show.

In a time where other "jukebox" musicals have been critical failures, Tharp and Joel's collaboration is an inspired one that all Joel lovers, dance lovers and musical theatre lovers will want to see. In 29 seamless songs, "Movin' Out" chronicles five high school friends from Long Island through relationships, war, loss, their struggle for survival, and healing.

Leading the cast is the muscular Brendan King as Eddie, a cyclonic dancer whose acting skills make Eddie's violent emotion real. King grabs our hearts and doesn't let go when a strung-out Eddie falls apart during Vietnam combat. Here, the bouncy pop flavor of Joel's original "We Didn't Start The Fire" is transformed into hellish chaos.

This show has its nightmarish disjointed dances of death. But it takes you from exhilaration to anguish and back again.

Warning: "Movin' Out" is for mature audiences only, with its depictions of substance abuse, sex and war.

Some of the touring show's characterizations aren't as emotionally compelling as their current Broadway counterparts. Although Laurie Kanyok is a fine dancer, she doesn't match the utter fierceness and sexiness that Nancy Lemenager brings to the role on the Great White Way.

Leading the killer band, Cavanaugh's potent vocals and electronic piano work are ever faithful to Joel's stylings. During a standing ovation at Tuesday's opening night, Cavanaugh deservedly received the greatest applause. He delivered to his fans by interspersing the tune "Cleveland Rocks" with "New York State of Mind."

Billy Joel, the infamous 55 year-old "Piano Man," has checked into a hospital on Long Island after suffering from severe stomach pains. "After experiencing severe gastric pains, Billy Joel has been admitted to a local New York hospital for tests," Joel's publicist Claire Mercuri said, adding that he is "expected to be released later this week." This is only the latest in a series of hospital visits for the Oyster Bay native, after checking in several times after inadvertently crashing his car into either walls, trees or homes. Joel's gastrointestinal distress comes on the heels of his wedding to 23 year-old Katie Lee.

The Arena: The New York Times Magazine. The "Piano Man" took offense at a 2002 profile suggesting he was lovelorn.

The Insult: "Joel's art is defined by his life, and his best work is his most morose. There was a time when sadness spawned genius; now it just reminds him that he's alone."

The Response: "A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth. Now there's the new one that I'm desperately longing to meet my romantic partner."

Who Won: Klosterman. Chuck went on to write a book. Billy crashed into the side of a house.

The striking Elizabeth Parkinson is back dancing in "Movin' Out," the Twyla Tharp musical set in the Vietnam Era that uses songs by Billy Joel.

Parkinson has returned to the hit musical after nearly a year's absence after the birth of her first child, James Montana Wise. The dancer, who formerly was a member of the Joffrey Ballet, was nominated for a Tony Award in 2003 for her performance in the show.

Tharp created, directed and choreographed "Movin' Out," which is now in its third year at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. A national company is on tour.

The striking Elizabeth Parkinson is back dancing in "Movin' Out," the Twyla Tharp musical set in the Vietnam era that uses songs by Billy Joel.

Parkinson has returned to the hit musical after nearly a year's absence, following the birth of her first child, James Montana Wise. The dancer, who formerly was a member of the Joffrey Ballet, was nominated for a Tony Award in 2003 for her performance in the show.

Tharp created, directed and choreographed "Movin' Out," which is now in its third year at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. A national company currently is on tour.

Billy Joel is one of the few people in the world to know the reason American rockers Maroon 5 chose their name.

The "She Will Be Loved" stars, who used to perform as Kara's Flowers, have kept the origin of their band name a closely guarded secret - but they couldn't hide the truth from the "Uptown Girl" singer.

Singer Adam Levine says, "He asked me where the name came from, and you can't really tell Billy Joel 'No'. I told him I was only going to tell him because he was Billy Joel. So he's the only other person who knows."

To the dismay of his bandmates, guitarist James Valentine lets slip, "Actually, I told my mom."

A perfect example of a happy medium between musical theatre and interpretive dance would be Broadway's "Movin' Out." This show is based on songs written by Billy Joel, and was choreographed and directed by Tony-Award Winner, Twyla Tharp.

A perfect example of a happy medium between musical theatre and interpretive dance would be Broadway's "Movin' Out." This show is based on songs written by Billy Joel, and was choreographed and directed by Tony-Award Winner, Twyla Tharp.

How cool would it be to have a personal soundtrack of your own life, with a handful of musicians and a composer ready to convert any twist or turn of your existence into a song. Well, that's what Billy Joel has been doing for himself for the past few decades, enshrining moments of his personal journey in a long parade of chart-topping singles.

It was probably inevitable that the Joel playlist would be turned into a Broadway musical, and so it has: "Movin' Out" is now rocking the rafters at Playhouse Square's Palace Theatre. But this is no musical in the traditional sense, since there are few spoken lines. Rather, it features "bunk bed" staging, with a faux Billy Joel concert proceeding on the upper tier while below, a large cast of Energizer Bunny dancers spin out a simple story in a series of ballet and modern-dance scenarios. Though the plot is slight and there is some disconnect between the songs and choreography, the surging energy of the dancers and buoyant music make for a stellar evening's entertainment.

Tracing Joel's background, the five main characters begin as teenagers growing up on Long Island in the 1960s, with Brenda & Eddie as prom royalty who quickly break up, straight-arrow-steady couple James & Judy, and stud Tony, who bags Brenda on the rebound. Directed and choreographed by legendary dance master Twyla Tharp, the nonstop movement is more gratifying to look at than it is revealing of character. The three young men at least acquire one dimension each in the personality department - Eddie's angry, James is innocent, Tony's hot - but the women are left to passively respond within the classical stereotypes of slut or saint (prim Judy is even white-gloved at times).

The mildly successful first act begins with a surprisingly tepid and predictable character intro to the strains of "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me," as each of the graduating seniors pose and flex as if gazing admiringly into full-length mirrors. But soon the reverie ends and the three guys are shipped off to Vietnam. At this point, a captivating double-duet dance ensues in which soldier Tony and his girl Brenda dance with their bar partners, thousands of miles apart, to the Joel ballad "She's Got A Way." This is one of the instances when Tharp doesn't try to retrofit her dance vocabulary to match the lyrics, and the result is synergistic and powerful. The same is true after James (nerdish Sean Maurice Kelly) is killed in battle and his body is returned to the grieving Judy (lovely and agile Julieta Gros) in "Elegy."

Overall, however, the first act can't hold a Zippo to the second, when the two surviving buddies come back home, with Eddie completely unraveling while Tony tries to patch things up with Brenda. Brendan King embodies Eddie with ferocious vitality; he's a 170 pound nerve ending with legs. Spiraling into drugs and debauchery, Eddie is riveting in his "Prelude/Angry Young Man" scene and even manages to overcome a halfheartedly banal S&M interlude in "Captain Jack." Meanwhile, Tony (blonde and cut Corbin Popp) and Brenda (Laurie Kanyok, a fetching dancer who packs a mean, body-wrapping leg whip) eventually work out their issues to the tunes of "Big Man On Mulberry Street" and "Shameless."

While all this is going on, the grand piano above them is pounded with style and precision by Michael Cavanaugh, who sings every one of the 20-some songs. Possessing a voice eerily similar to Billy Joel's (minus the original's gravelly lower range), Cavanaugh invests each lyric with passion and sensitivity. (This role is so demanding, Cavanaugh shares it with Matt Wilson at some performances.) The lead singers are backed by a fabulous rock orchestra that, at times, threatens to strip the gilt off the Palace's hallowed walls. This intensely muscular production is enhanced by Santo Loquasto's no-nonsense, heavy metal set and Donald Holder's in-your-face lights, which slice the stage into multiple playing areas.

However, the story would resonate more had Tharp spent more time developing the main characters' personal traits. By leaving them as symbols of youthful angst instead of clearly delineated individuals, their eventual happy reconciliation feels unearned and far too facile. Also, the costumes designed by Suzy Benzinger are strangely bland, with her off-white ensembles at the conclusion vanilla in more ways than one.

Glitches aside, "Movin' Out" is an inventive and involving exploration of one man's music and the ethos of his time. And it puts to shame brainless exercises such as "Mamma Mia!," the pap-smear translation of ABBA pop tunes into faux musical comedy. When this production's "Piano Man" breaks into his curtain-call rendition of "Cleveland Rocks," you won't be at all ashamed to join the standing ovation.

You don't need a crystal ball to get an extensive glimpse of the future of the Broadway musical. If you can score a ticket, just squeeze into the Palace for a gander at "Movin' Out." Like its acclaimed predecessor, "Contact," it's a dialogue-less evening that tells its simple story entirely through dance set to familiar songs. Here choreographer Twyla Tharp's setting of 30 Billy Joel numbers sketches in the tale of a quartet of '60s youths suffering the devastating effects of the Vietnam War.

The reasons you'll be seeing more of this type of show are: it's much cheaper to produce, you don't require expensive stars, you don't have to commission a book or a score, and you can draw on a seemingly bottomless pool of super young dancers. All you really need to hit it big is a talented choreographer and a clutch of old chart-topping songs to tie together in a neat knot. With "Movin' Out," Joel's slam-bang rock thumpers supply a compatible foundation for the near-legendary Tharp's endlessly rambunctious and excruciatingly physical dance designs. But what truly makes the occasion viable and viewable is its complement of absolutely stunning dancers.

Twarp's choreographic vocabulary begins with a liberal grounding in the classical ballet idiom, and then inundates it with a flood of strenuous athletic moves and feats - here including back flips, kip-ups, handstands, heart-stopping leaps, jumps, and the general flinging around of kamikaze-intent bodies. Twarp's young corps of dancers are readily up to everything she can throw at them. All clearly well-trained in classical language, each performs those passages with grace and complete control, before instantly segueing with strength and panache into the dazzling calisthenics.

Especially remarkable is Brendan King who, as the most troubled Vietnam vet, radiates the power, precision and electricity of an Edward Villella in numerous solos. His seamless blend of command and expressivity is compelling. As his buddy, Corbin Popp is equally versatile and often touchingly sensitive. Laurie Kanyok is fluid dynamite as the group's hot babe, with leg extensions that are spectacular and sexy. More demure, but no less pliant, is Julieta Gros' widow, who shines in a tenderly affecting pas de deux to "Just The Way You Are."

The rest of the large corps is interchangeably accomplished. Truthfully, the story is secondary to the pyrotechnics, but has its moving moments. Local native Michael Cavanaugh presides over a skillful band at the piano as a Joel stand-in, soloing and leading all the vocals with apparently tireless pipes. The only quibble there is the usual one, that the requisite ear-shattering volume made most of the lyrics unfortunately unintelligible.

The pulsating and passionate hit songs of Billy Joel are used as the basis of an all-dance musical "Movin' Out." It opens Tuesday at the Aronoff Center as part of the Broadway in Cincinnati series.
The resourceful choreographer Twyla Tharp uses 26 Joel songs. Fans will remember such favorites as "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant," "Just The Way You Are," "Uptown Girl," "The Stranger" and the title song.

Joel's songs are used to spin a dramatic tale that moves through the pre-Vietnam era of the 1960s into the 1980s and 1990s told all in dance.

The five characters in the musical, which has the orchestra and the piano on a bridge above the action on stage, are taken from individual Joel songs. They are all linked together in a narrative expressed through the dances.

One of Broadway's coolest shows is on stage at the Aronoff these nights. "Movin' Out" has Twyla Tharp's high-flying moves set to the endlessly singable, danceable, hummable songs of Billy Joel.

One of the coolest jobs on Broadway - and on tour - has to be dancing the role of Tony, who falls in love, is torn asunder for a tour of duty in Vietnam and comes home to try to put his life back together.

Here's how David Gomez got the job:

When he was growing up in West Carrolton outside Dayton, Gomez was into sports and break dancing. His older brother managed to talk him into taking a jazz/break dance class, and his teacher took him to see the great modern dance company Hubbard Street Dance when he was in sixth grade.

That was it for Gomez. "I immediately quit every sport. My goal was to join the company." (He still "lives" for the Cincinnati Reds and says, "I love the Bengals.")

After high school, he went to Chicago, became a Hubbard scholarship student and tried out for the company again and again until he was hired.

After dancing with Hubbard for almost 10 years, he made it to Broadway. It just so happened that a lot of work by Tharp was in the Hubbard repertoire, and Gomez had danced lead roles, including a world premiere.

Gomez got to New York and was cast in the dance drama "Contact." He heard Tharp was working on a new musical, managed to get in to a viewing of one of her new works, stopped to say hi and asked her about the show.

Like many Baby Boomers, I grew up to Billy Joel's tunes. I've always felt a resonance with his music because he and I were born just two days apart. That makes me an easy target for "Movin' Out," the musical theatre/dance piece employing Joel's pop tunes as the soundtrack for Twyla Tharp's athletic choreography. "Movin' Out" was undoubtedly conceived to capitalize on that appeal - the show, which opened on Broadway in 2002, is probably the hottest commodity touring to cities around the US these days, where it's filling theatres like the Aronoff's big hall with audiences who love the emotional nostalgia of songs they identify with their youths.

From knee-poppin', hip-gyrating macho moves to the daring lifts and superhuman, languid extensions of Broadway-style jazz, Twyla Tharp's "Movin' Out" wowed the opening night audience at the downtown's Aronoff Center on February 22nd, 2005.

Not just any choreographer can rely primarily on the power and presence of movement to live music to convey a story effectively - and keep it entertaining. Unlike a typical Broadway production, there's no dialogue or onstage, in-character singing in "Movin' Out." The show features a tight 10-piece band on a catwalk, filling the house with classic Billy Joel tunes. Starting out with a group of friends and sweethearts finishing high school on Long Island in the 1960s, the loose narrative drifts into young men's going to war, the resulting strife and eventual return to sunnier, more upbeat times.

Naturally, the cast - and music - must be equally captivating to pull this off. Widely considered one of the most important contemporary choreographers, Tharp excels in creating work with wide appeal without limiting herself to the ordinary. In "Movin' Out," she combines the bold, showy moves - sexy high kicks, dynamic partnering, acrobatic jumps and countless rounds of well-modulated multiple pirouettes - with some pedestrian movements and modern dance flavoring. Some numbers found a place where the dancers alternated between moving individually and in unison, lending a more spontaneous feel to the action.

I especially enjoyed the fleeting moments of quirky silliness: rabbit ears in a photograph, floppy hands and heads, clowning around with frisky, youthful energy. There was even a nod to some African and Hip Hop styling, along with a touch of swing dancing and waltzing thrown in for good measure. One element that seemed a bit out of place was Judy's mourning dance following James' death in Vietnam. Her dancing en pointe felt a bit forced - even uncomfortable.

While the characters used gestures at times, literal interpretation of the music's lyrics was not the order of the day. There was a natural vibe to the communication among the cast members that combined seamlessly with the choreography. Not only were the dancers outstanding from a technical standpoint, they often appeared to be dancing from within, making the characters and their movements shine. In particular, Eddie (played on opening night by Brendan King) and Brenda (Holly Cruikshank for the opening performance) succeeded in harnessing a subtle energy at times to offset the exuberant intensity of the choreography.

The show is a pleasure to watch whether you're a Broadway show lover or someone who just enjoys watching dancers who can slow a pirouette to stop on a dime.