"Boys' Night Out: Songs for Lovers" is an evening of songs in the pop-Broadway genre, featuring Nicky Paraiso, the "Cultural Minister" of The Club at La MaMa E.T.C., and David Friedman, the Broadway conductor and arranger of many Disney classics. The evening is emceed by Julie Halston, the comedienne, Downtown heroine and more recently, Broadway leading lady.

The idea of the evening was that Paraiso and Friedman had gone to Stuyvesant High School together, but never had a chance to appear together until now, and that Julie Halston was nice enough to throw in with them. Such is the way shows are sometimes made Downtown. As Ed Rubin (New York Theatre Wire) wrote in his review of Reno's "Rebel Without a Pause," the long-running show of The Club this fall, "Nicky Paraiso, a performance artist and a fine musician in his own right, knows talent when he sees it. And all he has to do is turn to his friends, which in no small way is what the East Village has always been about."

David Friedman has written songs of inspiration, love and hope, including "We Can Be Kind," "Listen to My Heart," "Help is on the Way," "We Live on Borrowed Time," and "I'll Be Here With You," that take on new emotional meaning in these troubled times. After spending several years conducting musicals on Broadway, he went to Hollywood, where he was conductor and vocal arranger on such Disney classics as "Beauty & The Beast," "Aladdin," "Pocahontas" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." This led to his writing music and lyrics to Disney's "Aladdin and the King of Thieves," and to scoring three animated television series and the film "Trick." As a record producer, Friedman started his own company, Midder Music Records, and wrote for and produced all of the late, great Nancy LaMott's CD's. He has collaborated with Kathie Lee Gifford on three albums, "Born For You," "Goodnight Angel" and "Party Animals." Friedman's Christmas Oratorio, "King Island Christmas," written with Deborah Brevoort, is being filmed for PBS Great Performances, and his musical, "Nicolette & Aucassin," is slated for Broadway this year. A new review of Friedman's songs, entitled "Listen To My Heart,c" completed a successful run at the Lyric Stage in Dallas and will be showing up in cities around the world. A new songbook and CD of his music are also in the works.

Nicky Paraiso, the well-known Filipino-American actor, musician and performance artist, became Cultural Minister of The Club at La MaMa this season and is responsible for its surge of musical programming. He has also been a prolific actor at La MaMa since 1979. Paraiso was a member of Meredith Monk/The House and Vocal Ensemble (1981-1990), touring extensively throughout the US, Europe and Japan. He has also worked with Jeff Weiss and Carlos Ricardo Martinez since 1979 and was an actor and musical director in "Come Clean" and the Obie-winning "Hot Keys." He is also affiliated with Yoshiko Chuma and the School of Hard Knocks, with whom he has appeared in four major productions since 1988. His solo play, "Asian Boys" (1994), was co-produced by Ma-Yi Theatre Ensemble and P.S. 122 and excerpts of it have been published. He has also been a frequent performer with Ma-Yi Theatre/NATCO. Paraiso's awards include a 1987 Bessie and a NYSCA Performance Art Initiative Grant. He was nominated for the prestigious Cal Arts/Alpert Award in 1998. His films include "Book of Days," "Fresh Kill" and "Jeffrey."

Julie Halston was recently seen on Broadway in "The Women," which will be shown on PBS this Spring. Off-Broadway, she was seen in Eve Ensler's wildly successful "The Vagina Monologues" and the recently acclaimed production of "Saved or Destroyed," directed by Craig Lucas. She was a founding member of Charles Ludlam's now-legendary company, Theatre-in-Limbo, and co-starred with Mr. Busch in "Vampire Lesbians of Sodom," "The Lady in Question," "You Should Be So Lucky" and "Red Scare on the Sunset," for which she received a Drama Desk nomination. Ms. Halston's own one-woman show, "Julie Halston's Lifetime of Comedy," received an Outer Critics Circle Nomination and led to a CBS development deal. She has had featured roles in many films including "Small Time Crooks," "Joe Gould's Secret," "The Juror," "Dottie Gets Spanked" and "Addams Family Values." She is recipient of four MAC awards for solo comedy performance and her voice can be heard on numerous radio commercials.