Strathmore's AMP Presents The Songs of Harold Arlen

Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, Stephen Sondheim - even if you can't name a tune, you identify those names as among the very greatest American musical composers.

"But say Harold Arlen and people go, 'Harold who?' Everybody knows his songs," Michael Lavine says, "but most people don't know his name."

In fact, any fan of "The Wizard of Oz" and especially its star, the original gay diva Judy Garland, is a fan of Arlen. He wrote all of the music for that movie classic, as well as many of Garland's most popular songs, including "Get Happy" and "The Man That Got Away."

For an Arlen cabaret revue next weekend, Lavine has recruited some impressive singers to perform these standards and more ("Stormy Weather" and "That Old Black Magic" also among them): Eleasha Gamble, a Helen Hayes Award winner who most recently starred in Arena Stage's Oklahoma!; Erin Davie, who last year played the introverted conjoined twin Violet Hilton in the Kennedy Center's Side Show; and Sean McDermott, a Broadway veteran and soap opera actor who toured and performed with Barbra Streisand a decade ago.

A New York-based native of Bethesda, Lavine likens the structure of his Arlen cabaret to "Side by Side by Sondheim." It'll take place at the area's newest concert venue - run by the same institution that put North Bethesda on the map, the venerated Strathmore. Amp by Strathmore is part of the new Pike & Rose development, further north on Rockville Pike from the Music Center. The mid-sized concert hall, serving food and drinks through a partnership with the trendy Neighborhood Restaurant Group (Birch & Barley, Bluejacket), opened last weekend with concerts by alt-country crooner Jay Farrar (Uncle Tupelo) as well as lesbian folk rocker Toshi Reagon.

"Over The Rainbow: The Songs of Harold Arlen" is Saturday, March 14, at 8 p.m. Amp by Strathmore, 11810 Grand Park Ave. North Bethesda. Tickets are $30. Call 301-581-5100 or visit ampbystrathmore.com