Producers of the acclaimed Broadway musical Grey Gardens announced today that the show's composer, Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel, will conduct the Wednesday evening, July 18 performance at 8PM at The Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48th Street).
"A composer conducting their own show on Broadway is not only a rare and unusual event, but something that hasn't happened in recent memory," state press materials.
While enjoying his Broadway debut as a composer with Grey Gardens (with lyricist Michael Korie), Frankel initially made a name for himself on Broadway as a pianist and conductor. He first waved his arms on a Broadway podium in 1987 as assistant conductor for the original production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, and last conducted on Broadway as Musical Director for William Finn's Falsettos in 1992. This will mark the first time that Frankel will be conducting a score of his own on Broadway.
"Although it would be impossible for me to do a finer job than our superb musical director Larry Yurman, I'm personally excited about conducting a performance of Grey Gardens," said the composer. "Since I began my New York career in the Orchestra pit, to be conducting my own music on Broadway will not only take me full circle, but will be a total blast!"
It was Frankel who had the original idea to turn the documentary Grey Gardens into a musical and optioned the rights to the film directly from filmmaker Albert Maysles. For his work on Grey Gardens, in addition to a Tony nomination, Frankel has been given The ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award and The Frederick Loewe Award for Dramatic Composition. Grey Gardens has generated two original cast recordings (one for the World Premiere production Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons and one for the Broadway incarnation, both on PS Classics), as well as an upcoming documentary on the making of the musical, also by Mr. Maysles. The vocal selections have just been published by Hal Leonard.
In other recent Grey Gardens news, producers announced that the Broadway production will play its final performance on Sunday, July 29, 2007, after having played a total of 307 performances and 33 previews. Producers previously announced that the musical will have its London debut next season with Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole recreating her performance. London partners, dates and additional casting will be officially announced in the coming months. Producers are also in discussions about the possibility of presenting the show in U.S. engagements across the country, and are exploring the possibility of filming a performance of the Broadway production for future television broadcast.
The musical opened on Broadway on November 2, 2006. Starring 2-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole and Tony Award-winner Mary Louise Wilson, the production earned 10 2007 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, and winning three: Christine Ebersole for Best Actress in a Musical, Mary Louise Wilson for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and William Ivey Long for Best Costumes.
