A new staging of the Emmy-winning composer Gerald Fried's jazz-flavored oratorio "Omnia Ad Dei Gloriam, or Les the Least Straightens the Lord," will be performed as part of this year's New York Musical Theatre Festival. Directed by Charles Maryan, this spirited oratorio about a wise fool who gives Satan a run for his money, nabbed one of the festival's coveted competition slots. It features seasoned opera pros Mauricio Trejo as Les the Least, Scott Bearden as Satan, and Matthew Curran as the Lord. Fried will conduct the 8-piece jazz orchestra which includes trumpet player Lew Soloff of Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Structured like Bach's perennial favorite "
St. Matthew Passion," "Les the Least" is a comic, musically inventive alternative to the traditional holiday oratorio repertoire.
The New York premiere of "Les the Least" performs three times tonight, July 26 at 5pm & 9pm, and Saturday July 27 at 1pm at The
Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre, at the
Signature Theatre, 480 West 42nd Street. For tickets, which are $25, visit
The New York premiere of "Les the Least" performs three times tonight, July 26 at 5pm & 9pm, and Saturday July 27 at 1pm at The
Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre, at the
Signature Theatre, 480 West 42ndStreet. For tickets, which are $25, visit
www.nymf.org
In an extensive career composing for major motion pictures and landmark television series, Fried has been nominated for an Oscar and a Grammy, and he won the Emmy Award for his score for the groundbreaking television series
Roots. Among his extensive credits are the first five films directed by
Stanley Kubrick; "The Bell Jar;" "Deathwatch," and "The Killing of
Sister George." His work composing the music for such TV classics as
Man from Uncle, Star Trek (original series),
Mission Impossible, Ben Casey, Gun Smoke, and
Gilligan's Island (to name a few) spawned multiple Emmy nominations.
Fried, who is also a playwright, librettist and concert and jazz woodwind performer, originally conceived "Les the Least" for the Los Angeles Music Festival in 1966. This updating, with a cast of five, is staged by the noted theatre director
Charles Maryan, who has directed many world and New York premieres of contemporary operas, many of them for the Center for Contemporary Opera.
In "Les the Least," the least of the lesser angels (he can't get anything right, not even greasing the Lord's lightning bolts) hopes to rise to the occasion when the Lord, fed up with the mess humans have made of the gift of life, gives Satan permission to take over the earth. Horrified, Les goes down to earth to prove to the Lord that there truly is value down there. Of course he totally messes up, but somehow his innocence gets the better of Satan and he earns the respect of the Lord.
The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) exists to revitalize musical theatre culture by discovering and promoting new musical theatre artists, producers and projects; nurturing a vibrant and innovative artistic community; and connecting one of America's greatest art forms with a diverse, contemporary audience.
Now in its tenth year, the Festival is the largest musical theatre event in America. The preeminent site for launching new musicals and discovering new talent, the Festival provides a affordable platform for artists to mount professional productions that reach their peers, industry leaders, and musical theater fans. More than 85 festival shows have gone on to productions on and off-Broadway, in 48 states, and more than 20 countries worldwide, and Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2013, NYMF received a special Drama Desk Award in recognition of its work "creating and nurturing new musical theater, ensuring the future of this essential art form."
NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2013 is presented in association with Dunkin' Donuts, BroadwayWorld.com, Production Resource Group, TheaterMania.com, New World Stages, FOX 5 New York, Tilson Consulting, The Out NYC, King Displays, Times Square Squared, Thomson Reuters, Nasdaq OMX, Backstage, Next Magazine, Ironpaper,BroadwayInsider.com, TheMenEvent.com, and Yelp. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Major supporters include The ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Inc., The BWF Foundation, Con Edison, The Nathan Cummings Foundation with the support and encouragement of Jamie Mayer Phinney, The New Musical Development Foundation, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Theater League.
NYMF Memberships, which combine charitable contributions with valuable, flexible ticket packages and perks like early seating are currently on sale. To purchase memberships or single tickets for Festival events, call (212) 352-3101 or visit
www.nymf.org.
