Concert Reading Of ROTHSCHILD & SONS Will Honor Jerry Bock

Following sold out runs in both New York (York Theatre Company) and in London (The Park Theatre), Rothschild & Sons now returns to commemorate Yom Ha Shoah, (Holocaust Remembrance Day), to join the many stories of bravery and determination against hatred that is so much part of this day.

Robert Cuccioli, Glory Crampton, Gary Trainor, will lead the concert reading directed by Jeffrey B. Moss with musical direction by Ben Van Tienen. The reading will take place at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center (40 Lincoln Center Plaza) at 6:00 p.m.

This universal story of defeating adversity and affirming human dignity springs from the hearts and minds of Broadway legends Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock (creators of Fiddler on the Roof) and Tony- nominated writer Sherman Yellen. Based on the novel The Rothschilds by Frederic Morton and their original musical The Rothschilds, this re-imagined - play with music by Yellen introduces several unheard Bock and Harnick songs and revised lyrics by Mr. Harnick.

Mayer and Gutele Rothschild - and their five sons- struggle to overcome the prejudice of late- eighteenth-century European society, as they build a family banking business that takes them from the Jewish ghetto to the courts of the rich and powerful. On the way, they come to dominate European finance, help fund Napoleon's defeat and secure a Declaration of Rights for their people from the Crowned Heads of State.

"Anyone who has seen a well-written, well-produced Holocaust play or appeared in one has participated in a collective live event that has changed the way he or she sees the world. It is vital that every one of us learns not just history or morality but how man's inhumanity to man is, apparently, universal and corrupts every culture, regardless of race or religion. Fortunately, theater as an art form can help us understand and remain vigilant. It can also inspire us to acknowledge the worst in man's nature and help us find a path towards compassion." Sheldon Harnick.

Presented in association with NYPL at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts as part of NJTF HTII Remembrance Day Play Reading Program. A discussion featuring Sherman Yellen (librettist- Rothschild & Sons) and Professor Jessica Hillman (author "Echoes of the Holocaust on the American Musical Stage") will follow the 6pm performance in the Bruno Walter Auditorium.

Tickets are free and open to the public: https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2019/05/02/rothschild-sons-musical-play-concert