I Love a Piano, an enchanting revue of the music and lyrics of Irving Berlin, spans over seven decades of American history and includes 64 of Berlin's most enduring and popular favorites. Under the direction and choreography of Ray Roderick (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang national tour), who co-created the show with Michael Berkeley, these show-stopping song and dance numbers performed by a cast of talented young actors bring fresh energy to Berlin's material. I Love a Piano runs January 29-February 15, 2009 at Arena at the Lincoln Theatre.
I Love a Piano captures the spirit of America from the ragtime era of the early 20th century through the swinging elegance of the 1920s and ‘30s. From the songs that inspired a nation through the Great Depression to the innocent optimism of the 1950s, I Love a Piano embarks on an exuberant journey through musical family fun. Timeless classics, such as "Puttin' on the Ritz," "There's No Business like Show Business," "Change Partners," "How Deep Is the Ocean," "God Bless America" and "White Christmas," do more than identify the music of a generation: they define the music of our country.
"We are pleased to be presenting this infectious tour from this young energetic ensemble," comments Artistic Director
Molly Smith. "This musical revue is a delightful tribute to
Irving Berlin, one of our country's great composers. Completely self-taught, Berlin wrote both the lyrics and the melody to his timeless songs and worked with some of America's brightest stars."
"Our creative goal with I Love a Piano is to celebrate Berlin's wit, charm and hopeful heart along with his insight into American lives in a truthful and entertaining way," remarks Roderick. "I have the pleasure of introducing these wonderful songs to young talent and new theatergoers. Most of these songs are brand new to them and, not surprisingly, they fall in love with songs like ‘What'll I Do?,' ‘How Deep is the Ocean,' ‘Always,' ‘Blue Skies' and more, reminding me that Berlin's music and lyrics remain timeless and universal."
The show will be presented by
Eva Price of
Maximum Entertainment, Off-Broadway Booking and Lawrence Toppall.
The Los Angeles Times raved: "When asked where
Irving Berlin ranked in American music, fellow giant
Jerome Kern famously said, '
Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American music.' The enduring truth of Kern's assessment underpins the showbiz panache of I Love a Piano...as invigorating a song-catalog revue as any since Ain't Misbehavin'."
The Boston Globe called the show "a spectrum of brilliant Berlin... It captures both the astonishing range of Berlin's musical styles and the cleverness of his simple rhymes, which makes it easy to understand why the songwriter remains a national treasure."
Irving Berlin (Music, Lyrics) was born Israel Beilin on May 11, 1888. In 1907 he published his first song and by 1911 had his first international hit, "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Over the next five decades, Berlin produced songs that defined American popular music for much of the century. He wrote 17 complete scores for Broadway, including The Cocoanuts, As Thousands Cheer, Louisiana Purchase, This Is the Army, Miss Liberty, Mr. President, Call Me Madam and Annie Get Your Gun. Among his Hollywood scores are Top Hat, Follow the Fleet, On the Avenue, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Holiday Inn, Blue Skies, Easter Parade, White Christmas and There's No Business like Show Business. Among his many awards were a special Tony (1963) and the Oscar for Best Song for "White Christmas" (1942). An intuitive business man, Berlin was a co-founder of ASCAP, founder of his own music publishing company and co-builder of his own Broadway theater, The Music Box. Through several of his foundations, he donated millions of dollars in royalties to Army Emergency Relief, the Boy and Girl Scouts and other organizations. On September 22, 1989, at age 101, Berlin died in his sleep in his townhouse in New York City.
I Love a Piano Company:
The talented cast of triple threat singer/dancer/actors includes Tom Bruett, Talia Corren, Ryan Lammer, Emily Mattheson, Alix Paige, Ashley Peacock,
Michael Turay and Jason Weitkamp.
Ray Roderick (Conceiver, Director, Choreographer) adapted the script and directed a new version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for national tour. Roderick was also associate director of A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden for six years, working with original director
Mike Ockrent, and associate director for
Susan Stroman's Broadway revival of The Music Man, subsequently directing its successful three-year North American tour. He co-wrote and directed Heaven Help Us! (Carbonell Award nom, Best New Work), A Christmas Survival Guide and I Love New York (Bistro Award, Best Musical Revue). Off-Broadway, Roderick directed and co-wrote the musical The Prince & the Pauper and directed and choreographed The Ark, Lamour the Merrier and The Story Goes On. He directed and choreographed I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change throughout the country, including Denver Center (longest-running show in Denver history). Roderick was founding artistic director of Tri-State Center for the Arts, and with partner
James Hindman, he formed Miracle or 2 Productions (Miracleor2.com), dedicated to the creation and development of new American musicals. Together, they wrote the musicals Are We There Yet? and Coming to America. Most recently, Roderick directed Singin' in the Rain at
Goodspeed Opera House and directed and choreographed The Taffetas at Denver Center.
MICHAEL BERKELEY (Co-Conceiver, Musical Arranger) is composer-lyricist-librettist of Imagine That! and Off the Wall (licensed through Miracle or 2 Productions) and Dirty Doing in Deadwood and co-writer (with Roderick) and composer-lyricist of Rip Van Winkle: A Musical Legend. He has served as artistic director of TriArts Sharon Playhouse, Conn., since 1999. His musical directing has taken him across the country and around the world, including associate conductor on the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat starring
Donny Osmond and the Asian tour of
South Pacific. Berkeley also created concerts for Potential Unlimited, an arts organization dedicated to the celebration of the talents of performers with developmental disabilities. He has been a member of New York's BMI-
Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and the ASCAP Composers Workshop.
Stephen Purdy (Musical Supervisor). Broadway and National Tours: Tarzan, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,
Glory Days, Peter Pan (
Cathy Rigby) and The Full Monty. Off-Broadway:
The Fantasticks (original at Sullivan Street), York Theatre,
Playwrights Horizons. International: Grease (Paris), A Chorus Line (European tour), Grease (European tour), 42nd Street (European tour), My Fair Lady (Hong Kong). Regional: North Shore,
Helen Hayes, Kansas City Starlight and
Burt Reynolds.
Stacey Boggs (Lighting Designer) recently joined the production team of I Love a Piano from Ailey II, the second company of
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where she designed several of the company's new works. She has also worked at Glimmerglass Opera, Florida Grand Opera and Michigan Opera Theater. She is resident designer for two New York-based theater groups: The Production Company (Goats, Australia Project I and II) and Waterwell (Marcos Millions and The King Operetta). She has also assisted
Beverly Emmons, Guy Simard,
Ted Mather and Kendall Smith.
J BRANSON (Scenic Designer). For over 18 years, Branson has been a Chicago-based designer working regionally in the U.S. National tour credits include The Music Man, Beauty and the Beast and Brigadoon. Past regional work includes Hairspray,
High School Musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Smokey Joe's Café, Jekyll & Hyde, Chess, The Wizard of Oz (for which he received Chicago's After Dark award), Children of Eden, Rags, Assassins,
Guys and Dolls and The Pajama Game Original productions include e.t.c. and Barack to Obama (Second City Chicago), Shockwave (Disney World), Jungle Man, Stardust, A Room with a View, The Conversation and A Tale of Two Cities. Branson has an array of industrial design credits and has been honored with one After Dark Award and three national ADDY Awards.
DEMETRIUS T GRANDEL (Sound Design) has been a touring Broadway sound engineer for shows such as The Music Man, Miss Saigon, Greater Tuna, Blast 2 Shockwave,
Edward Scissorhands and countless others. He is founder and owner of Dark Roast Audio, located in southern Massachusetts/Rhode Island.
Ellie Mooney (Associate Choreographer)'s work highlights include
Irving Berlin's I Love a Piano (first national tour, Denver Center and Musical Theatre West), A Kid's Life! (Off-Broadway and national tour), The Taffetas (Boothbay Harbor Opera House), Barnum (Westchester Broadway Theatre), Beauty and the Beast (Walnut Street),
West Side Story and Thoroughly Modern Millie (Maine State Music Theatre), My Fair Lady and Peter Pan (Trinity Rep). Next, Mooney will join the cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (first national tour) and A Kid's Life Goes to School!, which will open in 2009 (first national tour and Off-Broadway debut).
Eva Price/
Maximum Entertainment PRODUCTIONS (Producer, General Manager). MEP is a producing, developing and investing company in all aspects of the entertainment industry founded by Mary Beth Dale, Avram C. Freedberg and
Eva Price. Credits include
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Broadway and tour),
Carrie Fisher's
Wishful Drinking (Broadway and tour), The Great American Trailer Park Musical (U.S. and U.K. national tour), The J.A.P. Show: Jewish American Princesses of Comedy (Off-Broadway and tour), Los Big Names (Off-Broadway, Drama Desk nom), Private Jokes Public Places (Off-Broadway and London), Joy (Off-Broadway), and Strega Nona: The Musical.
Maximum Entertainment is also a partner in
Elephant Eye Theatricals. Upcoming productions include The Addams Family (Broadway 2009).
LAWRENCE S. TOPPALL (Producer) owns Mazel Musicals, the New York and Florida production company specializing in touring, producing and presenting Jewish-themed theatrical and concert presentations. The company has produced, co-produced or presented On Second Avenue, The Golden Land, Yiddle with a Fiddle, Those Were the Days, The Sheik of Avenue B, Catskills on Broadway,
Tovah Feldshuh in Tovah!, Cross Over, Bubbe Meises, The Rothschilds, Bagels & Yox with
Joel Grey, Shlemiel, The First, That's Life, Entirely Sophie: The
Sophie Tucker Musical, Buttons in Boca starring
Red Buttons, the Israel Pops Orchestra with
Theodore Bikel, and Mamaloshen with
Mandy Patinkin. Broadway producing credits include The Gathering starring
Hal Linden and the Tony-nominated Say Goodnight, Gracie starring
Frank Gorshin. Toppall is a Tony Award voter and member of the Broadway League.
OFF BROADWAY BOOKING (Producer, Booking Agent). The Off-Broadway theater scene has revamped its image over the past several years, from inexpensive and experimental theater to a vibrant and exciting form of commercial entertainment that has attracted Broadway producers and notable celebrities. Off Broadway Booking is dedicated to the promotion and awareness of Off-Broadway as a brand of excellence in theater to audiences outside of New York City.
I Love a Piano Special Events, Ticket Information and Performance Calendar:
Southwest Night - Friday, January 30, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
An invitation is extended to our Southwest D.C. neighbors to buy $20 tickets, plus applicable fees, for one designated Friday evening performance of each production. Proof of Southwest D.C. residency or employment for each audience member of each party must be presented at the time of purchase. Tickets are limited to four per person and are based on availability. To purchase tickets, call (202) 488-3300 or stop by the
Arena Stage Sales Office.
The Salon - Monday, February 2, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
In the spirit of artistic and literary salons of the past, the Salon features artistic leaders from
Arena Stage in a series of lively, in-depth conversations with the playwrights, actors, directors, designers, dramaturgs and audiences who make
Arena Stage so unique. The Salon is free to
Arena Stage subscribers and donors ($100+) and only $3 for the general public. Reservations must be made through the
Arena Stage Sales Office at (202) 488-3300.
Out at Arena - Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.
For gay and lesbian audiences on selected Wednesday evenings, a post-show discussion with cast members and a reception following the performance is offered. Reception is FREE for subscribers of the Out at Arena series.
Ticket prices range from $25-74, plus applicable fees. Discount tickets are available for patrons purchasing tickets for multiple shows, students and groups. A limited number of $10 tickets for patrons ages 30 and under go on sale beginning each Monday for performances that week. (All patrons must present valid ID.) HOTTIX, a limited number of half-price, day-of-performance tickets, are available 90-30 minutes before curtain prior to every performance. Tickets may be purchased online at www.arenastage.org, by phone at (202) 488-3300 or at the Arena Stage Sales Office at 1800 S. Bell Street, Arlington, VA 22202.
Sales Office/Subscriptions- (202) 488-3300
TTY for deaf patrons-(202) 484-0247
Group Sales Hotline- (202) 488-4380
Info for patrons with disabilities- (202) 488-3300
With construction well underway on the 47-year-old Southwest D.C. theater campus,
Arena Stage has launched ARENA RESTAGED, a two-year festival celebrating the rich mosaic of our nation's voices. ARENA RESTAGED, which will lay the foundation for a new home for theater artists and audiences, will take place throughout the time it takes to finish the expansion of the new theater complex,
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. At the Center, the two existing performance spaces-the Fichandler Stage and the Kreeger Theater-will be fully renovated and a new 200-seat space dedicated to premiering American theater, The Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle, will be added.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center is scheduled to open for the 2010/2011 season.
To allow for a timely and cost-effective renovation, Arena currently operates out of
Arena Stage in Crystal City (1800 S. Bell Street, Arlington, VA) and at the historic Lincoln Theatre (1215 U Street, NW, Washington, D.C.). As information changes and/or becomes available throughout the transition, Arena will keep its website at www.arenastage.org as up to date as possible with Frequently Asked Questions, directions and other relevant information. Information on
Arena Stage's 2008/09 season is also available online.
