MY FAIR LADY, HAMILTON, and More Featured in New Season of THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 100 PERFORMANCES

A new season of The History of the World in 100 Performances with Adam Gopnik begins on Monday, April 30, with a look at the 1956 original Broadway premiere of My Fair Lady. The season continues with explorations of the scandalous 1913 premiere of The Rite of Spring and the evolution of Hamilton. With discussion led by New Yorker essayist and best-selling author Adam Gopnik, these free events include live performance alongside audio and video clips as each panel explores these landmark moments in the performing arts.

"The History of the World in 100 Performances digs deeply into moments when extraordinary artists stepped forward to change consciousness and create something that truly changes the world around us," noted Gopnik. "This season, we have exceptional artists providing insight into three performances that span more than a century and resonate as deeply today as when they first premiered."

The series was first launched in 2016 at Lincoln Center's David Rubenstein Atrium with Adam Gopnik leading guests through multimedia investigations into great artistic triumphs in the theater, concert hall, or on the dance stage or movie screen. Highlights from the first season included an evening devoted to Leonard Bernstein featuring Jake Gyllenhaal and a discussion on Marlon Brando featuring Alec Baldwin on the role of Stanley Kowalski. Sopranos Renée Fleming and Julia Bullock explored Leontyne Price's extraordinary career in the 2017 season, alongside events on the premiere of Hamlet with literary critic and scholar Stephen Greenblatt, and New Yorker critic Paul Muldoon and singer-songwriter The Tallest Man on Earth (a.k.a. Kristian Matsson) on Bob Dylan.

The three events this spring will be captured for episodes of Lincoln Center's podcast, This is Lincoln Center. These episodes, as well as three episodes dedicated to the 2016 season's events, will be released weekly and available on iTunes beginning Wednesday, May 16.

All events take place at the David Rubenstein Atrium, Frieda and Roy Furman Stage (Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Streets). Admission is FREE; seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information about these and all of the free events at the Atrium, visit LincolnCenter.org/Atrium.

History of the World in 100 Performances with Adam Gopnik
Spring 2018 Schedule

Monday, April 30 at 7:30 pm
My Fair Lady
With special guests André Bishop, Melissa Errico, and Kevin Kline
An archaeology of the great American musical (based on a British play) of the 1950s, Kevin Kline and André Bishop join in a search for the show's origins in Shaw's Pygmalion, while Melissa Errico will sing three previously unheard Lerner & Loewe songs.

Monday, May 14 at 7:30 pm
The Rite of Spring
With special guest Jennifer Homans
May 29th, 1913. On the stage of a Parisian theater, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes puts on the first performance of an entirely new kind of dance, with music by Stravinsky and choreography by Nureyev. One of the life-altering days in the history of 20th-century consciousness, and sited right on the brink of the Great War, Adam Gopnik and Jennifer Homans will search for the lost choreography of the piece and analyze its many meanings for modern art.

Monday, June 18 at 7:30pm
Hamilton Gets Its Shot at The Public
With special guest Christopher Jackson
Every generation has one musical show that alters everything. Ours is Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton. With the help of Christopher Jackson and others involved in its genesis, the panel and lecture will illuminate the many surprising sources and syntheses, from revisionist history of the American Revolution to the growth of hip-hop, of this new American theatrical classic.