McKechnie, Menzel, Murphy, Pinkins, Portman, Streep and More Headline The Public Sings, Jan. 30
By: BWW News Desk Nov. 29, 2005
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Directed by Tony Award-winner James Lapine, the show will feature songs from musicals ranging from Hair and A Chorus Line to Runaways, Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk, Caroline, or Change, and many others. The Public Sings "will be a rare opportunity to hear legendary artists perform selections from signature Public Theater musicals that engaged the social and political issues of their times and reshaped our experience of American musical theater," according to press notes.
The Public Sings will feature appearances by Zach Braff, Betty Buckley, Lea Delaria, Savion Glover, Eartha Kitt, Donna McKechnie, Idina Menzel, Donna Murphy, Rosie Perez, Natalie Portman, Tonya Pinkins, Billy Porter, Meryl Streep, Mary Testa, and Lillias White, among others (artists subject to change). The evening will be produced by David Binder, and all proceeds will benefit the Public Theater.
Writer and director Lapine has a decades-long relationship with The Public Theater. He was the author and director of Twelve Dreams, which played at The Public in 1981. For the Public, he also directed A Midsummer Night's Dream (Delacorte Theater, 1982), Golden Child (which played in the Newman Theater in 1996 and soon transferred to Broadway's Longacre Theatre), and A Winter's Tale (Anspacher Theater, 1989). He has worked in one capacity or another with William Finn on The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, March of the Falsettos, Falsettoland (later presented on Broadway as Falsettos), and A New Brain. Additional Broadway highlights include Sunday in the Park With George, Into the Woods, Passion, The Diary of Anne Frank, Golden Child, Dirty Blonde, Amour, and off-Broadway credits include Table Settings; Luck, Pluck and Virtue; and Modern Orthodox.
Tickets for The Public Sings range from $20 to $750; the $500 and $750 tickets include a pre-performance cocktail event. Benefit tickets, which include premium seating, pre-performance cocktail event, post-performance cast supper, range from $1000 to $5000.
To purchase tickets (which go on sale Friday, Dec. 2), call New York City Center CityTix® at 877-581-1212 (toll free) or 212-581-1212; go to the New York City Center Box Office on West 55th Street between 6th & 7th Avenues; or visit www.publictheater.org. For benefit tickets, call 212-539-8633.
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