NYFOS Presents 'A Modern Person’s Guide…' Sequel, 2/14 & 16
By: Kelsey Denette Jan. 11, 2012
NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG-the group that "charms audiences with programs that combine meticulous research with an infectious strain of vocal hedonism" (The New York Times)-continues its 2011-12 season with a sequel to a favorite NYFOS program, A MODERN PERSON'S GUIDE TO HOOKING UP AND BREAKING UP on Tuesday, February 14 and Thursday, February 16 at 8:00PM at Merkin Concert Hall.
Music by Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, The Bobs, Noël Coward,
Ed Kleban, Jason Robert Brown, Frank Loesser, George Gershwin & more
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 8:00PM
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 8:00PM
No intermission
Post-concert meet-the-artists wine reception open to all
Merkin Concert Hall (129 West 67th St.)
$40–$55 for single tickets; student tickets $15
New this year: Real Deal Tickets – $25 Advance Purchase/"Pot Luck" Seating
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NYFOS takes this program to Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
in Boston, MA on Sunday, February 12 at 1:30PM
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Steven Blier talks about A Modern Person's Guide…
"When we saw that our February concert was going to fall on Valentine's Day, we couldn't resist having another look at A Modern Person's Guide to Hooking Up and Breaking Up. It had been one of our favorite NYFOS shows, a freewheeling, all-embracing look at a dizzying spectrum of amorous attractions. This will be a second edition of the show, revised to show off the brilliant talents of this year's cast, including some wonderful new songs I've encountered in the last few years."
Just in time for Valentine's Day, audiences can bring their best (or worst) date to Merkin Hall for a "quirky survey of the awkwardness, pain, lust and perversity of contemporary relationships" (The New York Times; read the complete review of the original 2008 production here.). NYFOS examines the full range of modern love with affection and humor through songs of Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, The Bobs, Noël Coward, Jason Robert Brown, Ed Kleban, and others. Subjects range from voyeurism, S&M, and ménages à trois, to good old-fashioned heart-to-heart love.
The program will feature a quartet of remarkable vocalists. Soprano Anne-Carolyn Bird, who appears with the Metropolitan Opera in April in a production of Manon, has been lauded by the Seattle Times for "her stage presence nothing short of magnetic." She will be joined by mezzo-soprano Liza Forrester, whose previous NYFOS appearances garnered her acclaim for using "her gracious presence to draw us breathlessly into each atmospheric scene" (Operaticus). Rounding out the cast of singers is the "solid and convincing" (New York Times) tenor Alex Mansoori and baritoneAndrew Garland, who appeared in this season's "In The Memory Palace" singing Gabriel Kahane's song cycle with a "voice full of beautifully tragic overtones (The Washington Post).
NYFOS is known for its bold programming, and A Modern Person's Guide to Hooking Up and Breaking Up is a classic example. It offers a wide range of repertoire in myriad styles, exhaustively researched and brilliantly programmed by Artistic Director Steven Blier, and performed by some of the best and brightest singers to be heard anywhere.
"New York Festival of Song reinvented the song recital." - The New Yorker
Program for A MODERN PERSON'S GUIDE TO HOOKING UP AND BREAKING UP:
INTRO
may i feel said he (E.E. Cummings)
YOUNG LOVE
Standing on the Corner (Frank Loesser)
You'd Be Surprised (Irving Berlin)
Innocent Ingenue Baby (George Gershwin/William Daly/Desmond Carter)
AMBIVALENCE
We Can Talk to Each Other (David Shire/Richard Maltby, Jr.)
The Girls of Summer (Stephen Sondheim)
He Never Did That Before (Debra Barsha/Mark Campbell)
KINKS AND INFIDELITIES
Through the Wall (The Bobs: Gunnar Madsen and Richard Greene)
You're A Bad Influence On Me (Cole Porter)
The Masochism Tango (Tom Lehrer)
C'est la vie (Harold Arlen/Ira Gershwin)
Nobody Needs to Know (Jason Robert Brown)
Times Like This (Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty)
Do It Yourself (Ed Kleban)
MARRIAGES and COHABITATIONS
Bronxville Darby and Joan (Noël Coward)
Trash (The Bobs, Gunnar Madsen and Richard Greene)
When I Fall in Love (Victor Young)
Marry Me A Little (Stephen Sondheim)
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