Nikki Renée Daniels, Julia Murney, Zachary Noah Piser & More Featured in 92Y's L&L PRELUDES
In a loose song cycle format, this program will weave his work with the charming and witty creations of daughter Mary Rodgers and grandson Adam Guettel.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Nov. 18, 2020
The groundbreaking works of Richard Rodgers, most famously in his collaborations with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II, gave us the foundation of the modern musical theater form. But Rodgers also left a family lineage that has enriched the craft in abundant fashion. In a loose song cycle format, this program will weave his work with the charming and witty creations of daughter Mary Rodgers (Once Upon a Mattress) and the complex and extraordinary palette of grandson Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza, Floyd Collins ), as we look toward the progression of musicals over the decades and into the future.
"To hear songs like Rodgers and Hart's 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered' alongside Guettel's masterpieces Floyd Collins and The Light in the Piazza gives me such hope for the future of our art form," comments Paul Masse. "And to know that Guettel is workshopping a new show at this very moment that will be waiting for audiences when we are able to be together again is just one example that we are very much alive here in the performing arts. Helping artists make it through this time is imperative not just for the arts, but the good of humanity - it will be worth it when we emerge from this moment."George Gershwin: BIDIN' MY TIME
Featuring: Farah Alvin, Allison Blackwell, James T. Lane, Kara Lindsay, and Zachary Prince
Available through November 25
As a companion to the Gershwin program from this past March (rescheduled for spring of 2021), this program is set among excerpts of letters and archival interviews with George Gershwin and his brother and lyricist Ira Gershwin, his longtime musical collaborator and friend Kay Swift, and his witty and legendary friend and pianist Oscar Levant. The words of Todd Duncan and Anne Brown, the original Porgy and Bess , provide an intimate perspective of the creation of Gershwin's "folk opera" and the invaluable contributions of its performers. Peppered among hits like "Embraceable You" and "Love Is Here To Stay" are pieces of essays written by George Gershwin in which he pondered and pontificated on the meaning of "jazz" and the definition of "music" itself. Asserting his constant effort to eschew genres, Gershwin wrote: "From any sound critical standpoint, labels mean nothing at all. Good music is good music, even if you call it 'oysters.'"
Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt: SIMPLE LITTLE THINGS
Featuring: Farah Alvin, Brandon Victor Dixon, Katherine Henly, Telly Leung, Zachary Piser, Mariand Torres - Vocals
Available through December 9
60 years ago, on May 3, 1960, at the tiny Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village, The Fantasticks opened on the sparsest of budgets and ran uninterrupted for nearly 42 years, closing on January 13, 2002 after a record 17,162 performances. Its elegance and simplicity endured four decades of the chaotic world going "Round and Round" while its creators continued their evolution into several uptown successes. Including 110 In the Shade and I Do! I Do! , the jewel box of creativity that is the Jones and Schmidt collaboration is perhaps the most steadfast of its kind.
Jule Styne AND HIS MANY LYRICISTS: DISTANT MELODY
Premieres December 7, 7 pm ET and available through January 6
Performers TBA
It is said that Jule Styne published over 1,500 songs in his lifetime, a staggering number that spans decades and includes dozens of collaborators. Beginning with Sammy Cahn in the 1940s, his lyricists would include names like Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Leo Robin, Bob Merrill, and Stephen Sondheim. Styne wrote some of our most famous songs and classic Broadway hits, with a multitude of lesser-known work along the way. The lasting power of star vehicles like Gypsy and Funny Girl has remained throughout every sea change of cultural mood and sentiment.
THE THEME FROM...: SONGS WRITTEN FOR FILM
Premieres December 14, 7 pm ET and available through January 13
Performers TBA
As a celebration of our performers, and the necessary medium of film to tell these stories at this moment in time, this special program presents some of the best songs specifically written for film ever since the genre first achieved the technology to capture sound. A diverse concert of hits like "Moon River" and "The Man That Got Away" mixed in with other songs from decades of film history offers a look at the effect of these songs on an audience and how, even in a non-musical film, music is key to unlocking the emotional journey of storytelling.
DETAILS:
92Y Announces
L&L PreludesRODGERS, RODGERS, AND GUETTEL:
STATUES AND STORIES
AVAILABLE THROUGH DECEMBER 22 TICKETS AT 92Y.ORG/LYRICS ALL PROGRAMS AVAILABLE ON 92Y.ORG FOR THE MONTH FOLLOWING THE PREMIERE, AND ON STAGEACCESS
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