Mo Rocca, Chuck Cooper and Brad Oscar Join MasterVoices' OF THEE I SING at Carnegie Hall

CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mo Rocca, Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper (The Life) and Tony nominee Brad Oscar (Something Rotten!) join MasterVoices' production of the Gershwins' Of Thee I Sing on Thursday, November 2 at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.

Rocca narrates the satiric tale of truth, justice and corn muffins, with book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, written during the time of their famed association with the Marx Brothers. Chuck Cooper is featured as Matthew Fulton, and Brad Oscar replaces previously announced Zach Grenier, who regretfully cannot participate in the production due to scheduling, as Louis Lippman.

The production also features previously announced cast members Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder) as President John P. Wintergreen, Denée Benton (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) as Mary Turner, Kevin Chamberlin (The Addams Family) as Vice President Alexander Throttlebottom, Fred Applegate (Wicked) as Francis X. Gilhooley, and David Pittu (Lovemusik) as the French Ambassador.

Additionally joining the cast are Richard J. Miller, Jr., Esq. as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Anna Landy as Miss Benson, and Rhett Guter as Jenkins.

As the first musical to ever win the Pulitzer Prize, Of Thee I Sing skewers the electoral process and is presented as New York City examines its own electoral process, just five days before the mayoral election.

An additional performance of Of Thee I Sing is held at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at LIU Post on Saturday, November 4, 2017 at 8:00 p.m.

Other productions in MasterVoices' 2017-18 season include: Our America, celebrating how immigrants have shaped American music (March 7 at The Great Hall of The Cooper Union); a new production of Orphic Moments, an evening featuring Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice paired with Matthew Aucoin's dramatic cantata The Orphic Moment (May 6 and 7 at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater); and Naamah's Ark, a MasterVoices commission (June 17 in Lower Manhattan, exact location to be announced), co-presented by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council as part of the River To River Festival 2018.

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Program Information:

OF THEE I SING
Music by George Gershwin
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind

Featuring:
Bryce Pinkham (President Wintergreen)
Denée Benton (Mary Turner)
Kevin Chamberlin (Alexander Throttlebottom)
Elizabeth Stanley (Diana Devereaux)
Chuck Cooper (Matthew Fulton)
Brad Oscar (Louis Lippman)
Fred Applegate (Francis X. Gilhooley)
David Pittu (French Ambassador)
Mo Rocca (Narrator)
Richard J. Miller, Jr., Esq. (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court)
Anna Landy (Miss Benson)
Rhett Guter (Jenkins)

MasterVoices Chorus and Orchestra
Ted Sperling, Conductor
Musical staging by Andrew Palermo

Thursday, November 2, 2017 at 7:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
57th Street and Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019

Ticket Information: Tickets for the Carnegie Hall performance, priced at $20-$155, are available for purchase at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, at 57th and Seventh, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website at carnegiehall.org.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

MasterVoices was founded in 1941 by conductor Robert Shaw, who believed in the voice as the world's most powerful instrument. Today the human voice remains at the heart of MasterVoices' concerts, from its acclaimed 100+ member chorus to the dazzling array of world-class soloists that perform with the group each year.

MasterVoices' productions are known for their vitality and scale, and the group's repertoire spans multiple genres, including choral classics, operas in concert, musical theater programs, and newly commissioned works at venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and New York City Center to site-specific concerts at synagogues, airplane hangers, museums, and bandshells. MasterVoices often tours internationally, most recently appearing with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

The organization's concerts serve a deeper purpose as well: to nurture the artists of tomorrow. The Faith Geier Initiative gives debuts to promising young soloists, and at any time the chorus may include high school students from the Side-By-Side program, which invites aspiring young singers to join MasterVoices in concerts and tours, guided by experienced chorus members as mentors.

MasterVoices' vision continues to expand under the baton of Tony Award-winning Artistic Director Ted Sperling. Its musical theater offerings have become richer, as a result of the establishment of The Rees Fund for Musical Theater, and its new Bridges program has started to introduce composers to specific New York City communities to create new choral works inspired by their stories. For more details, please visit mastervoices.org.

One of today's leading musical artists, Ted Sperling is a director, music director, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, singer, pianist and violinist. Mr. Sperling became the Artistic Director of MasterVoices in October 2013 and additionally serves as the Principal Conductor of the Westchester Philharmonic. He has conducted concerts with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, the Lyrics and Lyricists series at the 92nd Street Y.

Mr. Sperling won the 2005 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his orchestrations of The Light in the Piazza, for which he was also music director. Other Broadway credits include the rapturously received revivals of Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, and South Pacific; Guys and Dolls, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Full Monty, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, My Favorite Year, and Sunday in the Park with George. Off- Broadway credits include A Man of No Importance, A New Brain, Saturn Returns and Floyd Collins. Opera work includes two New York City premieres by composer Ricky Ian Gordon: 27 starring Stephanie Blythe, and The Grapes of Wrath, starring Nathan Gunn; Dido and Aeneas starring Kelli O'Hara and Victoria Clark; and La Voix Humaine starring Audra McDonald. Mr. Sperling's work as a stage director includes the world premieres of The Other Josh Cohen, See What I Wanna See, Striking 12, and Charlotte: Life? Or Theater?, as well as a revival of Lady in the Dark. Mr. Sperling received the 2006 Ted Shen Family Foundation Award for leadership in the musical theater, headed the Music Theater Initiative at The Public Theater, and is Creative Director of the 24-Hour Musicals.

Mo Rocca is a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning and a regular panelist on NPR's Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! He is the host of The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation Saturday mornings on CBS and host and creator of My Grandmother's Ravioli on the Cooking Channel. He starred as Panch on Broadway in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and played Doody in the Southeast Asia tour of Grease.

Chuck Cooper is a veteran of fifteen Broadway shows including, The Life, Caroline Or Change, Act One, The Prince of Broadway, Amazing Grace, and The Cherry Orchard, to name a few. His awards include The Tony Award, The Lucille Lortel, San Diego Critics' Circle, three Audelcos, and two Drama Desk nominations. Television credits include The Good Wife, Madam Secretary, House Of Cards, Gossip Girl, Nurse Jackie, Law & Order: SVU, and others. Film credits include Boy Wonder, Evening, Noise, American Gangster, Find Me Guilty, The Hurricane, Gloria, The Juror, and more.

Brad Oscar's Broadway credits include Something Rotten! (Tony Award nomination), Big Fish, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Addams Family, Spamalot, The Producers (Tony Award nomination), Jekyll & Hyde, and Aspects of Love. He appeared on the national tours of The Phantom of the Opera, Young Frankenstein, and Jekyll & Hyde and appeared on the West End credits in The Producers. His off- Broadway credits include Sweeney Todd, Forbidden Broadway, The Body Beautiful, and Annie Get Your Gun, Bells Are Ringing and Do Re Mi at New York City Center Encores! Regionally he has appeared in Fiddler on the Roof (Barrington Stage), Barnum (Asolo Rep/Maltz Jupiter), The Mystery of Irma Vep, Cabaret and Damn Yankees (Arena Stage), and The First Wives Club (Old Globe). His film credits include Ghost Town and The Producers, and his television credits include Madam Secretary, Smash, The Good Wife, and three Law & Orders. He previously appeared with MasterVoices in Knickerbocker Holiday in 2011.