Interview: Donna Rubin & Josh Gladstone Are Bringing a Star-Studded Lineup to the Triad

Donna Rubin and Josh Gladstone are bringing some music to the Hamptons this summer. If you’re around New York City on Tuesday May 7th at 6 pm, you can attend their "launch party / friend-raiser / fundraiser" to help raise money for East Hampton's LTV Studios, home of their Hamptons concert series.

At the show, you'll get a sampling of some of the all-star roster of names set to headline Hamptons Summer Songbook By the Sea, including Mark Nadler, KT Sullivan, Christine Andreas and Marty Silvestri, Liz Larsen and Sal Viviano, Tovah Feldshuh, Steve Ross, Karen Murphy, Mark Singer and Darcy Dunn, Anna Bergman, Alex Rybeck, and more to be announced. (Tickets for the Manhattan fundraiser are available online.)

Produced by Donna Rubin and LTV's Creative Director Josh Gladstone, this concert series presents world-class talent in the intimate, funky and unique environs of a reconfigured, industrial black-box television studio - complete with state-of-the art lighting and audio. The romantic ambiance of cafe table seating, modular staging and a Baby Grand combine for an exciting, up-front, live encounter with the American Songbook’s legendary songs and songwriters as interpreted by today's finest performers.

We spoke about the upcoming fundraiser at the Triad Theater in Manhattan, and the upcoming series in the Hamptons.

How would you describe your upcoming benefit show for the Hamptons Summer Songbook by the Sea?

JG: I've been referring to the May 7th event at The Triad as an “appeteaser.” It's a springtime sneak preview of an astonishing series headed our way hot on summer's heels. We've got a stellar roster showcasing some of New York's veteran masters of the musical theater - some of cabaret's brightest talent - each headlining their own show at LTV Studios in July and August. We're all excited - so excited that the gang is ready and willing to mingle in advance and raise a glass in anticipation of their dates to come. Really - to have such an assembly under one roof on one night in this preview is, in and of itself, a marquee spectacular event. It's an opportunity to share mutual excitement, admiration, and have a bit of terrific fun in anticipation of hot summer Saturdays to come.

How long have you been doing this series?

JG: We launched a five-show pilot season last summer on Tuesday nights at LTV to literally see, hear and feel if the room worked and if there might be an audience. Well, I sort of knew there'd be an audience, having previously spent 21 seasons as Guild Hall of East Hampton's Artistic Director, where we sold out many great evenings featuring many of the stars we've got slated now for LTV. So last year's pilot AMERICAN SONGBOOK: THEN & NOW series has evolved and sprouted muscles, expanding to Saturday nights stretching across the breadth of the Hamptons summer high season, from June 22 - August 31, and adding a rich raft of new resources for Talent and audiences alike, including most significantly the onboarding of the series co-creator and co-producer Donna Rubin with all of her connections and enthusiasm, hence the new branding: HAMPTONS SUMMER SONGBOOK BY THE SEA.

What are you most looking forward to about the upcoming season this summer?

JG: The shows themselves! What a treat to reconnect with these accomplished artists and to experience their mastery up close in an intimate, acoustically dynamic and neatly designed new space. The music, the music, the music -  gorgeous and uplifting and heartening in the best of ways.

DR: I am looking forward to introducing new people to the world of Cabaret. So many people have not been exposed to Cabaret, but now there is a new venue for people to enjoy the art of Cabaret that will be accessible to all. 

What have you been listening to lately?

JG: Well, I can't get enough of Patinkin lately - he's been on my Sonos rotation every morning for the past two weeks (much to my wife's chagrin) - so even though Mandy won't be joining us live at LTV this summer - hey, there's always '25... 

DR: I am catching up on all of my Broadway albums that I have not listened to in a long time.

What's coming up next for you, other than these shows?

JG: It's my first year coming on board full time as LTV Studio's Creative Director, and I've cooked up a monstrously eclectic, playful and adventurous season for this debut. I'm referring to it as my Frankenseason - a gorgeous beast with a hundred mouths and beating hearts: so Martin McDonagh's macabre play THE PILLOWMAN starring Sawyer Spielberg is on the immediate docket, followed by world music legend, Navajo flutist R. Carlos Nakai in concert; a Borscht Belt revue; sitar maestro Ustad Shafaat Khan; drummer god Corky Laing of pioneering Woodstock rock band Mountain; and SNL's Punky Johnson doing her bawdy-as-hell stand-up. And that's just the tip of Frankenseason's mad maw.  

DR: I am working on developing a new play and documentary. 

Where should people go to find out when your 2024 summer lineup is announced?

JG: It's all being uploaded - daily - onto LTV's website: www.ltveh.org. We can also be followed on FB and IG, and we have a dedicated YouTube channel where many of our older programs are being rebroadcast.  So - hopefully we'll see you at LTV this summer, and at The Triad on May 7th for a fabulous sneak preview...

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