I AM HARVEY MILK Comes to Princeton Festival This Month

On Friday, June 23 at 7pm and Saturday, June 24 at 7pm the Princeton Festival presents I Am Harvey Milk, a musical theater oratorio by acclaimed Broadway composer and lyricist Andrew Lippa (Big Fish, The Addams Family). The show celebrates the legacy of Harvey Milk, an American icon and the first openly gay man to hold office in California. Lippa’s oratorio is part choral work and part theater piece, taking audience members through Milk’s life, from his childhood to his assassination. Conducted by Andrew Lippa himself, these performances serve as the world premiere of a revised version of the original work, and take place in the tented performance pavilion on the grounds of beautiful Morven Museum and Garden.

The work is directed by Noah Himmelstein, a New York based theater director and associate art director of Everyman Theatre. The show features Benjamin Pajak as young Harvey, who most recently played the title role in Oliver!, for Encores! at NY City Center. Adam Kantor, portraying Harvey Milk, most notably played Mark Cohen in the closing cast of Rent on Broadway. Broadway and West End actress Scarlett Strallen and Family Equality’s CEO Stacey Stevenson perform as Soprano and Speaker, respectively. Andrew Lippa conducts the cast with the Princeton Festival Men’s Chorus and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra.

Andrew Lippa (words/music/conductor) is an award-winning artist whose work spans the worlds of theater, film, television, and the concert stage. His musicals include The Addams Family; Big Fish; The Wild Party; new songs for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; A Little Princess; and John & Jen. In addition to I Am Harvey Milk, his concert works include I Am Anne Hutchinson; Unbreakable; a world-premiere for pianist Lang Lang titled Rising Tide; as well as his hit song for Kristin Chenoweth in Disney’s Descendants titled “Evil Like Me” (gold record) and songs for Renée Fleming, Idina Menzel, Vanessa Williams, and others. He wrote the score for Aaron Sorkin’s The Farnsworth Invention and has conducted the San Francisco, Chicago, and Cincinnati Symphony orchestras.

The Princeton Festival is hosting two companion events in conjunction with I Am Harvey Milk. On Saturday, June 17 at 2pm, the Princeton Public Library offers a free screening of the 2008 film MILK, starring Sean Penn. Penn won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Harvey Milk. Andrew Reynolds, author of Children of Harvey Milk: How LGBTQ Politicians Changed the World (Oxford, 2018) will open the screening with some brief remarks.

On Friday, June 23 at 4pm, the Princeton Festival is holding a panel discussion with composer and conductor Andrew Lippa. Lippa will speak with young musicians about his process in writing I Am Harvey Milk and the ways artists can create social change through their work. The event takes place at the Stockton Education Center and is free and open to the public.

Tickets for the June 23 and June 24 performances at Morven Museum and Grounds range from $42 - $125; youths 5-17 receive a 50% discount with an adult purchase. Visit the Princeton Symphony Orchestra webpage at princetonsymphony.org or call (609) 497-0020.

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