On Thursday, April 29, Kaufman Center will present a reading of SHLEMIEL CROOKS, a new musical with songs by Scott Ethier and Clay Zambo and a script by Sean Hartley and Bob Kolsby. The musical is based on two books by Anna Olswanger: Shlemiel Crooks, a modern-day Passover folk tale, and Chicken Bone Man, the charming tale of a young pianist that won the Second Annual F. Scott Fitzgeral Short Story Contest. A brief discussion will follow the reading.
The reading will take place on Thursday, April 29, 2010, 5 pm, at Kaufman Center (129 West 67th Street, NYC, Room 520). Admission is free but space is limited and reservations are required: Email
Sean Hartley at shartley@kaufman-center.org.
The musical is narrated by Jerry the dog, a part that will be read by
Jason Robinson, who has previously starred in several Kaufman Center productions, including the popular Broadway Playhouse series. The leading roles of Berl, a young pianist, and his sister Gertie will be played by Amory Benjamin, a student at Kaufman Center's Special Music School (SMS), and Miranda Johnson, a graduate of SMS currently attending La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts. Other performers appearing in the reading include
Jane Smulyan as the opera coach Miss Stoots and
Raymond Bokhour (currently on Broadway in Chicago) as one of the shlemiel crooks. The plot involves the ghost of Pharaoh trying to sabotage Passover by stealing the wine from Reb Elias's kosher wine store, and is based on a true story involving Ms. Olswanger's great-grandfather.
Sean Hartley and
Bob Kolsby have collaborated previously on Young Moses, a Kaufman Center production, and Clay Zambo and Scott Ethier have written many songs and shows for the Center's Summer Musical Theater Workshop. Anna Olswanger is a published author who is also a literary agent with Liza Dawson Associates. For more information about Ms. Olswanger's books, visit
www.ShlemielCrooks.com.
Kaufman Center: New York's creative home for listeners, learners and performers
Kaufman Center is one of New York City's most vibrant cultural organizations, combining the finest in music education for all ages with world-class performance in the acoustically superior Merkin Concert Hall. In addition to Merkin Concert Hall, it is home to Lucy Moses School, New York's largest community arts school, and the Special Music School, New York's only public school for musically gifted children.
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