Rubicon Theatre to Present WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE? Concert, 4/2-3

The Janet and Mark L. Goldenson Broadway Musical Concert Series at Rubicon Theatre Company continues in its second year with a weekend concert celebrating one of the most significant and popular American songwriting teams of all time, George and Ira Gershwin. WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE? will be presented for two nights only on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3.

Audiences will experience the sophisticated genius of this dynamic brotherly duo, whose music remains just as popular and relevant today as it was during the Roaring Twenties. The concert will be created and helmed by two-time Ovation and L.A. Drama Critics Circle award-winning director Richard Israel, whose credits include last year's concert reading of The Secret Garden at Rubicon, Rent, and Floyd Collins at La Mirada Theatre (Ovation Awards for Directing and Outstanding Musical in a Large Venue).

WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE? features six performers (soon-to-be-announced) singing timeless Gershwin classics such as "It Had To Be You," "S'Wonderful," "How Long Has This Been Going On," "They Can't Take That Away," "Our Love is Here to Stay" and over 20 magnificent numbers that represent the incredible diversity and wide appeal attributed to the Gershwin catalog. Musical Direction is by Jake Anthony, Resident Music Director at New Musicals, Inc.

Richard Israel remarks, "George and Ira Gershwin's contributions to the American songbook are unparalleled. So many of the songs that are considered classic American standards came from the mind and heart of the Gershwins, and we are so lucky to be able to share these gorgeous and resonant works of art in an intimate setting at Rubicon."

Casting Director and Concert Series Producer Stephanie Coltrin-Beyries adds, "What is fascinating about the Gershwin brothers is their lasting influence and transcendence in a wide range of music genres. Their music has impacted several generations, and will continue to do so. Ira's lyrics provided profound insights into human nature. George's music is profoundly memorable and innovative. Together, they elevated American musical theatre and changed the music standards of their time."

Richard Israel (Director) returns to Rubicon having directed the popular concert reading of The Secret Garden last season. Other recent directing credits include Rent for La McCoy Rigby Entertainment, The Baker's Wife for the Actors Co-Op, the original Jeff Marx/Fat Mike musicalHome Street Home, Spring Awakening, Floyd Collins (Ovation Awards for Directing and Outstanding Musical in a Large Venue) and 110 In The Shade (Ovation for Outstanding Musical in an Intimate Venue). Richard has also directed Bronies The Musical for Third Street Theatre, Kiss Me Kate for Cabrillo Music Theatre, Glorious! for ICT, Avenue Q for DOMA Theatre and the multiple-Ovation nominated Having It All for the Laguna Playhouse. Other favorites include critically acclaimed productions The Burnt Part Boys, Falsettos, Gypsy, Assassins, Big, 1776, Big River, Merrily We Roll Along and the West Coast Premiere of Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins. For Musical Theatre Guild, he has directed Road Show, High Fidelity and Violet, among others. He is the recipient of the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Career Achievement Award for Directing.

Music Director Jake Anthony works as a vocal coach, composer, and music director in the L.A. area. Some of his favorites credits include Little Women (Sustaining Sound Company), Splendora and Songs from an Unmade Bed at Celebration Theatre, Into the Woods with Center Stage Opera, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood and The Baker's Wife at the Actors Co-op. In addition, he is Resident Music Director at New Musicals, Inc., (NMI). As a composer, Jake has written three full-length musicals: Now and Then a Hero, New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, and Wanting Miss Julie, which is currently receiving its World Premiere in a production at the Loft Ensemble in Downtown LA.

THE GERSHWIN BROTHERS
George and Ira Gershwin remain one of the most influential and versatile songwriting teams of the 20th century, burgeoning during the heyday of the Jazz Age in the 1920s. Their influence is still palpable today, inspiring singers, musicians and composers while still attracting audiences as widely diverse as the music they wrote together. Most of their catalog is as current today as it was almost 90 years ago, with standards covered by artists such as Elton John, Kate Bush and Lada Gaga in concert with Tony Bennett during their "Cheek to Cheek" tour. The music of Gershwin is as transcendent of time as it is in style and pioneering.

Born to Russian and Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, Ira, and George grew up in New York tenements. They spent considerable time in the Yiddish Theatre District, where George occasionally appeared in small non-speaking roles as a child. Their parents bought a piano for Ira, but were pleased when George showed interest and a natural talent for music as well. Initially, George and Ira blazed their own individual trails in the music business, both enjoying success from their own ventures.

At the age of 15, George worked as a "song plugger" on New York's Tin Pan Alley before teaming up with Buddy DeSylva on a number of revues. In 1924, George composed his first major classical work Rhapsody in Blue for orchestra and piano. He traveled to Paris to study classical music, but was ultimately rejected by his Parisian tutors, who feared the classical training would negatively affect his natural penchant for Jazz-styled compositions.

This in turn inspired him to write An American in Paris, a familiar staple with philharmonic orchestras to this day. He returned to the States and began collaborating with Ira, who had also made a name for himself as lyricist on Broadway with his first foray into the world of the Broadway musical with Two Little Girls in Blue.

Together their talents as composer and lyricist made George and Ira Gershwin a dynamic powerhouse, altering the landscape of American music and musical theatre, creating the folk opera Porgy and Bess and twelve musicals including Show Girl, Girl Crazy, Strike Up the Band andOf Thee I Sing, which was the first musical comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1931. Between the years 1924 to George's death from a brain tumor in 1937, the Gershwin brothers wrote exclusively with each other, both for the stage and movies. While most of their songs would become well-known and beloved to mass audiences, their most significant achievements was raising the standard of musical comedy in American theatre to a new level of sophistication through their trademark Gershwin panache.

After George's death, Ira continued to work in stage and cinema, earning two Academy Award nominations for his standards "Long Ago (and Far Away)" and "The Man That Got Away." His book "Lyrics on Several Occasions" in 1959 included his selected lyrics with personal commentary and anecdotes. He handled much of the Gershwin estate until his death in Beverly Hills at the age of 86. The United States Congress posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the Gershwins in 1985 (only the third time that songwriters had been so honored), and in 2007, the Library of Congress instituted the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE? is presented for three performances only: Saturday, April. 2 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and Sunday,April 3 at 2:00 p.m. All performances are at Rubicon Theatre in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District, located at 1006 E. Main Street (the corner of Main and Laurel), Ventura, CA 93001. Tickets are $69.50 for the general public, $59.50 with the purchase of 3-4 concerts; $49.50 with the purchase of all five concerts. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (805) 667-2900, or go to www.rubicontheatre.org.

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