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Michael Starobin
Michael Starobin (born January 25, 1956) is an orchestrator, conductor, composer, arranger, and musical director, primarily for the stage, film and television. He won Tony Awards for the orchestrations of '' Assassins'' (2004) and ''Next to Normal'' (2009 with Tom Kitt). Career The first Broadway musical that Starobin provided the orchestrations for was '' Sunday in the Park with George'' in 1984, for which he won the 1984 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestration. He has provided the orchestrations for 21 Broadway musicals, 2 special concerts, including the benefit concert of ''Sunday in the Park with George'', and was the musical director for ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' (1985). He has also provided orchestrations, or been the musical director, for many Off-Broadway musicals. He wrote the orchestrations for several works by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, such as ''Once on This Island'' (1990), as well as William Finn, including ''In Trousers'' (1985), ''Falsett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orchestrator
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orchestration is the assignment of different instruments to play the different parts (e.g., melody, bassline, etc.) of a musical work. For example, a work for solo piano could be adapted and orchestrated so that an orchestra could perform the piece, or a concert band piece could be orchestrated for a symphony orchestra. In classical music, composers have historically orchestrated their own music. Only gradually over the course of music history did orchestration come to be regarded as a separate compositional art and profession in itself. In modern classical music, composers almost invariably orchestrate their own work. However, in musical theatre, film music and other commercial media, it is customary to use orchestrators and arrangers to o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falsettoland
''Falsettoland'' is a musical with a book by James Lapine and music and lyrics by William Finn. Following ''In Trousers'' and ''March of the Falsettos'', it is the third in a trio of one-act musicals centering on Marvin, his wife Trina, his psychiatrist Mendel, his son Jason, and his gay lover Whizzer Brown. In this chapter of Marvin's life, Jason is preparing for his bar mitzvah and Whizzer is suffering from a mysterious, life-threatening, as yet undefined illness, which the audience recognizes is AIDS. It forms the second act of the 1992 Broadway musical ''Falsettos'', with ''March of the Falsettos'' as the first act. Productions ''Falsettoland'' opened Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on June 28, 1990 and closed on August 12, 1990. The musical transferred to the Lucille Lortel Theatre on September 25, 1990 and closed on January 27, 1991 after 176 performances. Directed by Lapine, the cast included Michael Rupert (Marvin), Faith Prince (Trina), Stephen Bogardus (Whizzer) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glenn Slater
Glenn Slater (born January 28, 1968) is an American lyricist for musical theatre. He has collaborated with Alan Menken, Christopher Lennertz, Andrew Lloyd Webber, among other composers. He was nominated for three Tony Awards for Best Original Score for the Broadway version of ''The Little Mermaid'' at the 62nd Tony Awards in 2008, ''Sister Act'' at the 65th Tony Awards in 2011, and '' School of Rock'' at the 70th Tony Awards in 2016. Early life Slater was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is Jewish. Raised in East Brunswick, New Jersey, he graduated from East Brunswick High School as part of the class of 1986; he became interested in drama while at high school after an unsuccessful effort as a songwriter with a band. In 1990, he graduated from Harvard University where he composed Hasty Pudding Theatricals' 141st production, ''Whiskey Business''. He has received the ASCAP Foundation's Richard Rodgers New Horizon Award with composer Stephen Weiner. Career Slater wrote the lyric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ringling Bros
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor shows ran from 1871 to 2017. Known as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, the circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers had purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919. After 1957, the circus no longer exhibited under its own portable " big top" tents, instead using permanent venues such as sports stadiums and arenas. In 1967, Irvin Feld and his brother Israel, along with Houston Judge Roy Hofheinz, bought the circus from the Ringling family. In 1971, the Felds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A New Brain
''A New Brain'' is a musical with music and lyrics by William Finn and book by Finn and James Lapine. Though many of Finn's previous musicals were to some extent autobiographical, ''A New Brain'' dealt directly with his own harrowing experience with an arteriovenous malformation and the healing power of art."'A New Brain' at the Newhouse, Background, Cast and Creatives" . Lincoln Center Theater, accessed December 27, 2011 The hero of the musical, Gordon Schwinn, worries that he may not live to complete his work. Finn wrote many of the songs soon after his release from the hospital. The musical premiered Off-Broadway in 1998 and has been revived in the U.S., England and elsewhere. Productions< ...
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Hello Again (musical)
''Hello Again'' is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Michael John LaChiusa. It is based on the 1897 play ''La Ronde'' by Arthur Schnitzler (also titled ''Reigen''). It focuses on a series of love affairs among ten characters during the ten different decades of the 20th century. The musical premiered Off-Broadway in 1993, directed and choreographed by Graciela Daniele. Since then it has been performed in London, Sweden, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands and New York. Adaptation and plot LaChuisa's musical adaptation follows the structure of Schnitzler's original material closely, often replicating fragments of his dialogue, detailing a daisy chain of sexual encounters and love affairs among ten characters in ten scenes. His innovation, however, was to set each scene of the musical in a different decade of the 20th century and in a non-chronological order, allowing for a huge variety of musical style and pastische ranging from opera to 1970s disco while simultaneously ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Favorite Year (musical)
''My Favorite Year'' is a musical with a book by Joseph Dougherty, music by Stephen Flaherty, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. It is based on the 1982 film of the same name. Production history The musical opened on Broadway at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater on December 10, 1992 and closed on January 10, 1993 after 36 performances and 45 previews. The cast included Evan Pappas, Tim Curry, Tom Mardirosian, Katie Finneran, Andrea Martin (in her Broadway debut), Josh Mostel, and Lainie Kazan, who reprised the role of Benjy's mother she had played in the film. The show was directed by Ron Lagomarsino and choreographed by Thommie Walsh, with scenic design by Thomas Lynch, costume design by Patricia Zipprodt, and lighting design by Jules Fisher, with associate lighting designer Peggy Eisenhauer. The creative team constantly reworked the troubled production during previews. ''My Favorite Year'' received mixed-to-negative reviews. ''The New York Timess Frank Rich called the musical " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falsettos
''Falsettos'' is a sung-through musical with a book by William Finn and James Lapine, and music and lyrics by Finn. The musical consists of ''March of the Falsettos'' (1981) and ''Falsettoland'' (1990), the last two installments in a trio of one-act musicals that premiered off-Broadway (the first was ''In Trousers''). The story centers on Marvin, who has left his wife to be with a male lover, Whizzer, and struggles to keep his family together. Much of the first act explores the impact his relationship with Whizzer has had on his family. The second act explores family dynamics that evolve as he and his wife plan his son's bar mitzvah. Central to the musical are the themes of Jewish identity, gender roles, and gay life in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It also deals with the topic of the AIDS epidemic. ''Falsettos'' premiered on Broadway in 1992 and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, winning those for Best Book and Best Original Score. The musical was revived on Broadway in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Of Paradise (musical)
''Birds of Paradise'' is a musical with music by David Evans, lyrics by Winnie Holzman, and the book by Evans and Holzman. It had a brief run Off-Broadway in 1987. The story involves a group of amateur actors involved in a musical adaptation of Anton Chekhov's 1896 play ''The Seagull''. Synopsis Act I The Harbour Island Players is an amateur theatre group whose lives are turned upside down when a professional actor, down on his luck, decides to direct and star in one of their productions. The group is awaiting the arrival of Lawrence Wood, the actor. Wood, who grew up on Harbour Island (and left as soon as he could) is visiting his hometown for the first time in twenty years. He has agreed to observe their rehearsal. Thrilled at the prospect of a real professional in their midst, each member feels, for the first time since they've been working together, that it is finally "worth it" (''"So Many Nights"''). Wood arrives and we learn that he is in trouble, both personally and profess ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rags (musical)
''Rags'' is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein (with revisions by David Thompson), lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and music by Charles Strouse. Production history The Broadway production opened on August 21, 1986, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre with little advance sale and to mostly indifferent reviews, and it closed after only four performances (and 18 previews). Directed by Gene Saks and choreographed by Ron Field, the cast included Teresa Stratas as Rebecca Hershkowitz, Larry Kert as Nathan Hershkowitz, Lonny Price as Ben, Judy Kuhn as Bella Cohen, Dick Latessa as Avram Cohen, Marcia Lewis as Rachel Halpern, and Terrence Mann as Saul, a trade union organizer. Despite its failure, it garnered a good deal of attention during the awards season, receiving Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, among others. In 1991, Sony released a studio recording of the score. It featured most of the original cast joined by Julia Migenes replacing Stratas. Revised versions The creators reuni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Testa
Mary Testa (born June 4, 1955) is an American stage and film actress. She is a three-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's '' On the Town'' (1998), '' 42nd Street'' (2001) and'' Oklahoma'' (2019). Early life Testa was born in Philadelphia and has one sister. At age four, her family moved to Rhode Island.Buckley, Michael"Stage to Screens: A Chat with Mary Testa" Playbill, December 21, 2003, accessed December 19, 2014 She studied acting at the University of Rhode Island. Testa left school to move to New York in 1976 to pursue a performing career.Gans, Andrew"Diva Talk: Chatting with ''Xanadu's'' Mary Testa Plus News of Buckley, Kuhn and Callaway" Playbill, August 3, 2007, accessed December 19, 2014 Stage Testa made her debut Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons as Miss Goldberg in William Finn's one-act musical ''In Trousers'' (1979), part one of his "Marvin Trilogy." She next performed in Finn's ''March of the Falsettos'', and later in ''Compa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Christmas Carol (2004 Film)
''A Christmas Carol: The Musical'' is a 2004 American musical television film based on the 1843 novella of the same name by Charles Dickens, which also inspired a 1994 stage musical by Alan Menken and Lynn Ahrens. Directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman and written by Ahrens, the film stars Kelsey Grammer, Jesse L. Martin, Jane Krakowski, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Geraldine Chaplin, and Jason Alexander. The film first premiered on November 28, 2004, on the NBC television network. Plot On Christmas Eve in London, Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly moneylender at a counting house, does not share the merriment of Christmas. He declines an offer from recently widowed Mr. Smythe and his daughter Grace to pay for Mrs. Smythe's funeral, voicing his support for the prisons and workhouses for the poor, declining his nephew Fred's invitation to Christmas dinner, and reluctantly accepts his loyal employee Bob Cratchit's request to have Christmas Day off since there will be no business for Scrooge o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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