This Week on Broadway for June 29, 2014: Alex Timbers and Van Kaplan

Ghostlight Records will release the original cast recording of The Public Theater’s production of LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST this summer. The album will be available in digital format on June 3 with physical CDs available online and in stores on July 8. The production was recently nominated for three 2014 Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Lyrics and Outstanding Choreography. Directed by Alex Timbers, LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST features songs by Michael Friedman with book adaptation by Timbers. Two tracks from the upcoming album – “Young Men” and “Hey Boys” – are available to stream at www.sh-k-boom.com.

The physical CD is a deluxe jewel case package containing a full-color 36-page booklet with lyrics, photos, a show synopsis, notes from renowned writer Mark Harris (Entertainment Weekly, Grantland) and The Public Theater’s Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, an essay from Columbia University Professor James Shapiro and an essay by Hilton Als that originally appeared in The New Yorker. Sign up to pre-order at www.sh-k-boom.com/loveslabourslost.

In LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST, romance, revelry and enchanting music ignite in this contemporary yet lovingly faithful musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy. The King and his best buds decide at their five-year college reunion to swear off the joys of women. But when four cute, clever girls from their past show up, they’re forced to reconsider all of that nonsense! Smart, sexy, outrageous and irreverent, LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST is a madcap celebration of true love and coming of age. LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST was developed in collaboration with Les Freres Corbusier.
LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST featured scenic design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by Jennifer Moeller, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, sound design by Acme Sound Partners and choreography by Danny Mefford.

The complete cast of the new musical LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST included Daniel Breaker (King of Navarre), Kevin Del Aguila (Dull), Colin Donnell (Berowne), Rachel Dratch (Holofernes), Andrew Durand (Boyet), Kimiko Glenn (Maria), Jeff Hiller (Nathaniel), Rebecca Naomi Jones (Jaquenetta), Justin Levine (Moth), Patti Murin (Princess), Lucas Near-Verbrugghe (Dumaine), Bryce Pinkham (Longaville), Charlie Pollock (Costard), Caesar Samayoa (Don Armado), Maria Thayer (Rosaline) and Audrey Lynn Weston (Katherine). The non-equity ensemble featured Michael R. Douglass and Bradley Gibson.

Free Shakespeare in the Park is one of the most important programs that The Public provides and is at the heart of founder Joe Papp’s vision to create theater for all. In the last 50 years, more than 5 million people have enjoyed performances at the Delacorte.

Bank of America continues its leadership sponsorship in support of The Public’s mission to keep Shakespeare in the Park free.

The Public Theater has a long history of premiering new musicals at the Delacorte that have made a strong impact on the landscape of musical theater and are still performed around the world today. The first musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s work at the Delacorte was Two Gentleman of Verona, The Musical which premiered in 1971 with music by Galt MacDermot, lyrics by John Guare and direction by Mel Shapiro. The Broadway transfer won the 1972 Tony Award for Best Musical and Best Book. The acclaimed musical was later revived at the Delacorte in 2005 with a cast that included Norm Lewis, Rosario Dawson and Renee Elise Goldsberry, and was directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. In 1980, The Public produced the musical The Pirates of Penzance, featuring Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith, at the Delacorte. It later transferred to Broadway and won the 1981 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Rupert Holmes premiered at the Delacorte in 1985, featuring George Rose, Donna Murphy, Judy Kuhn and Betty Buckley, and was directed by Wilford Leach. The Broadway transfer won the 1986 Tony Award for Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score, Best Lead Actor and Best Direction of a Musical. In 2008, The Public Theater revived the musical HAIR, first created by The Public in 1967, for an acclaimed Shakespeare in the Park run that included Jonathan Groff and Will Swenson, and was directed by Diane Paulus. The Broadway transfer won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival.

“LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST” TRACK LIST
1. Prologue
2. Young Men
3. Hey Boys
4. Hey Boys (Reprise)
5. I Love Cats
6. Jaquenetta
7. Brabant Song, Pt. 1
8. Brabant Song, Pt. 2
9. Brabant Song, Pt. 3
10. Change Of Heart
11. Rich People
12. Academia
13. Love’s A Gun
14. The King’s Sonnet
15. Dumaine’s Poem
16. Longaville’s Sonnet
17. Are You a Man?
18. It’s Not a Good Idea
19. To Be With You
20. Stop Your Heart
21. I Don’t Need Love
22. The Tuba Song
23. The Owl and the Cuckoo

Guest: Van Kaplan

VAN KAPLAN (Executive Producer) joined Pittsburgh CLO in 1997. In addition to overseeing the organization’s year-round producing and programming efforts, he has produced or co-produced the Broadway productions of Evita, Catch Me If You Can, Come Fly Away, The Addams Family and the upcoming production of An American in Paris. He has also produced touring productions of Camelot, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Phantom, Singin’ in the Rain, Chess, Grand Hotel, City of Angels, Evita, Brigadoon and Nunsense II. His directorial credits include Guys and Dolls with Victoria Clark, She Loves Me, West Side Story with Max Von Essen and Ali Ewoldt, Kopit & Yeston’s Phantom, On the Town, Sweeney Todd with Candy Buckley, South Pacific with Cathy Rigby, Nunsense, Shear Madness, Ruthless!, Guys and Dolls with Georgia Engel and the regional premiere of Andrew Bovell’s Speaking in Tongues at Pittsburgh’s Quantum Theater. Since 2009 he has directed The Jimmy™ Awards at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway. He has also directed original shows for Caesars Entertainment at the Rio, Paris and Bally’s Hotels in Las Vegas. He has consulted for the National Endowment for the Arts, is a former Theatre Panel chair for the Texas Commission on the Arts, and has served as adjunct professor for Carnegie Mellon’s Masters of Arts Management Program. He is on the Board of The Broadway League, serves on the Investment Committee of the Independent Presenters Network (IPN) and is past president of The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT). He is the Co-founder of the National High School Musical Theater Awards – also known as The Jimmy™ Awards, the subject of a 3-part documentary series that aired nationally on PBS. He has been a Tony Awards® voter for more than 20 years.

THE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL THEATER AWARDS

THE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL THEATER AWARDS ANNOUNCES 2014 STUDENT FINALISTS

ANNUAL AWARDS SHOWCASE WILL BE HOSTED BY 2011 JIMMY AWARD WINNER, RYAN McCARTAN, ON JUNE 30 AT BROADWAY’S MINSKOFF THEATRE

The National High School Musical Theater Awards (NHSMTA) is pleased to announce that 56 high school students from across America will compete for the coveted JimmyTM Award for Best Performance by an Actor and Best Performance by an Actress, at the 6th annual presentation at the Minskoff Theatre on Monday, June 30. Ryan McCartan, 2011 Jimmy Award winner, will host the 2-hour talent showcase that features dynamic ensemble and solo performances. McCartan recently starred as JD in the Off-Broadway hit musical, Heathers, appears regularly as Diggy in Liv & Maddie on the Disney Channel, and is a recurring character on the USA Network’s Royal Pains. The event will be held at the Minskoff Theatre (200 W. 45th St) and begins at 7:30 pm. Tickets, which range from $39-$175, are on sale at Ticketmaster.com.

Student performers qualified to compete in the national program by winning top honors at 28 regional high school musical awards competitions presented by Broadway League member performing arts centers. Over 1,500 high schools and 60,000 students participate in these annual events. Since its inception in 2009, the NHSMTA has enabled over $1,000,000 in university and conservatory scholarships to be awarded to talented students at the national and local level— several of whom have already been cast in Broadway, touring and West End productions.

NHSMTA finalists will prepare for their Broadway debut during a five-day professional training intensive with NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ New Studio on Broadway faculty members Andréa Burns, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Adam Kantor, Julia Murney, and Anthony Rapp plus other theater professionals. Winners will be selected by a panel of industry experts including Scott Ellis (multi-Tony Award®-nominated director); Kent Gash (New Studio on Broadway, NYU Tisch School of the Arts Department of Drama); Rachel Hoffman (Telsey + Company); Arielle Tepper Madover (Tony Award-winning producer); Tara Rubin (Tara Rubin Casting), and Nick Scandalios (Nederlander Organization)

Founded in 2009, NHSMTA’s mission is to raise the profile of musical theater in schools, recognize dedicated teachers and inspire the next generation of performers and enthusiasts. Also known as The JimmyTM Awards in honor of legendary Broadway producer/theater owner James M. Nederlander, the NHSMTA is produced by the Broadway Education Alliance and supported by many leading theater industry organizations including The Broadway League, BWF (Weissler) Foundation, Disney Theatrical Productions, Jujamcyn Theatres, Music Theatre International, Nederlander Organization, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Pittsburgh CLO, Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, Samuel French Library, Shubert Organization, Tams-Witmark Music Library, Inc., Ticketmaster and others. To learn more about the National High School Musical Theater Awards and/or to make a donation to the program, please visit nhsmta.com.

Recordings:

Post Script:

Next Week:

Explicit: Yes

Music:

The Public Theater’s production of LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST

2. Young Men
11. Rich People
22. The Tuba Song

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