Peter Filichia, Jena Tesse Fox, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk with Maury Yeston
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Panel:
Peter Filichia | [email protected] | Facebook
PETER FILICHIA is a playwright, journalist, and historian with a number of books. His columns appear at Encore Magazine, Masterworks Broadway, Broadway Select and many other places.
Jena Tesse Fox | Twitter | Instagram
Jena Tesse Fox has been writing about theater for more than 10 years for numerous publications, including Playbill Magazine, BroadwayWorld.com, Time Out New York and HowlRound.com. She is a voting member of the Drama Desk Awards, and is a contributor to BroadwayRadio
James Marino | [email protected] | Twitter | Facebook
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Michael Portantiere | [email protected] | Facebook
MICHAEL PORTANTIERE is a theater reviewer and essayist. He is the founder and editor of CastAlbumReviews.com. He is also a theatrical photographer whose photos have appeared in The New York Times and other major publications. You can see his photography work at FollowSpotPhoto.com.
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Guest: Maury Yeston
Maury Yeston: Website | IBDB | IMDB | BroadwayWorld | Wikipedia
Maury Sings Yeston
The Demos
Maury Sings Yeston plays less like a set of demos and more like an undiscovered solo disc by a great American singer/songwriter. Professionally recorded in studios over a forty-year period, these solo performances (several with elaborate multitracked vocals) capture the giddiness of creation with nuance, consummate skill, and a vitality of interpretation rarely encountered in private demos. The tracks are drawn from a wide range of sources, from Yeston’s Tony Award–winning scores for Nine and Titanic and his exquisite stage adaptation of Death Takes a Holiday to the unproduced Queen of Basin Street, the concept album Goya, a smattering of pop tunes, and several theatrical works still in progress. Housed under one roof, they illuminate the extraordinary breadth of Yeston’s output, and highlight not only the humanism, wit, and soaring melodic writing that he’s sustained across a four-decade career, but how much of his own sensibility he has poured into his work, and his dazzling gift for interpretation. PS Classics, home to Yeston’s theatrical, classical, and popular works for the last 20 years, is thrilled to celebrate his 75th birthday with this new two-disc set.
The Royal Family (Oct 08, 2009 – Dec 13, 2009)
Original Music by Maury Yeston
Nine (Apr 10, 2003 – Dec 14, 2003)
Music by Maury Yeston
Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Titanic (Apr 23, 1997 – Mar 21, 1999)
Music by Maury Yeston
Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Grand Hotel (Nov 12, 1989 – Apr 25, 1992)
Additional Music by Maury Yeston
Additional Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Nine (May 09, 1982 – Feb 04, 1984)
Music by Maury Yeston
Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Choral composition and musical continuity by Maury Yeston
PS CLASSICS, the label that celebrates the heritage of Broadway and American popular song, has announced the release of Maury Sings Yeston: The Demos to commemorate the 75th Birthday of Tony Award—winning composer Maury Yeston. The album is now available in digital and streaming formats today, Yeston’s milestone birthday, Friday, October 23. The iTunes download includes a 29-page booklet with complete lyrics, historical photos, and detailed liner notes. A 2-disc CD set will be released in stores and online on Friday, December 11. The 40 tracks of Yeston singing and playing his compositions draw from a wide range of sources, from his Tony Award–winning scores for Nine and Titanic and his exquisite stage adaptation of Death Takes a Holiday to the unproduced Queen of Basin Street, the concept album Goya, a smattering of pop tunes, and several theatrical works still in progress. Nearly half the songs, here performed with the boundless enthusiasm and unique passion of the composer, are being heard by the public for the first time. Maury Sings Yeston is produced by Bart Migal.
“In some ways, Maury Sings Yeston plays less like a set of demos and more like an undiscovered solo disc by a great American singer/songwriter,” says the label co-founder Tommy Krasker. “Professionally recorded in studios over a forty-year period, these solo performances – several with elaborate multitracked vocals – capture the giddiness of creation with nuance, consummate skill, and an extraordinary vitality of interpretation. Housed under one roof, they illuminate the breadth of Maury’s output, and highlight not only the humanism, wit, and soaring melodic writing that he’s sustained across a four-decade career, but how much of his own sensibility he has poured into his work.”
“These demos are my personal, private notes,” comments Maury Yeston. “They’re first drafts. Those who are familiar with the final versions of a number of these selections as they ultimately appeared in shows may find it interesting to see what remains and what changed in these early drafts. I have spent a lifetime teaching musical theatre composition with the same watchword as a core principle: The art of writing is the art of rewriting. I hope these drafts will inspire every new writer to persist.”
Maury Sings Yeston continues two decades of musical collaboration between Mr. Yeston and the label, which previously released the Tony-nominated 2003 Broadway cast album Nine, the Off Broadway cast album Death Takes a Holiday, Laura Osnes’ If I Tell You (The Songs of Maury Yeston), the ballet Tom Sawyer, the all-star recording The Maury Yeston Songbook, and most recently the new Off Broadway musical revue Anything Can Happen in the Theater: The Musical World of Maury Yeston. PS Classics co-founder Tommy Krasker began his professional career as rehearsal pianist on the original Broadway production of Nine.
Maury Yeston (Music and Lyrics) is a composer, lyricist, author, and teacher, and moves easily between the worlds of theater, film, and academia, writing concert music, Broadway shows, and holding teaching posts as a musicologist and music theorist. In addition to winning his second Tony Award for Best Score for Broadway’s Titanic (which won five Tonys including Best Musical), Yeston won a Tony Award and two Drama Desk Awards for his music and lyrics to Broadway’s Nine (based on Fellini’s 8½). That production won four additional Tonys, including Best Musical. The Broadway revival of Nine, starring Antonio Banderas, won the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. Yeston’s contribution to the score for Broadway’s Grand Hotel was nominated for a Tony and two Drama Desk Awards, and the Donmar Warehouse London production of this show won the Olivier Award. His score for Phantom has received national and international acclaim and is currently in production across America and Europe and Japan. The film adaptation of Nine, directed by Rob Marshall, features Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Dame Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Fergie, and Sophia Loren, with a screenplay by Anthony Minghella and Michael Tolkin, and was nominated for five Golden Globes and four Academy Awards. Yeston was nominated for a Critics Choice and Golden Globe for Best Original Song (“Cinema Italiano”) and an Academy Award for Best Original Song (“Take It All”).
PS CLASSICS, founded in 2000 by Tommy Krasker and Philip Chaffin, is a nine-time Grammy Award nominee for its cast albums of Assassins, Nine: The Musical, Grey Gardens, Company, A Little Night Music, Sondheim on Sondheim, Follies, Porgy and Bess, and Fun Home. The label’s catalog includes award-winning cast recordings; solo albums by such artists as Cheyenne Jackson, Victoria Clark, Steven Pasquale, Liz Callaway, Tony Yazbeck, Stephanie J. Block, Judy Kuhn, and Rebecca Luker; and restorations of long-lost musicals, including Vernon Duke’s Sweet Bye and Bye, George Gershwin’s Sweet Little Devil, and Vincent Youmans’ Through the Years. Recent releases include Philip Chaffin’s Will He Like Me?, Christine Andreas’ Piaf: No Regrets, and Cole Porter’s Something for the Boys. Visit www.psclassics.com.
“MAURY SINGS YESTON: THE DEMOS”
Music & Lyrics by Maury Yeston – Performed by Maury Yeston
NINE (1982)
THE QUEEN OF BASIN STREET (1981)
DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY (2011)
GOYA: A Life in Song (1989)
TITANIC (1997)
CLUB MOSCOW (2010)
IN THE BEGINNING (1987)
RAMAYANA (1972)
A TRIO OF SONGS
Peter’s Trivia Section
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Music:
New Words from IN THE BEGINNING (1987)
Roses at the Station from GRAND HOTEL
Unusual Way from NINE (1982)
Other Music: Energy from www.bensound.com
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