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"All the World's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" William Shakespeare
The Biggest Theatrical Event in Southern California History
Coming in May-June, ’08!
If you’re a lover of musical theater, you’ll be thrilled to know that the FESTIVAL OF NEW AMERICAN MUSICALS, the largest theatrical event in the history of the Southland, will run through May and June of 2008. It will celebrate the explosion of the American musical to the center of our popular culture and showcase the outstanding local talent and resources we have for creating and producing great musical theater. We have already scheduled more than 20 events in venues around Southern California, including Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, The Ford Amphitheater and theaters, high schools and colleges from Ventura to San Diego. For details, go to our website at www.lafestival.org
FREE TIX TO SCHOOLS
As part of the festival’s outreach program, we will have free tickets as well as transportation for schools to attend many of the Festival events.
We also plan to arrange a number of workshops, lectures and master classes for schools and communities. If you are interested in participating in these outreach events, email us at: info@lafestival.org and we’ll get back to you soon. And, if you want to get involved as a volunteer or a financial contributor, call 310-317-9599 and leave your name and phone number.
Here are some festival highlights:
RAVES FOR FESTIVAL-BOUND "THE GRAPES OF WRATH"
"The Grapes of Wrath" opera mesmerizing, unforgettable." Salt Lake City Desert News
The world premiere performance of a choral suite from Ricky Ian Gordon’s THE GRAPES OF WRATH by the LA Master Chorale, will be a major highlight of the festival. We sp0ke with the composer about the new concert version festival-goers will see on May 18th, ’08 at Disney Hall. "The Suite that Grant Gershon and I put together for Disney Hall and the festival focuses on the big choral moments, for which there are many, peppered with some solo moments, so that we can tell a kind of a story in Suite form, but tailor it for the LA Master Chorale. What is exciting for me, is that there are moments which previously had to be cut for the sake of time, that here, we can flesh out, because the spotlight is solely on those moments and they tell their own story. We will have three outside soloists and then use some of the soloists inside the Chorale to represent the Joad family, and the 60 piece orchestrations. As Grant conducted the piece so beautifully at it's premiere in Minnesota, and subsequently, in Utah, I am happy we will get to do this together with no concerns but the music and it's internal drama, as opposed to all the exigencies the staging demands." ON BOARD… The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the LAUSD have joined LA County in supporting the festival. FESTIVAL CONCERTS WILL SHOWCASE TOP COMPOSERS -- SCHWARTZ AND BROWN EVENTS ANNOUNCED Among the major composers participating in the Festival are Stephen Schwartz ("Wicked""Pippin", "Godspell") and Jason Robert Brown ("13" "Last Five Years", "Parade"). Stephen will be performing in concert and conducting a master class at Citrus Colllege on May 3. Jason is performing and doing a master class at Pepperdine on May 18th and at Citrus College on May 19th. CROSSING THE RUBICON One of our favorite Southland theater companies, the Rubicon in Ventura, will be staging at least 3 exciting events for the Festival. One is the world premiere of a major father-son collaboration between Stephen and Scott Schwartz in adapting Willa Cather’s classic American novel, MY ANTONIA, to the musical stage. Says Stephen: "MY ANTONIA stretches the world of musical theater in a fresh and fascinating direction" The Rubicon will also be presenting John Bucchino’s song cycle, IT’S ONLY LIFE and DADDY LONG LEGS by Paul Gorson and John Caird. AMAZING FACT: Research completed recently (*) concludes that the biggest business in Southern California is creativity. When you combine film and TV, theater, music, fashion, design, architecture and industrial innovation, creativity is the biggest employer and produces the greatest volume of sales. (Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., 3/1/07) MELLON BANKS ON THE FESTIVAL BNY Mellon has become our latest major corporate sponsor to join the festival. HAS THE MUSICAL GONE MAINSTREAM AGAIN? Just ask the Disney Channel. HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2, a BABES IN ARMS reborn for the 21st century, was the highest rated show in the history of cable TV. Over 17 million People viewed the premiere. And, as this is written the movie HAIRSPRAY has gone well above the $100 million gross line and reached mega-hit status. Meanwhile, WICKED continues to set records in LA, New York and nationally, as the biggest commercial hit in the history of musical theater. People looked at us a little strangely a couple of years ago when we began talking about celebrating the explosion of the American musical. By the time we get to May-June, ’08 who knows what other records will be created. Musicals are everywhere in Southern California. From 7-year-olds in theater camps, to middle schools, high schools, college campuses, small, medium and big theaters. Musicals are singing and dancing their way back in to the mainstream once again. NORMAN’S ARK PLANS TO LAUNCH AT THE FORD One of the Festival’s principle outreach events Is the premiere of a new post-Katrina family musical extravaganza called NORMAN’S ARK. It features a gospel choir whose African-American female leader also plays "God" and a hundred LA kids playing the animals on the ark. Jerry Kass, who wrote the book for NORMAN’S ARK, talks about this amazing musical. " NORMAN'S ARK is the story of a family struggling to survive a natural disaster and is intended to reflect the Biblical story of Noah and the ark he built under God's instructions. But for me the story has more personal significance. Norman himself is an English teacher of no heroic proportions until he is confronted by this challenge to help his family survive. He has no resources but his imagination, which he calls upon in this crisis. He tells a story, and the story he tells -- the story of Noah and the great flood, altering it and embroidering it to accommodate Norman's family -- becomes the thing that calms them, gives them hope, restores their faith, and ultimately saves them from despair. By telling a good story successfully, Norman gives order and meaning to the chaos that the disaster causes, which is what all good artists do -- whether they tell their story with words or paint or dance or song -- and so doing, Norman becomes an artist. And like all good artists, Norman becomes a hero -- to his children and, I like to think, to the theatre audience in general." FESTIVAL TO HONOR SONDHEIM We will be hosting the festival’s honorary co-chair, Stephen Sondheim, at a private festival preview and fund raiser in Bel Air on May 14th. Tickets are $500 each and admission is extremely limited. If you’d like to meet the legendary Mr. Sondheim, please email a request for reservation to us at : info@lafestival.org. To save you having to scroll back to the top, here’s our contact info once again: If you are interested in participating in these outreach events, email us at: info@lafestival.org and we’ll get back to you. And, if you want to get involved as a volunteer or financial contributor, call 310-317-9599 and leave your name and phone number. The website address, again, is www.lafestival.org See you at the festival! Regards, Marcia Seligson, Co-Executive Producer Bob Klein, Co-Executive Producer Linda Shusett, Producer Stephen Schwartz, Creative Advisor Michael Kerker, ASCAP, Creative Advisor
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