The February 25-March 5 engagement will conclude the York’s winter Musicals in Mufti series, which will also include Herman's Milk and Honey, and Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill: A Musical Voyage as well as a one-night-only event entitled Hello, Jerry!
The series launches January 28-February 5 with Milk and Honey, featuring a book by Don Appel and music and lyrics by Herman. York associate artistic director Michael Unger will direct with music direction by Jeffrey Saver. Milk and Honey, according to press notes, “centers on the romance between two Americans in Israel—a lonely widow on tour and an unhappily married man visiting his daughter. Set against the backdrop of Israel's struggle for recognition as an independent nation, Milk and Honey is a tale of love, optimism, and second chances.”
It will be followed by Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill: A Musical Voyage, which will be presented February 11-19. The production has music by Kurt Weill, text and format by Gene Lerner, and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, Marc Blitzstein, Bertolt Brecht, Jacques Deval, Michael Feingold, Ira Gershwin, Paul Green, Langston Hughes, Alan Jay Lerner, Ogden Nash, George Tabori, and Arnold Weinstein. Berlin to Broadway, which will be directed by Pamela Hunt with music direction by Eric Svejcar, is described as “a joyous and moving celebration of Kurt Weill, a cantor’s son and one of the most extraordinary composers of the 20th century. Weill's greatest theatre songs are presented in a fluid blend of music and story, spanning 20 eventful years, from Von Hindenburg and Hitler in Germany to Roosevelt and Truman in the U.S.”
Daly will portray Countess Aurelia, the Madwoman of Chaillot, in Dear World, which has a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (new version by David Thompson) and music and lyrics by Herman. Michael Montel will direct with music direction by Christopher McGovern. “When a group of businessmen scheme to drill for oil in Paris, there is only one force in the world that can stop them: Countess Aurelia, the Madwoman of Chaillot," according to the York. “With the help of idealism, love, and poetry—not to mention two other madwomen, a local sewerman, and a pair of young lovers—the Countess fights to save Paris and the world from greed.”
Additional casting will be announced shortly. Casting for the series is by Geoff Josselson.
In conjunction with the Musicals in Mufti series, the York will present Hello, Jerry!, a multimedia presentation by Charles Troy, a musical theatre historian, graphic designer, and former theatre lyricist who has created more than 50 multimedia presentations on musical theatre subjects. His multimedia presentations “employ a seamless blend of recorded songs (with lyrics projected onscreen), original graphics, scanned photos, historic video, and extensively researched, scripted narrative to dramatize the stories behind the great creations of the American Musical Theatre.” The evening is scheduled for January 24 at 7:30 PM.
Musicals in Mufti productions are offered in simply staged, book-in-hand concert formats. Mufti means “in street clothes, without the trappings associated with a full production.”
For ticket information visit www.yorktheatre.org, call (212) 935-5820, or go to the box office at the York Theatre Company at Saint Peter’s (entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue).
