On a recent episode of Jeopardy! the final jeopardy answer referenced the work of playwright August Wilson. The champion botched his chance to win another game by offering up Stephen Sondheim as the possible answer. (He was clearly way off-track.) He wouldn’t be if he had a chance to learn about musicals and their composers.
So this column is dedicated to anyone who might want to go on Jeopardy! one day, or anyone who wants to deepen their knowledge of musicals, musical-comedy and the men and women who have created them.
Option #1 is The Contemporary Broadway Musical being offered by the Pasadena Playhouse.
This is a ten-class series presented by Broadway producer Adam Epstein. He’s a five-time Tony Award nominee who took home the trophy for Best Musical when Hairspray won in 2003.
Here is the schedule for the ten classes:
February 22nd: High Flying Adored: Eva Peron delivers a Broadway coup de thé·â·tre; Gower Champion dies
March 1st: Michael Bennett’s Dreamgirls vs. Tommy Tune’s Nine
March 8th: The Empire Strikes Back: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh and the “colonization” of Broadway: Cats, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon
March 15th: La Cage Aux Folles and Into the Woods
March 22nd: Americans vanquish the British (again!): City of Angels, Crazy for You, and the return of the musical comedy
March 29th: Falsettos: William Finn and his Tight Knit Family move uptown
April 5th: Broadway in the 1990’s: Disney conquers Broadway; Rent and Ragtime conquer hearts
April 12th: From Celluloid to Greasepaint: The Producers, Hairspray and the changing face of Broadway in the 21st century
April 19th: Avenue Q and Wicked: a theatrical tale of David and Goliath
April 26th: Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and the future of Broadway musicals
All of the dates above are the live presentation of each week’s topic. However, those who sign up for the classes can catch up even if you start halfway through the series. The classes will remain available to you beginning 24 hours after the conclusion of each live class. The 10-series course costs $179. (Members at Pasadena Playhouse receive at 20% discount).
Option #2: What Makes It Great?
Gershwin. Berlin. Arlen. Rodgers. Bernstein. You don’t need to add first names to the list of composers in this title. They are all legends whose work has catapulted them to the upper echelon of composers.
Rob Kapilow, the author of Listening For America: Inside the Great American Songbook from Gershwin to Sondheim, is conducting a five-episode series of classes called What Makes It Great? Celebrating the Great American Songbook beginning on February 23rd and running through March 30th.
Kapilow has teamed up with the Kaufman Music Center and JCC Thurnauer School of Music to lead explorations of these five men and their work. The classes stream on Tuesdays at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST and include a live Q&A afterwards. For those for whom that schedule doesn’t work, the classes will remain available through April 15th.
Here is What Makes It Great‘s line-up:
February 23rd: George Gershwin
March 2nd: Irving Berlin
March 9th: Harold Arlen
March 23rd: Richard Rodgers
March 30th: Leonard Bernstein
Tickets for the five classes are $50.
There is a bonus attraction on April 6th. Kapilow will be joined by Nikki Renée Daniels (the upcoming revival of Company) and Michael Winther (the upcoming Flying Over Sunset) for a performance called What Makes It Great? Stephen Sondheim. Tickets for that show are $15 and will allow ticket purchasers to watch the show through the middle of April.
With either or both of these classes, I assure you you’ll not just learn about musicals. You’ll also improve your trivia games, impress your friends who thought you knew nothing about the subject and more importantly you’ll know the difference between August Wilson and Stephen Sondheim when it’s your turn to play Jeopardy!
Photo: Broadway’s Shubert Alley (Photo by Christopher Firth/Courtesy New York Public Library Archives)