Perhaps the most celebrated Songbook series in this country is 92Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists. Through concerts the program celebrates the words (and by extension the music) of the greatest songwriters in our history. Unable to hold those events this year, the 92Y has created Preludes, an online series that debuts on Monday, October 26th.
There are five programs in Lyrics & Lyricists: Preludes. All five will begin at 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT.
October 26th: George Gershwin – Bidin’ My Time
Songs written by George and Ira Gershwin will be performed amidst excerpts from letters between the two brothers, archival interviews and other correspondence from friends like pianist Oscar Levant (An American in Paris) and Kay Swift.
The songs will include Embraceable You and Our Love Is Here to Stay. The performers will be Farah Alvin, Allison Blackwell, James T. Lane, Kara Lindsay and Zachary Prince.
November 9th: Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt: Simple Little Things
The longest running musical in history is the Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt musical The Fantasticks. The little off-Broadway show opened in 1960 and ran for 17,162 performances before finally closing on January 13, 2002. The musical introduced to the world the song Try to Remember.
Their other shows include 110 in the Shade (which debuted on Broadway in 1963 and was most recently revived in 2007 with Audra McDonald), 1966’s I Do! I Do! (a two-character musical that opened with Mary Martin and Robert Preston) and 1969’s Celebration.
November 23rd: Rodgers, Rodgers, and Guettel: Statues and Stories
This is a true family affair part of Broadway. Richard Rodgers, best known for his collaborations with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II was composer Mary Rodgers’ father. She was Adam Guettel’s mother.
Richard Rodgers is known for the musicals On Your Toes, Babes in Arms, Pal Joey, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music (and that’s a partial list).
Mary Rodgers is best known for Once Upon a Mattress and had songs/music featured in From A to Z, Working, The Madwoman of Central Park West and Side By Side by Sondheim.
Of Sondheim, he has said that the most autobiographical song he’s ever written is Opening Doors from Merrily We Roll Along which reflects how he, Harold Prince and Mary Rodgers all embarked on careers in the theatre.
Adam Guettel is the Tony Award-winning composer of The Light in the Piazza. He wrote the incidental music for the Broadway production of To Kill a Mockingbird. He’s also the creator of the song cycle Myths and Hymns and the musical Floyd Collins.
December 7th: Jule Styne and His Many Lyricists: Distant Melody
Many composers find the perfect lyricist and stick with them throughout the bulk of their career. Jule Styne, a two-time Tony Award winner, was the composer of such shows as Gypsy, Funny Girl, Do Re Mi, Subways Are For Sleeping and Hallelujah Baby! (His Tony Awards came for Hallelujah Baby). And he had many lyricists throughout his career.
His lyricists includied Sammy Cahn, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Bob Merrill, Leo Rubin and Stephen Sondheim.
Though he didn’t win a Tony for Gypsy or Funny Girl, those two shows remain his most important musicals and the most celebrated.
December 14th: The Theme From…: Songs Written for Film
Many of the songs we cherish today were introduced to us in the films for which they were written. It’s a list that includes The Way We Were, Moon River, Over the Rainbow, The ManThat Got Away and The Windmills Of Your Mind.
The songs being performed and discussed in this show haven’t been released, but count on many of the most popular songs from movies to be included.
In addition to the announced performers for Bidin’ My Time, the talent line-up the subsequent shows will feature Nikki Renée Daniels, Katherine Henley, Jeff Kready, Telly Leung, Paul Masse, Julia Murney, Zachary Noah Pisner, Pearl Sun and Mariand Torres.
This series is perfect for those who both want to hear the work of these amazing songwriters, but also want a deeper dive into the creators themselves.
Tickets for individual shows are $15 or you can purchase all 5 for $60.
Photo: Adam Guettel (Courtesy AdamGuettel.com)