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| Five Flights Theatre Company | First Looks At The Fringe | The Great Nebula In Orion |
The Great Nebula In Orion
a chamber musical by Lanford Wilson & Kenneth Fuchs
Musical Direction by Michael Conley
Stage Direction by Wallace Norman
Stage Direction by Wallace Norman
Performed at the Judson Memorial Church in New York City, 1/25/08 through 2/2/08
Two Encore Performances at the Kleinert James Concert Hall in Woodstock NY, 4/5/08 and 4/7/08
Two Encore Performances at the Kleinert James Concert Hall in Woodstock NY, 4/5/08 and 4/7/08
THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION BY LANFORD WILSON
WITH MUSIC BY KENNETH FUCHS
RECEIVES FIRST NYC PERFORMANCE IN 20 YEARS
IN NEW JUDSON ARTS CONCERT/THEATRE SERIES
New York, NY . . . . THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION, a chamber musical by Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Lanford Wilson with music by Kenneth Fuchs will receive a two week run at the Judson Memorial Church beginning January 25. This production is the inaugural event in a new concert/music theatre series at Judson Memorial Church called Judson Arts. The musical will be staged in the famous meeting room, designed by architect Stanford White, incorporating the extraordinary architecture of the space in the production’s mise-en-scène.
Distinguished award-winning composer Kenneth Fuchs, professor of composition at the University of Connecticut, set Wilson’s two-character play to music in 1985. This is the first NYC revival of this work since performances at Circle Rep nearly twenty years ago. There will be five performances: 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, January 25, 26 and February 1 and 2, and a 4 p.m. matinee on Sunday, January 27.
This production features a gifted duo of singing actors—soprano Lynelle Johnson (“Miss USO 2004-05”; NYC Gilbert & Sullivan Players) and cabaret-singer/actress Watson Heintz. Their performances, seen by Diana Barth of The Epic Times at a recent prevue, have been hailed as “Stunning,” “A Pleasure,” the production “A lovely chamber musical.” Musical direction is by Michael Conley, director of the Judson Arts concert series; stage direction is by Wallace Norman, Producing Artistic Director of Woodstock Fringe.
Lanford Wilson, one of America’s great playwrights and winner of the Pulitzer Prize (Tally’s Folly) characterizes this chamber musical play with a score by Kenneth Fuchs “magic – the weaving of music, evoking stars, dreams, lost love, great hopes. A glorious piece.” This is the story of two women friends who, separated by years and events, meet up by chance, and rediscover themselves and their dreams. In a Central Park West apartment overlooking the Planetarium, they reveal secrets, revisit wounds, share old laughs and find new ones while rekindling an important bond. Wilson, often compared to the likes of Tennessee Williams and William Inge, co-founded Circle Repertory Company with Marshall Mason. Plays by Wilson include: Hot L Baltimore, The Mound Builders, Angels Fall, Talley's Folly, and Burn This. The Signature Theater company devoted its entire 2002-3 season to Wilson’s plays. Composer Kenneth Fuchs has received numerous awards and honors for his music, including the Charles E. Ives Scholarship from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, grants from Meet The Composer, the ASCAP Foundation, the American Bandmasters Association. The University of Miami School of Music named him Distinguished Alumnus for the Year 2000.
Originally staged at the Circle Repertory Company in May of 1988 and featured as the kickoff to the Circle Rep’s 20th anniversary celebration, this is the first New York City revival of this work in 20 years. The Great Nebula In Orion was produced for a two-week run in 2003 at the inaugural season of the Woodstock Fringe Festival of Theatre & Song at the historic Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock, NY. Like many Lanford Wilson plays, The Great Nebula in Orion is a rich broth of both humor and pathos. An unexpected encounter between once great good friends, an apartment overlooking central park and a bottle of brandy are all that is required for Wilson to create a drama that is wickedly funny and heartbreakingly poignant. Composer Fuchs has set Wilson’s text unconventionally. Spoken word and sung phrases are not a sequence of scenes and songs, rather the text and sung passages are seamlessly interwoven. This approach beautifully matches the mercurial and emotionally layered Wilson dialogue. This is a unique music/theatre experience.
This production heralds the rebirth of music and theatre at the Judson Memorial Church, know as the birthplace of the Off-Off-Broadway theatre movement in the 1960s, along with Café LaMama and Café Cino. Joel Oppenheimer's "Great American Desert" was the first play produced by the church under the "Judson Poet's Theatre" label. Larry Kornfeld, formerly a director at the Living Theatre, moved to the Judson Poet's Theatre, where he directed new works by Sam Shepherd, Diane DiPrima, Rochelle Owens, Lanford Wilson, Paul Goodman, George Dennison, and many others. Guest directors included Jacques Levy and Tom O'Horgan. Many of the productions included music, composed and played by the church's associate minister, Al Carmines, a gifted pianist. The Judson Poet's Theatre essentially ended when Carmines suffered a brain aneurysm, which led to his resigning from the church in 1982. Since that time the Judson Church has been fallow, now alive again with music and theatre.
This production is the collaboration between the Judson Arts and Woodstock Fringe. The Fringe is a theatre devoted to the development and production of new theatre works and is beginning its sixth season and was just recently honored by a two-year grant from the New York State Council on the Arts’ new theatre advancement program. Woodstock Fringe is the producer of the annual Woodstock Fringe Festival of Theatre & Song at the historic Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock, NY. Both the Byrdcliffe Theatre and the Judson Church are known for the history as venues for avant-garde arts and a foe of art censorship. These activities continue today, as Judson and Woodstock Fringe make their facilities available to a wide variety of artists in dance, theatre, music, and visual arts of diverse styles. This creative collaboration combines the resources of the two organizations making this extraordinary production possible. This is the first of what is hoped to be many such collaborations.
WITH MUSIC BY KENNETH FUCHS
RECEIVES FIRST NYC PERFORMANCE IN 20 YEARS
IN NEW JUDSON ARTS CONCERT/THEATRE SERIES
New York, NY . . . . THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION, a chamber musical by Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Lanford Wilson with music by Kenneth Fuchs will receive a two week run at the Judson Memorial Church beginning January 25. This production is the inaugural event in a new concert/music theatre series at Judson Memorial Church called Judson Arts. The musical will be staged in the famous meeting room, designed by architect Stanford White, incorporating the extraordinary architecture of the space in the production’s mise-en-scène.
Distinguished award-winning composer Kenneth Fuchs, professor of composition at the University of Connecticut, set Wilson’s two-character play to music in 1985. This is the first NYC revival of this work since performances at Circle Rep nearly twenty years ago. There will be five performances: 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, January 25, 26 and February 1 and 2, and a 4 p.m. matinee on Sunday, January 27.
This production features a gifted duo of singing actors—soprano Lynelle Johnson (“Miss USO 2004-05”; NYC Gilbert & Sullivan Players) and cabaret-singer/actress Watson Heintz. Their performances, seen by Diana Barth of The Epic Times at a recent prevue, have been hailed as “Stunning,” “A Pleasure,” the production “A lovely chamber musical.” Musical direction is by Michael Conley, director of the Judson Arts concert series; stage direction is by Wallace Norman, Producing Artistic Director of Woodstock Fringe.
Lanford Wilson, one of America’s great playwrights and winner of the Pulitzer Prize (Tally’s Folly) characterizes this chamber musical play with a score by Kenneth Fuchs “magic – the weaving of music, evoking stars, dreams, lost love, great hopes. A glorious piece.” This is the story of two women friends who, separated by years and events, meet up by chance, and rediscover themselves and their dreams. In a Central Park West apartment overlooking the Planetarium, they reveal secrets, revisit wounds, share old laughs and find new ones while rekindling an important bond. Wilson, often compared to the likes of Tennessee Williams and William Inge, co-founded Circle Repertory Company with Marshall Mason. Plays by Wilson include: Hot L Baltimore, The Mound Builders, Angels Fall, Talley's Folly, and Burn This. The Signature Theater company devoted its entire 2002-3 season to Wilson’s plays. Composer Kenneth Fuchs has received numerous awards and honors for his music, including the Charles E. Ives Scholarship from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, grants from Meet The Composer, the ASCAP Foundation, the American Bandmasters Association. The University of Miami School of Music named him Distinguished Alumnus for the Year 2000.
Originally staged at the Circle Repertory Company in May of 1988 and featured as the kickoff to the Circle Rep’s 20th anniversary celebration, this is the first New York City revival of this work in 20 years. The Great Nebula In Orion was produced for a two-week run in 2003 at the inaugural season of the Woodstock Fringe Festival of Theatre & Song at the historic Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock, NY. Like many Lanford Wilson plays, The Great Nebula in Orion is a rich broth of both humor and pathos. An unexpected encounter between once great good friends, an apartment overlooking central park and a bottle of brandy are all that is required for Wilson to create a drama that is wickedly funny and heartbreakingly poignant. Composer Fuchs has set Wilson’s text unconventionally. Spoken word and sung phrases are not a sequence of scenes and songs, rather the text and sung passages are seamlessly interwoven. This approach beautifully matches the mercurial and emotionally layered Wilson dialogue. This is a unique music/theatre experience.
This production heralds the rebirth of music and theatre at the Judson Memorial Church, know as the birthplace of the Off-Off-Broadway theatre movement in the 1960s, along with Café LaMama and Café Cino. Joel Oppenheimer's "Great American Desert" was the first play produced by the church under the "Judson Poet's Theatre" label. Larry Kornfeld, formerly a director at the Living Theatre, moved to the Judson Poet's Theatre, where he directed new works by Sam Shepherd, Diane DiPrima, Rochelle Owens, Lanford Wilson, Paul Goodman, George Dennison, and many others. Guest directors included Jacques Levy and Tom O'Horgan. Many of the productions included music, composed and played by the church's associate minister, Al Carmines, a gifted pianist. The Judson Poet's Theatre essentially ended when Carmines suffered a brain aneurysm, which led to his resigning from the church in 1982. Since that time the Judson Church has been fallow, now alive again with music and theatre.
This production is the collaboration between the Judson Arts and Woodstock Fringe. The Fringe is a theatre devoted to the development and production of new theatre works and is beginning its sixth season and was just recently honored by a two-year grant from the New York State Council on the Arts’ new theatre advancement program. Woodstock Fringe is the producer of the annual Woodstock Fringe Festival of Theatre & Song at the historic Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock, NY. Both the Byrdcliffe Theatre and the Judson Church are known for the history as venues for avant-garde arts and a foe of art censorship. These activities continue today, as Judson and Woodstock Fringe make their facilities available to a wide variety of artists in dance, theatre, music, and visual arts of diverse styles. This creative collaboration combines the resources of the two organizations making this extraordinary production possible. This is the first of what is hoped to be many such collaborations.