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VETERAN BROADWAY CAST ANNOUNCED FOR
”CIVIL WAR VOICES”
A Musical Remembrance
JUNE HAVOC THEATRE at the ABINGDON COMPLEX
MIDTOWN INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
“Civil War Voices” a musical remembrance
by James R. Harris which will be performed at the June Havoc Theatre at
the Abingdon Complex, 312 West 36th Street as part of the Midtown
International Theatre Festival, has announced a cast that includes Broadway
veterans Danielle Lee Graves (Rent), Stephen Hope (Joseph and
the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Scarlett Pimpernel), Stephen Trafton
(Les Miserables revival) and Catherine Fries Vaughn (Do Black
Patent Shoes Really Reflect Up?); plus familiar off-Broadway faces
Dani Marcus (recently seen in The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer
with The National Yiddish Theatre), Michael Sample (Unbeatable,
Immortal Journey), Arthur Marks (SIDD, The Screams of Kitty Genovese),
Michael Markham (Mother Courage and Her Children and Macbeth
at the Delacorte Theatre) and Carly Zien (Kaspar Hauser, Cato,
Inflitrage 2).
Featuring the songs of the period with arrangements by
Mark Hayes, the show is directed by Dennis Courtney, with musical director
Laura Bergquist and Austin Hartman on violin. Producers Alma Villegas,
Bob Ost / Wildly Productive Productions and Rough and Ready LLC (in association
with Sheila Geltzer and Jaye Maynard) also announce the designers for this
festival production: set design is by EMMY Award winning Kevin Lee Allen
with costumes by Janell Berte, who designed costumes for Family Dinner
currently at the Beckett Theater, and Plagued, a love story which
performed in New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) last year. (90 mins)
Civil War Voices tells the compelling and
passionate true stories of five individuals who lived through the conflict,
using their actual words that were left behind in diaries, letters, and
other writings. Joe Harris was a cotton planter from Alabama with a conflicted
conscious. The discovery of his Civil War diary inspired the play. Elizabeth
Keckley was born a slave, bought her freedom, and became Mary Todd Lincoln's
closest friend and personal assistant in the White House. Theo and Harriet
Perry were a young, married couple from Texas, who were separated by the
war. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was a college professor from Maine, who
enlisted to fight for the Union. Through the lives and words of these individuals,
the struggles, hardships and sacrifices of Americans become understandable
and real as the Civil War progresses. http://www.civilwarvoices.com
All new arrangements of traditional melodies advance the
narrative and sharpen the emotional impact of the stories. The extraordinary
music of the period reveals the emotions behind the conflict. The show
contains some of the greatest songs of the period such as ‘Battle Hymn
of the Republic’, ‘Amazing Grace’, and ‘Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless
Child’, just to name a few.
Jim Harris (writer) is a trial lawyer by profession, but
his avocation and great love is musical theater. He has performed in some
50 musical productions and is also an accomplished singer. Several years
ago, Jim discovered the existence of a diary kept by his great-great uncle
during the Civil War. After giving several speeches about the diary, he
began combining other true stories of the war with original, unique arrangements
of the stirring music of the period. He was recently awarded the Mayor’s
Arts Award for Artistic Achievement in Lincoln, Nebraska, where “Civil
War Voices” was performed as the centerpiece of the Lincoln Bicentennial
Celebration.
Dennis Courtney (Director) staged a re-envisioned production
of Fiddler On The Roof in Tel Aviv as the official production for
the 60th Anniversary of Israel, for which he won the 2009 Israeli National
Theatre Award. He has also won numerous awards as the director/choreographer
of over 150 stage productions including Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby,
Can-Can with Leslie Uggams, the regional premieres of I Love
You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, the world premiere productions of
Ethel Waters: His Eye Is On The Sparrow, and many original music
revues. Mr. Courtney has conceived and staged many special events, award
shows and cruise ship shows, working with such performers as Bette Midler,
Celine Dion, Quincy Jones, Warren Beatty, Carol Channing, John Raitt, The
Bacon Brothers, Steven Cojocaru, David Hasselhoff, Edward James Olmos,
Peter Marshall and Helen Reddy. On television, Mr. Courtney directed the
5th season opener of TV’s ”Perfect Strangers”.
Mark Hayes (Vocal and Instrumental Arrangements) is an
award-winning concert pianist, composer, and arranger of choral, piano
and orchestral music. With over 750 published works to his credit. He has
recorded numerous solo piano albums and tours internationally as a concert
artist and clinician. Mark is a frequent conductor at Carnegie Hall.
Laura Bergquist (Music Director) for National Tours of
The King and I, Titanic, Miss Saigon, Camelot,
Music Man. She is a frequent guest conductor in regional theaters
and a clinician in universities and churches in addition to her work as
a vocal coach in New York. As an ASCAP Awards recipient for composition,
her catalogue includes more than 60 works. Regional work as Musical Director
and Conductor includes Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theatre
of St. Louis, Theatreworks, Rubicon Theatre, Lyric Theater of Oklahoma,
Music Theatre of Wichita, Atlanta’s Theatre of the Stars as well as the
New York Stage and Film Festival, Julliard, NYMF and NAMT. Recent projects
include Emma at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park by Paul Gordon
and the current World Premiere of Daddy Long Legs by John Caird
and Paul Gordon.
Performances are: Saturday 7/24 @ 2:45pm; Sunday 7/25
@ 7:00pm; Monday 7/26 @ 8:00pm; Wednesday 7/28 @ 6:00pm; Friday 7/30 @
5:45pm and Sunday 8/1 @ 5:15pm. Tickets are $18. Call Ovation Tix (866)
811-4111 or go to http://www.midtownfestival.org
.
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