The first "Platform Series" discussion, devoted to the Off-Broadway musical Happiness, will take place May 6 in the lobby of the Vivian Beaumont Theater at 5:30 PM. Set to appear are Tony-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman (Producers, Contact), Tony-nominated book writer John Weidman (Assassins, Contact), and the songwriting team of Scott Frankel and Michael Korie (Grey Gardens).
On May 28 Lincoln Center Theater will welcome cast members from the heralded revival of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone. The 5:30 PM discussion, held in the Beaumont lobby, will feature Chad L. Coleman, Ernie Hudson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Roger Robinson.
Both events are free and open to the public. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Transcripts of the previous "Platform Series" discussions are available on-line at LCT.org.
Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher (South Pacific, The Light in the Piazza) directs the revival of late Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone, which opened at the Belasco Theatre on April 16.
Wilson's 1911-set play, according to press notes, "tells the story of Herald Loomis who, after serving seven years hard labor, has journeyed North with his young daughter and arrives at a Pittsburgh boarding house filled with memorable characters who aid Herald Loomis in his search for his inner freedom." Happiness officially opened at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater March 30 under the direction of Susan Stroman. The ensemble musical features Sebastian Arcelus, Joanna Gleason, Fred Applegate, Hunter Foster, Jenny Powers and Phyllis Somerville.
Happiness, according to press notes, "unfolds the stories of a dozen or so New Yorkers stuck in the morning rush of a stalled subway car and required by the spectral trainman to recall and re-enact the happiest moment in their lives before they can continue their travels...and travails. Happiness celebrates those fleeting moments in everyday lives — typically unanticipated, largely overlooked, always ephemeral — that upon reflection become people's fondest memories."
