The York Theatre Company's fall 2001 Musicals in Mufti series continues Oct. 12-14 with the a concert revival of Cyrano, librettist Anthony Burgess and composer Michael J. Lewis' musical retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac.
Burgess ("A Clockwork Orange") penned book and lyrics to the 1973 musical that won Christopher Plummer a Tony Award in the title role. Burgess' 1971 adaptation of the 1898 Edmond Rostand classic was the basis of the musical.
For Off-Broadway's York, Michael Montel directs Robert Aronson (Valvert), Sherry Boone (Roxana), Miguel Cervantes (Cadet/Nobleman), Peter Flynn (De Guiche), Melissa Hart (Duenna), Ken Kantor (Ragueneau), Sunita Param (Foodseller/Nun), J. Brandon Savage (Montfleury), Alan Souza (Le Bret), David Staller (Cyrano) and Jim Stanek (Christian).
The 1898 Edmond Rostand play, like others written by the French romantic dramatist, was penned in response to the naturalistic plays that were flourishing in Europe. The story of a young man who woos a lady with the help of ugly Cyrano's gift of poetry and wit has endured over the years. It was the writer's greatest triumph.
The intimate, dressed-down readings have become a signature of the York, which is devoted to producing new musicals and reviving old ones at its Manhattan digs in The Theatre at St. Peter's in the Citigroup building at Lexington and 54th. "Mufti" is a term meaning casual dress — the shows are done without costumes, with script in hand.
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The fall 2001 Mufti series began with the New York premiere of composer Andre Previn, librettist Ronald Harwood and lyricist Johnny Mercer's The Good Companions, the 1968 West End tuner based on a novel by J.B. Priestley, Oct. 5-7 (under the direction of Susan H. Schulman). It continues Oct. 19-21 with Marc Blitzstein's 1949 operatic adaptation of The Little Foxes, Regina, (directed by Harold Scott and musical directed by Jack Lee).
All shows run five performances, 8 PM Friday, 2:30 PM and 8 PM Saturday and 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM Sunday at the Theatre at St. Peter's in the Citigroup Center, 619 Lexington Ave. at 54th Street. Audience discussions follow all matinee performances. For tickets call (212) 239-6200 or York's box office at (212) 935-5820.
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The York Theatre Company's January 2002 "Musicals in Mufti" musicals-in concert series will focus on the late composer Richard Rodgers, including a rare revival of his 1967 TV musical, "Androcles and the Lion," in his centennial year.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's backstage musical comedy, Me and Juliet, a flop in 1953, gets a concert reading Jan. 11-13. The show gave birth to one hit, "No Other Love," the theme of which is heard in Rodgers' "Victory at Sea" TV documentary score.
The stage premiere of the onetime 1967 NBC special, "Androcles and the Lion," plays Jan. 18-20. George Bernard Shaw's play is the inspiration for Peter Stone's book and Rodgers' music and lyrics. As a lyricist writing to his own music, Rodgers also penned new songs for the film, "The Sound of Music," and the songs for Broadway's No Strings. Joe Layton staged the TV version of "Androcles and the Lion." Rodgers devotes exactly three sentences to the project in his autobiography, "Musical Stages." The show "didn't come off well," he wrote.
The 1942 Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart musical comedy, By Jupiter, with a score that includes "Nobody's Heart," "Ev'rything I've Got" and "Wait Till You See Her," is the third Rodgers event, Jan. 25-27. It was the last show Rodgers and Hart wrote together (although they collaborated on a revival of A Connecticut Yankee).
— By Kenneth Jones
