Neal Radice will direct the Oct. 6 production, which features scenes and songs by Bentley with music arranged by Maxim Mazumdar. Saul Elkin, Drew Kahn and Chris J. Hadley are scheduled to star in the one-night-only event. "Jesus, Galileo and Oscar Wilde face off in this dramatic, musical mix of scenes and songs from Eric Bentley’s most powerful works," according to the Symphony Space website. Show time is 8:30 PM.
Eric Bentley was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1998. The 90-year old first met Bertolt Brecht in 1942 and became the English translator and American champion of the German playwright's work. As a translator, he put the words of Buchner and Wedekind into English as well, but Bentley is also known as an author ("The Playwright as Thinker," "Bentley on Brecht"), a critic (he fought famously with Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams in the 1950's), a playwright (Lord Alfred's Lover) and a cabaret performer.
Symphony Space is located in Manhattan at Broadway at 95th Street. Tickets, priced $15, are available by calling (212) 864-5400 or by visiting www.symphonyspace.org.