Score takes the lead with an April 26 start and May 1 opening while Songs from Unmade Bed joins performances starting May 12 toward a May 24 opening.
Anne Bogart directs Score a solo theatre piece adapted by Jocelyn Clarke (SITI's Bob, Alice's Adventures, Room) and created by SITI Company. Actor Tom Nelis — who currently appears as the omnipresent Voice in Hot 'n' Throbbing — stars in the role of West Side Story, Candide, On The Town and Wonderful Town composer Leonard Bernstein. The work, adapted from the creator's own writings, honors "one of the greatest of American figures" with a score that includes music by Brahms, Haydn, and Mozart.
David Schweizer (White Chocolate, Wintertime) directs Songs from Unmade Bed featuring the lyrics of Mark Campbell (Splendora) with music by 17 collaborating composers. The solo is billed as a "unique music/theatre event that propels a smart, resilient, wry, and ultimately romantic gay New Yorker through the heartaches and triumphs of love in the big city." Michael Winther (Mamma Mia!, 1776) performs with musical direction by Kimberly Grigsby.
The eclectic lineup of musical artists whose songs are featured in the work include Debra Barsha (Radiant Baby), Mark Bennett (Golda's Balcony), Peter Foley (The Hidden Sky), Jenny Giering (The Mistress Cycle), Peter Golub (Amphigorey), Jake Heggie (Dead Man Walking opera), Stephen Hoffman (Splendora), Lance Horne (The Tell-Tale Heart), Gihieh Lee (Tock Tick), Steve Marzullo (Joyce Jackson's Guide to Dating), Brendan Milburn (Striking 12), Chris Miller (The Prodigal Son), Greg Pliska (In a Lake of Fire), Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening), Jeffrey Stock (Triumph of Love) and Joseph Thalken (Harold & Maude: The Musical).
"These two productions are about nothing short of the past, present, and future of American music," said NYTW artistic director James Nicola in a released statement. "Leonard Bernstein was one of the seminal figures of the twentieth century; his influence and ardor still extend far and wide here in the twenty-first century. Mark Campbell and his collaborators are all standing at the gateway of new music and new musical forms." The SITI Company and artistic director Bogart presented its "The Grapes of Wrath" inspired A Midsummer Night's Dream at San Jose Repertory Theatre last year. The troupe has also produced bobrauschenbergamerica (a creation with playwright Charles L. Mee), La Dispute, Hay Fever, Room, War of the Worlds, Cabin Pressure, Bob, Culture of Desire, Private Lives, Miss Julie, Alice's Adventures, Small Lives/Big Dreams, Going, Going, Gone, The Medium and Orestes.
Campbell penned the libretto for the full-length comic opera Volpone (music by John Musto) that premiered at Wolf Trap last March. Other works by the first Kleban Award-winning lyricist include The Paradise Project (composer Michael Torke at The Kitchen), Chang & Eng (Spirit of Broadway Theatre), Akin (music by Richard Peaslee, Music-Theatre Group at La Mama), Light Shall Lift Them (BAM's Next Wave Festival), Nothing Forever (NYTW workshop), The Sweet Revenge of Louisa May (Olney Theatre), Awakening (P.S. 122) and Broken Morning (HERE).
He has also garnered two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Rockefeller Foundation Award, a New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship, a Drama Desk Award nomination, and a 2004 Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award.
The design team for Score includes Neil Patel (scenic), Christopher Akerlind (lighting), James Schuette (costumes) and Darron L West (sound). Production stage managers are Elizabeth Moreau and Elizabeth Kegley.
Songs from an Unmade Bed's designers feature Neil Patel (scenic), David Zinn (costumes), Brian H Scott (lighting) and Michael Creason (sound). Elizabeth Miller serves as the production stage manager.
Tickets to Score and Songs from an Unmade Bed at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street, (between Second Avenue and Bowery), can be purchased by calling (212) 239-6200. For more information, visit www.nytw.org.
