The Manhattan Theatre Club staging stars Tony Award winners Michael Cerveris and Donna Murphy, with David Pittu (as Bertolt Brecht) and John Scherer (as George Davis). Also featured are Judith Blazer (Titanic), Edwin Cahill, Herndon Lackey (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Parade), Erik Liberman, Ann Morrison (Merrily We Roll Along), Graham Rowat (Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Dr. Zhivago), Rachel Ulanet (King David) and Jessica Wright (2006's Company, 2005's Sweeney Todd).
Rehearsals began March 5. Suggested by the letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, LoveMusik features a book by Pulitzer and Tony Award winner Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy, Parade), "a full range of Kurt Weill songs," musical staging by Patricia Birch (A Little Night Music), and direction by 21-time Tony Award winner Harold Prince (The Phantom of the Opera, Cabaret and Sweeney Todd).
LoveMusik, opening May 3, "follows the lives of the unlikeliest of lovers — the brilliant, intellectual German composer Kurt Weill (Cerveris) and the woman who became his muse and star, Lotte Lenya (Murphy)," according to MTC. "LoveMusik is an epic romance, set in Berlin, Paris, Broadway and Hollywood, spanning 25 years in the lives of this complicated couple."
Act One is called "Europe," and Act Two is called "America."
LoveMusik features the lyrics of Maxwell Anderson, Bertolt Brecht, Howard Dietz, Roger Fernay, Ira Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein II, Langston Hughes, Alan Jay Lerner, Maurice Magre, Ogden Nash, Elmer Rice and Kurt Weill. LoveMusik is produced by Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, artistic director, Barry Grove, executive producer) by special arrangement with Marty Bell, Aldo Scrofani, Boyett Ostar Productions, Tracy Aron, Roger Berlind/Debra Black, Chase Mishkin and Ted Snowdon. (The commercial names attached indicate a hope for a future life beyond its not-for-profit MTC launch.
The LoveMusik design and production team are Beowulf Boritt (scenic design), Judith Dolan (costume design), Howell Binkley (lighting design), Duncan Edwards (sound design), Paul Huntley (wig design), Angelina Avallone (makeup design), Mark Simon (casting), Jonathan Tunick (orchestrations), Kristen Blodgette (musical supervisor), Seymour Red Press (music coordinator), Milton Granger (additional vocal arrangements), and Nicholas Archer (conductor).
LoveMusik tickets are currently on sale through June 17.
Tickets are available by calling Telecharge.com at (212) 239-6200, (800) 432-7250 outside the NYC metro area, online at Telecharge.com, and at the Biltmore Theatre box office (261 West 47th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue). Tickets range in price from $76.25-$101.25.
Visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com for more information.
