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| A NEWER WORLD To Have Industry Reading Starring Howard McGillin, Max von Essen, Brad Oscar, Claybourne Elder, and more | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 06:01 pm EST 11/27/18 | |
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| A NEWER WORLD An Original Musical Based on Real Events BOOK BY GRAMMY AWARD NOMINEE JONATHAN SHEFFER MUSIC AND LYRICS BY JONATHAN SHEFFER & ACCLAIMED SONGWRITER BRUCE ROBERTS DIRECTION BY TWO-TIME TONY AWARD WINNER JERRY MITCHELL TO HAVE INDUSTRY-ONLY READING AT PEARL STUDIOS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2018 FEATURING: TONY NOMINEE MAX VON ESSEN, TONY NOMINEE BRAD OSCAR, TONY NOMINEE HOWARD MCGILLIN, CLAYBOURNE ELDER AND MORE A Newer World, an original musical based on the Harvard Scandal of 1920, with a book by Grammy Award nominee Jonathan Sheffer, and score by Sheffer and acclaimed producer and songwriter Bruce Roberts [Barbra Streisand/Donna Summer duet “No More Tears (Enough is Enough)”], will have an invitation-only reading on Thursday, December 6 at Pearl Studios, 500 8th Avenue. With direction by two-time Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Pretty Woman), the reading will feature musical direction by Will Van Dyke (Pretty Woman). In 1920, Harvard University formed a secret court to rid the University of a group of gay students whose dorm room parties exposed their secret lives. Nine students were expelled; three of them took their own lives. Nearly 100 years later, a dogged undergraduate journalist, Amit Paley, discovered and exposed the hidden records. With Harvard’s world famous Hasty Pudding Show as a conduit, A Newer World traverses past and present – from Amit’s modern day journey to uncover truth back to the Jazz Age when nine students’ lives were forever changed. Their story is told through an original score blending the rhythms of the Charleston with hip-hop and pop in a thrilling and heartfelt new musical. The reading will feature an all-star cast including: John Riddle (Frozen), Jake Odmark (Pretty Woman), Brad Weinstock (Aladdin), Ricky Schroeder (Kinky Boots), Howard McGillin (Phantom of the Opera), Tony Nominee Max von Essen (An American In Paris), Tony Nominee Brad Oscar (Something Rotten!), Seth Clayton (The Madrid at MTC), Claybourne Elder (Sunday in the Park with George), Elena Shaddow (The Visit), Chris Dwan (Finding Neverland), Nicholas J. Oliveri (“Boarding School”), Henry Gottfried (Waitress), and Mike McGowan (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert). BIOGRAPHIES JONATHAN SHEFFER (Book, Music & Lyrics) has had a diverse career in music, spanning the worlds of classical, opera, dance, and film and television. He has composed three musicals: Ladies in Waiting with 9 to 5 author Patricia Resnick, which was produced in Chicago; Going Hollywood, with lyricist David Zippel, and A Newer World, now in development. In addition to several scores for Hollywood films, including Encino Man, Pure Luck, and others, his recent scores include the German/Israeli film, The Decent One, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, and After Louie, currently playing international festivals. He has also served as conductor for many films, including Alien 3, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Batman Returns, Interview With The Vampire, Across The Universe, Titus, and many more. His opera, Blood on the Dining Room Floor, produced off-Broadway in 2000 and revived several times since, received the Richard Rodgers Production Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was the focus of a Guggenheim Works & Process series event. His most recent orchestral commission was a work for children, The Conference of the Birds, which had its premiere in 2014 at the Cabrillo Festival, conducted by Marin Alsop. In 1995 in he founded the Eos Orchestra in New York, receiving an ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award as a laboratory of new programming ideas. Eos toured nationally, performed at the White House and was the focus of a PBS Special, and the recipient of a Grammy nomination. In addition to Eos, he has conducted orchestras, opera, dance and at various festivals, including the New York City Opera, The Spoleto Festival (Italy), and the Ravinia Festival. Mr. Sheffer has conducted the American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera, the Mark Morris Dance Company at BAM, and in 1996, he led the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with the Martha Graham Dance Company at the Edinburgh Festival. Born in New York City, Mr. Sheffer graduated from Harvard University, where his teachers included Leonard Bernstein, and later attended The Julliard School and Aspen School of Music. He has had fellowships at both Yaddo and The MacDowell Colony, and in 2003 he was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. BRUCE ROBERTS (Music and Lyrics) has established himself over the past two decades as one of the premier songwriters, composers, and producers behind many top performers and musical projects. As a songwriter, he’s written a million songs you’ve heard a million times. Best known in the world of contemporary pop music, he has produced and written songs for a virtual “Who’s Who” of popular music. Beginning with the #1 Barbra Streisand/Donna Summer duet “No More Tears (Enough is Enough)” and Streisand’s “the Main Event,” he has had his songs recorded by a multitude of well-known artists, including Ms. Streisand, Cher, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Natalie Cole, Alice Cooper, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston, Patti LaBelle, k.d. lang, Bette Midler, Jeffrey Osbourne, Dolly Parton, Smokey Robinson, and Diana Ross. Additionally, over the years, Bruce has collaborated with some of the greatest songwriters and producers in the business, including Burt Bacharach, Elton John, Carole Bayer Sager, David Foster and Diane Warren. He also served as co –chair of the White House Entertainment Advisory Council for US President Barak Obama. Bruce has presented artists at political fundraisers and at the White House that include Stevie Wonder, Jon Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, Earth Wind & Fire, Jason Derulo, Andra Day, and many more. Born and raised in New York City, he studied music at the High School of Music and Art, Manhattan School of Music, and Columbia University. Bruce currently has songs in two Broadway shows, Summer: The Donna Summer Show and The Cher Show. JERRY MITCHELL (Director) received the Tony Award in recognition for Best Choreography twice: initially for his choreography for the first Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles and more recently for the 2013 Tony-winning Best Musical Kinky Boots, for which he was also nominated as Director. Along the way and beyond, Jerry has been involved with over 50 Broadway, Off-Broadway, West End and touring productions, including the following for Broadway: Pretty Woman, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, The Full Monty (Tony nomination), The Rocky Horror Show, Hairspray (Tony nom.), Gypsy, Never Gonna Dance (Tony nom.), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nom.), La Cage aux Folles (Tony Award), Legally Blonde (Tony nom., also directed), Catch Me If You Can. On the West End: Love Never Dies and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Olivier Award nomination, also directed). Twenty-five years ago, Jerry conceived and created Broadway Bares, a comedy burlesque show performed annually for the charity Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, of which he continues to serve as executive producer. |
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