The York’s Jim Morgan—with co-host Charles Wright—explores notable productions from The York's first 50 years with their casts and creative teams in the Show (+Tell!) Series.
After the fair
1999
Join us as we revisit The York's production of After the Fair. Hosts James Morgan and Charles Wright lead the discussion of this romantic premiere from our 1999 season, based on a Thomas Hardy novella.
What happens when a married Victorian British woman writes letters for her illiterate maid and falls in love with the man to whom she is writing? When the maid reveals she is pregnant, the two women must go about winning the Barrister over to marriage. The results are surprising to all.
Morgan and Wright will be joined by Michele Pawk, Matthew Martin Ward, Jennifer Piech, Georgia Stitt, Stephen Cole, James Ludwig, and David Staller.
Rothschild & Sons
2015
Join us as we revisit The York's 2015 Off-Broadway premiere of Rothschild & Sons with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Sherman Yellen, based on Frederic Morton's The Rothschilds, directed by Jeffrey B. Moss with choreography by Denis Jones, music direction by Jeffrey Klitz, and music supervision/orchestrations by Joseph Church. Rothschild & Sons was presented in association with Arnold Mittelman and the National Jewish Theater Foundation.
Rothschild & Sons is a one-act reimagining of the nine-time Tony-nominated The Rothschilds. This new version of the musical is the tale of a family fighting for human rights and struggling against extraordinary odds. The cast featured Tony nominee Robert Cuccioli and Glory Crampton, with Peter Cormican, Jonathan Hadley, David Bryant Johnson, Christine LaDuca, Jamie LaVerdiere, Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper, Mark Pinter, Curtis Wiley andChristopher M. Williams.
York’s James Morgan, Associate Artistic Director Gerry McIntyre, and theater historian Charles Wright will be joined by creative team members Arnold Mittelman (co-producer), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics), Sherman Yellen (book), Jeffrey B. Moss (director) and Jeffrey Klitz (music director), cast members Robert Cuccioli and Glory Crampton, and more!
A Taste of Things to Come
2016
Find out what's cookin'! Join us as we revisit the York's 2016 Off-Broadway New York premiere of the saucy musical A Taste of Things to Come with book, lyrics and music by Debra Barsha and Hollye Levin, music direction by Gillian Berkowitz, direction and choreography by Lorin Latarro, and presented in association with Staci Levine and What's Cookin' LLC.
It’s the 1950s. The beginning of rock n’ roll. The racial barrier has begun to crack. The Korean War is over, and the Cold War has begun. Ronald Reagan is a model for Lifebuoy Soap and Rock Hudson is on the cover of LIFE Magazine as “the World’s Most Eligible Bachelor.” And women are getting antsy. Smack dab in the middle of America, in Winnetka, IL, four friends gather for a weekly Betty Crocker cooking contest, imagining how the prizes might change their lives. Usually, it’s LIFE Magazine that’s read cover to cover in between mixing, sifting, and chopping. However, a different kind of reading material arrives, and shocked (but inspired) by the Kinsey Report, their lives take an interesting set of turns. In an age that believes that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, they will discover that the way to a woman’s heart is through her best friends.
York’s James Morgan, Associate Artistic Director Gerry McIntyre, and theater historian Charles Wright will be joined by creative team members Lorin Latarro, Debra Barsha and Hollye Levin, Gillian Berkowitz, and Staci Levine, and cast members Allison Guinn and Autumn Hurlbert.
Beggar's Holiday
1999
Join us as we revisit the 1999 York Musicals in Mufti presentation of the 1946 Broadway musical Beggar's Holiday with music by the incomparable Duke Ellington, and book and lyrics by John Latouche & Dale Wasserman, based on The Beggar's Opera by John Gay.
The raffish denizens of the New York underworld, both black and white, are the subject of Duke Ellington and John Latouche's musical update of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera. Ellington and Latouche transformed the play's locale to a modern American city and turned Macheath into "a pin-stripe-suited mobster, a singing, dancing Bugsy Siegel." The score mixes jazz and blues rhythms with more traditional musical-theater sounds, including comedy numbers for Zero Mostel as Peachum.
York’s James Morgan, Associate Artistic Director Gerry McIntyre, and theater historian Charles Wright are joined by creative team members Kent Gash (Director), Erik Haagensen (Consultant), and Joe McConnell (Casting Director), special guest Mercedes Ellington, and cast members Jerry Dixon, Joe Langworth, Amy Jo Phillips, Ken Prymus and Tami Swartz, and more!
Sweeney Todd
1989
Join us as we revisit the 1989 York Mainstage Revival of the 1979 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Sweeney Todd with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler, based on an adaptation by Christopher Bond.
Presented by the York, Sweeney Todd received its first New York revival production at The Church of the Heavenly Rest on March 31, 1989 where it continued through April 29, 1989. Upon receiving critical acclaim, the production transferred to Broadway where it played 188 performances at Circle in the Square from September 14, 1989 through February 25, 1990. The Circle in the Square production received 4 Tony Award nominations. The cast featured Broadway veterans Bob Gunton as The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Beth Fowler as the conniving Mrs. Lovett.
Sweeney Todd, an unjustly exiled barber, returns to nineteenth century London, seeking vengeance against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The road to revenge leads Todd to Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, above which he opens a new barber practice. Mrs. Lovett's luck sharply shifts when Todd's thirst for blood inspires the integration of an ingredient into her meat pies that has the people of London lining up...and the carnage has only just begun!
York’s James Morgan and theater historian Charles Wright are joined by Paul Libin (producer), Susan H. Schulman (director), David Krane (music director), Beba Shamash (costume designer), Mary Jo Dondlinger (lighting designer), Perry Cline (Production Stage Manager), and cast members Bob Gunton, Beth Fowler, SuEllen Estey, Ted Keegan, Eddie Korbich, Annie McGreevey, and Jim Walton.
Subways are for Sleeping
2018
Join us as we revisit the 2018 Musicals in Mufti presentation on the 1961 Broadway musical Subways Are for Sleeping with music by Jule Styne and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, suggested by the book by Edmund G. Love.
Originally produced by David Merrick, Subways tells the tale of Angie, a reporter sent to get the scoop on a segment of NYC society—a group of well-dressed homeless people sleeping in the New York subway system—that lives by their own rules. Going undercover, Angie learns how the carefree other half lives and begins to see there might be another way to experience the world. Subways Are for Sleeping is perhaps best known for an infamous publicity stunt in which Merrick invited New Yorkers with the same names as some of the prominent theatre critics at the time, using their favorable reviews in a print ad.
York’s James Morgan and theater historian Charles Wright are joined by Stuart Ross (director), David Hancock Turner (music director), and Jason Buell (Archivist for the Styne Estate), and cast members Beth Glover, Alyse Alan Lewis, Gerry McIntyre, Gina Milo, Eric William Morris and Kilty Reidy.
Bar Mitzvah Boy
2018
Join us as we revisit this bittersweet musical comedy based on Jack Rosenthal's award-winning 1976 BBC1 teleplay of the same name about a young Jewish Londoner who runs away from the Bar Mitzvah into which his parents have poured their efforts and their money.
The rarely-seen musical Bar Mitzvah Boy, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Tony and Oscar winner Don Black (Sunset Boulevard), and book by Jack Rosenthal (Yentl), as adapted by David Thompson (The Scottsboro Boys), was the second of three shows in the Winter 2018 Musicals in Mufti Series celebrating the works of composer Jule Styne.
The York's 2018 presentation marked the New York premiere of a new version first presented in London in 2016, with a book adapted by David Thompson and new songs with lyrics by Don Black, using previously unheard Jule Styne melodies.
York's James Morgan and theater historian Charles Wright are joined by Don Black, David Thompson, Jason Buell (Archivist for the Styne Estate), director Annette Jolles, music director Darren R. Cohen, and cast members including Ben Fankhauser, Timothy Jerome, Neal Benari, Lori Wilner, with special recorded messages from Julie Benko and Peyton Lusk, and more!
Roadside
2001 & 2012
Join us as we revisit Uncle Billy and his traveling tent show on a Wild West adventure in this pioneering musical that received its Off-Broadway premiere production in 2001 and a 2012 Musicals in Mufti presentation at the York.
Based on the play by Lynn Riggs, Roadside looks at the people who fought against statehood for the principals of freedom and individualism. This hilarious and raucous show with book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt pays homage to a vanished world of homespun variety shows, loaded with corn, clowns and olio.
York's James Morgan and theater historian Charles Wright lead the panel discussion with the legendary lyricist/librettist Tom Jones, 2012 director David Glenn Armstrong, who will be joined by cast members from 2001 & 2012 that include Jennifer Allen, Janine DiVita, James Hindman, Julie Johnson, Dan C. Levine, Ed Watts, Nick Wyman, and more!
Tomfoolery
2011
Devised by Cameron Mackintosh and Robin Ray and based on the words and music of Tom Lehrer, Tomfoolery is one wildly wicked revue of satirical songs. No one is spared – when it comes to the man who wrote "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," "The Vatican Rag," and "The Masochism Tango," nothing is sacred except a good laugh. Join us our virtual reunion of our 2011 Musicals in Mufti presentation of the 1981 revue Tomfoolery.
Taking a chance on love
2000
Join us tonight as we revisit our 2000 world premiere revue of the life and work of lyricist John Latouche.
Erik Haagensen (deviser), Jeff Smith (music director/arranger), Joe McConnell (casting director), and cast members Terry Burrell, Jerry Dixon, Donna English, and Eddie Korbich -- with York's James Morgan (director) and theater historian Charles Wright -- discuss the revue that featured the classic and obscure songs from such Latouche musicals as The Golden Apple, Candide and Cabin in the Sky.
With lyrics by Latouche, the musical's composers also include Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Vernon Duke, Jerome Moross, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Merrily we roll along
1994
The York kicked off its fall 2020 season of virtual events with a live Show (and Tell!) reunion of its award-winning 1994 production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's poignant and emotional musical comedy Merrily We Roll Along.
Join director Susan H. Schulman, York's James Morgan, theater historian Charles Wright, and cast members Danny Burstein, Malcolm Gets, Adam Heller, Christine Toy Johnson, Cass Morgan, Michele Pawk, Amy Ryder, and more for a visit to another landmark York production (and our first cast recording).