KAUFMAN MUSIC CENTER PRESENTS Broadway Close Up Kay Swift 020-21 2 MERKIN HALL Online Performance Filmed at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center Streamed Monday, April 19, 2021 at 7 pm ET Kaufman Music Center presents Broadway Close Up Kay Swift Sean Hartley, host Georgia Stitt, musical director Klea Blackhurst, Nikki Renée Daniels, Jeff Kready and Sally Wilfert, guest stars Katharine Weber and Aaron Gandy, special guests Music Examples: Discussion and Demonstration All Music by Kay Swift “Can’t We Be Friends?” from Little Show; Lyrics by Paul James ©1929 “Fine And Dandy” from Fine And Dandy; Lyrics by Paul James ©1930 “Nobody Breaks My Heart” from Fine And Dandy; Lyrics by Paul James ©1930 “The Man With The Big Felt Hat” from Never A Dull Moment; Lyrics by Kay Swift ©1950 “Once You Find Your Guy” from Never A Dull Moment; Lyrics by Kay Swift ©1950 Ask host Sean Hartley anything at a live post-concert Q&A! This performance is generously underwritten by the Kay Swift Memorial Trust. All 2020-21 Kaufman Music Center performances are online, filmed in safe, socially distanced locations observing health and safety protocols, and streamed to the safety of your home. Steinway is the official piano of Merkin Hall KaufmanMusicCenter.org/MH | 212 501 3330 Kay Swift Kay Swift (1897-1993) was the first woman to write the complete score to a Broadway musical – the hit show Fine and Dandy (1930). Trained as a classical musician, she tried her hand at popular music at the suggestion of George Gershwin, whom she met in 1925. Her best known songs are “Can’t We Be Friends?” from the 1929 Little Show on Broadway, and two songs from Fine and Dandy the following year: “Can This Be Love?” and “Fine and Dandy.” Her lyricist was her first husband, banker James Paul Warburg, who used the pen name Paul James. Their marriage ended in 1934 as a consequence of her long involvement with George Gershwin. Kay Swift wrote the music for the ballet Alma Mater, which was one of George Balanchine’s premiere American ballets in 1934, and soon after became staff composer for the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, a job she left to become Director of Light Music for the 1939 World’s Fair. Her marriage to a cowboy and subsequent move to Oregon prompted an autobiographical novel, Who Could Ask For Anything More? in 1943, which was made into the film Never a Dull Moment in 1950, which had a Kay Swift musical score. In 1952 she wrote the score for Cornelia Otis Skinner’s one-woman Broadway show Paris ‘90. Kay Swift’s intense lifelong devotion to George Gershwin and his music led her to spend much time and creative energy on Gershwin projects from shortly after his death in 1937 until she was well into her 90’s. Working with Ira Gershwin, she created the first posthumous Gershwin piece of music, “Dawn of a New Day,” the theme for the 1939 World’s Fair. A great deal more work with Ira on unfinished songs followed over several years, including the entire score for the movie The Shocking Miss Pilgrim. Owing to her intimate knowledge of the music and its creator, she was frequently consulted on various elements of numerous Gershwin shows and performances, especially Porgy & Bess, which for many years she was able to play in its entirety without a glance at the score. Many Gershwin pieces that would otherwise have been lost after his death were preserved in her memory, and she continued to transcribe his music, with careful notations about original keys and tempi, until just two years before her death in 1993, at age 95, in Southington, Connecticut. Kay’s music was prominently featured in a Merkin Hall concert in 1985. She was featured in the PBS American Masters Series, Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley, released on DVD in 1999. vvv continued KaufmanMusicCenter.org/MH | 212 501 3330 About the Host Sean Hartley is the Founding Artistic Director of Broadway Close Up and the Director of Theater@Kaufman. He frequently lectures throughout the country on musical theater through One Day University. As a lyricist, composer and/or book writer, his works for theater include Prelude to a Kiss (with Craig Lucas and Daniel Messe, South Coast Repertory Theater), Little Women (with Kim Oler and Alison Hubbard, Syracuse Stage), Love And Real Estate (with Sam Davis, 59E59) and Cupid and Psyche (with Jihwan Kim, John Houseman Theater, Drama Desk nomination). At Kaufman Music Center Sean produces the series Broadway Close Up, Broadway Playhouse and The Poppy Seed Players. He also teaches at Kaufman Music Center’s Lucy Moses School and Special Music School. About the Artists Klea Blackhurst is best known for her award-winning tribute to Ethel Merman, Everything the Traffic Will Allow. Her most recent project, One of the Girls, celebrates songwriter Jerry Herman and will make its premiere this summer 2021 at Goodspeed Musicals, where she starred in their 50th Anniversary production of Hello, Dolly! She is a distinguished Alumna of the University of Utah. Nikki Renée Daniels recently played Angelica Schuyler in the Chicago company of Hamilton. On Broadway, she has appeared in 11 Broadway shows, including Company (Jenny), The Book of Mormon (Nabulungi), The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Clara) and Les Misérables (Fantine). Nikki has performed as a soloist with numerous symphony orchestras across the country and at Carnegie Hall. She has previously appeared in several Broadway Close Up concerts including The Secret Life of the American Musical. Aaron Gandy, Artistic Adviser to The Kay Swift Trust, is a New York City-based conductor, music director, pianist, and music theatre historian. Jeff Kready was most recently seen on Broadway standing by for the title role of Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie. Other Broadway: Monty Navarro in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Tony Elliot in Billy Elliot the Musical, Sunday in the Park with George, and Les Misérables (Jean Valjean understudy). Favorite regional: Tommy in Brigadoon (Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera), Ted Hanover in Holiday Inn (Paper Mill Playhouse), Mr. Snow in Carousel (Goodspeed Opera House), and David Sedaris’s one-man- show Santaland Diaries (Hartford TheaterWorks). TV: “The Code” (CBS), “The Good Fight” (CBS), “Elementary” (recurring, CBS), “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO). Georgia Stitt is an award-winning composer, lyricist, music producer, and pianist. She has two original musicals that premiered recently: Snow Child (Arena Stage) and Big Red Sun (11th Hour Theater, NAMT). Her children’s musical, Samantha Spade, Ace Detective, (TADA Youth Theater) KaufmanMusicCenter.org/MH | 212 501 3330 won Outstanding New Musical from the National Youth Theatre and is now licensed by Concord Theatricals. Other shows include The Big Boom (with Hunter Foster), The Water (winner of the 2008 ANMT Search for New Voices in American Musical Theater), and Mosaic (commissioned for Inner Voices, starring Heidi Blickenstaff). Georgia has released four albums of her music: A Quiet Revolution, My Lifelong Love, Alphabet City Cycle, and This Ordinary Thursday. She is currently at work on a collection of theatrical art songs and an oratorio. Georgia is in leadership at The Dramatists Guild and MUSE, and she is the Founder and President of Maestra, an organization for the women who make the music in the musical theater. www.georgiastitt.com Katharine Weber, Kay Swift’s youngest grandchild and Trustee/Administrator of the Kay Swift Trust, is a novelist and author of the family memoir The Memory of All That: George Gershwin, Kay Swift, and My Family’s Legacy of Infidelities. Sally Wilfert has appeared on Broadway in the Tony Award winning production of Assassins, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and King David. National Tour: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Off-Broadway: Upcoming: Trevor, See Rock City, Make Me A Song: The Music of William Finn, The Mistress Cycle, The Prince & The Pauper. Regional: Mamma Mia, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Chasing Rainbows, Damn Yankees, Kiss Me Kate, The Light in the Piazza, Little Miss Sunshine, Les Miserables, Elegies, Enchanted April, Marry Me A Little, Amadeus, The Last Five Years, to name a few. Recordings: All the Girls (with Rebecca Luker), One Voice (with Natalie Weiss), See Rock City, Sweet Little Devil, New York City Christmas, Make Me A Song, Assassins, King David, The Prince & the Pauper. Follow on Twitter & Instagram: @sallywilfert; www.sallywilfert.com vvv KaufmanMusicCenter.org/MH | 212 501 3330 See a Concert. Take a Class. Connect through Music. Founded in 1952 as a community music school, today’s Kaufman Music Center is home to Merkin Hall; Lucy Moses School, New York’s largest community arts school; Special Music School, New York’s only K-12 public school that teaches music as a core subject; and the acclaimed youth new music ensemble Face the Music. Board of Trustees Executive Director Orli Shaham, Chair Kate Sheeran Shahriar Rafimayeri, President Rosalind Devon, Honorary Chair Administration Elaine Kaufman, Honorary Chair Brooke Bryant, Director of Development Charles Dimston, Vice President John Glover, Director of Artistic Planning Bethany Millard, Vice President Sean Hartley, Director, Theater@Kaufman Cathy White O’Rourke, Vice President Kathy Hubbard, Chief Administrative Officer Irving Sitnick, Vice President John Johansen, Director, Marketing and Communications Christina M. Mason, Treasurer Igal Kesselman, Director, Lucy Moses School Wendy Mosler, Secretary and Music Director, Special Music School Joel Beckerman Leadership Council Leslie Lehman, Director of Facilities Joshua Bell Leonard Goodman, Justin Berrie Honorary Chair Merkin Hall Staff Damian Cavaleri Etta Brandman David Bridges, Client Services Manager Nikki Renée Daniels Connie Goodman Ben Young, Production Manager Danielle Dimston David Klafter Kelsy Hillesheim, Box Office Manager Phyllis Feder Roy Niederhoffer Margaret Evans, Program Coordinator Sir James Galway Jenny Liao, Head House Manager Kara Hammond Artists Council Nathalie Joachim Tzvi Avni Chantal Emond Bourhis, Yannick Lewis, Xing Liao, Rocco Luongo, Kathleen Raab, House Managers Daniel Kaufman Alan Menken David B.