LARGE PRINT PROGRAM LINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS FREDERICK P. ROSE HALL HOME OF JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER THE ALLEN ROOM Lincoln Center presents American Songbook January 28 –June 12, 2014 Sponsored by Prudential Investment Management Wednesday Evening, March 5, 2014, at 8:30 Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music: The 1920s Matt Ray , Musical Director and Piano Dana Lyn , Violin Jon Natchez , Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet, and Banjo Greg Glassman , Trumpet Todd Londagin , Trombone Viva DeConcini , Electric Guitar Gary Wang , Bass Bernice “Boom Boom” Brooks , Drums Machine Dazzle , Costume Design PLEASE TURN PAGES QUIETLY (program continued) 2 This evening’s program is approximately 75 minutes long and will be performed without intermission. Major support for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook is provided by Fisher Brothers, In Memory of Richard L. Fisher; and Amy & Joseph Perella. Wine generously donated by William Hill Estate Winery, Official Wine of Lincoln Center. This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center. Steinway Piano Please make certain your cellular phone, pager, or watch alarm is switched off. Additional support for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston, The DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, The Shubert Foundation, Jill and Irwin Cohen, The G & A Foundation, Inc., Great Performers Circle, Chairman’s Council, and Friends of Lincoln Center. Endowment support is provided by Bank of America. 3 Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. Artist catering is provided by Zabar’s and Zabars.com. MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center, Inc. Movado is an Official Sponsor of Lincoln Center, Inc. United Airlines is the Official Airline of Lincoln Center. WABC-TV is the Official Broadcast Partner of Lincoln Center, Inc. William Hill Estate Winery is the Official Wine of Lincoln Center. Lincoln Center’s Large Print and Braille programs are made possible thanks to a generous endowment established by Frederick P. Rose, Daniel Rose, and Elihu Rose in honor of their mother, Belle B. Rose. 4 Upcoming American Songbook Events in The Allen Room: Thursday Evening, March 6, at 8:30 Deer Tick (limited availability) Friday Evening, March 7, at 7:30 and 9:30 Jim Caruso’s Cast Party Goes to the Movies with Billy Stritch , featuring Marilyn Maye, Jane Monheit, Christina Bianco, & Jeffry Denman Saturday Evening, March 8, at 8:30 Norm Lewis (limited availability) The Allen Room is located in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall. Upcoming American Songbook Events in the Penthouse: Wednesday Evening, March 19, at 8:00 Mark Mulcahy Thursday Evening, March 20, at 8:00 Mellissa Hughes Friday Evening, March 21, at 8:00 Matt Alber (limited availability) 5 Thursday Evening, April 3, at 8:00 Hurray for the Riff Raff Friday Evening, April 4, at 8:00 Rebecca Naomi Jones (limited availability) Saturday Evening, April 5, at 8:00 Unsung Carolyn Leigh The Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse is located at 165 West 65th Street, Tenth Floor. For tickets, call (212) 721-6500 or visit AmericanSongbook.org. Call the Lincoln Center Info Request Line at (212) 875-5766 or visit AmericanSongbook.org for complete program information. Join the conversation: #LCSongbook We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper might distract the performers and your fellow audience members. In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must leave before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The taking of photographs and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building. 6 Note from the Artist by Taylor Mac I suppose I’ve been subconsciously kicking around the idea for A 24-Decade History of Popular Music for many years. I can pinpoint the catalyst to an AIDS action I attended in 1987. The action was a profound experience for me, a fairly isolated suburban queer kid who had never met an out-of-the-closet homosexual, and I was suddenly exposed to thousands of queers. What has stuck with me from that day was experiencing a community coming together—in the face of such tragedy and injustice—and expressing its rage (and joy at being together) via music, dancing, chanting, and agency. Not only was the community using itself to destroy an epidemic, but the activists were also using a disease, their deterioration, and human imperfection as a way to aid their community. In many ways my entire career has been about reenacting this experience on the stage, in one form or another—but a couple of years ago I decided consciously to go at it. The result is a durational work that explores the various ways imperfection can foster community. Most of my work uses the technique of content dictating the form (thank you, Mr. Sondheim). So when figuring out what form would best represent the content/theme of Imperfection Fostering Community, I was drawn to popular music. One could argue that a classical song’s goal is to touch the hem of God (to strive for perfection), whereas a popular song is written and performed to touch the people. Popular songs use their simplicity, imperfection, 7 and humanity to rally people toward a cause (whether that cause is to love, fight, celebrate, or mourn). They are egalitarian songs, ones we have easy access to and can all join in on. As a result, I decided that popular song was the form I wanted for a show about imperfection fostering community—but one song or one concert wouldn’t do. A community is built over a number of years and experiences and is multifaceted. I needed variety and a form that would not only represent the thing but actually do the thing I was interested in exploring. So, I’m making a durational concert that spans multiple years and contains an onslaught of popular songs. It goes like this: For a number of years (at least five but perhaps ten) I’ll be performing in New York, the U.S., and abroad more than 240 popular songs from the last 240 years of the United States (1776–2016). The songs aren’t necessarily American songs, but songs that were popular in the U.S., and the set list is broken down into themed concerts, decade concerts (made up of songs originating in the particular decade), and other “shorter” durational concerts: a 24-song concert, a 10-hour 19th-century concert, a 10-hour 20th-century concert, and, in 2016, the mother of them all, a 24-hour concert that includes all 240 songs, during which I’ll be performing almost non-stop (a few bathroom breaks) with a 24-piece orchestra (bring your bedding and toiletries). The goal is that with each performance we build the community that is participating in this durational work. To date we’ve performed about 13 of the decades at least once, and 8 more and more audience members are becoming a part of the 24-Decade History of Popular Music community (we call them “The Guild of Lilies”). They’re starting to get to know each other and are using the ritual of a shared experience as the impetus for further involvement (businesses have been started, lovers have been made, weddings are even being planned). Our next phase is to start shooting live video feed of the concerts, so that audience members who have seen various sections in New York or Chicago can watch what happens in London and stay connected with the progression of the work. On a personal note, I’m extremely grateful to Lincoln Center, which has housed three of the concerts in (or rather around) their hallowed halls: Lincoln Center Out of Doors premiered the themed concert Songs of the American Right ; the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center commissioned and housed us for the 1850s concert (our Walt Whitman/ Steven Foster mash- up); and here we are now, in the magnificent Allen Room with the 1920s. It’s a dream come true to share this work here (and in the American Songbook series), and if this is your first time joining us, welcome. —Copyright © 2014 by Taylor Mac 9 Note on the Program by Will Friedwald “It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald Vocalist, entertainer, and performance artist Taylor Mac takes the stage ensconced in a dazzling variety of outlandish costumes, looking like a completely original combination of a drag artist, Cirque du Soleil acrobat, and Macy’s parade float. To some, it may seem that Mac is an unlikely persona to tackle 24 decades of popular music; on the surface the project sounds like a fairly academic enterprise, and one look at Mac—dressed like a flower, an octopus, or some combination thereof—reveals that Mac surely wins best-in-show as the least serious-looking vocal artist ever to trod the boards. However, that’s exactly why Taylor Mac is precisely the right artist for such an undertaking, because Mac continually demonstrates that pop music—going back through the centuries as well as the decades—is anything but an academic pursuit. Mac underscores that a major part of what pop is, even when approached from an historic viewpoint, is to have fun with it—manifested here by combining songs from disparate sources in boldly unusual ways, as well as in outrageous outfits. Mac’s musical taste and fashion sense dovetail rather spectacularly.