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Home , Andrew Lloyd Webber, Finishing the Hat, Jonathan Larson, Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers, Saturday Night (musical)

Playbill Packard Hall

February 21, 2014 7:30 pm

Discovering the Fine Line A Senior Recital

Musical Review written by Doron Mitchell

Accompaniment by Daniel Brink PROGRAM NOTES

It’s 2014. New media is all the rage. From Facebook to Twitter, YouTube and beyond, the way we perceive entertainment has long evolved. The new world is full of promise, but also leads to many questions: Is there a difference between popular music culture and musical theatre? How do we define “success” in the musical theatre? Who is the next Sondheim of our generation? Most importantly…where do we go from here? Musical theatre is a process and a true collaboration that depends significantly on discovering the fine line between commercial credibility and personal expression. It’s one thing to find it, but a completely different task to walk it successfully. In the style of a musical concept show, Discovering the Fine Line aims to present a day in the life of Jonathan Stone and the economic and social challenges that define what we perceive as the twenty-first century musical. Through an assortment of songs taken from different musical (both contemporary and traditional), and use of new media we learn that there is no right way to make it in this business and sometimes you cannot measure success by the product but by the moments experienced along the way.

CHARACTERS

Jonathan Stone (GUY) ~ The composer ……………… Doron Mitchell Michael (FRIEND) ~ Jon’s best friend ……………. Nicholas Stephens and collaborative partner Theresa (MOM) ~ Jon’s overly-supportive …………... Shayla Gordan mother Lyla (GIRL) ~ Jon’s ex-girlfriend …………………… Raquel Vásquez Robert (DAD) ~ Jon’s father ……………………… Thomas Mitchell

PLACE Jon’s apartment. One couch, a table and a keyboard

TIME A weekend; and Sunday SONG LIST (in order of appearance)

Saturday Night Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ (music) (Oklahoma) (1902-1979) Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) (1895-1960) (Sunday in the Park with George) (b. 1930) Disaster Drew Gasparini (Music and Lyrics Concert) (b. 1986) Sunset Boulevard (Sunset Boulevard) (b. 1948) After Hours Derek Gregor (music) (Island Songs) (b. 1976) Sam Carner (lyrics) (b. 1978)

Sunday The Road You Didn’t Take Stephen Sondheim () Stephen Sondheim (Sunday in the Park with George) What It’s Worth Ryan Scott Oliver (Out of My Head) (b. 1984) Make It Here Derek Gregor (music) (Island Songs) Sam Carner (lyrics) Something Real Doron Mitchell (Discovering a Fine Line) (b. 1992)

Please silence all electronic devices during the performance. ABOUT THE COMPOSERS

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were an influential American musical theatre writing team. They created a string of popular Broadway Musicals in the and 1950s, initiating what is considered the "golden age" of musical theatre. With Rodgers composing the music and Hammerstein writing the lyrics, five of their Broadway shows--Oklahoma, , , and --were outstanding successes, as was the television broadcast of . Stephen Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist known for his immense contributions to musical theatre for over 50 years. Described by of the Times as "now the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theater", his most famous works include (as composer and lyricist) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, , Follies, , , Sunday in the Park with George and . Stephen Sondheim is arguably one of the most influential composers of the twentieth century.

Drew Gasparini is an American composer and /. He is a composer and lyricist for musical theatre and also tours as a performer, sharing the stage with musicians like Jason Mraz, Third Eye Blind, and the Plain White T's. He won the Songwriting Award in 2006. Gasparini has written music, books and lyrics for his own musicals Crazy, Just Like Me (winner of "Best of Fest" and runner up for "Best Book" in the New York Musical Theater Festival 2011), Circles and Inappropriate Stories Told At a Bar. He has been the featured composer for the National Alliance of Musical Theater and has twice been featured by Contemporary Classics New Voices in Seattle, Scott Alan's New Voices and the New York Theatre Barn in . Gasparini's music and lyrics were presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. on the Millennium Stage in June 2012.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is the composer of and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, , , , The of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard. From the 1960s to the present, Lloyd Webber has been constantly updating his style as an eclectic blend of musical genres ranging from classical to rock, pop, and , and with inclusion of electro- acoustic music and chorale-like numbers in his musicals. He was knighted Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1992, and was created an honorary life peer in 1997, as Baron Lloyd-Webber of Syndmonton in the County of . If Stephen Sondheim is one of the most influential composers, Andrew Lloyd Webber (also known as The Lloyd Lord Webber) is the most commercially successful.

Sam Carner and Derek Gregor are a musical theatre composition team that reside in New York City. They met as graduate students in the Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre writing program at New York University where they began together. Although they had very different writing styles when they decided to collaborate in their second year, they soon found ground. Following graduation at New York University in 2005, Carner and Gregor collaborated at the artist residence Yaddo. In the past couple of years the duo has reached a new level of recognition. Besides full scale musicals and song cycles, Carner and Gregor have gone on to produce numerous concerts including both Broadway actors and college students alike.

Among the work the two composers have done is a two-act musical based on Alexander Pope’s mock-heroic narrative poem “The Rape of the Lock”. Unlock’d takes place in eighteenth- century . Originally written in 2004, the show received the Richard Rodgers Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a finalist for the Nation Musical Theatre Networks' Director's Choice Award. The show was produced at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2007, where it won the Best of the Fest audience award and received two Talkin' Broadway Summer Theatre Festival Citations for "outstanding new musical" and "outstanding original theatrical score."

Ryan Scott Oliver is a musical theatre composer and lyricist. He is a 2011 Lucille Lortel Award Nominee and the recipient of both the 2009 Grant and the 2008 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater. Oliver is an adjunct professor at Pace University in New York, and Artistic Director of the Pasadena Musical Theatre Program in California. He received his B.A. in Music Composition from UCLA and his M.F.A. in Musical Theatre Writing from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. He is also creator of the blog Crazytown and a member of A.S.C.A.P. Oliver's work has been heard at the Guild Awards, Off-Broadway in TheatreWorks USA's We the People, and countless showcases.

Doron Mitchell is an aspiring actor, director and composer. He will be receiving his B.A. in Music from Colorado College in 2014. As a student, Mitchell began his college days as a math major before discovering a true for the arts. He is credited with over a dozen compositions ranging from vocal pieces to string quartets, most notably a composition entitled, “Day by Day”, written in memory of Colorado College student and friend Reuben Eli Mitrani. Discovering the Fine Line will be Mitchell’s first major public performance of his work. Mitchell hopes to pursue a graduate degree in acting and education in the near future.

SPECIAL THANKS

There is too long of a list to name all of the individuals that have helped me get to this point in my life and words cannot describe the gratitude I feel toward each and every one. I want to start by thanking my parents for their love and support and my brothers and sisters for always pushing me to be the best I can be. To all of my friends (you all know EXACTLY who you are), thank you for the talks, laughs, long nights and amazing memories! I want to give a huge thank you to my voice teacher, Victoria Hansen, for always believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself, and to Daniel Brink for asking me the question, “What do I want to do with my life?” I would like to thank my advisors Ryan Banagale and Victoria Levine for being mentors, parents and friends beyond the classroom. Thank you to each of the composers who graciously allowed me to explore their music in so many ways! And a special thank you to Tom Lindblade and Andrew Manley for showing me that art is a craft that can never be perfected. Words cannot describe how much you mean to me! To all the teachers and faculty, Broadmoor Community Church family, Andrew Pope and every individual I’ve interacted with over the past four years throughout the good, bad, funny, sad, stressful (and even CRAZY) times, I want to say thank you for helping me truly grow and giving me a college career worth remembering!

UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE COLORADO COLLEGE MUSIC DEPARTMENT

KCME Chamber Recital Series Featuring musicians from the Air Force Academy Band with Susan Grace, piano Tuesday, February 25 ~ 7:30 p.m.

Faculty Recital Dale Miller, guitar Thursday, February 27 ~ 7:30 p.m.

Music at Midday Instrumental and vocal student performances Wednesday, March 5 ~ 12:15 p.m.

KCME Chamber Recital Series Featuring musicians from the Air Force Academy Band Tuesday, March 25 ~ 7:30 p.m.

Colorado College Woodwind Quintet Paul Nagem, flute; Monica Ding, oboe; Daryll Stevens, clarinet; Greg Brown, bassoon; Matthew Scheffelman, French horn Wednesday, March 26 ~ 7:30 p.m.

The Music of Stephen Scott: A Retrospective Saturday, March 29 Symposium ~ 3 p.m. Concert ~ 7:30 p.m. The Bowed Piano Ensemble Victoria Hansen, soprano Ryan Bañagale, piano; Daniel Wiencek, piano and Sunday, March 30 Concert ~ 2:00 p.m. The Bowed Piano Ensemble Current and Alumni Members

Senior Recital Eliza Lovett, alto Daniel Brink, piano Wednesday, April 2 ~ 7:30 p.m.

Stephen Sondheim’s Company In collaboration with the Student Music Theatre Group Ben Dicke, director Daniel Brink and Nick Stephens, music directors Daniel Fosha and Sylvie Scowcroft, producers Friday April 4 ~ 7:30 p.m. Saturday April 5 ~ 7:30 p.m. Sunday April 6 ~ 3:00 p.m. Armstrong Theatre

Lanner Faculty Artist Concert Performance Faculty and Guests Sunday, April 6, 3:00 p.m.

Unless indicated, all concerts are in Packard Hall, are free and require no tickets. http://www.coloradocollege.edu/academics/dept/music/ For more event information: http://www.coloradocollege.edu/newsevents/calendar/