The Lobby Project, a series of free pre-show events presented in conjunction with the third season of New York City Center’s Encores! Off-Center series, will take place June 24 – July 18 at City Center. The events will place the Off-Center musicals in the context of their legacies and provide insightful explorations of the work the audience is about to experience.
Led by Artistic Director Jeanine Tesori, the critically acclaimed Encores! Off-Center series returns to City Center for a third season of landmark Off-Broadway musicals. The season includes three shows: William Finn and James Lapine’s medical fantasia A New Brain (June 24-27), Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s cautionary houseplant fable Little Shop of Horrors (July 1-2), and Andrew Lippa’s tragic Jazz Age love story The Wild Party (July 15-18).
The Lobby Project events will take place in City Center’s Grand Tier lobby one hour before curtain and are free for that evening’s ticket holders. Each Lobby Project event will be 45 minutes long.
The Lobby Project is sponsored by The Frederick Loewe Foundation.
“Not For The Life of Me”: Dick Scanlan and Thoroughly Modern Millie
When: Weds June 24 at 6:30pm
William Finn wrote A New Brain partly as a way of addressing the importance of art after a catastrophic health scare. Tony Award nominee Dick Scanlan’s experience creating Thoroughly Modern Millie runs parallel to Finn’s: while pouring life into the exuberant musical that Millie became, Scanlan was living with HIV. Even when told by doctors that living another six months seemed unlikely, he continued to work tirelessly on the piece, and both the artist and his work are now vibrant presences in our world. Scanlan—who is directing Little Shop of Horrors at Off-Center—will appear with Jeanine Tesori to relive the creation of Millie through humor, conversation, and a healthy dose of nostalgia.
Beethoven’s String Quartets: Music, Health, and the Brain
When: Thurs June 25 at 6:30pm
What art do we create out of the fear of not being able to create art tomorrow? A New Brain is hardly the first work to confront that question; the same themes are on vivid display in the compositions that Beethoven wrote as his hearing deteriorated over the last 30 years of his life. At this Lobby Project, the acclaimed Momenta Quartet will trace this progression by performing Beethoven’s early to late string quartets.
Matt Wilson: Clown Doctor
When: Fri June 26 at 7pm
A New Brain explores the world of the hospital with equal parts humor and pathos. Matt Wilson has done the same—not only does his theater piece Clown Baggage explore doctor-patient relationships through the lens of clowning, but he has worked for over a decade as a “clown doctor” in youth hospitals throughout the country, bringing spit takes and pratfalls to those who need them most. Wilson will perform an excerpt from his piece and discuss the art of clowning.
Dr. Rita Charon and Narrative Medicine
When: Sat June 27 at 1pm
Dr. Rita Charon is the Founder and Executive Director of the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University. Beginning as a general internist, Dr. Charon got a Ph.D. in English after being struck by the centrality of storytelling in the relationship between doctors and patients. Her pioneering work has a direct parallel in the storytelling process in musicals—particularly the medically themed A New Brain. Dr. Charon will lead an interactive workshop and share her beliefs about the importance of narrative medicine.
A Conversation with Jonathan Groff
When: Sat June 27 at 7pm
Jonathan Groff has a personal connection to A New Brain that stretches far beyond this production. “You know how when you grow up listening to things, they become part of the fabric of your mind?” he says. “This is one of those scores for me.” Groff will discuss his history with the material and his process of getting into the character of composer Gordon Schwinn (spoiler: he learned to play the piano for the role).
On Decadence
When: Weds July 15 at 6:30pm
Dec·a·dence (dekədəns): from French décadence, from medieval Latin decadentia; luxurious self-indulgence, related to decay. The experimental performing arts masterminds at theatreMAMA (whose clients include Pippin, Chicago, and Blue Man Group) will create an evening of decadent indulgence—from sinfully rich Myzel’s chocolate to exotic tear-away costumes to a special celebrity guest appearance. Come ready to be surprised, and leave your good manners at the door.
Dance with Sonya Tayeh
When: Thurs July 16 at 6:30pm
So You Think You Can Dance staple Sonya Tayeh’s method of teaching is as searingly powerful as her choreography. This Lobby Project event will offer a rare glimpse into Tayeh’s creative process; she’ll discuss how she developed the choreography for The Wild Party and lead audience members through some of the steps. Don’t wear your strappy heels to this one!
1920s Mixtape
When: Fri July 17 at 7pm
Songwriter, performer, and Off-Center alum Lorenzo Wolff will lead a group of top-tier jazz musicians as they take on classic songs ranging from grunge to classical to bubblegum pop and reimagine them through the musical lens of the 1920s.
The Evolution of Social Dance
When: Sat July 18 at 1pm
The 1920s and 1930s marked a cataclysmic shift in how Americans socialized through dance. With the growing popularity of jazz music came a style of dance that burst away from the formalized waltzes and foxtrots of the day—and with jazz came social spaces where people of different races and social classes interacted freely. In this dance lecture/lesson, choreographers Torya Beard and Ayodele Casel will use movement to lead audience members through the evolution of the dance form.
Andrew Lippa: Stories and Lost Songs
When: Sat July 18 at 7pm
Andrew Lippa—the triple-threat bookwriter, composer, and lyricist of The Wild Party—will appear in conversation with Encores! Off-Center Artistic Director Jeanine Tesori to talk about how he came to write his first musical. Lippa will also perform selected material written for The Wild Party that didn’t make it into the final production.
Program and Artists subject to change.
NOTE: There will not be Lobby Project events before the performances of Little Shop of Horrors on July 1-2.
The Lobby Project events will take place in City Center’s beautiful Grand Tier lobby one hour before curtain and are free for that evening’s ticket holders. Tickets for A New Brain, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Wild Party can be purchased online at www.NYCityCenter.org, by calling CityTix at 212.581.1212, or at the City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues).
