Randy Newman will lead a one-night-only performance of his famed 1995 musical Faust in concert at New York City Center on July 1, 2014, as part of the Encores! Off-Center series. The performance, directed by Thomas Kail (In the Heights), will feature Newman starring as the Devil, with additional casting still to be announced. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, March 17.
As recently announced on The Tonight Show, Randy Newman will lead a one-night-only performance of his famed 1995 musical Faust in concert at New York City Center on July 1, 2014, as part of the Encores! Off-Center series. The performance, directed by Thomas Kail (In the Heights), will feature Newman starring as the Devil, with additional casting still to be announced. Starting today, $25 tickets are available to college students through City Center's free Peer to Peer program; tickets go on sale to the general public next Monday, March 17, at nycitycenter.org.
The musical is "like Goethe’s Faust Pt. 1, but more complex psychologically; more like Pt 2 but not the product of an ordered mind," says Newman. "The Lord and the Devil are childhood friends who in adulthood have a falling out. The Devil is expelled from Heaven, somewhat arbitrarily some might say, and though he reigns in Hell, he longs to return to his childhood home. He goes up to visit Heaven for the first time in a long while. He finds the Lord and tells him Man is bad, and should never have been created. The Lord says that He doesn’t make mistakes. As they did in the 12th, 14th and 16th centuries, they bet on it, pick a young Notre Dame Freshman as a representative specimen and hilarity ensues.”
Faust opened in 1995 at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego and was revived at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 1996.
City Center’s Encores! Off-Center series presents off-Broadway musicals that pushed creative boundaries when they were first produced. These shows are presented not as historical documents but as living, vital works that continue to resonate with audiences. In the Encores! tradition, Off-Center places a great emphasis on the scores, with the orchestra performing onstage. The series also features The Lobby Project, a series of free performances, conversations and readings by artists, poets, authors and performers, providing insights into the work the audience is about to experience.
The Encores! Off-Center series, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori, also includes performances of Jonathan Larson's tick, tick… BOOM!, June 25–28, starring Lin-Manuel Miranda and Karen Olivo, and Pump Boys and Dinettes, July 16–19. Chris Fenwick is the Encores! Off-Center music director.
For additional details and tickets, visit nycitycenter.org.
- Log in to post comments
