THE COMPOSERS OF AN EVENING WITH PATTI LUPONE AND MANDY PATINKIN

Many of LuPone's and Patinkin's favorite songs are featured in this concert.  The composers of these songs have written some of the most enduring music for the stage.

Who are these paragons of musical theater?  Berlin, Sondheim and Styne, Kern and Hammerstein. Rodgers and Hammerstein, Webber and Rice, Menken and Rice, Ashman and Menken, Kander and Ebb.  Their names not only evoke the very best of Broadway, but also some of the greatest American music from the 20th century: show tunes, pop songs, film scores, ballads, love songs, and dance numbers, these composers and lyricists have done it all!  

Their songs have been sung by Broadway and Hollywood superstars, top recording artists and concert performers such as Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole, and Barbra Streisand.  These composers have won Tony Awards, Oscars, Emmy Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, Drama Desk Awards, Gold Records, Golden Globes, Grammy Awards, and countless other honors.  These composers are American Musical Theater.

Jerome Kern famously declared, "Irving Berlin has no place in American music - he is American music."  Having penned our nation’s unofficial national anthem “God Bless America,” Berlin went on to write over three thousand songs including the scores for Tony Award winning Annie Get Your Gun and Call Me Madam.

Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's 1927Showboat was a departure from the revues and operettas that previously dominated Broadway.  Showboat and later Hammerstein’s 1943 Oklahoma! introduced the standard for combining of story, music, and dance to create the musical theater that exists today.

When Kern left to write for Hollywood, Hammerstein collaborated with another composer, Richard Rodgers.  Together they wrote Carousel, South Pacific, Oklahoma! and some of the most successful and popular musicals of all time.

Stephen Sondheim grew up as a neighbor to Oscar Hammerstein II when he was writing Oklahoma!  As Hammerstein's personal assistant, young Sondheim found his passion.  Over the years he has written the shows Gypsy, Company, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, and Passion, filled with literate lyrics and a nod to classical composers Ravel and Debussy.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote Jesus Christ Superstar, a combination of classical and popular music.  Next for Webber and Rice came Tony award winning Evita, where LuPone and Patinkin first met.  Evita combined elements of rock, jazz, and choral music, as well as Latin American rhythms.

Ashman and Menken, probably best known for Disney movie musicals The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast combined calypso, jazz, and Arabic flavors in their music.  When Howard Ashman died, Alan Menken collaborated with Tim Rice. 

In 1966 John Kander and Fred Ebb joined forces with long time Sondheim director Harold Prince on their stunning, critically acclaimed, Tony award winning musical Cabaret that in 1972 lead to an Academy award winning movie adaptation.

Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin have navigated the musical theater world with great success through the music of these composers.  Listen for some of their incredible songs performed by this distinguished and dynamic Broadway duo in this special EVENING WITH PATTI LUPONE AND MANDY PATINKIN.

Photo: Patti Lupone