Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Memphis Theatre Project

Memphis Theatre Project is proud to announce that Threshold Theater's premier production will be Jason Robert Brown's musical, "SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD," which will be performed upstairs at the AMRO Music Auditorium at 2918 Poplar Avenue on September 22-23 and 29-30 at 8 p.m., and September 24 and October 1 at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $10 for general admission and can be purchased at the door on the day of the show.

Starring in the production are Alvaro Barned, Corey Chism, Annie Freres and Claire Hayner.

"SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD" is about new discoveries and new journeys, or, as described by Brown, as being "about one moment—It's about hitting the wall and having to make a choice, or take a stand, or turn around and go back." Brown transports his audience from the North Pole for a Brechtian ode where the "latest in a long line of Mrs. Clauses" determines that Santa is more naughty than nice, to a prison cell where a captured prince laments his former status as a leader of millions. These are the stories and characters of today, the songs for a new world.
With a four-person powerhouse cast and a driving score that runs the gamut of today's popular music, "SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD" is a great way to bring a new generation of fans into the theater.

Brown is the Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of "PARADE," which premiered at Lincoln Center Theatre in 1998 and won the Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Best New Musical. He has been hailed as "one of Broadway's smartest and most sophisticated songwriters since Stephen Sondheim" (Philadelphia Inquirer) and his "extraordinary, jubilant theater music" (Chicago Tribune) has been heard all over the world in one of the hundreds of productions of his musicals every year or in his own incendiary live performances.

He has worked as a composer, a lyricist, an orchestrator, an arranger, a pianist, and a music director. The New York musicals for which he wrote songs include "SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD" (1995), "THE LAST FIVE YEARS" (2002) and "URBAN COWBOY" (2003).
In 2002, he won Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Lyrics and Music for "THE LAST FIVE YEARS." In 1996, he was the recipient of the Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Foundation Award for Musical Theater. He also received the 2002 Kleban Award for Distinguished Lyrics.
He has conducted and created arrangements for Liza Minnelli, Tovah Feldshuh and Laurie Beechman. In June 2005, Brown released a solo album, "Wearing Someone Else's Clothes." Brown is currently working on several projects, including "THE MONEYMAN," a dance-musical based on the life of financier Michael Milken; a musical tentatively titled "13," about a boy's bar mitzvah; and a musical version of the hit film, "Honeymoon in Vegas." He currently performs live shows around the United States to promote his new album and served as guest artist and conducted a master class at the University of Memphis in February 2006 in conjunction with the U of M Theatre Department's production of "PARADE."

The Memphis Theatre Project produces theatrical shows in the Memphis, MidSouth area using collaboration among multiple groups interested in the arts. MTP’s current productions include the Threshold Theater and the Running Gag Improvisational Group.

Memphis Theatre Project produces theatrical shows in the Memphis/Mid-South area using collaboration among multiple groups interested in the arts. MTP's current productions include Threshold Theatre and Memphis Running Gag Improv Troupe. Threshold Theatre is a new theatrical production company and is a Memphis Theatre Project.

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