More Stars for More Ben Folds
Posted by NYMF on 10:30 am Mar 16th, 2007(More news)
Tony Award Winner Lillias White added to Ben Folds Concert
Tony Award winner Lillias White, American Idol finalist Constantine Maroulis, Tony Award nominee Manoel Felciano, Chip Zien (the original Baker in Into the Woods) and Will Chase (High Fidelity, Lennon) have been added to the cast of More Unauthorized Musicology of Ben Folds, the first concert in The New York Musical Theatre Festival's Spring Concert Series.
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Ben Folds, pianist, singer-songwriter and founder of Ben Folds Five (of "Brick" fame) describes his music as "punk rock for sissies," and has won over audiences for more than a decade with quirky characters such as "Alice Childress," "Eddie Walker," and "Uncle Walter." He layers his pop/rock style musical hooks with joyously frustrated lyrics and the nerd-ful longing to be part of the "loudest piano band in exsistence."
Jess McLeod conceived and directed the concert for its sold out one night only performance during the 2006 Festival and returns to direct the expanded and enhanced spring installation. McLeod explains that Ben Folds is an "Elton John, Billy Joel-style piano man, an exhilarating musician with a truly distinctive way of rocking out. He's funny and bitter and sorrowful as hell, and he reclaimed rock for every nerd you ever were, knew or dumped back in high school. But it's the ping of his lyrics -- smart, simple and always character-driven -- and his natural predilection for storytelling that makes him a secret sondheim, and the resulting truthfulness of his songs that hits us the hardest."
It is precisely these story arcs and characters that create the musical that never existed around these songs. The defined dramatic moments and story arcs are as intricate, theatrical, and timeless as the golden age of musicals, and as modern and catchy as the new rock musicals. After all, what is Jersey Boys but a Ben Folds lyric? "Let me tell you all what it's like/Being male, middle class and white...Rockin' the Suburbs"
More Unauthorized Musicology of Ben Folds will be performed Monday March 26 at 7pm at the Zipper Theatre (336 West 37th Street). General Admission Tickets are $50, VIP Tickets that include a post-show reception with the cast are $90.
For more cast information, and to order tickets click here.
Jess McLeod conceived and directed the concert for its sold out one night only performance during the 2006 Festival and returns to direct the expanded and enhanced spring installation. McLeod explains that Ben Folds is an "Elton John, Billy Joel-style piano man, an exhilarating musician with a truly distinctive way of rocking out. He's funny and bitter and sorrowful as hell, and he reclaimed rock for every nerd you ever were, knew or dumped back in high school. But it's the ping of his lyrics -- smart, simple and always character-driven -- and his natural predilection for storytelling that makes him a secret sondheim, and the resulting truthfulness of his songs that hits us the hardest."
It is precisely these story arcs and characters that create the musical that never existed around these songs. The defined dramatic moments and story arcs are as intricate, theatrical, and timeless as the golden age of musicals, and as modern and catchy as the new rock musicals. After all, what is Jersey Boys but a Ben Folds lyric? "Let me tell you all what it's like/Being male, middle class and white...Rockin' the Suburbs"
More Unauthorized Musicology of Ben Folds will be performed Monday March 26 at 7pm at the Zipper Theatre (336 West 37th Street). General Admission Tickets are $50, VIP Tickets that include a post-show reception with the cast are $90.
For more cast information, and to order tickets click here.
