In conjunction with New York University Tisch School of the Arts Department of Drama’s original production, Four by Four by Richard, there will be a symposium on the composer Richard Rodgers prior to the Tuesday, February 21 performance. The panel will get underway at 6:30 p.m. in the Tisch School Common Room, located at 721 Broadway, ground floor. The panel is free and open to the public.
In a career that spanned seven decades, Richard Rodgers was the most versatile and popular composer of the 20th Century. Featured symposium panelists will be Ted Chapin, the president of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization and author of the award-winning book Everything was Possible, about the creation of the musical Follies; and Bert Fink, vice-president of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, producer, and writer, who will discuss the broad range of Rodgers’ career. The panel will be moderated by Tisch associate arts professor, Laurence Maslon, writer of the PBS/American Masters biography of Rodgers.
Chapin, Fink, and Maslon will discuss Rodgers’ collaborations with lyricists, beginning with his two longest running and legendary collaborations with lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. After both Hart and Hammerstein died, Rodgers continued writing with Stephen Sondheim, Martin Charnin, Sheldon Harnick, and solo, writing both the words and music for No Strings.
Four by Four by Richard is a new musical featuring the music of Richard Rodgers, with lyricists Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Stephen Sondheim, and Martin Charnin. Performances are February 16-19, 21-25 at 8 p.m., and a matinee on February 25 at 2 p.m., in the Abe Burrows Theatre, 721 Broadway, Ground Floor. For reservations, call: (212) 998-1860. Four couples meet together for a beach party and we follow their journeys through courtship, marriage, turbulent affairs, separation, death, and reunification. The show is set in the 1920s and 30s.
The new musical features 44 songs by Richard Rodgers, spanning his seven decade career, that are seamlessly linked to tell these stories. This original show is conceived and directed by Tisch Drama’s Artistic Director, Arthur Bartow; the show’s music director is Broadway conductor, Jack Lee, and choreography is by Lori Leshner. This show reunites the team that presented Stephen Sondheim’s Company, the first full-scale show presented at NYU’s Skirball Theatre.