A new musical by Michael Friedman and Daniel Goldstein will be read this Sunday, June 13 at 5:30pm as part of the Huntington Theatre Company's Breaking Ground reading series, held at the Huntington's Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. The reading is free and open to the public, though reservations are recommended as seating is limited.
In the intimate musical Unknown Soldier, a timeless search for love crosses two generations: an old letter spurs Lucie Rabinowitz to look into her grandmother Lucy's past. Decades earlier, in the wake of World War I, Lucy seeks her husband, missing in action. The searches lead both women to the same lost young man, an unknown soldier.
The cast features
Heidi Blickenstaff,
Spencer Moses,
Zachary Prince,
Jennifer Simard, Erica Spyres, and
Clark Thorell. Music and lyrics are by
Michael Friedman (original music forThe Blue Demon and Love's Labour's Lost at the Huntington). Book and lyrics are by
Daniel Goldstein (director of The Cry of the Reed, Falsettos, Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Huntington). The reading is directed by Goldstein and music directed by
Julie McBride. Unknown Soldier was commissioned with support of the Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays, and this reading is supported in part by a grant from the National Foundation for the Arts.
ABOUT THE WRITERS
Michael Friedman (Music and Lyrics) previously composed music for The Blue Demon, Love's Labours Lost, and The Cherry Orchard, and served as music director for Love's Labours Lost and Falsettos for the Huntington. His New York credits include the music and lyrics for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at
The Public Theater and
The Civilians' This Beautiful City; [I Am] Nobody's Lunch; Gone Missing; Canard, Canard, Goose?; Saved; and The Brand New Kid with Steve Cosson. He also co-authored Paris Commune. Mr. Friedman's work has been seen at New York Theatre Workshop,
Roundabout Theatre Company,
Signature Theatre, Theatre for a New Audience,
Playwrights Horizons,
Soho Repertory Theatre, and Performance Space 122. His regional credits include productions at the
American Repertory Theater, Hartford Stage, Humana Festival of New American Plays, and the
Williamstown Theatre Festival. Mr. Friedman was the dramaturg for the Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun and is also an artistic associate of the New York Theatre Workshop, a MacDowell Fellow, a Princeton Hodder fellow, and received an OBIE Award for sustained achievement.
Daniel Goldstein (Book and Lyrics, and Director) is the director of the upcoming Broadway revival of Godspell. His recent projects include True West (
Williamstown Theater Festival), Miss Margarida's Way (Bay Street Theater, with
Julie Halston), Annie (St. Louis MUNY), A New Brain (Toho Theater in Tokyo), The Unauthorized Biography of
Samantha Brown (
Broadway Across America developmental production), Mary's Wedding (Two Rivers Theater), a highly praised revival of Godspell at the Papermill Playhouse, Sinan Unel's The Cry of the Reed at
Huntington Theatre Company,
Beau Willimon's Lower Ninth at the Flea and SPF, the Off Broadway commercial production of the hit Fringe Festival musical Walmartopia, Kenny Finkle's Indoor/Outdoor at the DR2 and SPF, Falsettos and Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Huntington, But I'm a Cheerleader at the New York Musical Theater Festival and
Bathsheba Doran's Living Room in Africa at Gloucester Stage. He has served as the Associate Director for All Shook Up! and Fully Committed, and as the resident director for the first national tour of Mamma Mia! Goldstein has developed the work of playwrights
Peter Morris,
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa,
Rob Handel,
John Shea,
Bathsheba Doran, Janet Neipris, and Eliza Jane Scheider at the O'Neill Playwright's Conference, PlayPenn, and elsewhere. As a writer, he is developing a musical with Disney Theatrical and was the author, with
Michael Friedman, of the musical Song of Songs = Celebration, the one person show he created with Ethan Sandler and Josie Dickson, which was seen Off Broadway as well as in New Haven, San Francisco, and the HBO Aspen Comedy Arts Festival. He is a graduate of
Northwestern University with a degree in performance studies.
ABOUT NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT
The Huntington's strong commitment to the development of new plays includes The Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays, the
Harry Kondoleon Fund supporting the commissioning of emerging and established writers, the Breaking Ground reading series, and full productions of new plays.
The Breaking Ground program brings exciting national writers into partnership with the Huntington and promotes the work of local playwrights to the
National Theatre community. Past Breaking Ground plays, including The Atheist, Broke-ology, Voyeurs de Venus, Mauritius, The Ice Breaker, and Sonia Flew, have appeared at the Huntington and other local theatres, at theatres across the country, and internationally.
Readings are free and open to the public, though a donation of $10 is suggested. Seating is limited so reservations are encouraged and can be made at 617 266-0800 or at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2JZX6TH
Read more about the Breaking Ground reading series at
huntingtontheatre.org/breakingground.
