Bucks County Playhouse's 2015 Oscar Hammerstein Festival to Celebrate Stephen Sondheim This Fall

Bucks County Playhouse producers Robyn Goodman and Alexander Fraser just announced the 2nd Annual Oscar Hammerstein Festival -- named in honor of the master lyricist who wrote some of America's most beloved and recognizable musicals at his family farm in Bucks County.

The festival is a year-long program that offers expert mentorship to early career composers and lyricists, culminating in a weekend of special events, readings, performances, talk-backs, and lectures, bringing together musical theatre experts, artists, and enthusiasts.

This year's festival will take place October 2-4, and will celebrate the work of Stephen Sondheim, whose mentorship under Oscar Hammerstein II was the inspiration for the festival.

Bucks County Playhouse was founded in 1939 as "a laboratory to nurture the talents of young playwrights and actors to help keep alive traditions of the American stage." The Oscar Hammerstein Festival is a quintessential example of how the visionary Playhouse leadership intends to return the Playhouse to its roots as a developer of new work, which began with BCP's production of Terrence McNally's MOTHERS AND SONS that moved to Broadway in 2014 and was nominated for multiple Tony Awards, including Best New Play. Bucks County Playhouse also premiered MISERY, which opens this fall on Broadway starring Bruce Willis and Laurie Metcalf.

"Because of the success of last year's Oscar Hammerstein Festival, we are very delighted that our supporters are not only interested in new musicals and encouraging lyricists, but are also fascinated by what goes on behind the scenes in musical theater development," says Ms. Goodman, BCP Executive Producer. "With a program modeled on Oscar's mentorship of Stephen Sondheim, they watch young artists be gently guided by the best in our business."

"We're thrilled to give rising artists the chance to work on these fertile soils that have inspired so many souls." said Mr. Fraser, BCP Producing Director. "And what better way to spend a beautiful autumn weekend than to immerse yourself in all things musical with enough time to enjoy a genteel retreat among these rarified gentleman farms, river estates and rolling hills renowned for their scenic beauty and colonial history."

The Festival kicks off on Friday, October 2nd with NEW WORKS TONIGHT!, excerpts from new musicals in their developmental stage. Saturday, October 3rd will feature some of Broadway's finest in SIMPLY SONDHEIM, a benefit concert celebrating the work of Stephen Sondheim, with Direction by Sarna Lapine, Musical Direction by Andy Einhorn, narration by Ted Chapin, and produced by Josh Fiedler.

Lapine, Einhorn, and Chapin return to the festival after last year's successful collaboration on GETTING TO KNOW YOU: AN ENCHANTED EVENING OF OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II, starring Marin Mazzie, Laura Osnes, Corey Cott, Mandy Gonzalez, and Lewis Cleale.

Festival Passholders will also attend Cocktail Parties; Post-Show Receptions; a Talk-Back with the creative teams of NEW WORKS TONIGHT!; an INSIDE THE LYRICIST STUDIO MASTER CLASS, and a private tour of Highland Farm, the Hammerstein family home led by Grandson Will Hammerstein.

Festival passes are on sale now through the Bucks County Playhouse box office. Individual tickets to Friday's new works presentation and Saturday evening's benefit concert will be on sale at the beginning of September. For more information, or to purchase a Festival Pass, visit www.bcptheater.org.

Last year, the inaugural Oscar Hammerstein Festival featured the musicals STRING and THANKS! Since its debut during NEW WORKS TONIGHT!, the STRING authors, Adam Gwon and Sarah Hammond, spent a one-week residency in Bucks County working on the musical, a tale of the Three Fates in modern Manhattan. The show went on to win the 2015 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater in February. THANKS! (Music by Gary Adler, Lyrics by Phoebe Kreutz, Book by Regina Decicco, & L.F. Turner) has received a series of developmental readings produced by the Festival. The show is a story of an irrepressible Pilgrim girl who meets a swaggering Native American boy not wearing pants, which sends sparks, food and turkeys flying.

OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II (1895-1960) spent nearly 40 years writing lyrics for some of Broadway's most innovative musicals. In collaboration with such composers as Sigmund Romberg, Vincent Youmans, Rudolf Friml, Jerome Kern and most notably Richard Rodgers, Hammerstein's life work garnered eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards. Joining forces in the early 40′s, Rodgers & Hammerstein went on to become the most successful partnership in American musical theater. Their first joint venture OKLAHOMA! (1943) was the first of its kind, blending Rodgers' sophisticated style of musical comedy with Hammerstein's innovations in operetta. His numerous credits include SHOWBOAT, CINDERELLA, CAROUSEL, SOUTH PACIFIC, THE KING AND I, FLOWER DRUM SONG and THE SOUND OF MUSIC.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM wrote the music and lyrics for SATURDAY NIGHT (1954), A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (1962), ANYONE CAN WHISTLE (1964), COMPANY (1970), FOLLIES (1971), A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (1973), THE FROGS (1974), PACIFIC OVERTURES (1976), SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMOND BARBER OF FLEET STREET (1979), MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (1981), SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (1984), INTO THE WOODS (1987), ASSASSINS (1991), PASSION (1994), and ROAD SHOW (2008) as well as lyrics for WEST SIDE STORY (1957), GYPSY (1959), and DO I HEAR A WALTZ? (1965) and additional lyrics for CANDIDE (1973). Anthologies of his work include SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM (1976), MARRY ME A LITTLE (1981), YOU'RE GONNA LOVE TOMORROW (1983), PUTTING IT TOGETHER (1993/99) and SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM (2010). He composed the scores of the films "Stavisky" (1974) and "Reds" (1981) and songs for "Dick Tracy" (1990) and the television production "Evening Primrose" (1966). His collected lyrics with attendant essays have been published in two volumes: Finishing The Hat (2010) and Look, I Made A Hat (2011). In 2010 the Broadway theater formerly known as Henry Miller's Theatre was renamed in his honor.

ROBYN GOODMAN is lead producer of Rodgers + Hammerstein's CINDERELLA, currently on national tour. She developed and produced the musicals AVENUE Q (2004 Tony Award) and IN THE HEIGHTS (2008 Tony Award). Other Broadway productions include STEEL MAGNOLIAS, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK, THE PERFORMERS, BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO with the late Robin Williams, WEST SIDE STORY, AMERICAN IDIOT, METAMORPHOSES and Off-Broadway's ALTAR BOYZ.

ALEXANDER FRASER, Producing Director of Bucks County Playhouse, has worked as a theatrical producer, general manager and non-profit executive for over 75 Broadway, off-Broadway, West End and touring productions including KINKY BOOTS, Larry Kramer's THE NORMAL HEART (for which he received the 2011 Tony Award), Nora and Delia Ephron's LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE (including NY, Chicago, Toronto, LA and Sydney), Charles Busch's THE DIVINE SISTER, August Wilson's JITNEY, Stephen Sondheim's SATURDAY NIGHT and Suzan-Lori Parks' TOPDOG/UNDERDOG (Pulitzer Prize).

Bucks County Playhouse, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, provides the finest theatrical entertainment for visitors and residents of New Hope, Doylestown, Lambertville and the Delaware Valley. Under the direction of Alexander Fraser and Robyn Goodman, its mission is to present first class professional entertainment and regain the Playhouse's historic place in the national theatrical landscape; and to stimulate, support, inspire and celebrate the performing arts via community programs, partnerships and arts education.

Located between Philadelphia and New York, Bucks County Playhouse opened in 1939 in a converted 1790 gristmill after a group of community activists, led by Broadway orchestrator Don Walker and playwright Moss Hart, rallied to save the building. The Playhouse quickly became one of the country's most famous regional theaters, featuring a roster of American theatrical royalty including Helen Hayes, Kitty Carlisle, George S. Kaufman, Grace Kelly, Robert Redford, Bert Lahr, Walter Matthau, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Alan Alda, Tyne Daly, Liza Minnelli and Audra McDonald and remained in continuous operation until December 2010.

Since its renovation, significant productions include Terrence McNally's Mothers and Sons starring Tyne Daly which moved to Broadway and was nominated for two Tony Awards; Misery by William Goldman based on the Stephen King novel which opens on Broadway in fall, 2015, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, starring Marilu Henner and playwright Christopher Durang, and this summer's hit production of Company starring Justin Guarini, which the Wall Street Journal claimed "borders on the miraculous. The Playhouse is surely headed back into the spotlight."