Brian Feinstein's AS YOU LIKE IT Score Gets Preview at Shakespeare on the Sound's Gala Tonight

Composer Brian Feinstein is creating an original music score for Shakespeare on the Sound's forthcoming production of "As You Like It" and one of his numbers is to be premiered at a Gala Fundraiser tonight, April 6 at the Wee Burn Country Club in Darien.

Eartha Kitt starred in Feinstein's off-Broadway show "Mimi Le Duck" and he has gained critical acclaim for his music for "Dial M for Murder" at the John Engeman Theater in Northport, NY. He is also the recipient of six ASCAP Plus Awards which the American Society of Authors, Composers and Performers reserves for recognizing the most talented and promising young artists.

The theme of the spring benefit, "Come Hither to the Magical Forest of Arden," is drawn in part from the setting of "As You Like It," a pastoral comedy brimming with The Bard's lavish prose and poetic interpretations of the rhythms of life--romance, tyranny, the boundaries of gender, corruption, transformation and redemption.

Dance music for the evening is to be provided by The Short Bus, a five-piece, Greenwich-based group that has been named the Best of the Gold Coast Cover Band six years running, offering dance rock classics like "Play That Funky Music" and a medley of 1980s pop.

Proceeds support "As You Like It" in Rowayton's Pinkey Park June13-30--the 18th outdoor season of donation-funded theater-and educational activities celebrating Shakespeare's lyrical mastery of the perplexing forces that illuminate the human spirit. Basic ticket cost: $175. Reservations and additional information are available by calling Shakespeare on the Sound at (203) 299-1300 or online at www.shakespeareonthesound.org.

Feinstein meanwhile is writing five authentically genuine pieces of music to be sung to Shakespeare's words by the actors in the park accompanying themselves with guitars and percussion instruments, plus modern, electric incidental music for scene changes.

"We are going to have two different, acoustically-driven sonic landscapes," says Feinstein (www.brianfeinsteinmusic.com) who plays the piano and intends to introduce one of his original five creations at the gala, performed by the entire cast.

The gala starts at 6:30 p.m. and calls for festive dress to fit the décor, silent and live auctions, cocktails and dinner. Rowayton's Leslie Lawrence, the president of Shakespeare on the Sound, is co-chair with her husband Bobby.

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