Madison Lyric Stage Presents World Premiere of A SERVANT FOR HITLER

Madison Lyric Stage, an award-winning, professional theater company serving the Connecticut Shoreline, will present two performances of a new one-man-show written and performed by international Wagnerian tenor Marc Deaton. A Servant for Hitler: Max Lorenz and the Third Reich will be presented December 1-2 at the Deacon John Grave House located at 581 Boston Post Road in Madison, CT.

The world premiere play with music follows the legendary career of Max Lorenz, one of the leading German Wagnerian tenors of his time, with an operatic and recital career beginning in the early 1930s and spanning three decades. Lorenz sang all the leading parts in the operas of Richard Wagner, including Siegfried, Tristan and Parsifal, and was the star of Wagner's Bayreuth Festival. He was known as Hitler's favorite tenor.

However, because of his Jewish wife and hidden homosexuality, he was in constant proximity to danger with the rise of Nazism. It was only his association with the Festival, and particularly with Winifrid Wagner, that ultimately saved him and his family from the terror of the time. But survival came with a heavy personal cost.

"I am thrilled to present my one-man-show about Max Lorenz to the Shoreline," said Marc Deaton, artistic director of Madison Lyric Stage. "The play occurs at the dramatic intersection of the worlds of Wagner and his magnificent operas, and the vicious obsession of the Third Reich with eradicating 'non-Aryan' elements from German society and culture. It is a story of survival, and of the power of art and music to transform and heal."

A Servant for Hitler: Max Lorenz and the Third Reich includes musical excerpts of works by Wagner and Strauss sung by Marc Deaton. Kelly Horsted will accompany Deaton on piano.

Tickets are $35 and can be purchased at madisonlyricstage.org or by calling 203-215-6329. Seating is limited to 40 people per performance.

Madison Lyric Stage is a winner of a Broadwayworld Connecticut theater award for its 2017 production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Madison Lyric Stage is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity and arts collective for the Shoreline of Connecticut. Its mission is to present affordable, professional-quality entertainment from the worlds of opera, musical theater and drama. Past productions include: A Little Night Music, Agnes of God, Blithe Spirit, Company, Evita, Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, Macbeth, Peter Grimes, Salome, The Glass Menagerie, The Turn of the Screw and many others.

For more information about Madison Lyric Stage, visit madisonlyricstage.org.

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