Randy Newman's HARPS & ANGELS Will Close Out Mark Taper Forum's 2010 Season

Variety reports that the world premiere of a Randy Newman musical project, "Harps and Angels," is set to close out the Mark Taper Forum's 2010 season next fall.

Conceived by Jack Viertel, the musical will feature previously composed songs is described as a "frequently satirical commentary on being born and growing up in the U.S.", according to a statement obtained from Center Theater Group by Variety.

"Harps" will include the songs "I Love L.A.," "I Think It's Going to Rain Today," "Sail Away," "Marie," "Rednecks," "My Country," "Louisiana 1927," "Feels Like Home" and "You've Got a Friend in Me." Previews begin Nov. 10 and run Nov. 21-Dec. 19, 2010. A director will be announced soon.

Harps and Angels was the title of Randy Newman's first studio album of all new material in nearly a decade is, and remarked as "by turns, hilarious, poignant and scathingly satirical. Harps and Angels often has an easy going Crescent City feel, with Newman on piano fronting a small combo and revealing, as Rolling Stone put it after the Carnegie Hall show, his serious love and study of the New Orleans piano tradition."

Center Theatre Group, a non-profit organization, is one of the largest and most active theatre companies in the nation, programming subscription seasons year-round at the 739-seat Mark Taper Forum and the 1,600 to 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center of Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to providing theatre of the highest caliber to the rich, diverse communities of Southern California and beyond, CTG supports a significant number of play development and arts education initiatives.