Video: AI-Animated Hirschfeld Caricature Debuts as Amas Musical Theatre Revives CHARLOTTE SWEET

A foundation-approved AI video bringing Al Hirschfeld’s classic CHARLOTTE SWEET caricature to life will accompany Amas Musical Theatre’s benefit concert revival of the musical, which begins performances tonight.

The newly created animation, created by Michael Lee Stever Media Productions, marks a rare digital reimagining of Hirschfeld’s work and visually revisits the musical’s history in advance of its two-night staging at the Mezzanine Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres.

Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, Artistic Producer) will present CHARLOTTE SWEET – The Madcap Musical tonight, Monday, November 17 at 7 p.m., and tomorrow, Tuesday, November 18 at 7 p.m. The concerts benefit Amas’s education programs.

With a libretto by Michael Colby and music by Gerald Jay Markoe, the production is directed by Jeff Calhoun with music direction by Asher Denburg. The revival revisits the musical mock melodrama that originally attracted admirers including Leonard Cohen, Al Hirschfeld, and John Hammond.

“Such a show is Charlotte Sweet, which opened back to back with Little Shop of Horrors,” said Colby. “Not that everyone loved the very looney and original Charlotte Sweet. But those who championed it as ‘a classic’ included Al Hirschfeld, Leonard Cohen, the legendary John Hammond, and recently director Jeff Calhoun.”