October 01, 2019
2017-18 New Musical Concert at 54 Below!
The Last Day
\nMusic by Mike Reid
\nLyrics by Sarah Schlesinger
\nBook by Reid and Schlesinger
\nSaturday, January 27, 2018","9:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Join us at Feinstein\u2019s\/54 Below for a concert event featuring highlights from the new musical The Last Day\u2014music by Mike Reid, lyrics by Sarah Schlesinger, book by Reid and Schlesinger. This concert will be the first-ever debut of scenes and songs from this powerful and timely new musical.<\/p>\n
Commissioned by Penn State Musical Theatre and performed by the talented seniors in the program, The Last Day is a new musical theatre piece about a young man who has grown up tormented by a secret he has never shared. When he is accepted into an elite musical theatre performance ensemble at a major university, he believes he can finally realize his potential. But as his junior year ends, he is abusing drugs prescribed earlier in his life, isolating himself from his classmates and creating chaos for his peers. When he is dropped from the ensemble he believes the other members are responsible and sets out to destroy himself and\u00a0to seek revenge. Through a troubled night, the other students in the ensemble help him to realize the value of his life and discover much they never realized about themselves.<\/p>\n
John Simpkins directs.<\/p>\n
Mike Reid and Sarah Schlesinger have together written The Ballad of Little Jo (Steppenwolf, Two River), Different Fields (Metropolitan Opera), Casanova Returns, In This House, and Wind in Willows. Mike was an All-Pro defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals and gave up football to pursue a Grammy-winning career in Nashville\u2014writing songs including \u201cI Can\u2019t Make You Love Me,\u201d one of the world\u2019s most recorded songs. Sarah is chair of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and associate dean of performing arts at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.\u00a0<\/p>\n
FOR TICKETS, please visit:<\/p>\n
