Thursday, Feb 18, 2016
Rider University Musical Theatre will present Stephen Sondheim’s hit musical A Little Night Music Wednesday, February 24 through Sunday, February 28 in the Yvonne Theater on the campus of Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. The preview performance is on Wednesday, February 24 at 7:30 p.m., and performances are Thursday, February 25 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 26 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday February 27 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, February 28 at 2 p.m. Nathan Hurwitz is the director and Louis F. Goldberg is the music director.
Based on Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film, Smiles of a Summer Night, A Little Night Music is the winner of four Tony Awards. It’s known for its masterful and elegant music, including such classics as “Send in the Clowns” and “Every Day a Little Death.”
Director Nathan Hurwitz says, “A Little Night Music is a beautiful play about people struggling to find redemption. Every character in this play has made missteps, as we all do, and agonizes over finding the way out of their tragic mistakes. In a later musical, Sunday in the Park with George, Mr. Sondheim wrote the lyric, “Pretty isn’t beautiful.” While the lives and the behavior of the characters in this play aren’t always pretty, there is beauty that lies in their essential humanity. There is something in the struggle for redemption, the struggle to find a better and happier life that touches us all.”
Nathan Hurwitz has been a director and musical director for more than 30 years. As a musical director and conductor, his career spans from Broadway to regional theatres to the concert halls of the United States and Europe. His Broadway credits include Blood Brothers, Dream and Phantom of the Opera. He has performed with the international tours of Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story and The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber, while his United States tours include Blood Brothers, Funny Girl, The Sound of Music, Company, The Who's ‘Tommy, Annie, Leader of the Pack and the 25th Anniversary all-star Nunsense tour. Dr. Hurwitz has directed regionally, and at colleges and universities across the country, including most recently Lucky Stiff and The World Goes Round for Syracuse University.
Louis F. Goldberg is an adjunct assistant professor in the Musical Theatre program at Rider University where he has directed the musical revue Cole, and has served as musical director for Merrily We Roll Along, The Full Monty, The Wedding Singer, The Light in the Piazza and Rent. He has conducted more than 300 musicals across the United States and Europe, including tours of Man of La Mancha, Cabaret, Chicago and 42nd Street. Recent projects include a four-month stint off-Broadway at the York Theatre playing Ted Shapiro in Red Hot Mama: The Sophie Tucker Songbook, a role he premiered at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, followed by engagements at the Players’ Club in New York City, the Plush Room in San Francisco, Santa Fe Stages and at London’s Greenwich Theatre. In Philadelphia, Louis has conducted St. Louis Woman and Peter Pan and Wendy at the Prince Music Theater, Dirty Blonde at the Wilma Theatre and Evita at the Walnut Street Theatre. He has served as resident music director for Gretna Theatre, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Auburn, N.Y.
Based in Rider’s Westminster College of the Arts, Rider’s Musical Theatre productions feature students enrolled in the University’s highly regarded Musical Theatre program, as well as other talented students selected by audition. Graduates of the program are appearing on Broadway, in national touring productions and in major regional theaters. Its productions offer the community the opportunity to see aspiring actors in the early stages of their careers.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. They can be purchased at the door, through the box office at 609-896-7775 or online at www.rider.edu/arts. General admission preview tickets are $9 and are only available at the door.