BERKELEY SYMPHONY TAPPED TO ACCOMPANY BERKELEY REP’S BRUNDIBAR Sendak / Kushner opera the first collaboration for award-winning neighbors BERKELEY CA, NOVEMBER 3, 2005Fact Sheet Today Berkeley Repertory Theatre, as part of its highly anticipated production of Comedy on the Bridge and Brundibar, announced its first partnership with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra (BSO). The award-winning neighbors will collaborate on this pair of musical fables being brought to the stage by two renowned artists: beloved children’s author Maurice Sendak and legendary playwright Tony Kushner. Directed by Kushner’s longtime collaborator, Berkeley Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone, this family opera for the holidays promises to be an unforgettable theatrical experience for adults and for children. “At Berkeley Rep, being engaged with our community is one of our guiding values,” says Taccone. “So I am doubly proud of this production: not only does it have important historic and cultural roots, it has provided us with our first opportunity to partner with our accomplished neighbors, the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. It has long been one of our goals to find the appropriate project for this promising partnership.” “The Berkeley Symphony is honored to be collaborating with Berkeley Repertory Theatre for the first time,” says Gary Ginstling, executive director of the BSO. “This production brings together two revered Berkeley institutions and the talents of Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak for what promises to be one of the highlights of the arts calendar this season.” At Berkeley Rep, the orchestra will be conducted by Valerie Gebert, the show’s musical director. Having toured North America, Europe and Japan with major musicals, Gebert comes to Berkeley Rep from the touring production of The Lion King, for which she is the associate conductor and keyboardist. She has played Bangkok, Berlin and Broadway with productions of Cabaret; A Chorus Line; The Fantasticks; Hello, Dolly!; I Do! I Do!; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; The Sound of Music; and West Side Story. Regionally, Gebert has worked at North Shore Music Theater, Sacramento Music Circus and St. Louis Repertory Theatre. The pit orchestra will be comprised of 13 veteran BSO musicians. Darien Cande (viola) began playing with the BSO 30 years ago, in the days when it was known as the Berkeley Promenade Orchestra. She is an active freelancer, performing frequently with the San Francisco Ballet. Leslie Chin (flute / piccolo) is a member of the Festival Opera Orchestra, Fremont Symphony and Pacific Chamber Symphony and regularly performs with the California Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Pocket Opera, San Francisco Ballet and San Francisco Opera. She has also played in pit orchestras for The Lion King, Miss Saigon, The Phantom of the Opera and Wicked. Diana Dorman (clarinet) has performed with the BSO since 1974 and has served as its personnel manager for the last six years. She is also the principal clarinetist for Lamplighters Music Theatre and Pocket Opera, has played for many noted ballet companies at Cal Performances and began touring nationally with Western Opera Theatre in 1989. Stuart Gronningen (french horn) commenced his professional career in 1963 with the Oakland Symphony and has been its principal horn since 1975, a position he has also held with the BSO since 2001. He sat in the pit for the local runs of Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera and has performed with many other groups including the Oakland Symphony, San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera. Barry Koron (piano / accordion) was the pianist for Michael Tilson Thomas’ Thomashevsky Project and played on the soundtrack for Once Upon a Time in Mexico. He points out that his career also includes the rare honor of giving a singing lesson to Burt Reynolds. Catherine Murtagh (trumpet) is the BSO’s long-time principal trumpet. She performs regularly with numerous local opera companies. Kevin Neuhoff (timpani / percussion) is a principal member of the Berkeley, Carmel Bach, Festival, Fremont, Marin and San Francisco Opera Center Orchestras, and he frequently plays with the California, Oakland, Sacramento and San Francisco Symphonies. He has recorded soundtracks for Disney and PBS and often performs with two contemporary ensembles, Earplay and VU. Yasushi Ogura (first violin) is founder of the Napa Valley Festival Ensemble, concertmaster of the Napa Valley Symphony and former concertmaster of the Diablo Ballet. He often performs for Broadway shows in San Francisco, with Pocket Opera and with ensembles in his native Japan. Candace Sanderson (second violin) has played with the BSO for 13 years, and previously was a member of the San Diego Symphony and La Jolla Chamber Orchestra. She has been a member of the Fremont Symphony and Oakland Symphony since 1983 and plays regularly with Marin Symphony and San Francisco Opera. Deborah Shidler (oboe) regularly appears with Opera San Jose, Pacific Symphony, San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco Opera and Symphony Silicon Valley. She has accompanied many ballet companies including the Bolshoi, Kirov and Stuttgart Ballets, American Ballet Theatre and Paris Opera Ballet. She can be heard on many labels including Harmonia Mundi, Koch International, Reference, Sony Classical and 20th Century Fox. Nancy Bien Souza (cello) has performed with the BSO since 1987, where she particularly enjoyed playing John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons and Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle. She has also performed with Jack Benny, the Moody Blues, Ella Fitzgerald, Yo-Yo Ma, Randy Newman, Itzhak Perlman, Doc Severinsen, Andre Watts and many others. Michel Taddei (bass), the principal bassist for the BSO since 1999, previously played seven seasons as principal bassist of the Opéra National de Lyon. He also performs with the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and has recorded with Decca, EMI, Erato, Nonesuch, Philips and Virgin Classics. Carla Wilson (bassoon) has a long and diverse career that includes playing with the Fremont Symphony and Skywalker Ranch Orchestra. She fondly recalls playing for the Queen of England with the San Francisco Symphony. An allegory of innocence triumphing over evil, Brundibar was originally composed in the ominous years leading up to World War II and was performed by children imprisoned at Terezín, the Nazi’s notorious “model ghetto.” It features music by Hans Krása and Kushner’s translation and adaptation of the original libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister. Comedy on the Bridge combines the music of Bohuslav Martinu with Kushner’s adaptation of a libretto by Václav Kliment Klicpera. Not only is Kushner the acclaimed author of Angels in America and Homebody/Kabul, he wrote the brilliant libretto for Caroline, or Change–now he’s penned libretti for these remarkable musical fables. Sendak’s singular style is famous from books such as Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen–don’t miss his spectacular designs for this production. The production design by Sendak and Kris Stone relies on an expert team of artists: Kris Stone (scenic designer), Robin I. Shane (costume designer), Don Holder (lighting designer) and Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen (sound designers). The show features a stellar cast of Broadway and off-Broadway actors: Anjali Bhimani as Popelka and the Sparrow (Bombay Dreams, Metamorphoses); Henry DiGiovanni as Captain Ladinksy and the Ice-Cream Seller (17 Reasons Why, Dreamlandia); Matt Farnsworth as Sykos and the Milkman (Cats, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Who’s Tommy); Aaron Simon Gross as Pepicek (A Stoop on Orchard Street); Geoff Hoyle as the Sentry, the Baker and the Dog (Feast of Fools, The Lion King, Mr. Fox); Euan Morton as the Sentry and Brundibar (Caligula, Taboo); Devynn Pedell as Aninku (The People Garden); Angelina Réaux as Eva and the Cat (The Seven Deadly Sins, The Threepenny Opera, The Tsar Has His Photograph Taken); Martin Vidnovic as Bedronyi and the Policeman (Brigadoon, Here Lies Jenny, The King and I); and William Youmans as Professor Ucitelli (La Bohème, Titanic, Wicked). The ensemble also includes a chorus comprised of 29 local school children. Performances of Comedy on the Bridge and Brundibar take place in the Roda Theatre at Berkeley Rep; the show begins previews on November 11, opens on November 16 and closes December 28, 2005. A co-production between Berkeley Rep and Yale Repertory Theatre, this extraordinary work will transfer to Yale Rep in New Haven and then to New York’s New Victory Theater next year. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call the box office at 510.647.2949 or toll-free at 1.888.4BRTTix—or simply click berkeleyrep.org. Berkeley Symphony Orchestra will also be in concert on Friday, December 2 at 8:00 PM. Kent Nagano will conduct the world premiere of Bitter Harvest, an American farmer’s oratorio, by Kurt Rohde and Amanda Moody. This concert will take place at UC’s Zellerbach Hall. Call 510.841.2800 or click berkeleysymphony.org for more details on this concert. ABOUT BERKELEY REP Founded in 1968, the Tony Award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre has established a national reputation for its ambitious programming and dynamic productions. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Tony Taccone and Managing Director Susan Medak, Berkeley Rep seeks to engage its audience in an ongoing dialogue of ideas. Through its bold choice of material and vivid style of production, Berkeley Rep reflects a commitment to diversity, excitement and quality. The company is especially well known for its presentations of important new dramatic voices and its fresh adaptations of seldom-seen classics. In 2001, Berkeley Rep opened The Roda Theatre, a 600-seat proscenium theatre that complements the 400-seat Thrust Stage, and the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, housed in the Nevo Education Center. The addition of these two buildings has transformed what was once a single stage into a vital and versatile performing arts complex. ABOUT THE BERKELEY SYMPHONY The Berkeley Symphony Orchestra reflects the daring and diversity of its community by programming premieres of new music alongside classic works interpreted through a modern-day lens. Under the baton of Music Director Kent Nagano, the orchestra is the frequent recipient of national awards for its adventurous programming. The orchestra presents a five-concert series at Zellerbach Hall, as well as a free and informal Under Construction concert where works-in-progress by Bay Area composers are read for the first time. In addition, the Berkeley Symphony’s Music Education Program reaches every public elementary student in Berkeley and Albany. For more information, call 510.841.2800 or visit berkeleysymphony.org. BRUNDIBAR / COMEDY ON THE BRIDGE WHO libretti by Tony Kushner, adapted from Adolf Hoffmeister and Václav Kliment Klicpera music by Hans Krása and Bohuslav Martinu production design by Maurice Sendak with Kris Stone directed by Tony Taccone music director Valerie Gebert / featuring members of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra designers: Kris Stone (sets), Robin I. Shane (costumes), Don Holder (lights) and Rob Millburn and Michael Bodeen (sound) starring: Anjali Bhimani, Hank DiGiovanni, Matt Farnsworth, Aaron Simon Gross, Geoff Hoyle, Euan Morton, Devynn Pedell, Angelina Reáux, Martin Vidnovic, William Youmans and a chorus of 29 local children WHAT Brundibar / Comedy on the Bridge WHERE AND WHEN November 11–December 28, 2005 Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Roda Theatre / 2015 Addison Street at Shattuck / Berkeley, CA 94704 510.647.2949—toll-free 1.888.4BRTTix—www.berkeleyrep.org February 10–March 5, 2006 Yale Repertory Theatre/ University Theatre / 222 York Street / New Haven, CT 06510 203.432.1234—www.yalerep.org April 26–May 21, 2006 New Victory Theater / 209 West 42nd Street at 7th Ave / New York, NY 10036 646.223.3020—www.newvictory.org LOCAL SCHEDULE Previews November 11–15, 2005 / performances November 16–December 28, 2005 • Tuesdays, 7:30 PM • Wednesdays, 7 PM (except opening) • Thursdays, 2 PM and 7:30 PM • Fridays, 8 PM • Saturdays, 2 PM and 8 PM • Sundays, 2 PM and 7 PM • No matinees during previews or on November 7 or December 3 or 8 • No performances on Thanksgiving (November 24) or Christmas Day (December 25) • Christmas Eve (December 24) performances, NOON and 5 PM SPECIAL EVENTS IN BERKELEY • Target® Teen Night: Friday, November 11, 6 PM • Opening night: Wednesday, November 16, 8 PM • night/OUT (LGBT event): Thursday, November 17, 7:30 PM • Once Upon a Wild Thing—Celebrating the Work of Maurice Sendak (luminaries read his stories for kids): Saturdays, November 19, December 10 and 17, 1 PM • Post-play discussions: Thursday, December 8; Friday, December 16; Tuesday, December 20 TICKET PRICES These prices valid for the Berkeley run only! Standing room (once sold out) $15.00 Preview Performances (Fri/Sat 8PM, Sun 7PM, Tue 7:30PM) $35.00 Tuesday and Thursday evenings 7:30PM $50.00 Wednesday evening 7PM $50.00 Thursday and Saturday matinees 2PM $50.00 Sunday matinee 2PM $53.00 Sunday evening 7PM $53.00 Friday evening 8PM $58.00 Opening Night (Wed 8PM) $64.00 Saturday evening 8PM $64.00 DISCOUNTS $10 youth tickets on Saturdays for Target® Family Matinees (limit 2 per family) Half-price tickets available to those under 30 (some restrictions apply) 20 half-price HotTix go on sale at NOON Tuesday–Friday Student/Senior half-price RUSH tickets sold one-half hour before curtain Groups of 15+ contact 510.647.2918 or groups@berkeleyrep.org TICKET INFO 510.647.2949—toll-free 1.888.4BRTTix—www.berkeleyrep.org For photos, interviews, etc. contact: Terence Keane, Director of Public Relations 510.647.2917, tkeane@berkeleyrep.org BACK TO TOP