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Posted on February 17, 2007
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CHARLES GILBERT, composer, writer, director and SAVI savant, has headed the Musical Theater Program at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia since its inception in 1990, and currently serves as Interim Director for the School of Theater Arts.. He wrote music and lyrics for Gemini, the Musical, which premiered at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia in 2004 and had its New York premiere at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2007; he received a Barrymore nomination for Outstanding Original Music for that score. He received a two other Barrymore nominations for Outstanding Musical Direction for A Year With Frog And Toad and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Forum at the Arden Theater; recent music directing credits also include Randy Newman’s The Middle of Nowhere at the Prince and The Fantasticks at People’s Light and Theater Company, and he will music-direct the Philadelphia Theater Company’s production of Grey Gardens in May and June 2009.
Gemini, created in collaboration with playwright Albert Innaurato, is among the most recent of Gilbert’s works for the musical stage. Other musicals include A Tiny Miracle, Watch The Birdie, Realities, Goosefeathers and A Is For Anything (recently revived by the Blue Ridge Theater Festival). His 1979 musical Assassins was the sources of the idea for the Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical of the same name, recently revived on Broadway to acclaim that included seven Tony awards. Gilbert’s musical revue Watch The Birdie recent received a production by Philly Music Theater Works at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia, and he’s currently at work on the musical score for Harold and the Purple Crayon, which will be premiered by Enchantment Theater Company in the fall of 2009.
Gilbert’s accomplishments as a stage director are equally distinguished. Recent credits include the recent revival of Anyone Can Whistle at the Prince Music Theater, starring Chuck Wagner and Jane Summerhays, and two productions at the International Festival of Musical Theater in Cardiff, Wales: A Lyrical Opera Made By Two (Gertrude Stein and William Turner’s cubist lesbian romance) and Songs for a New World. He was Musical Theater Coordinator for the Kevin Smith/Miramax film Jersey Girl, and appears in the film as Sweeney Todd. Gilbert received his MFA in Directing from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1977, and has also directed for Opera Delaware and the National Music Theater Network.
Gilbert is a leading educator in the field of singer-actor training and a founder and officer of the Musical Theater Educators Alliance. His SAVI System of singer-actor training forms the core of the curriculum at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and he has taught workshops and masterclasses at colleges and symposia in the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom.
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I hope that this is the Charles Gilbert who worked at Gretna Theatre for several seasons. I am trying to reach as many alumni of the theatre as possible to remind them of our 80th Anniversary Reunion in conjunction with the final production of the 80th Anniversary Season “Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming”. Details are listed below. If you can attend it will be great to see you again and catch up with all the activities everyone has been persuing since Gretna. If you cannot attend please consider electronically sending us a brief bio and head shot with your favorite Gretna Theatre memory. We are planning to print an Alumni Booklet to share with the audience the day of the performance.
We hope to hear from you soon and better yet would love to see you at the theatre.
GRETNA THEATRE REUNION!
Dear Gretna Theatre Alumni (Mainstage Actors, Children’s Theatre Actors, Directors, Musicians, Designers and Stage Hands),
2007 marks the 80th Anniversary of performing live theatre on the grounds of the Chautauqua Theatre! The 2007 summer season is nearly completed and we are happy to report a banner season with some of the highest attended shows in recent history! Gretna Theatre is alive and well!
On Friday August 24, 2007 at the conclusion of the performance of “Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming” the gospel blue grass musical, we will hold a reunion! We will serve refreshments and will take a photo of all Alumni who are able to attend the show and reminisce with current and past alums.
We hope you will join us for this 80th Anniversary Celebration!!!
Please let us know in advance if you can attend so we can announce in our local papers the names of the alumni who can make the event, announce the names of our alumni to our audiences prior to the show - make a name tag for you – introduce you to our Board of Directors and our Corporate Sponsors.
Alumni will be admitted free of charge to Gretna Theatre on August 24. To RSVP please call me at 717-964-3322. If you have any memorabilia that you wish to donate to the theatre we will be happy to acknowledge your generous gift in our 2008 Summer Playbill. I you have memorabilia that you would like to share with us for the evening only - please bring it along and we will make sure you take it home with you at the conclusion of our reunion.
If you wish to RSVP via e-mail that’s great! E-mail me at reneekrizan@gretnatheatre.com. In your correspondence please include the name or names of the performances you performed in along with the names of the roles you played and the year or years you were involved in the theatre. Please, if possible also share with us a brief bio and photo so we can print a small alumni booklet. We will strive to include all who submit information to this program insert and will then use your information to build our archives, launch a web site data base of alumni and their activities and remind our audiences what are alumni are up to!
PLEASE SHARE THIS LETTER WITH ANY ALUMNI MEMBER OF GRETNA THEATRE AND PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH WITH US! OR IF YOU KNOW OF ANY GRETNA ALUMNI AND WOULD PREFER US TO CONTACT THEM DIRECTLY PLEASE SHARE THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION WITH ME.
We hope to hear from you soon and we hope you will plan to attend our Homecoming!
Sincerely,
Renee T. Krizan
Associate Artistic Director
Gretna Theatre
PO Box 578
Mt. Gretna, PA 17064
(717) 964-3322 office
(717) 964-2189 fax
(717) 951-7591 cell
reneekrizan@gretnatheatre.com
[…] more fascinating original cast excerpts, some fairly obscure, are found at Blue Gobo. My thanks to Charles Gilbert for the discovery. Categories: Other Blogs and Stuff, Other People’s Music, Musical […]