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It’s one thing to attend a Broadway show on opening night or buy a season subscription to the ballet; it’s a whole different level of culture vulture-ness to see the work while it’s still cooking in the oven. That’s the beauty of the Guggenheim’s Works & Process series, which just announced its spring lineup, a thrilling panorama of live arts across disciplines. For a relatively cheap ticket ($40) you can see excerpts from new musicals, ballet or opera productions, then hear the creative team in deep conversation about how the art comes together.
We’re especially excited to catch a preview of Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (quite a mouthful). On January 25, director George C. Wolfe, tap star and choreographer Savion Glover, and the wonderful performers Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter and others will talk about the making of this jazz-scored new work about a 1920s hit that made the Great White Way a little less white.
If musicals are not your thing, there are myriad other attractions. On January 10 and 11, New York City Ballet’s
Justin Peck will supervise dancers in excerpts from his first narrative work for the company, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Most Incredible Thing. On January 18, Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb joins director David McVicar and soprano Sondra Radvanovsky to discuss McVicar’s new production of Roberto Devereux and the ambitious undertaking of staging all three of Donizetti’s Tudor queen operas. On January 31,
the Washington National Opera and artistic director Francesca Zambello present excerpts from Kurt Weill’s final work for the stage, Lost in the Stars. Zambello moderates a discussion with director Tazewell Thompson. Later in the spring come events featuring Shen Wei Dance Arts, Les Arts Florissants, Malpaso Dance Company and Lincoln Center Theater playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.
All performances are at the Peter B. Lewis Theater in the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street. For more information and tickets, visit the Works & Process home.