A Bed and A Chair: Sondheim and Marsalis musical

Stephen Sondheim and Wynton Marsalis will collaborate on A Bed and a Chair: A New York Love Affair, a new musical event featuring Sondheim's music arranged and performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.

This Encores! Special Event, directed by frequent Sondheim collaborator John Doyle ('Sweeney Todd,' 'Company'), with choreography by Parker Esse and musical supervision by David Loud, was conceived by Peter Gethers, Jack Viertel and John Doyle, and will run for seven performances from 13 - 17 Nov 2013 at the New York City Center.

A Bed and a Chair: A New York Love Affair, presented by the City Center's Encores! program and Jazz at Lincoln Center, celebrates love in New York and love of New York. Native Manhattanite Sondheim and adopted citizen Marsalis (originally from New Orleans) will compare musical notes on their shared passion for our city.

The program will feature more than two dozen Sondheim compositions, each piece newly re-imagined by Marsalis and performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Performers will be drawn from both the jazz and Broadway worlds. Casting will be announced at a later date.

A Bed and a Chair: A New York Love Affair is the second production of the City Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center producing partnership that began in 2011 with 'Cotton Club Parade,' a celebration of Duke Ellington's years at the famed Harlem nightclub. The show returned to City Center for a limited run in 2012. Now entitled After Midnight, a Broadway production is scheduled to open on 03 Nov 2013 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

Bios:

Stephen Sondheim has won seven Tony Awards: 'Passion,' 'Into the Woods,' 'Sweeney Todd,' 'A Little Night Music,' 'Follies' 'Company,' 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,' and received nominations for 'Sunday in the Park with George ,' 'Merrily We Roll Along,' 'Pacific Overtures,' 'Do I Hear a Waltz?,' 'Gypsy' and 'West Side Story.' In 2008 he was awarded a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Wynton Marsalis is the Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He is an internationally musician, composer, bandleader, educator and a leading advocate of American culture. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he made his recording debut as a leader in 1982, and has recorded more than 70 jazz and classical recordings, which have won him nine GRAMMY awards. Marsalis became the first jazz artist to be awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Music, for his oratorio 'Blood on the Fields,' which was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center.

John Doyle (Co-Creator, Director) most recently directed Stephen Sondheim's 'Passion' at Classic Stage Company. His Broadway credits include 'Sweeney Todd' (Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical), 'Company,' (Tony Award, Best Revival) and #A Catered Affair,# and his off-Broadway credits include 'Wings' and 'Road Show.' He directed the London productions of 'Gondoliers,' 'Sweeney Todd' and 'Mack and Mabel.'

Parker Esse (Choreographer) recently choreographed 'Guys and Dolls' at the Shaw Festival and 'Carousel' at Goodspeed (Connecticut Critics Circle Nomination), and is currently choreographing 'The Most Happy Fella' for Goodspeed's 50th anniversary season. He was associate choreographer of the Broadway productions of 'Finian's Rainbow' and 'A Tale of Two Cities,' as well as 'Follies' at The Kennedy Center. He was associate choreographer of the Encores! productions of 'Girl Crazy,' 'Finian's Rainbow' and 'On the Town,' and assistant choreographer of 'Juno' and 'Stairway to Paradise.'

Peter Gethers (Co-Creator) is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright, has written and produced several television shows and is the president of Random House Studio and an editor-at-large for Random House Inc. He is the author of a bestselling non-fiction trilogy about his Scottish Fold cat, 'Norton: The Cat Who Went to Paris,' 'A Cat Abroad' and 'The Cat Who'll Live Forever.' He is the co-creator and co-producer of the off-Broadway show 'Old Jews Telling Jokes.'

Jack Viertel (Co-Creator, Encores! Artistic Director) has been in charge of Encores! since 2000, overseeing 36 productions and counting. He is also senior vice president of Jujamcyn Theaters, which owns and operates five Broadway theaters, currently presenting 'The Book of Mormon,' 'Jersey Boys' and 'Kinky Boots.' He was a producer of the Broadway revival of 'Gypsy' starring Patti LuPone, which was first seen in 2007 at Encores! Summer Stars, and was recently represented on Broadway by 'Finian's Rainbow,' first seen at Encores! in the spring of 2008. He helped shepherd six of August Wilson's plays to Broadway and worked on the original Broadway productions of 'Angels in America,' 'Into the Woods' and 'M. Butterfly,' among others.

Hugh Hysell