Flying Over Sunset

Last updated
Flying Over Sunset
Music Tom Kitt
Lyrics Michael Korie
Book James Lapine
Premiere2015: Martha's Vineyard
Productions2015 Martha's Vineyard Reading
2016 Edgartown Reading
2021 Broadway

Flying Over Sunset is a musical with music by Tom Kitt, lyrics by Michael Korie, and a book by James Lapine. [1] The musical is a fictional account of a meeting between Aldous Huxley, Clare Boothe Luce and Cary Grant, who all used the drug LSD.

Contents

Productions

Readings (2015 and 2016)

The musical had a reading in August 2015 at the Vineyard Arts Project (Martha's Vineyard) with Christine Ebersole playing Luce, and a cast featuring Boyd Gaines, Julia Murney, Tam Mutu and David Turner. [2] [3]

A second reading was held on July 29, 2016 in Edgartown, Massachusetts. Performers who took part in the reading included the late Marin Mazzie, Boyd Gaines, Betsy Wolfe, Tam Mutu and Jennifer Simard. [4]

Broadway (2021)

The production was originally scheduled to open on April 16, 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [5] [6]

The musical premiered on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on November 11, 2021 in previews with the official opening on December 13, 2021. [7] [8]

The cast included Carmen Cusack as Clare Boothe Luce, Harry Hadden-Paton as Aldous Huxley Tony Yazbeck as Cary Grant, and Robert Sella as Gerald Heard. The musical was directed by Lapine with choreography by Michelle Dorrance, sets by Beowulf Boritt, costumes by Toni-Leslie James, lighting by Bradley King, and sound by Dan Moses Schreier. [7] [9]

The production closed on January 16, 2022 after 63 performances (28 previews and 35 performances). [10]

Plot

Act l

Huxley, Grant, and Luce separately obtained LSD. Each is dealing with a problem: Huxley is grieving his wife's death, Grant his ineptitude with women, and Luce her guilt over the deaths of her mother and daughter. [11] Huxley takes LSD at the drugstore where he obtained it, and imagines the figures from the painting “Judith With the Head of Holofernes” coming to life around him ("Bella Donna Di Agonia"). [11] [12] Grant's first trip is when he meets his younger self and his violent father ("I Have It All"/"Funny Money"). [11] [12] [13]

The three ultimately meet at the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood. [11]

Act ll

Huxley, Grant, and Luce gather at Luce's estate in Malibu, where they proceed on LSD trips with Gerald Heard as their guide. [11]

Cast

Character Broadway
(2021)
Aldous Huxley Harry Hadden-Paton
Maria HuxleyLaura Shoop
Gerald Heard Robert Sella
Cary Grant Tony Yazbeck
Dr. Harris/FatherNehal Joshi
Archie Leach Atticus Ware
Clare Boothe Luce Carmen Cusack
Ann Brokaw/JudithKanisha Marie Feliciano
Austin/Handmaiden Michele Ragusa
Rosalia/Sophia Loren Emily Pynenburg

Musical numbers

Source: Playbill [14]

Reception

The show received mixed to negative reviews from critics, including AmNY, [15] The New York Times, [11] Theatrely, [13] and Timeout. [16] Generally, critics tended to dislike the book and music, while praising the show's cast, technical effects, set, sound design, and choreography.

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

YearAward CeremonyCategoryNomineeResultRef.
2022 Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical Beowulf Boritt Won [17] [18]
Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical Bradley KingWon
Outstanding Projection Design 59 ProductionsWon
Outer Critics Circle Awards Outstanding Actress in a Musical Carmen Cusack Nominated [19]
Outstanding Scenic Design Beowulf Boritt Nominated
Outstanding Lighting DesignBradley KingNominated
Outstanding Video/Projection Design59 Productions and Benjamin PearcyNominated
Tony Awards Best Actress in a Musical Carmen Cusack Nominated [20] [21]
Best Original Score Tom Kitt and Michael Korie Nominated
Best Scenic Design of a Musical Beowulf Boritt and 59 ProductionsNominated
Best Lighting Design of a Musical Bradley KingNominated

^ Flying Over Sunset tied with MJ the Musical for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Lapine</span> American stage director and librettist

James Elliot Lapine is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadway theatre</span> Type of theatre in New York City

Broadway theatre, or Broadway, is a theatre genre that consists of the theatrical performances presented in 41 professional theaters, each with 500 or more seats, in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Stroman</span> American theatre director and choreographer

Susan P. Stroman is an American theatre director, choreographer, and performer. Her notable theater productions include Oklahoma!, The Music Man, Crazy for You, Contact, The Producers, The Frogs, The Scottsboro Boys, Bullets Over Broadway, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, and New York, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Kuhn</span> American actress and singer (born 1958)

Judy Kuhn is an American actress, singer and activist, known for her work in musical theatre. A four-time Tony Award nominee, she has released four studio albums and sang the title role in the 1995 film Pocahontas, including her rendition of the song "Colors of the Wind", which won its composers the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald Heard</span> British-born American historian, science writer, lecturer, educator and philosopher

Henry FitzGerald Heard, commonly called Gerald Heard, was a British-born American historian, science writer and broadcaster, public lecturer, educator, and philosopher. He wrote many articles and over 35 books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephanie J. Block</span> American actress and singer (born 1972)

Stephanie Janette Block is an American actress and singer, best known for her work on the Broadway stage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Korie</span> American librettist and lyricist

Michael Korie is an American librettist and lyricist whose writing for musical theater and opera includes the musicals Grey Gardens and Far From Heaven, and the operas Harvey Milk and The Grapes of Wrath. His works have been produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and internationally. His lyrics have been nominated for the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award. In 2016, Korie was awarded the Marc Blitzstein Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian d'Arcy James</span> American actor and musician

Brian d'Arcy James is an American actor and musician. He is known primarily for his Broadway roles, including Shrek in Shrek the Musical, Nick Bottom in Something Rotten!, King George III in Hamilton, and The Baker in Into the Woods. He has received five Tony Award nominations for his work. On-screen, he is known for his recurring role as Andy Baker on the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, Officer Krupke in West Side Story, and reporter Matt Carroll in Spotlight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marin Mazzie</span> American actress

Marin Joy Mazzie was an American actress and singer known for her work in musical theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dossett</span> American actor and singer

John Dossett is an American actor and singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Anderson (actor)</span> American actor

Eric Anderson is an American actor. On Broadway, he has originated roles in Waitress, Kinky Boots, The Last Ship, Rocky, and Soul Doctor, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He portrayed Mr. O'Malley in The Greatest Showman (2017). In 2022, he took over the role of Harold Zidler in the jukebox musical Moulin Rouge! on Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Danieley</span> American actor

Jason D. Danieley is an American actor, singer, concert performer and recording artist. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and was married to fellow performer Marin Mazzie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erin Davie</span> American actress and singer

Erin Davie is an American actress and singer, best known for her performance as the young Edith Bouvier Beale in the musical Grey Gardens, taking the part on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre in 2006, after its initial run Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Kitt (musician)</span> American composer and musician

Thomas Robert Kitt is an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, and musician. For his score for the musical Next to Normal, he shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Brian Yorkey. He has also won two Tony Awards and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Next to Normal, as well as Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations for If/Then and SpongeBob SquarePants. He has been nominated for eight Drama Desk Awards, winning one, and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for Jagged Little Pill in 2021.

Tony Yazbeck is an American actor, singer, and dancer, best known for his work on the Broadway stage, including the revival of On the Town, for which he received 2015 Tony Award and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for lead actor in a musical. Yazbeck is also known for his principal roles on Broadway, including J.M. Barrie in the Broadway production of Finding Neverland, Tulsa in Gypsy starring Patti LuPone, Billy Flynn in Chicago, Phil Davis in White Christmas, Al Deluca in A Chorus Line and the original casts of Broadway's Never Gonna Dance and Oklahoma. In 2014 he appeared in a concert version of Kiss Me, Kate with the John Wilson Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, London as part of that season's Promenade Concerts. In 2020, Yazbeck originated a leading role in the musical Flying Over Sunset, directed by James Lapine. The production began in 2021 at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Production was delayed because of the COVID-19 shutdown of Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmen Cusack</span> American actress

Carmen Cusack is an American musical theater actress and singer. She is known for playing Elphaba in the Chicago, North American Tour, and Melbourne productions of the musical Wicked and for originating the roles of Alice Murphy and Clare Boothe Luce in the Broadway musicals Bright Star and Flying Over Sunset, respectively.

Harry Frederick Gerard Hadden-Paton is a British actor. He is perhaps best known for his television roles as Herbert "Bertie" Pelham, 7th Marquess of Hexham, in the television series Downton Abbey and Martin Charteris in The Crown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betsy Wolfe</span> American actress and singer (born 1982)

Betsy Wolfe is an American actress, singer, and entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Armstrong Johnson</span> American actor, singer, and dancer

Jay Armstrong Johnson is an American actor, singer, and dancer, known for starring roles on Broadway in musicals like Parade, On the Town, and The Phantom of the Opera and for his portrayal of Will Olsen in the ABC television series Quantico.

Tam Mutu is an English stage and screen actor. He began his career on the West End in the early 2000s. He was part of the original West End production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies (2010–2011) before starring in the revivals of Les Misérables (2013–2014) and City of Angels (2015). That same year he starred in the original Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago. He returned to Broadway in 2019 with Moulin Rouge! The Musical; for his supporting role of the Duke of Monroth he was nominated for a Grammy Award. On screen, he had a recurring role on the Netflix show Medici.

References

  1. ↑ Theater, Lincoln Center. "Flying Over Sunset". Lincoln Center Theater. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  2. ↑ Viagas, Robert (April 14, 2016). "James Lapine, Tom Kitt and Michael Korie Working on New Musical About LSD". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  3. ↑ Nadler, Holly (September 2, 2015). "Flying Over Sunset lifts off at the Vineyard Arts Project". Martha's Vineyard Times.
  4. ↑ Viagas, Robert (July 29, 2016). "Marin Mazzie Toplines Today's Reading of James Lapine's LSD Musical". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  5. ↑ Evans, Greg (2020-06-24). "Broadway's 'The Music Man', 'Flying Over Sunset' Postponed Until 2021 Amid Speculation Of Theater Shutdown Extension – Update". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  6. ↑ Lincoln Center Pushes to Fall 2020 BroadwayWorld, March 20, 2020
  7. 1 2 Gans, Andrew (May 13, 2021). "Lincoln Center Theater's Flying Over Sunset Will Open This Fall; Intimate Apparel Sets 2022 Dates". Playibll. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Photos: FLYING OVER SUNSET Celebrates Opening Night on Broadway". BroadwayWorld. 2021-12-14. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14.
  9. ↑ Clement, Olivia (August 20, 2019). "Carmen Cusack, Harry Hadden-Paton, and Tony Yazbeck to Lead Cast of New Broadway Musical Flying Over Sunset". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  10. ↑ "FLYING OVER SUNSET to End Broadway Run Early; Final Performance January 16". BroadwayWorld. 2022-01-05. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Green, Jesse (2021-12-14). "Review: In 'Flying Over Sunset,' Getting High With the Stars". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  12. 1 2 Evans, Greg (2021-12-14). "'Flying Over Sunset' Broadway Review: Musical Day Tripping With Cary Grant & Some Famous Friends". Deadline. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  13. 1 2 "FLYING OVER SUNSET On a Smoothed-Out Trip — Review". www.theatrely.com. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  14. ↑ "Inside Playbill Gallery". Playbill. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  15. ↑ Windman, Matt (2021-12-13). "Review | 'Flying Over Sunset' is an artistic misfire | amNewYork". www.amny.com. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  16. ↑ Feldman, Adam. "Flying Over Sunset is an odd Broadway musical about LSD". Time Out New York. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  17. ↑ "66th Drama Desk Awards". Drama Desk Awards. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
  18. ↑ Culwell-Block, Logan (June 8, 2022). "Clyde's, Company, SIX: The Musical Lead 2022 Drama Desk Awards; See the Full List of Winners". Playbill. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  19. ↑ Gans, Andrew (April 26, 2022). "Nominees for 71st Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards Announced". Playbill. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
  20. ↑ Culwell-Block, Logan (May 9, 2022). "2022 Tony Award Nominations: A Strange Loop, MJ, Paradise Square Lead the Pack". Playbill. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
  21. ↑ Lewis, Hilary (June 12, 2022). "Tony Awards: Winners List (Updating Live)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.