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The Legacy Project
 
Dramatists Talk About Their Work
 
 
Length: 475 min
Released: 2011
 
Buy DVD:
$895.00  
 
Buy Online Streaming
 
 
The Legacy Project documents and preserves the creative process of America's most esteemed writers for the theater in a series of filmed conversations, each featuring an established stage author (or team of collaborators) being interviewed by a younger emerging writer. The featured writers include:

Lee Adams is the Tony-Award-winning lyricist behind the Broadway productions Bye Bye Birdie, Applause and Golden Boy. With his longtime collaborator, composer Charles Strouse, he wrote the theme song for TV’s long-running show, “All in the Family.” Interviewed by Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal). 45 minutes.

Edward Albee received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2005, recognizing him as “America’s greatest living playwright.” His works includes Zoo Story, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, A Delicate Balance, Seascape, and Three Tall Women. Interviewed by Will Eno (Thom Pain, based on nothing.) 42 minutes.

Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick wrote the music and lyrics for Fiddler on the Roof with a book by Joseph Stein, winning nine Tony Awards and international acclaim. Other collaborations include Fiorello!, She Loves Me, Tenderloin, The Apple Tree and The Rothschilds. Interviewed by David Zippel (City of Angels). 51 minutes.

A.R. Gurney, recognized as one of America’s most prolific playwrights, is best known for his intimate portrayals of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant American families. His plays include The Dining Room, Love Letters and Scenes from American Life. Interviewed by Itamar Moses (The Four of Us). 42 minutes.

John Kander is an award-winning composer best known for his musical collaborations with lyricist Fred Ebb. Their many musicals include Cabaret, Chicago, Woman of the Year, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Scottsboro Boys. Interviewed by Kirsten Childs (The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin). 52 minutes.

Arthur Laurents, playwright, screenwriter, author and stage director, is best-known as the writer and director of two of Broadway’s landmark musicals - Gypsy and West Side Story, as well as the screenwriter for The Way We Were and The Turning Point. Interviewed by David Saint (George Street Playhouse). 46 minutes.

Stephen Sondheim was hailed by The New York Times as “the greatest …artist working in musical theatre.” His many honors include Tony Awards for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, and Passion. Interviewed by Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza). 65 minutes.

Joseph Stein is best known as the book writer for the extraordinary landmark musical Fiddler on the Roof, with Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick. He later wrote Zorba with John Kander and Fred Ebb and Rags with Charles Strouse and Stephen Schwartz. Interviewed by Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights). 38 minutes.

Charles Strouse is best known as the composer of the Tony Award-winning hits Bye Bye Birdie and Applause, written with lyricist Lee Adams; and Annie, which he wrote with lyricist Martin Charnin and librettist Thomas Meehan. Interviewed by Michael John LaChiusa (Marie Christine). 48 minutes.

Lanford Wilson co-founded the Circle Repertory Company in 1969 and is considered to be one of the founders of the Off-Off Broadway theater movement. His best known works include Talley’s Folly, The Hot L Baltimore, Fifth of July and Burn This. Interviewed by Craig Lucas (Prelude to a Kiss). 46 minutes.

The set of ten DVDs comes boxed in a handsome case and is a notable contribution to theater history.
 
 
"This is a successful, serious effort to capture and document American theater history, a part of American culture recognized and respected worldwide. One hopes there will be more to come. An essential purchase."
‒Library Journal
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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