The York Theatre Company's Musicals in Mufti series, which presents musical theatre gems in simply staged concerts with actors often holding scripts, will return this fall after a four-year absence.
Mufti means “in street clothes, without the trappings of a full production.”
Opening the fall 2023 series August 26-September 3 will be the 1968 musical How to Steal an Election: A Dirty Politics Musical, with music and lyrics by Oscar Brand and a book by William F. Brown (The Wiz). Joseph Hayward will direct the musical—about Jazz Age President Calvin Coolidge, who materializes in present day (1968) and meets two young protesters—with choreography by Victoria Casillo and music direction by Miles Plant.
18 Minutes of Fame, scheduled for August 28-29, was written by Susan Morgenstern and Barbara Minkus. Minkus, who will be making her York Theatre debut, will share personal moments, funny and poignant songs, and remarkable stories of working with Danny Kaye, Merv Griffin, Jerry Lewis, and Charlotte Rae. Morgenstern also directs with musical direction by Ron Barnett.
The 1975 musical The Lieutenant will follow, playing the Off-Broadway venue September 9-17. With a book, music, and lyrics by Chuck Strand, Gene Curty, and Nitra McAuliffe, the rock opera follows the passage of Lieutenant William Calley from raw recruit in the U.S. Army through his 1971 court-martial for the infamous My Lai massacre of innocent civilians in 1968.
The 1968 musical Golden Rainbow, with music and lyrics by Walter Marks and a book by Ernest Kinoy, based on Arnold Schulman’s play A Hole in the Head, will be presented September 23-October 1. Stuart Ross will direct the heartfelt story of a single dad trying to achieve success in Las Vegas while raising his extremely bright and savvy son.
The season will conclude with a New2NY presentation of the new musical When We Get There October 7-15. With a book by Robert P. Young III and Richard Lasser and music and lyrics by Charlie Barnett, the musical follows Black teenager Dawn, who inspires her mother Mary, Mary’s employer Rose, and Rose’s handyman Terrance to pile in Rose’s 1963 Buick and drive to Selma to join Dr. Martin Luther King’s march.
Casting and additional creative team members will be announced at a later date.
York Producing Artistic Director Jim Morgan says, “This is for all the people in the past four years who’ve said to me, ‘Are you not doing the Muftis anymore? You just gotta…they’re my absolute favorite!’”
All performances will take place at The Theater at St. Jean’s, 150 East 76th Street, east of Lexington Avenue. For ticket information click here.
