arts & life
theate r
Actors Celia Keenan-Bolger and Gavin Creel lead the pack in a recent musical theater department promo.
Maize & Blue
On Broadway
Brent Wagner
Alice Burdick Schweiger | Special to the Jewish News
A
host of talented and
accomplished University
of Michigan musical-
theater grads will be honoring
longtime department chair Brent
Wagner on Broadway. The one-
night benefit, marking Wagner’s
retirement and celebrating his 32
years at Michigan, will be held May
16 at the August Wilson Theatre in
Manhattan.
“It’s going to be a spectacular
evening on Broadway and we are
hoping that people will come to
A recent U-M production of Guys & Dolls
details
Maize & Blue on Broadway takes
place 7 p.m. Monday, May 16,
at the August Wilson Theatre in
New York City. $50-$250. (212)
239-6200; mmtaef.com/events.
New York City to see it,” says actor
and artistic director Gavin Creel,
who graduated from U-M in 1998
and is currently starring in She
Loves Me on Broadway. “There
have been 540 graduates from the
program over the years, averag-
ing about 22 kids a year, and there
hasn’t been a Broadway show in
that past 20 years that hasn’t in
some way been represented by a
Michigan graduate.” Many of them,
too, are Jewish.
The benefit concert is produced
by the alumni of the Department
of Musical Theatre within the
University of Michigan School of
Music, Theatre & Dance. The com-
mittee includes Tony Award win-
ner Matthew Rego (Urinetown);
writer, composer and lyricist David
Kirshenbaum; faculty member
Linda Goodrich; director and
choreographer Josh Rhodes; and
many more. Performers for the
evening include Tony nominees
Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Tuck
Everlasting), David Burtka (It
Shoulda Been You) and Hunter
Foster (The Producers, Million
Dollar Quartet.) “We have a lot of
fun surprises,” Creel says. “We will
be doing both contemporary and
classic songs.”
Accompanied by a 24-piece
orchestra, the concert will include
songs from Rent, Jersey Boys, The
Music Man, Guys and Dolls and
Sunday in the Park with George.
There will be special appearances
from award-winning composer Jeff
Marx (Avenue Q), lyricist Sheldon
Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof)
and Tony Award nominees Benj
Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan
Hansen). Oak Park native and U-M
grad Andrew Lippa will play the
piano, dance and sing a song from
his Broadway show Big Fish.
Each spring, the graduating
class of the Michigan musical
theater program comes to NYC to
showcase their work. That will take
place the Monday before Maize &
Blue on Broadway, and those stu-
dents will be staying in the city to
perform at the concert.
Proceeds for Maize & Blue
on Broadway will benefit the
Michigan Musical Theatre
Ambassador Endowment Fund
(MMTAEF), created by the musical
theater department alumni to pro-
vide a source of financial support
for the program.
“Every single penny we make
from this benefit will go to the
fund, which will help the future
of the department and all the stu-
dents who attend,” Creel says.
One of the MMTAEF’s endeav-
ors is to create the Brent Wagner
Speaker Series, which entails
bringing influential speakers to
Ann Arbor’s campus to teach
a master class for the students.
They are hoping the creative team
behind Hamilton will be on the
speaker series schedule.
Putting a production on
Broadway is extremely costly,
and this huge undertaking
couldn’t have materialized with-
out the financial help from their
“angels.” Oak Park native Jeffrey
Seller (producer of the mega-hit
Hamilton) is one of those generous
benefactors.
“Maize & Blue on Broadway has
been a load of work and stressful
at times because something this
size takes a lot of planning, money
and time,” Creel says. “But it’s
done with so much heart. It’s very
important to us to put on a won-
derful show, make it a special night
on Broadway, honor Brent and
celebrate the alumni.”
*
May 5 • 2016
49