Thursday, August 12, 2010

Grisetti & Brochu Do "Roar of the Greasepaint..." for Musicals in Mufti.

We've been holding back the news because we didn't want to get in the way of the York Theater's PR schedule, but Jim is gonna play the role of "Sir" in the Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse "Roar of the Greasepaint" with Josh Grisetti, a young singer, dancer and actor who is not only one of the hottest upcoming stars on the Broadway scene, but also, they'll be directed by the equally hot Marsha Milgrom Dodge, who directed and choreographed that incredible Tony nominated production of "Ragtime" last year, and the guy who played Coalhouse Walker in that production, Quinton Earl Darrington. (Even we didn't even know him until the announcement!).

This whole series, "Musicals in Mufti" -- "mufti" being an old fashioned word for street clothes -- is one of the most eagerly anticipated of the entire season. Many terrific musicals are rediscovered through programs like this and the York's is one of the favorite.

"Roar of the Greasepaint" produced several hit songs. Nina Simone's version of "Feeling Good" is a classic:



What I love is this sunny lyric juxtaposed with a sad, bluesy harmonic. Really nice.

This is gonna be fun.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

On a random note...
When I lived in Australia, "Mufti" is still a commonly used word for things like referring to casual Friday dress codes.

-Debbie from Crystal